Review: Johnny Eager

February 16, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Film Noir, Johnny Eager, Lana Turner, Robert Taylor, Van Heflin

Johnny Eager is an early film noir from 1941 and is about a recent parole that is working as a taxi driver, so we think. Johnny is played by Robert Taylor and catches the eye of Lisabeth, a student of sociology played by noir femme fatale legend Lana Turner. Lisabeth is the step daughter of the prosecutor that knows Johnny isn’t on the level and wants to put him back in prison. Johnny uses people more than violence to get what he wants and doesn’t mind doing it.

Though Turner is amazing as the jolted lover and Taylor plays the dapper hood well, the stand out in this film is Van Heflin. Heflin plays Jeff, the right hand man of Eager, but he isn’t the usual muscle, he is quite original, and in 1941 there wasn’t many to compare him to yet. Jeff is a well-educated man who uses big words and quotes great literature, his one weakness is he has a problem with alcohol. Jeff is Johnny’s conscience as well in this film, telling him when he is doing wrong by others or making the wrong decisions. To bad Johnny never learns or listens to Jeff, Johnny always thinks he’s the smartest man in the room, but sometimes he isn’t.

Van Heflin won best supporting actor for this portrayal and I can see why. This classic film noir is not widely watched with only 1500 votes on IMDb and a good rating of 7.1 and no Rotten Tomatoes score. This is a good film on its own, but if you’re a noir lover, I think you will really like the plot and Van Heflin and Lana Turner and worth the viewing.

Book Review: Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis

February 15, 2015February 15, 2015 bryancyr Book Crooked Little Vein, Gun Machine, Iron Man Extremis, RED, Warren Ellis

Warren Ellis is a renowned graphic novel writer. If you don’t read comics you may not know him, but you probably know his work. His graphic novel Red was made into the movie of the same name starring Bruce Willis. He wrote the graphic novel Iron Man Extremis that is a large part of the plot for Iron Man 3. He’s also worked on many other titles for both Marvel and DC.

Crooked Little Vein is his first novel and is an amazing noir story mixed with some humor and fantasy, he does come from a comic background after all. This book will make you say “What the hell…this guy is sick!” while you are laughing out loud. This book is not for the faint of heart and may disturb or disgust some, but if your into noir and on my site I think you will be OK.

This is about a private detective that has the worst luck and needs a big break to get back to even. He finds it when the government hires him because of his bad luck, they figure he’s a magnet for it and can help them in ways the agents from the government can not. He meets a femme fatale that is willing to help him, and our adventure begins. They travel to some of the most underground scenes across this great country of the United States of America to find a book that only the President is supposed to have, but Richard Nixon lost years ago. This is the reason the country has been on a downward slide ever since.

Like I said, this isn’t a straight up noir, but that just makes it a little more original and it is a great one. It is a blast to read and I look forward to reading more from Ellis. Gun Machine is his next noir book and I also plan to check out some of his graphic novel stuff. I recommend it if you want to read something different then the norm.

Re-watching the Classics: A Fresh Look at Miller’s Crossing

February 15, 2015February 15, 2015 bryancyr Movie, Neo-Noir Albert Finney, Dashiell Hammett, Ethan Coen, Frances McDormand, Gabriel Byrne, J.E. Freeman, Joe Polito, Joel Coen, John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden, Mike Starr, Miller's Crossing, Sam Raimi, Steve Buscemi

Joel Coen and Ethan Coen, the Coen Brothers, neo noir legends that have made so many classic modern noir films it’s hard to pick a favorite. This is not me picking my favorite of Coen Brothers film, this is me reviewing the one I think is the most underrated. After their debut Blood Simple and before the Oscar-winning Fargo, both classics, they made a small movie called Miller’s Crossing. The Coen’s used a mishmash of noir legend Dashiell Hammett books to write this story.

Gabriel Byrne plays our hero, a gangster with a gambling problem. He’s the right hand man of the boss played by Albert Finney. Both of them are in love with our femme fatale Verna, played by Marcia Gay Harden. The plot is further complicated by Verna’s brother, played by John Turturro, who is always in trouble and Verna is using anybody and everybody to protect him. A boxing match is being fixed by competing gangster Johnny Casper played by Joe Polito, but somebody is leaking the information. We see cameo’s by Steve Buscemi and Frances McDormand, Coen Brother favorites, and a cool cameo from director Sam Raimi. J.E. Freeman as the Dane and Mike Starr as Frankie play great heavies.

