Ten Best Film Noir?

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by smilin ed, Dec 2, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Durham
    Interesting thing is, I can watch any number of low budget film noir and still get something from them and I can't do that with any othe genre. I love Westerns - good Westerns - more than anything else, but a poor Western is a poor Western (and God knows there are a lot of them), yet a poor film noir holds out possibilities, no matter how bad the acting or plot.
     
    mooseman likes this.
  2. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    Chinatown is better than most of these movies combined.

    I happened to watch John Huston's 'Asphalt Jungle' over the weekend, not expecting much because I think "Maltese Falcon' is one of the most over rated films ever. I actually think it's a bad movie. Unless you like endless scenes of people glibly talking at each other. Anyways, "Asphalt Jungle' is considerably better, a really tough minded movie that doesn't romanticize anything about the life far down on the hoodlum's food chain.
     
  3. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I wouldn't say that Maltese Falcon is horrible, but I agree that it doesn't hold up very well over time. Touch of Evil and The Big Sleep would be high on my list. I'd put Sunset Boulevard on the list, too, even though it's not exactly a detective story -- though it does begin with a murder.

    There have been some recent color films that I would arguably classify as film noir:

    Kill Bill (parts in B&W)
    Blade Runner
    Minority Report
    Pulp Fiction
    Se7en
    Manhunter

    Even some of the Dirty Harry films kind of veer into a crime/noir area.
     
  4. Maseman66

    Maseman66 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Westchester, NY
    In no special order:

    Criss Cross
    Cry Danger
    Fallen Angel
    I Wake Up Screaming
    Sunset Blvd
    Laura
    Murder, My Sweet
    Out Of The Past
    Pickup On South Street
    Where The Sidewalk Ends
     
    Moshe likes this.
  5. KevinP

    KevinP Forum introvert

    Location:
    Daejeon
    I enjoyed The Maltese Falcon more after reading it a couple years ago. But this isn't the usual case where is unquestionably better than the film. The movie is extremely faithful to the original source. It's just a little easier to follow.

    Incidentally the version I read reprinted the original serialized version, not the edited-as-a-novel version, though I don't think that makes much difference.
     
  6. Andy Lee

    Andy Lee Active Member

    Location:
    North Shields, UK
  7. Johnny66

    Johnny66 Laird of Boleskine

    Location:
    Australia.
    The Maltese Falcon is still a terrific film, although I'd suggest its subtleties elude viewers expecting the exaggerated high contrast and skewed compositions of later noir. Typical of the film's classical understatement is Mary Astor's portrayal of what would later degenerate into the femme noir; rather than a coy sex bomb who wields her assets with the skill of a deadly weapon, Astor marks the role with an almost politely apologetic British tone that doesn't at all anticipate cliche. Indeed, contrast her performance in Falcon with her role in Act of Violence seven years later.

    I think for a modern audience weaned on playfully self-conscious neo-noir, that kind of subtlety is somewhat lost.
     
  8. PhilBorder

    PhilBorder Senior Member

    Location:
    Sheboygan, WI
    Unsure if Robert Culp's 'Hickey and Boggs" belongs in the top 10, but it's worth considering. Culp's one feature as a director displays a very economical (due to the low budget perhaps) but elegant style, and displays the underbelly of Los Angeles circa 1970 in all its yellow smoggy glory. Really, you can smell the bad air when watching.Reuniting him with "I Spy" partner Bill Cosby, they have the camaraderie of guys whose friendship peaked a long time ago, and they're both a bit sick of each other. One of Walter Hill's first screenplays, before he completely extracted character, so there's some subtle between the lines interplay between the characters. The sensibility is as deeply cynical as any noir, but is reenforced by the characters weariness, and a cleanly defined realism. These guys passed existential angst a long time ago. And so the clumsy shootout, for instance, in the L.A. Colessum, is staged not so much for 'action or near misses, as to make the point that none of these gunslingers is all that good a shot. More to the point, Culp's advice to Cosby about the real dangers of carrying a handgun and why its generally better to run is a remarkable evisceration of the tough guy code.

