Film Noir Thread Batches!
edith head
5,106 Posts
i'm on a noir kickthese make me have a thing for cary grant:
these make me think robert mitchum is the most badass actor that ever lived:
something about embracing w/ gun in hand that is so sexy:
simply unfuckwittable:
i can't think of others so drop some of yr favorites
these make me think robert mitchum is the most badass actor that ever lived:
something about embracing w/ gun in hand that is so sexy:
simply unfuckwittable:
i can't think of others so drop some of yr favorites
Comments
-C. Kane
-The Third Man
-Rififi
-The Stranger
-Double Indemnity
-The Maltese Falcon
-Rebecca (noir of sorts)
-M (Noir roots in German Exp.)
-Chinatown (Noir seeds)
-Sin City (Noir seeds)
The best I've seen recently is the recent print of Melville's "Army of Shadows." Some holes, but what Noir is really airtight? Worth a viewing.
you can't go wrong with Melville
I'm not up on noir at all, but a friend of mind recommended this and described it as such.
Herm
I was flying from Morrocco to Australia (ouch!!) with a moulded plastic poster of Alain Delon (see above)and I had to carry it on my lap all the way - the French air hostesses were so impressed they bumped me up to BUSINESS class!
Bobby Mitchum is still the man though
Robert Ryan & Sterling Hayden
Did you watch the short Russian version on this DVD? Pretty fresh.
I checked out Maltese Falcon a few months ago and put on your hatter hatts cause it didn't really do anything for me.
Oh, there's love, M-F'er! Barbara Stanwick, rrroowwwrrr! I used to have a crush on this girl and in retrospect I'm pretty sure it was only because she looked like Phyllis Dietrichson.
Podcast peoples, you might want to check out Out of the Past. I recommend it with reservations, the two commentators can be a little odd and don't listen to any episodes for movies you haven't seen--spoilers abound. Other than that, it's a pretty good academic discussion of the genre.
I don't want to try to list the canonical Noir list, plus so many have been listed that I don't need to recap, but here's my list of my favorite while-not-technically-noir-are-inspired-homages-and-variations:
1) Rififi: Do foreign movies count as noir? The director was a blacklisted American. Easily one of the most perfect movies ever made.
2) The Big Lebowski: Heavily inspired by the Big Sleep, and Chandler in general.
3) Yojimbo/Fistfull of Dollars/Millers Crossing and numerous other retellings of Red Harvest (please do not mention the horrible Bruce Willis remake). Heavier on the violence/lighter on the femme fatale
4) Brick: While over-stylized, I really enjoyed this one, still the best movie I've seen this year
capping it at 4 this time.
Au*rey, you really liked Woman on the Run?
I copped the DVD for cheap recently, and although I
am a big fan of O'Keefe and Sheridan - and enjoyed
them in the film - I thought the movie itself was pretty
tepid. Here's one of my favorite exchanges from the
movie, if only for the cabbie's voice:
As for stuff on DVD, starting with the best:
From Joseph E. Lewis, director of the more well-known - and incredible - Gun Crazy,
and available on a budget DVD with a great print, The Big Combo may be the ultimate film noir.
At least, if you agree that a certain low budget
atmosphere is essential to the equation. With photography by John Alton, one of
the most important figures in creating and perfecting the noir "style," and a
plot that could only come from a dime paperback, this baby has it all - fine
performances from leads and character actors, action, lust & paranoia.
The Fox series that has recently been released has some gems - Nightmare
Alley submitted by Rey above is certainly one of the best and a must-see.
Fallen Angel is right up there, though - lots of wild characters, lots of shady dealings,
uncontrollable passion and late-night rendezvous...and
Linda Darnell is a dimepiece!
Universal has a nice series of Noir on DVD - these 2 are based on novels by
the great Cornell Woolrich - who also wrote the basis for a seemingly endless stream of films,
from Hitchcock's Rear Window to the Banderas/Jolie sex
romp Original Sin
and have alot going for them. Phantom Lady includes a great turn by Noir mainstay
Elisha Cook, Jr (see Maltese Falcon, Aspahalt Jungle, The Killing) in one
of the most insane drumming/jazz scenes ever commited to film, and some deep
deep photography. Black Angel has the always entertaining Dan Duryea as
a washed-up drunken musician who may or may not have killed his wife while on
a bender. A bit lighter than some Noirs, but satisfying nontheless, with fine
performances, a tight little story and my main man Peter Lorre.
Fritz Lang helped invent the Film Noir visual style, working in German
expresionist cinema in the 20's, including what may very well be the first
Noir evar, M, which starred Peter Lorre and is essential viewing.
By the time of the actual Film Noir "era," he was still going strong, and
most of his Noirs are available on DVD. Scarlet Street, which is actually
a remake of a Jean Renoir film, is a tour-de-force of the genre, with stunning
performances from everyone involved, including Dan Duryea & Joan Bennett as
the most blatant pimp/prostitute pairing seen on film for decades! The great
Edward G. Robinson is perfect as the pair's naive foil and dupe, and the dialogue
is aces, "for cat's sake!" The same stars and director got together a couple years
later and made a remake/variation on the same film, but with a more lighthearted,
glamorous approach, Woman in the Window - worth seeing by all means
but nowhere near the salacious pleasure that is Scarlet Street.