This story is full of plot twists you don’t see coming in classic noir style. It takes place in the late 1920’s maybe early 1930’s, we have corrupt cops, back stabbing gangsters, gamblers, murder, great dialog, and sets. If you like the Coen Brothers and have not seen this movie it, do it! Great film worth a viewing.

Review: Scarlet Street

February 14, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Dan Duryea, Edward G. Robinson, Film Noir, Fritz Lang, Joan Bennett, Scarlet Street

Scarlet Street is another great film-noir from Fritz Lang. We have our everyday man and noir staple Edward G. Robinson in the lead. Joan Bennett as our femme fatale and Dan Duryea as a con and thug trying to get ahead. This story starts out with our hero at a company party for his 25 years on the job. He leaves drunk and sees a beautiful women getting beat by a man. He intervenes and stops it, he walks the women home and stops to have a drink with her. He is infatuated with the much younger women and she seems to like him as well. The only problem, he’s married to a battle-ax he can no longer stand. You think you might guess the plot from here, but you would be wrong. This is one of the most intricate plots, with so many twists and turns, I can’t believe they got all this story to fit into less than 2 hours of movie. One of the surprising and shocking things of this movie is the abuse towards women, the way it is portrayed makes it look common and just part of life for the time. The couple out to get ahead is very co-dependent and I found very disturbing. This movie has no truly innocent or good characters, all are willing to do anything to get what they want. None of them want the same thing, but use each other in a way that makes for one intense movie.

The other star of this movie is the art, it’s funny that this and my last film-noir review (See my review of Laura) have a portrait of the lead lady that is amazing. I didn’t realize this when I watched them a couple of days apart, but is a cool coincidence. The art in this film is very cool.

This may be the darkest classic film noir I’ve seen thus far. There is no gangsters and guns in this movie and that might be what makes this so dark. I think this is my favorite Fritz Lang film I’ve seen so far. This isn’t a widely watched noir but it should be. This film has a 7.9 on IMDb with less than 9,000 votes, and 100% on Rotten Tomatoes but with only 13 reviews. This film did fall out of copyright protection, so make sure you watch a good version of this that isn’t to cut up and distorted. I watched it on TCM, always a reliable source for classic films.

Bosch Debuts Today

February 14, 2015 bryancyr Book, Television Bosch, Michael Connelly, Titus Welliver

Unfortunately I don’t have Amazon Prime, but if I did, I would be watching this right now. It looks awesome! I also look forward to reading the books it is based on by Michael Connelly. Titus Welliver looks like a great choice for the lead. Look forward to seeing this when it is released on DVD, unless I find a friend with Prime and watch it with them before hand. If you are one of the luck ones seeing it today, what did you think?

What to be Watching Right Now: Better Call Saul

February 14, 2015February 14, 2015 bryancyr Television Better Call Saul, Bob Odenkirk, Breaking Bad

Fans of the legendary AMC desert noir series Breaking Bad will be tuning in for Better Call Saul, but is it worth it? I just got done watching the first 2 episodes and found them very good. I will not pass judgement on the series until I see the whole first season, but I think it is worth viewing. The first episode opens in a classic black and white noir style to sets the tone for the neo noir series. Better Call Saul broke the record for most viewers for a new series on cable T.V. and spinning off of Breaking Bad will do that for you. Rolling Stone and Rotten Tomato are calling this a comedy-noir and I agree, it can get really dark and the plot can get very twisted, but we get a laugh now and then to break the darkness. I think the creators did the right thing with this. Originally this was going to be a half hour comedy, but I think a one-hour more serious program fits better and keeps all the Breaking Bad fans as well as gains new ones. Bob Odenkirk is great as Jimmy McGill the sleaze bag lawyer, con-artist that we love to root for. I look forward to seeing more episodes and from the early ratings and reviews around the web it looks like everybody that seen it so far is also excited to see more.

