Here is a short film noir of only 73 minutes long, which takes place over those same 73 minutes. This is Directed by Robert Wise and stars Robert Ryan as our main character. Ryan plays Stoker, an over the hill boxer hoping to make one last run as a fighter. Audrey Totter plays Stoker’s wife who wants him to stop fighting before he is hurt to bad. We start out with our couple in their apartment as Stoker gets ready to head to the arena. He gives his wife a ticket to watch the fight, she makes one last effort to stop him from fighting to no avail. Stoker gets into the locker room to start getting ready for his main event fight. We meet a varied crew of fighters in different stages of their career. It is almost like Stoker is reliving his past and looking into his near future as the fighter come and go, before and after their bouts. We get to see so many great character actors of the classic noir era in this locker room. Names such as George Tobias, Wallace Ford, Percy Helton, James Edwards and David Clarke. We have a hodge-podge of fighters, trainers, promoters and gangsters coming and going through out the night. 
Stoker’s team and his opponents team have agreed that Stoker will throw the fight for the gangster named Little Boy played by Alan Baxter. The problem is, nobody told Stoker! Will he learn before it is too late to throw the fight? If he does learn about the set-up will he agree to do it? Will Stoker’s wife show up to watch the bout? 
As I have stated before, the more I watch Robert Ryan’s films the more I like him. He did such a wide range of characters, it is hard to believe he could be so versatile. The only common thread when Ryan is in a film, he will always be tough as nails. This film is so unique and so great, I think everybody should see this at least once if you are a film lover at all. If you are a noir fan it is a must see and if you like Ryan you probably already seen this, if not drop everything and do it now! Do you think this was a big influence on Quentin Tarantino’s story line in Pulp Fiction revolving around Bruce Willis’ character? I can’t help but see many similarities between Willis and Ryan’s characters. What do you think?
Month: May 2015
Review: Barton Fink
Even though I’m a big fan of the Coen Brothers, this is the first time I’ve ever watched this. I guess the story never really appealed to me, but I always knew I would get around to watching this sooner or later. This kept popping up on lists of neo-noir films, so I thought it was about time to watch it and give it a review on here. Would this hold up to my Coen Brothers favorites like Fargo, Blood Simple, The Man Who Wasn’t There and Miller’s Crossing? This was actually written when Joel and Ethan Coen had writers block while writing Miller’s Crossing. I recently reviewed this often overlooked classic here:
https://everythingnoir.com/2015/02/15/re-watching-the-classics-a-fresh-look-at-millers-crossing/
Our story is about Barton Fink, played by John Turturro, a writer from New York who soon finds himself in Los Angles to be part of the Hollywood machine. He check’s into a hotel where he meets his neighbor Charlie Meadows, played by John Goodman. Fink is hired to write a script for a wrestling film and he has some writers block. We meet a wide range of Hollywood types throughout the film. It is a wild ride, but to be honest we don’t get into the noir part of this film until the second half and though we get a bit of a twist, its pretty minor.
On thing I noticed watching this, is the list of amazing actors in this film. The other is we get no matinée idols here, just a cast of great performers who are their based on their talent and not on their looks. This is something we don’t see very often. Some of the actors we see here are Michael Lerner,John Mahoney,Tony Shalhoub, Jon Polito and Steve Buscemi.
This film has a lot of hidden meaning and almost feels more like a David Lynch film then a Coen Brothers film. For instance the theory that the hotel is actually hell. Keep that in mind next time you watch it and see what you think. The ending also made me feel like something out of a Lynch film as well.
Even though it isn’t a pure neo-noir film like some of Coen Brother’s other films, it is a very good film. The Coen’s make the hotel and old Hollywood look great, the story is interesting(you wonder how much of this film comes out of the Coen’s frustration with the Hollywood system), and it is a thinking man’s movie. If you are new to Coen Brothers films, I would start with the four films I listed earlier. If you already have seen most everything from these guys but haven’t seen this yet, you should give it a try.
Favorite Tidbit: John Mahoney’s character is based on William Faulkner. Faulkner’s first work in Hollywood was for a wrestling movie. Barton Fink was based on Clifford Odets, a screen writer in Hollywood in the 1940’s and 1950’s. He wrote screenplays for some great films including everythingnoir.com’s favorites Deadline at Dawn and Sweet Smell of Success, as well as a few other great noir films we will look at.
Review: Pickup on South Street
Another great film noir from Samuel Fuller who wrote and directed this classic. We have noir legend Richard Widmark and femme fatale great Jean Peters as our leads. Throw in Thelma Ritter for a little character and we have the making of one of the top noir films from the classic era.