The Big Heat stars Glenn Ford, well-known from the proto-noir Gilda,
and he gives a nice turn as the idealistic cop who gets beat down by the forces
of crime until he just can't take it anymore. Essential Lang and essential Noir -
and featuring one of the most vital women of the genre, Gloria Grahame, as well
as a young Lee Marvin as a vicious criminal. Other Lang noirs from the era include
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, While the City Sleeps, Human Desire, The Blue Gardenia and Clash by Night, all worth seeing.
Anthony Mann, paired with the aforementioned John Alton as his photographer,
made some of the ultimate low-budget Noir classics of the late 40's. While
Raw Deal is a fascinating study of the criminal life and the seemingly
unchangable path downward many people fimd themselves on, with great acting
and incredible photography, I feel T-Men is an even better film, a total
white-knuckle action film, seemingly devoid of women altogether, as we follow
to treasury agents going undercover to crack a deadly counterfitting ring.
One of the most tense scenes in all of cinema will have your heart skipping
a beat, and the photography is the Noir style at it's absolute height.
Anthony Mann also directed the great Border Incident, about illegal
immigrant labor (and relevant today!), which is not on DVD but is shown sometimes
on TCM.
Also not on (official) DVD but worth finding is Night Fall,which was directed by Out of the Past auteur
Jacques Tourneur and based on a novel by pulp master David Goodis,
who wrote the novel that became the Bogart/Bacall early Noir Dark Passage.
Another non-DVD entry to look out for is Ride the Pink Horse,
a quiet little masterpiece starring the underrated Robert Montgomery
caught up in some dirty dealings in a Mexican border town.
I've got more, but this is getting ridiculous!
Just picked up that new 2 disc edition - beautiful.
Other favorites...
Sunset Blvd.
Out of the Past
Laura
Ace In the Hole
Sudden Fear
Key Largo
Gun Crazy
Modern Day Noir Honorable Mention...
The Grifters
...and cosizzle on Blade Runner - NOT the Director's Cut.
Despite popular opinion, I love the gumshoe narrative. Works perfectly.
Best Runner Up For Most Bizarro Noir/Horror Hybrid...
Angel Heart
(complete with Poughkeepsie reference)
"The Maltese Falcon"
"The Big Heat"
"Rififi"
"D.O.A" is pretty good get it here for free
"D.O.A"
I think you can get "M" on The Archive too.
I really want to see "Kiss Me Deadly" and "Night And The City"
I hate all the film studies bullshit (I take film studies by the way
A detour on Film-Noir here though everyone needs to see the film "Brief Encounter"
So many fantastic things about this film, from the opening credits, to what is in the boot of the car.
More "Noir" than Ice Cube and Dr. Dre being sucked into a velvet-lined black hole....
"NWAAAAaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhh (to infinity)"
Don't forget "After Dark, My Sweet", also a Jim Thompson adaptation (and the best one IMO), and one of Bruce Dern's best performances. Also maybe the only time Jason Patric showed any real acting chops. One of my modern noir faves.
Also, this is kind of a modern Noir satire, and well worth seeing
Lena Olin as the Russian hitwoman is
and what do folks think of the Mitchum as Philip Marlowe films "Farewell My Lovely" and "The Big Sleep"? I really enjoyed "Farewell My Lovely" as a more gritty remake of the classic "Murder My Sweet", but thought "The Big Sleep" had more to live up to than it could possibly muster. But Mitchum as a world-weary older Marlowe is still fun to watch, and you get to see Jim Thompson act!
Richard Widmark plays a great crazy heavy for such a scrawny guy. Highly recommended
with a score by the Modern Jazz Quartet.
now i haven't! i have to check that out my roommate has the dvd.
i agree that Maltese Falcon is overrated.
i can't believe what i'm hearing! i think ann sheridan has so many great witty lines in here. i like that she is so sassy and abrasive that the chief says "No wonder the world is full of bachelors!" i thought there were some good surprises, especially when the identity of Danny Boy is revealed. i thought dennis o'keefe's acting was great. i'm also a sucker for suspenseful climaxes that take place at the carnival/fair and i thought that was well done. maybe a huge part of me liking it is that i recognize a lot of those places since it was shot in san francisco, and also cause it's so romantic. the closing scene is of "laughing sally" and she is at the musee mechanique here but she's had a makeover:
thanks for all the
i remember this being good although i am a little frightened of jack palance
i don't think cary grant is fully gay, i think most biographers speculated that he was bisexual at best. poor archibald. i don't think he comes off gay in his movies, he's got that bizarre accent but it doesn't sound effeminate. i think grant is pretty awesome actually, i always wanted a debonair dude.
speaking of debonair, ray milland
this is a pretty good flick although i am reluctant to say it's a noir flick
Brick is the shit. So is Angel Heart.
Does Mickey Rourke's presence in a movie automatically make it "noir-ish"? Just asking.
Don't forget the Lady from Shanghai. The fun house gun battle at the end is sick!