Re-watching the Classics: Laura

February 13, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Clifton Webb, Dana Andrews, Film Noir, Gene Tierney, Joseph LaShella, Laura, Otto Preminger, Vera Caspary, Vincent Price

What movie does Vincent Price say was his best movie? Laura is the answer. It’s February so it’s Oscar season and TCM is showing a lot of movies that won awards. Laura was nominated for 4 awards and won one award. We have Best Writing for a Screen Play, Best Director for Otto Preminger, Best Supporting Actor for Clifton Webb and a win for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White for Joseph LaShelle. I watched this movie years ago and took another look at it tonight. It defiantly deserved its Best Cinematography Award, I didn’t realize how cool this movie looks, and almost all the scenes are interior shots which makes it more impressive. Clifton Webb had only played a few parts in film before this and was a stage actor at the time. Preminger wanted him in this film and declined the studios choice for the part. This launched a resurgence in Webb’s career and even lead to a couple more nominations. Dana Andrews plays our hardboiled detective assigned to the case. We get his prospective and version of the story through out this movie. Vincent Price shows his great film presence in this movie, I love Price’s voice and way of talking in almost everything he does. He is hard to ignore in any scene he is in. All though all these performances are great,lets face it, the real star is Gene Tierney. Tierney is Laura and the love obsession of just about everybody in this film. This is not hard to believe, she is a beautiful, smart women with the most adorable overbite ever. Even her portrait in this film is one of the all time great film props. It is how our hero falls in love with our femme fatale and it even appears in 2 more movies after this. I will not get into much of the story because telling any of it will ruin the twists in the story. The source material is from a book by Vera Caspary. I have not read the book but it is told in 5 parts, each part is a different character’s version of what happened. The original screenplay told the story from 3 character’s versions of events, this was still to hard to do in a 2 hour film from the 1940’s. So the screenplay was reduced to one character’s version, our police detective played by Andrews. This film is required viewing for any film noir buff. It’s not on my top 10 list of all time, but it is one of the greats.

Review: Sweet Nothing by Richard Lange

February 12, 2015February 12, 2015 bryancyr Book Angel Baby, Mulholland Books, Richard Lange, Sweet Nothing

So I was lucky enough to get an advanced copy of Sweet Nothing by Richard Lange from Mulholland Books. They asked me to read and review it for them so here goes! So Sweet Nothing is a collection of short stories, and I would say most fall in the noir genre. There is one post-apocalyptic story, but all the other stories are crime, hardboiled and noir stories taking place in and around Los Angels.

We got a man who finds out his Father-in-Law isn’t all he seems.

There is a Grandmother that has to face a drive by shooting that kills a baby in her neighborhood, a neighborhood that she has lived in most of her life.

A prison guard that must protect a child molester, even though he knows the prisoner is guilty.

A gambler that has a bad addiction and knows it, but can’t stop it from destroys most of his relationships.

A man stuck in his job, has an affair and all hell breaks loose.

A man and woman have a drug habit, woman dies, man’s world falls apart.

An ex-convict gets out and turns a new leaf, gets a job as a security guard at a small jewelry shop and finds out there is a plot to rob the shop. What side of the law will our hero fall on?

Our post-apocalyptic tale of lost treasure.

The man who is starting over, works at Subway and lives with a 450 lbs man. How is he ever going to get ahead?

The last story covers a Mexican family that is legally living in California, but has a some family members crossing the border. The only problem is a wildfire, a recluse that lives in a trailer in the desert and some vigilantly ex-marines.

Sounds fun! right? I will say Lange can tell a hell of a story in a short 20 to 30 pages. I almost felt like I read 4-5 novels worth of story in these 10 short stories. I enjoyed this book and look forward to reading more from Lange, especially Angel Baby.

Sweet Nothing came out in Hardback and E-book yesterday, February 10th and is a good read, check it out.