Our story starts with Widmark stealing the wallet out of Peters’ purse on the subway. Peters in being followed at the time by an F.B.I. agent and goes to the police. Enter Ritter who helps the F.B.I. and police finger Widmark as the pick pocket. Peters goes to her boyfriend and tells him she has lost the microfilm she was carrying for him. as it was in her wallet. Widmark has everybody chasing him for this microfilm and he doesn’t even know what it is. Will our hero make it out alive? What is on the microfilm? Why is the F.B.I. interested? Who are the bad guys that will do almost anything to get it back?
All three big stars are great in this one and I enjoyed all their performances. You can’t go wrong with classic noir dialog like this one:
“I’ve got almost enough to buy both the stone and the plot.”
“If you lost that kitty, it’s Potter’s Field.”
“This I do not think is a very funny joke, Captain Tiger!”
“I just meant you ought to be careful how you carry your bankroll.”
“Look, Tiger, if I was to be buried in Potter’s Field, it would just about kill me.”
A must see for classic film noir fans, especially those that are fans of any of the three stars or Samuel Fullers work. After this film Peters moved up on my list of favorite femme fatales and I plan to go back and re-watch some of the other films I’ve seen with her in it.
Favorite Tidbit: Jean Peters was not the first choice for this role of Candy. Names like Marilyn Monroe, Betty Grable and Shelley Winters where all up for consideration in one way or another. Fuller went with Peters and I got to say, he made the right choice.
Review: Atlantic City
Atlantic City is a film from 1980 starring Burt Lancaster and Susan Sarandon, both nominated for Academy Awards, the film was nominated for 5 total including Best Picture and Best Writing and Best Director for Louis Malle.
This story starts out with Sarandon making lemons sexy, Lancaster looks in on her through their opposing windows.
We then see a man watching a phone booth, he takes a package of drugs from the booth before the rightful owners can grab it. This man is played by Robert Joy and is Sarandon’s estranged husband who has run off with Sarandon’s sister, who he has gotten pregnant. Joy soon recruits Lancaster to help him sell the drugs and our odd love triangle, more like a love square? begins. We also have the original owner of the drugs looking for their goods and those who have them. Lancaster’s character is the most interesting of the film. He starts out as a broken old man who runs numbers for one of the local mobsters. He ends the film in a flash of old glory and you are happy for him, even as you see he is losing it mentally.
Another factor of this film is the city itself plays in this film. This caught a time in Atlantic City, where the city was in disrepair, a shadow of its former glory. Soon after this film, more old casinos would be demolished to make room for new casinos. In many ways the city parallels Lancaster’s character.
Lancaster is one of my all time favorite actors and this film did not disappoint. Sarandon was very good in this as well as maybe not a femme fatale in the classic noir sense, but she was definitely Lancaster’s femme fatale in this film. This is a very good film for neo noir fans and if you are fans of the two main stars it is a must see.
Favorite Tidbit: Lancaster mentions a number of mobsters and historic people his character supposedly knew in his past. These included Dutch Schultz, Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel and Al Capone. He also mentions Nucky Johnson the inspiration for the Nucky Thompson character in Boardwalk Empire.
Review: Kiss Me Deadly
Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer! What’s not to like? This is actually the 5th time Hammer was made into a film. As a child of the 1980’s, Mike Hammer has always been Stacy Keach, but this classic version of him by Ralph Meeker is pretty great. I have not read any of the books, but after watching this I will have a few on my “To Read” list. This film is directed by Robert Aldrich, he also produced and had complete control over the production and had nobody to answer to. This freed him up to do some new things, you will see this in some interesting angles and shots throughout the film. All these years later and they still feel different and fresh.
If you are unaware of Mike Hammer, Ben Mankiewicz put it this way: This is a Mike Hammer mystery, it is different then a Sherlock Holmes or Sam Spade mystery. Where they use their smarts, Mike Hammer uses brute force, His last name Hammer is appropriate. I am paraphrasing Ben, but you get the idea.
The plot of this is very strange and hard to follow. I think Hammer’s secretary, Velda, played by Maxine Cooper, put it best. ” First, you find a little thread, the little thread leads you to a string, and the string leads you to a rope, and from the rope you hang by the neck.” That quote pretty much sums up the plot of this.
This film starts out with Hammer driving his convertible along a lonely road and picks up a girl in distress. They get through a police road block and soon Hammer finds himself knocked unconscious and the girl is basically tortured to death. The unknown assailants put both of them in Hammer’s car and roll them off a cliff. Miraculously Hammer survives the crash and spends 3 days in the hospital. Back at his office he starts an investigation into why they killed the unknown girl and who she was. We get one name which leads to a different name that leads to a different name.
This is a fun ride, even if we don’t always know where we are going. This also has one of the most unusual endings of any classic film noir. I think this movie is like Hammer himself, don’t over think it and just use brute force to get through this film and enjoy the journey.
