Year: 2015

Review: Bob le Flambeur

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Bob le Flambeur is a French film noir from Jean-Pierre Melville. Melville also came up with the story and co-wrote the screenplay.

This story has a lot of characters and plot lines, all of which revolve around Bob, played by Roger Duchesne. Bob is a gambler and has had many successes, but is on a losing streak and is about out of money. We see him go through the night losing money at one casino and then another. As he goes through the city we meet our femme fatale, the young Anne played by Isabelle Corey. Bob’s young protegé, played by Daniel Cauchy, meets him for drinks. A pimp played by Gérard Buhr, bursts into his apartment in the middle of the night. The Pimp needs some money to leave town, he has beat up one of his girls and put her in the hospital. The pimp is afraid she will press charges this time. We also meet other characters like the cop who Bob saved from being shot years ago, and other gangsters and con men.

When Bob is out of money, he comes up with a plan to rob a casino. He uses his connections to set up a team of robbers and con artists to help him pull it off. Can a gang of outlaws work together to rob a casino? Will somebody double cross the team? Will Bob’s gambling get in the way?

This is a very good film, a film with a story I thought I had seen before, and I guess I have. This film has been remade as The Good Thief by Neil Jordan. It also was an influence on Sinatra’s Ocean’s 11 as well as Soderbergh’s re-make.Quentin Tarantino says this is his favorite gangster film and was an influence on Reservoir Dogs. Stanley Kubrick says he stopped making crime films after this movie, saying he could never top this film. It is also Jim Jarmusch favorite film. So needless to say this film has been an important influence on many of the great film makers of today and has been cribbed for some of the best heist films since its release.

So if that doesn’t make you want to check it out I don’t know what will. If you haven’t seen it in a while, re-watch it to see if you can pick up on how this movie touched so many movies that came after it.

Re-watching the Classics: A Simple Plan

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A Simple Plan is a neo noir by director Sam Raimi of Evil Dead and Spider-Man fame. This is based on a book and screen play by Scott B. Smith. The film was released in 1998 and was nominated for two Oscars. The three main characters are played by an all-star trio with Bill Paxton as our main protagonist, Bridget Fonda as his wife and Billy Bob Thornton as his socially awkward brother.

The film starts in an everyday small town in the Northern United States. It is New Years Eve and Hank, Played by Paxton, is leaving work early for a family matter. He goes home where we soon see his pregnant wife Sarah, played by Fonda. He changes and soon his brother Jacob played by Thornton, pulls up outside in his beat up truck. Hank is not happy as he sees Jacob has brought his obnoxious friend Lou played by Brent Briscoe. The threesome goes to a cemetery to put a poinsettia on a grave. As they are leaving, a fox with a chicken in its mouth runs out in front of Jacob’s truck causing him to hit a tree. Jacob, not happy, grabs his riffle and the three take off in pursuit of the fox. They soon come across a wrecked airplane. Upon investigation they find a dead pilot and a bag full of money, 4.4 million to be exact. As the group discuss what to do, they decide that Hank will take the money and the three will keep it secret until spring. They will wait to see after the wreckage is discovered if the money is mentioned. If it is not, Hank will distribute the money and all three will move away happy and wealthy. Will money ruin these people’s life? Of course it will, but how?

This is a very good noir plot with money being the root of all evil and what will the common man do to keep his ill-gotten gains. I really enjoyed how the 4 characters that know about the money change as the film goes along. All are good average people when the film starts and change to evil people in different varieties by the end. Hank does what he thinks is right through out the film, but his femme fatale of a wife controls him like a puppet. Paxton does an amazing job as our everyday hero. Fonda as our femme fatale starts out saying she would never take the money to over thinking every little detail to dastardly consequences. Thornton, who got this part do to his performance in Sling Blade, shows once again how great an actor he is. The way he must balance friendship and family and is eventually pulled apart by this choice alone makes this worth watching.  Briscoe’s performance of Lou is underrated and though he starts out as the biggest jerk, he changes the lest because of the money. Chelcie Ross plays the small town naive Sheriff to perfection and Gary Cole is also very good as the F.B.I. Agent in town to investigate the possible plane crash.

This is a great film by any measure and if you have not seen it, go do it now! If you have not seen it in a while now would be a good time to revisit this one.

Taste of Cinema has “The Best Neo-Noir Films Of The 1980s”

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Terek Puckett is back at it again with The Best Neo-Noir Films of the 1980s. His own rules apply to this list as his last one from the 1970s, where future or historic films are not included in his list, so Blade Runner will be missing in this list. Still a great list with some more films I have forgotten about or didn’t know much about. I added a few new films to my “To Watch” list,hopefully you will find a few films to add to yours.

Here is the link to the full list:

http://www.tasteofcinema.com/2014/the-20-best-neo-noir-films-of-the-1980s/

Review: The Woman on the Beach

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The Woman on the Beach is a film noir from 1947 directed by Jean Renoir. We have Joan Bennett as our femme fatale and Robert Ryan as our duped hero. Charles Bickford plays our disgruntled blind husband of Bennett. This is a short film of only 71 minutes long and a fairly simple plot with out much wow factor.

