Recent:
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Total: 17
Case Files:
The Set-Up ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Robert Ryan is great as a down and out boxer that refuses to take a dive in a fixed fight. At just over an hour, it takes place in real time.
Gun Crazy ⭐⭐⭐⭐ The classic good-guy gets taken down by an off-her-rocker femme fatale.
Born to Kill ⭐⭐⭐ Bad-boy and femme fatale go at each other.
Impact ⭐⭐⭐ Good-guy finds out he was a dope to his femme fatale wife.
Murder, My Sweet ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Hard drinking PI, Philip Marlow, investigates missing jewels, dead bodies, and tries to unravel an intricate web spun by the blonde femme fatale.
He Ran All the Way ⭐⭐⭐⭐ John Garfield's last movie. With a payroll hold-up gone wrong and his partner shot, Nick holds a family hostage in their apartment while deciding what to do. Shelly Winters has a nice roll as the family daughter
[Show spoiler]that almost goes bad.
Out of the Past ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ An absolute giant of the film noir genre, one of the few titles against which most others are compared. Shady underground characters, a no-nonsense PI, a ruthless femme fatale, dark alleys, the missing $40,000 MacGuffin, and everyone is smoking in every scene...it's got all the tropes!
The Man Who Died Twice ⭐⭐⭐½ Has an interesting twist with the female lead as the unsuspecting dope and her nightclub owner husband taking advantage of her. The MacGuffin is some missing drugs with the cops, two crime syndicate heavies, and the nightclub bartender (the great Mike Mazurki) trying to figure out where the dead husband,
[Show spoiler]or is he
, hid the dope.
It Always Rains on Sunday ⭐⭐⭐½ Nice British noir with an escaped convict hiding out at the house of a former lover who is now married to a man with grown daughters. Some suspenseful moments where he almost gets caught, very Hitchcockian. Several flashback scenes set up the circumstances of the crime and relationships.
A Strange Adventure ⭐⭐⭐½ The odd noir that doesn't take place in the city. The femme fatale convinces a dope driving the armored car to be the inside man and then convinces another dope to use his hot rod as the getaway car. They all wind up in a mountain cabin with the captives plotting against their captors.
A Bullet for Joey ⭐⭐⭐ Takes place in Montreal with an international spy twist.
They Won’t Believe Me ⭐⭐⭐½ Told in flashback style during a double murder trial; the male lead turns out to be both a cad and a dope. Crazy ending
[Show spoiler]where he gets shot by the court bailiff trying to jump out a high story courtroom window just as the jury is about to acquit him of murdering his wife and his mistress! And he really was innocent...his wife got thrown from a horse and his mistress died in a car wreck.
The Damned Don’t Cry ⭐⭐⭐½ Very well done noir theme of good girl turned bad, and of course it all falls apart at the end.
Witness to Murder ⭐⭐⭐ Another film where George Sanders plays a cad, shocking! Notable for the concept of having the lead character (the great Barbara Stanwyck) witness a murder out their window in a building across the street a few months before
Rear Window premiered.
The Killers ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ Set the tone for many others to follow, an iconic example of the genre.
Leave Her to Heaven ⭐⭐⭐½ In blazing technicolor, it's more of a melodrama than noir, but does have a brutal femme fatale.
Touchez Pas au Grisbi ⭐⭐⭐⭐½ Excellent french noir; has a recurring harmonica musical cue whenever something is about to go awry, reminiscent of 007 or spaghetti westerns.