This is a fun, good, classic film noir who everybody should see. It has some twists and turns, but they don’t shock as much as some other noir. This may be because we can’t see around those turns to see the twists coming like we are used to.
Favorite Tidbit: I found this brief case had more than a passing resemblance to the one in Pulp Fiction and I wasn’t the only one. When asked if this was an influence, Quentin Tarantino says the similarities between his brief case and this one are accidental, but he liked this theory.
Review: Crime and Punishment, USA
Crime and Punishment, USA is a noir from 1959 I recently caught on Turner Classic Movies. This is a 1950’s version of the famous book by Fyodor Dostoevsky relocated to modern 1950’s Sana Monica, California.
This movie may be more of note for “Introducing” us to George Hamilton, then anything else. This is Hamilton’s first film and he is our main star. He had a few small television roles before this. Hamilton is pretty good in this as a very smart law student. He feels superior to others, because of his high intelligence and in different scenes he comes across as arrogant, humble, likable, evil, yet charming. It’s a pretty good performance for a young actor.
Frank Silvera plays the homicide detective who believes Hamilton’s Robert is guilty of murder, but can not prove it.
Our story starts with a scene where we hear there is a murder and we see Hamilton faint in the street. We soon find out it is a pawn shop owner that has been murdered and Hamilton’s friends feel he is sick and we see him in bed as his friends gather around his bed in concern. We soon find Hamilton alone in his room and he pulls out a bag, we see gloves, a crowbar and a load of cash. He hides the cash and soon leaves the apartment to dispose of the evidence. We soon see a man in trouble, it looks like his heart. Hamilton shows his good side and helps the man home. He soon arrives home and finds his sister and mother waiting for him as they have come to town worried about him. Him and his friend soon go to visit the police and we are introduced to Silvera, our head homicide detective. Hamilton and his friend are there to retrieve a few items Hamilton has pawned at the shop of the dead women. A cat and mouse chase between Hamilton and Silvera begins, but who is the cat and who is the mouse?
Though the two lead performances are very good, and this is based on one of the most classic books of all time, something is just off about this film. I don’t know what it is, whether key story points from the book are not covered, or our supporting characters do not have enough character development, I do not know. This was not a horrible film, it just seems like it could have been a lot better film. Maybe this book isn’t the right source material for a noir film? If you are a fan of the two stars it is worth a watch for their performances. If you want to see another adaptation of the source material you may find it interesting.
Review: Night Moves
“Who’s wining?”
“Nobody, one side is just losing slower than the other.”
This movie is a neo noir staring Gene Hackman in all his 1970’s glory. It has it all, the 16-year-old Lolita, the young rebel mechanic boyfriend, the aging starlet, the Hollywood stuntman, the unhappy wife and of course the ex-football player turned hardboiled private detective. We also have some classic film noir dialog, updated for a 1970’s audience. How about this zinger?
“What happened to your face?”
“I won second place in a fight.”
Or this great line from one of our female leads.
“Your are kind of edgy, aren’t you?”
“It’s the heat and the low wages.”
The settings are classic film noir locations, we start out in Los Angles and then go head to the Florida Keys. We have a young James Woods just getting his career started and a 16 year oldish Melanie Griffith making her film debut. All directed by Arthur Penn.
So with all of this, why isn’t this picture better known? TCM’s Ben Markowitz said “This is the best movie you have never seen.” I’m not sure why, this film just came on my radar earlier this year, and I’m glad I got to view it.
Our story starts with our private detective played by Hackman getting hired by our aging starlet to find her step-daughter(Griffin). He is also having problems with his marriage, his wife is played by Susan Clark. His investigation takes him into the world of Hollywood movies and stuntmen. The case eventually takes him to the Florida Keys and he meets our real femme fatale of the film played by Jennifer Warren. We also find the step daughter here, us as the audience and our hero believe she is our femme fatale, but she is still just in training and doesn’t fool our hero. The three see the scary remnants of a boat wreck which scares our step-daughter and she willingly goes back to California with our hero. Our hero thinks the case is closed, but it is only getting started.
Gene Hackman was one of the biggest stars in the 1970’s, starting the decade out with The French Connection and ending it with Superman. Check out my review of The French Connection here:
https://everythingnoir.com/2015/04/11/re-watching-the-classics-the-french-connection-2/
He also was in a handful of other box office successes and classic films from the decade. This is right up there with some of his best, but seems to have gotten lost in the shuffle. I thoroughly enjoyed it, and I think classic film noir buffs and noir fans in general will too. If you’re fans of Hackman, it’s a must see and if you want to see a young Melanie Griffith or James Wood it’s worth a viewing.
Review: Macao
Macao started out being directed by Josef von Sternberg but was finished up by Nicholas Ray. Howard Hughes had his hand in making this film so a great many people were fired and hired on the writing staff and of course the original director. It’s a miracle this film came out as good as it did.