This film starts out very strong with Ryan having a nightmare. The nightmare is strange and wonderful, with some cool camera effects. Ryan plays a Navy man who has seen some bad things. Today we would say he has Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. He wakes from his nightmare as his bed’s head frame and shadows on the wall show he really is in a prison of his own mind.

He travels along the beach where Bennett catches his eye, though he doesn’t stop or acknowledge her, we see there is some electricity there. He continues on his intended path to talk to his girlfriend, played by Nan Leslie, to see if she will marry him. Is this a last-ditch effort to save himself from going mad?

Even though Ryan has just become engaged, he still finds an attraction to Bennett who he learns is married. Ryan soon meets the husband who is a famous artist, except he has recently gone blind. Bickford plays the blind artist who is a very interesting character. He is abusive to his wife, maybe taking out his frustrations on her? As the movie goes along we find the couple to be in a co-dependent relationship. Bickford takes a liking to Ryan, or does he just want his enemy close?

Ryan believes Bickford really isn’t blind but is pretending, to keep Bennett close to him. This all sounds great, but it seems to trail off from here with out to much of a plot. I think this film would have been much better with a little more plot towards the end and a slightly longer run time. Ryan is great as usual, playing an average man back from the war. Bennett is good as our complex femme fatale, using men to get what she wants, but does she really know what she wants? Bickford is also very good as the bitter husband that has lost everything important to him, but is trying to adapt.

This is a decent film worth watching. It has three great characters and starts out with a strong study of those characters. This first half hour is very intense and you feel like you are on your way to watching a hidden gem, but the second half fell a little flat to me. Still worth watching for film noir buffs and fans of the three leads.

Re-Watching the Classics: Get Carter

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Get Carter is a classic neo noir from 1971 directed by Mike Hodges and starring Michael Caine. The film is based on the classic noir book of the same name by Ted Lewis. Another book on my “To Read” list.

This film is simple in its plot, but executed to perfection. The story opens with Jack Carter, played by Caine, hanging with his buddies in London, but doesn’t seem to be having as good a time as they are. His friends are gangsters as well and warn him about going up north. Carter’s friends relay the sentiment that he should not go up north, even though Carter is a killer, they are all killers up there. Carter’s brother has died and Carter thinks he was killed. Carter of course goes anyway and we meet his family as they bury his brother. His brother was drunk and drove off a bridge to his death is the official cause of death. As Carter is back in his hometown, he soon connects with some of his old friends and starts looking into the mystery.

As the film continues and Carter climbs his way up the ladder to the person responsible for his brother’s death we run into the illegal porn industry, corrupt business men, and of course gangsters. Will Carter get his revenge? Is he just a pawn in a bigger game? Will he find out more than he ever wanted to?

This film has a lot of supporting characters who standout in this film. Future Bond Girl Britt Ekland has a small part, which she was reluctant to do. She needed the money and of course made the film, afterwards she was happy with her work in this film. Ian Hendry was originally going to play Carter, but instead played one of Carter’s acquaintances from his hometown. Geraldine Moffat played a small but pivotal role as a moll who catches Carter’s eye.

This is a must see for fans of neo noir and British noir, as it is one of the best films from Britain made in the 1970’s or maybe ever. Skip the remake with Stallone and just re-watch this classic instead.

This also has a nice noir Easter egg as Carter is seen reading Raymond Chandler’s Farewell My Lovely.

Favorite Tidbit: This film was originally rated X for its intense violence and nudity, but has been reclassified R as crime films continued to push the limit of the rating system.

Review: 99 River Street

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99 River Street is a classic film noir for 1953 and is directed by Phil Karlson. This is the story of a taxi driver having one pretty bad day. We get adultery, jewel theft, and murder in this single night of noir. Lets not forget our main character gets punk’d before Ashton Kutcher was a glimmer in his dad’s eye.

John Payne plays Ernie Driscoll our taxi driver, but he isn’t our average taxi driver. Driscoll was also a pretty good boxer. He damaged his eye in the ring and had to give up his boxing career. Peggie Castle plays Driscoll’s wife and was used to the high life when her husband was a boxer. Now that he is just a cab driver, her eye begins to wander. Our couple has a bit of an argument before Driscoll goes out to work for the night. He goes to his local hang out where he meets up with broadway actress Linda James played by Evelyn Keyes. She has a shot at a big acting job and is very excited. You can see Driscoll is happy for her, but at the same time sad he missed his opportunities as a boxer. He takes her to the audition and goes to get his wife a gift to make up. At this point he see’s his wife kissing another man and drives off in a hurry. Soon Linda James comes back to the hangout looking for Driscoll for help. She has murdered the director of the play and is asking for Driscoll’s help. Our story continues from there as we find out who our hero’s wife is having an affair with. A bunch of stolen jewels go missing, more than a few people are looking for our hero for a variety of reasons.

