I sometimes wonder if witnessing the Nazis rise to power had anything to do with Fritz Lang's indictment of American "mob justice" in his first film for Hollywood...Fury . In the worst, most horrifying moments of the film, it strikes me as ironic that the country who styles itself as the most democratic and respectful haven of human rights in the world, should harbor such fascist type tendencies as lynching accused criminals, guilty or innocent. You can almost imagine brown shirts adorned with swastikas on the good townspeople of middle America as they rush to condemn an innocent man. 
It is indeed a strange film, at times condemning as a small town mob tries to burn down a jail which houses Spencer Tracy, a man falsely accused of kidnapping a small child. Their crazed and longing faces lit by the fire of an attempted lynching, with children watching and participants eating hot-dogs as if they are at the ball park, are perfectly chilling. And then it falls into some almost hokey, overly melodramatic moments such as Spencer Tracy's courtship of Sylvia Sidney which fails to balance the more dramatic, confrontational themes of the film. It seems as if Lang is playing somewhat to Hollywood convention to assure himself of a successful place within its pantheon.
But apart from the conventions to taste that might threaten it, Fury is a very progressive critique of how even liberty loving Americans can get caught up in ignoring the due process of Law, even today as we tend to make snap judgments within the "get it now" news and information of the Internet. Spencer Tracy, on the edge of his hotel bed, listening with an eye for revenge to the trial of his "lynchers" should teach us all something about how dehumanizing mob justice and an eye for an eye can truly be. Fritz Lang's first American film deserves a respected place within his canon, even though films like M or Metropolis are better examples of his directing genius.
TH Reviews rating of Fury: 4 stars out of 5!
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