Review: The Harder They Fall

February 11, 2015December 25, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Budd Schulberg, Film Noir, Harold Conrad, Humphrey Bogart, Jan Sterling, Jersey Joe Walcott, Max Baer, Mike Lane, Primo Carnera, Requiem for a Heavyweight, Rod Steiger, The Harder They Fall

The Harder They Fall is a great noir with the most common of noir sports-boxing!(horse racing has to be a close second). This is Humphrey Bogart’s last film, he was very sick when he made this movie. To see how great an actor he was, find anywhere in the film where he looks like a sick man. If you love Bogart, you will love him in this. This movie also has Rod Steiger and Jan Sterling.

This movie is based on a book of fiction written by Budd Schulberg that is actually based on the career of pro boxing champ Primo Carnera. This movie and book are so close to true events that Primo sued to get it shelved. Primo was a giant of a man at 6’9″ and 265 lbs, good-looking and Italian, he was a huge draw at the arenas. Primo went a remarkable 76-6 on his way to winning the Heavy Weight Title in Madison Square Garden. He lost the title 3 fights later to Max Baer also at the Garden. Though nobody really knows the whole truth, but the theory is Primo’s fights were fixed by the mob without his knowledge or consent for most of his career. When he got in the ring with Baer, he was severely out matched, but his heart and pride would not let him be knocked out. He was dropped 11 times in 10 rounds and took a hell of a beating. Primo fought 17 more times with a mediocre record. Primo also went on to become a pro wrestling champion and had a great career doing so.

The character based on Primo was played by Mike Lane who physically matched Primo. Lane also had a career in pro wrestling as well as a few more movies. Lane’s character is Toro Moreno and was from Argentina instead of Italy. The Max Bear character was actually played by Max himself and went by Buddy Brannen. We also see boxing great Jersey Joe Walcott in the role of a trainer.

Bogart’s character was also based on a real person by the name of Harold Conrad, who was a colorful writer and promoter.

This movie tells an amazing story and when I found out it is based in reality, it’s even more fascinating. Though I know Requiem for a Heavyweight is not a noir film, I watched it soon after seeing The Harder They Fall and seen some similarities. Though I could not find any information to show this, I have to feel that the writers of Requiem got some inspiration from Primo’s career as well. Requiem is also a great movie worth watching.

It is a shame this movie doesn’t get its due respect, I know Bogart is one of, if not the best actor in film history, and had a lot of great movies, you really don’t hear much about this film. This movie has a great rating of 7.6 on IMDb but only has 4300 votes. It also has 100% Rotten Tomato rating, but only 10 reviews counted. I don’t know how high on the list of Bogart film I would put this, but it is a great movie worthy of your viewing.

Review: Blue Ruin

February 10, 2015 bryancyr Movie Amy Hargreaves, Blue Ruin, David W. Thompson, Devin Ratray, Green Room, Jeremy Saulnier, Kevin Kolack, Macon Blair, Neo-Noir, southern noir

Blue Ruin is a film made by two friends on a small budget…and it makes it even more gritty and dark because of it. This is a southern neo noir that has a simple story that will twist and turn as you go. Though we only really get to know the main character Dwight played by Macon Blair, an average guy in every sense of the word. Dwight is homeless at the beginning and wants revenge on a man who killed his family. He has no experience dealing with weapons, he’s not an ex-gangster or any kind of bad ass at all. He just needs revenge for his family and has no idea how he’s going to do it, he just knows he has to. This is noir in the best sense, it’s a character put in a situation over his head, now what is he going to do to get out of it. Jeremy Saulnier is a great talent, he wrote and directed this film and is already working on his next movie “Green Room.” I look forward to seeing this when it is available. The one supporting character I loved is Ben Gaffney played by Devin Ratray. Ben is a bad ass! He had some of the greatest lines and had an interesting look. Hard to believe that Devin played Macaulay Culkin mean older brother in Home Alone and Home Alone two. Amy Hargreaves as Sam,Kevin Kolack as Teddy and David W. Thompson as William all stood out in the film. The reason I checked out this film is, it was on a bunch of blog posts by other people into crime, hardboiled and noir movies. This made a lot of their top 10 lists, so I had to see it. Glad I did!

This movie got big praise at Cannes as well as a lot of smaller film festivals throughout the world and nominated for some Independent Film awards. It is definitely worth a look, I hope you enjoy it.

everythingnoir

Movies, Television, Books….Everything Noir

Year: 2015