This is a great film noir in many ways. The acting is amazing, especially Evelyn Keyes’ performance. This film seems to have not been seen by many, but really should be. If you are a noir fan, go seek this one out, you won’t be disappointed.

Book Review: He Died with His Eyes Open by Derek Raymond

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One of my favorite authors, Ken Bruen, recently put this book on his favorite 10 noir novels. I posted that article here:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/06/28/ken-bruen-picks-his-10-favorite-noir-novels-of-all-time-over-at-publishers-weekly/

I happened to be reading this book when I seen this list on which it appears.

This is the first book in Derek Raymond’s Factory series of which there are five books. The book was originally published in 1984 and takes place in London. This book is very interesting in the way it is written. It is written in the first person with a protagonist with no name. He is a detective in “The Factory” or the Unexplained Deaths Division. This case is of a middle-aged man who has been beaten to death. The way he is beaten is very savage as the killer or killers broke many bones and beat him severely. His death was not a quick one and was very painful. Our victim is a writer and as our nameless hero starts his investigation he comes across cassette tapes with our victims thoughts on them. The story is told as our protagonist in the present investigates new clues and interviews more suspects, it is also told in flashbacks with the tapes of our victim. As we bounce back and forth between the two we learn more about each as we find our hero and our victim have similar lives.

I’ll be honest, when I first started reading this I thought “why do noir fans think this is so great” as it did not suck me in right away. I did continue on and after about 50 pages I feel I got the rhythm of Raymond and really started to enjoy the story. Raymond did an amazing job, keeping the present protagonist’s words simple and to the point and our victim, who was a writer telling his story on cassette tapes, has a more elegant style, making it feel like two different authors. This book did intrigue me and I hope to read the other books in this series soon.

Favorite Tidbit: A French film was made in 1985 starring Charlotte Rampling, I have not seen this, but would like to.

Kingdom Of Darkness: RKO AND FILM NOIR

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I found this article today on the history of RKO and the films noir it made. It is a very interesting piece by Bill Mesce worth taking a look at. It talks about RKO’s two stars, Robert Ryan and Robert Mitchum and some of the great directors that carried the studio in the 1940’s and 1950’s. It also talks about how RKO used the noir style in some of its other genre productions like westerns and horror movies. Well worth your time to read.

Here is the link to the full article:

http://www.soundonsight.org/kingdom-of-darkness-rko-and-film-noir/

Re-Watching the Classics: Suddenly

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Suddenly is a classic film noir with two of the greats. We have Frank Sinatra and Sterling Hayden in this battle of good and evil. the film is from 1954 and was written by Richard Sale and directed by Lewis Allen. Frank Sinatra got top billing for this film because he had just won the Academy Award for his performance in From Here to Eternity. I recently watched the 2 part documentary on the life of Frank Sinatra from H.B.O. Films, and I got to say, his life was interesting, and could be the basis of a good noir film! I was hoping they would bring up this film, but unfortunately I did not get any new insight on this. The reason I wanted a little more information on this is supposedly Lee Harvey Oswald watched this film only weeks before he shot John F. Kennedy. The documentary did go into depth about how close JFK and Sinatra where, but did not touch on this film. The other story, which Ben Mankiewicz told just a few weeks ago on Turner Classic Movies while talking about this film, is that Sinatra was so upset about Oswald possibly using this film as inspiration to kill his friend, he had this and The Manchurian Candidate pulled off of television play. Others say this is false and he never tried to do that. If you think Sinatra would not have enough pull as an actor/singer to do something like this, watch the documentary and find out how much pull this man had in not only the entertainment industry, but in politics as well.

This story starts out with a small glimpse into a sleepy little town in California named Suddenly. The Sheriff is Sterling Hayden who protects this little town and is well liked. He has a thing for a widow played by Nancy Gates and her son looks up to Hayden. Soon the town is a buzz with something big coming. Hayden takes charge getting ready for the Secret Service, they are coming to inspect the town because the President is coming through on his way to play golf down the road. As Hayden is helping them, three F.B.I. Agents lead by Sinatra, go to Gates’ house to make sure everything is clear for the President. Gates lives with her Father-in-Law who happened to be an Ex-Secret Service Agent. One of the current Secret Service Agents worked with the Father-in-Law and wants to personally go up to the house and say hi. Hayden takes the agent to the house and when the Secret Service Agent meets the F.B.I. Agents all hell breaks loose.

This is a really amazing little film and well worth watching. Hayden is good as always and Sinatra is brilliant as the psychopathic killer that the war created. Most of this movie takes place in a small house, but the tension blows the roof of this one. I think fans of Sinatra and Hayden will obviously enjoy this film as well as classic film noir fans. On the other hand if you don’t know why Sinatra was such a huge star, give this a watch and see how he could command a room. This would make an amazing double feature with The Manchurian Candidate.