    In sum, not a wise ass rejection of the genre, like Altman's "Long Goodbye" as much as one that plumbs its conventions to their logical conclusions.
     
    zen archer and Karnak like this.
  9. Burt

    Burt Forum Resident

    Location:
    Kirkwood, MO
    I think that if it's color, it's not noir. I don't think in today's filmmaking environment you could really make a really noir film, unless it was a student project or underwritten by someone with too much money.

    Just for the fun of it, I hooked up a DVD player to an old black and white Zenith and watched Union City with a couple of film snob friends. They agreed that whatever it was, it sure wasn't noir.
     
  10. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    Well, there are the Sin City films, which are "somewhat" B&W and are definitely what I'd call modern film noir. But I don't think they absolutely have to be B&W. To me, it's more about the attitude, the design, the intent, and the style.
     
  11. clashcityrocker

    clashcityrocker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Great White North
    Most have been mentioned. The noir bug hit me hard about 15 years ago. I return to these all the time.

    1. Out of The Past
    2. Detour
    3. Double Indemnity
    4. Kiss Me Deadly
    5. Night and The City
    6. Touch Of Evil
    7. Gun Crazy
    8. Ace In The Hole
    9. tie: Criss Cross/ D.O.A. (sorry)
    10. Devil Thumbs A Ride (not true film noir but stars uber-cool Lawrence Tierney)
     
    jwoverho and smilin ed like this.
  12. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Durham
    Speaking of The Devil Thumbs a Ride:

    http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/noir-of-week-devil-thumbs-ride-felix.html
     
  13. Andy Lee

    Andy Lee Active Member

    Location:
    North Shields, UK
  14. davenav

    davenav High Plains Grifter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY USA
    Perhaps the single craziest thing I've read in this forum.

    Having watched this classic many times, I think the notion that the plot makes no sense is false. A bit of misdirection from Hawks who probably didn't want to get into explaining it. Don't ask me to explain it, either, as it's quite twisty.

    But, 'not a good movie'?!!!!
     
    Vidiot likes this.
  15. davenav

    davenav High Plains Grifter

    Location:
    Louisville, KY USA
    My favorite. I love everything about this film - especially Gloria Graham!
     
    Jimmy B., zen archer and smilin ed like this.
  16. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Durham
    Definitely worth it.

    Anyone seen The House on Telegraph Hill?
     
    mooseman and FritzL like this.
  17. mooseman

    mooseman Forum Resident

    Strangers On A Train, & Touch Of Evil, my all time favs.
     
  18. mooseman

    mooseman Forum Resident

    Strangers On A Train, & Touch one of my all time favs.
     
  19. Django

    Django Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dublin, Ireland
    I'm not saying they're the best, but my ten favourites:

    1 The Maltese Falcon

    The Third Man
    Double Indemnity
    Sunset Boulevard
    The Big Sleep
    Dark Passage
    Murder my sweet
    Key Largo
    In a lonely place
    Out of the past
     
  20. Johnny66

    Johnny66 Laird of Boleskine

    Location:
    Australia.
    Well, I think it's a deeply flawed movie - although it perhaps suffers due to the noir tag that has become somewhat lazily attached to it (I think it's more successful in terms of romantic melodrama). Indeed, prior to its release, new scenes were written to play upon the Bogart/Bacall real life romance, which probably dilutes the darker edge the film might otherwise have had. Certainly the Hays code restrictions didn't help in that regard (i.e. diminishing the pornography sub-plot), but I'm not sure it's the classic that many people seemingly assume it to be.
     
  21. Karnak

    Karnak "81, 82, 83, 84..."

  22. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Durham
    mooseman likes this.
  23. Andy Lee

    Andy Lee Active Member

    Location:
    North Shields, UK
    Good article. I'd like to see this. There's a bar I go and the manager has been playing loads of Henry Mancini stuff so I went out and bought The Music from Peter Gunn - Complete Edition - and it's wonderful.
     
  24. smilin ed

    smilin ed Senior Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    Durham
  25. Uncle Meat

    Uncle Meat Forum Resident

    Location:
    Houston, Tx, US
    I got to see this in a theater many moons ago, near perfect movie (The Third Man), it has the BEST photography (though I do like "The Long Voyage Home" as well)
     
    guidedbyvoices likes this.
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page

molar-endocrine