Our story starts out with a New York police officer being killed in Macao, by getting a knife to the back. We then meet our femme fatale Jane Russell in a ship cabin with a man who starts to get a little aggressive with her. Robert Mitchum comes in to save the day. Russell moves on and soon meets a traveling salesmen played by William Bendix. Soon the three hit it off as they are on their way to Macao. Mitchum discovers he has lost his wallet, as it was stolen by Russell. She takes the money and dumps the wallet. Our threesome come into the Macao port and Mitchum must report to the local police because he has no passport or identification. The police officer is working with casino owner played by Brad Dexter and they both think Mitchum is telling a story and is really another cop from New York. The casino becomes the center in which our 4 characters revolve, with Russell getting a job there as a singer. We also meet Gloria Grahame as our casino owners girlfriend. Nobody is what they seem and the plot has some interesting twists all the way to the end.
This film has a lot of star power and an unique setting for a classic film noir. This gives us a really cool look at 1950’s Macao and gives us an interesting story to follow. This is a fun film noir and worth a viewing for noir fans. If you love any of the stars, you will like this film. This isn’t the best noir with Mitchum, but I haven’t seen any bad noirs with Mitchum either.
Review: A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night
This movie is a spaghetti western, horror, romance, fairy tale, neo-noir, Iranian vampire movie filmed in California!?!?! This film is a stew of classic film ingredients by first time director and writer Ana Lily Amirpour. I really look forward to seeing more from her, what a great eye in filming and what an original intriguing story.
I seen this just based on the buzz and did not know much about this going in. I really thought it was just a well done horror movie worth seeing. Then I put the Blu-Ray in and was totally surprised. I did not plan to review this for this site, until I watched it and seen more than a few simple nods to the classic film noir era. This film has a timeless feel to it, there is a 1950’s Thunderbird, classic oil wells and factories, and timeless clothing that could fit into almost any time frame. We do have fake posters of 1980’s pop stars on the wall and our soundtrack has music from the 2000’s. If you didn’t know better you could think this was filmed in the 1950’s as easily as filmed in the 2010’s.
Sheila Vand plays The Girl and Arash Marandi gives us his best James Dean playing Arash for our two leads. We don’t have to many characters confusing the plot here. Marshall Manesh plays Arash’s junkie father, Mozhan Marnò plays the local prostitute, Dominic Rains as a drug dealer, and Rome Shadanloo as the little rich girl.
This movie has a lot of symbolism and references to other films, this may be all subjective and you will find things I may not and you may not agree with what I felt I seen. That is what makes this such a great film.
Our story starts with Arash getting in to his car and drives home. We see his Dad shooting up with drugs. Our drug dealer enters the house and wants paid. He takes Arash’s car for the debt. Our drug dealer soon picks up our prostitute in his new ride and later picks up The Girl. He takes her back to his house and soon The Girl reveals she is a vampire and kills the drug dealer. On her way out of the house she pass Arash, going in to try to get his car back. Arash finds the body and takes the drug suppl and gets his keys to his car back. Our romance starts as well as we go deeper into our story from here.
For noir fans, the plot is deep in the crime world of Bad City and has some great noir nods, like a femme fatale, she just happens to be a vampire. If your a film noir fan and don’t like vampires, you will still love the cinematography! A couple stills from the film that shows a taste of this:
So this film is for anybody who wants to see something new and fresh and original no matter what kind of movies you like. This basically covers every genre out there and has something for everybody. Go enjoy this film as soon as you can!
Review: Danger Signal
Danger Signal is a classic film noir from 1945 starring Faye Emerson as our femme fatale, or is she? With Zachary Scott as our protagonist. Robert Florey directs and looks to have directed not only some crime dramas and film noirs, but a bunch of movies from different genres.
This is a simple plot and well executed. We have Zachary Scott’s character jumping out of a married women’s bedroom window as the police are at the front door. He gets away and the authorities think it is suicide. He gets a few bucks out of her purse on the way out. We then go to Emerson’s character as a secretary for a doctor, she seems happy, but is looking for love. She soon finds it in Scott the new stranger in town. The romance seems to blossom and they are soon engaged. Soon Emerson’s little sister comes to town on the train, played by Mona Freeman. The little sister is going to get $25,000 when she marries and soon we see Scott’s character leaning towards the younger sister. Emerson becomes suspicions of this and wants to kill Scott. Will she succeed or will our lead marry the younger sister and live off the $25000 until its gone?
Like I said, this is a pretty simple plot with not a lot of twists and turns, but a bit of a surprise ending. This doesn’t look like an overly popular film noir, but is worth watching for big noir fans or fans of Scott and Emerson.
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