Review: Twelve Hours to Kill

April 26, 2015April 26, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Barbara Eden, Edward L. Cahn, Film Noir, Gavin MacLeod, Nico Minardos, Richard Stern, Ted Knight, Twelve Hours to Kill

12 Hours to Kill is a B-movie noir from 1960 that caught my eye based on Barbara Eden in a starring role. This film is based on a mystery serial from The Saturday Evening Post written by Richard Stern. The film is directed by Edward L. Cahn who looks to be a prolific B-movie director of mostly Sci-Fi and Horror films. I am not to familiar with his work and don’t recognize most of his films.

Our protagonist is played by Nico Minardos who plays a Greek Immigrant fresh off the boat in New York City. It looks like Minardos mostly worked in one-off appearances on varies television shows for the next 25 or so years.

The story starts with our hero minding his business in his hotel room late at night looking out the window when he witnesses a gangland slaying. He goes to the cops and we have two higher-ups listen to his story. They know they have a leak in the police force so the two keep it secret and send our hero and witness to a small town. On the train Minardos meets a beautiful women,Barbara Eden, going to the same town. Somebody leaks the eye witnesses identity to the press and from here we just have characters chasing each other, not knowing who to trust and who not to.

Barbara Eden is the high light of this film, though her character doesn’t ring true. She plays a women that is helps a total stranger, that she knows is in trouble, with no questions asked and is happy to do it. Maybe at the end of the 1950’s this single strong happy to help female existed, but to me she seems to go out of her way a little to easy. She does light up the screen and is very likable, if not believable.

This film has a few scenes which look brilliant. I liked the opening scene of the gangland slaying, also the scene where our hero gets off the train and sees the bad guys waiting for him. The movie does miss the mark elsewhere, for instance I liked some of the hand to hand fighting later in the film, but the editing doesn’t make a lot of sense. The train scene with the little dog had potential, but doesn’t fit well with the rest of the film and seems drawn out and long. I don’t have a degree in film and only know what I like, but I honestly feel this film could have went from a below average noir to something a bit better with some stronger editing alone.

This film doesn’t seem to have a very big following and I can understand why. When looking at reviews on various sites, I found saying like “almost noir-esque suspense/drama” and “pretty much a by the numbers wannabe noir.” I would say this is definitely a noir, it’s just not a great noir or even a very good one. This is for noir fans that want to see everything or big fans of Barbara Eden. It is not a total waste but If you are new to noir, I would start somewhere else.

Favorite Tidbit: T.V. greats Gavin MacLeod and Ted Knight both appear in this movie in smaller roles, though they don’t have any scenes together. They would of course go on to star together in The Mary Tyler Moore Show.

Review: Killers

April 25, 2015April 25, 2015 bryancyr Asian Noir, Movie, Neo-Noir Asian Noir, Kazuki Kitamura, Killers, Kimo Stamboel, Neo-Noir, Oka Antara, The Mo Brothers, Timo Tjahjanto

Killers is a neo noir film from the The Mo Brothers(Kimo Stamboel, Timo Tjahjanto). This takes place as much on the internet as in its two physical locations of Tokyo and Jakarta. This is two stories of two men who interact on the internet and their stories intertwine throughout.

The movie starts with our first story centering around Nomura, played by Kazuki Kitamura. We find him torturing and murdering a girl, then he posts it on the internet. Normura has mother and sister issues and reminds you of Norman Bates in a lot of ways. He is a very disturbing man and is very frightening, Kitamura plays this role very well.

Our second story revolves around Bayu played by Oka Antara. Bayu is a reporter who is not happy with a certain powerful man in his country who has gotten away with abusing his wife. This is just the latest in a string a crimes this man has gotten away with. Bayu is obsessed with this man and bringing him to justice. Bayu soon finds Nomura’s video of his murder online and is strangely fascinated. Bayu and his wife are separated and after one evening bring his daughter to his wife’s house and trying to win his wife back, Bayu falls asleep in a cab on his way home. He wakes up in an empty lot with the cab driver wanting to mug him and the cab drivers big friend trying to rape him. There is a struggle and Bayu comes out on top, he films the cab driver as he dies. He soon uploads his own murder video to the internet and Bayu and Normura start a relationship.

Bayu continues his murder spree, killing bad men as a vigilante as Normura continues his psycho killings. Their stories run parallel as well as intertwine throughout the film with many twists and turns.

This is a very good neo noir foreign film worth a look if you are a fan of Asian cinema. If you like serial killers and vigilantes you will also enjoy this film. These two stories, each on their own would still make a good film but not overly original, twisted up into one movie makes this film very fresh and enjoyable.

Review: House of Bamboo

April 24, 2015April 24, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Film Noir, House of Bamboo, Robert Ryan, Robert Stack, Samuel Fuller, Sessue Hayakawa, Shirley Yamaguchi, The Street with No Name

I’ve seen a few things on how great Samuel Fuller is, and I’ve not really watched or read any of his stuff before. Hope to read some of his noir fiction soon. I got a hold of this movie first and gave it a viewing. Fuller wrote some of the dialog for this film and directed it. This is actually a remake of the film noir The Street with No Name. I have not seen Street with No Name but may have to check it out and compare it to this one. Fuller filmed this film noir in CinemaScope and color, not many film noirs from the classic era where done this way.

This has 2 noir greats in it, Robert Ryan(quickly moving into my 5 favorite noir actors list) and Robert Stack. We also have a fairly unique setting, this film was filmed and takes place in Tokyo. We also have some Japanese talent in this film most notably is Shirley Yamaguchi as a kimono girl and Sessue Hayakawa as a police inspector.

Our story starts out with a train heist, a group of masked men rob the train which is protected by the U.S. Military as well as the Japanese. They kill an Army soldier bringing in the military police to investigate. Three weeks later we have another robbery, this time a man is shot by police and then shot 3 more times by his own team! This is to make sure he is dead and can not get caught and talk. The problem is he didn’t die! They take the 3 slugs out of him and they match the bullets to the one in our dead soldier. Even though his cohorts shot him, our suspect will not talk before he does die. They find a picture of his wife(Yamaguchi), they keep it secret so his fellow criminals do not know about her. They also found a letter from his friend Eddie who he tells to come to Tokyo for a cut of their new job. Soon Eddie comes to town(Stack) and finds his friends wife. He then falls into a crew of Americans pulling heists, run by tough guy Sandy(Ryan). The story twists and turns from there for an enjoyable film.

This was an interesting movie with some great shots and scenes, very unique being in Japan and filmed in color. I will definitely be looking for more stuff from Fuller to watch. This is for any fan of film noir that does not mind it being in color, as well as fans of Fuller, Ryan and Stack.

Favorite Tidbit: According to Robert Stack, in one scene Fuller told an actor to duck really low by a 50 gallon drum as he passed. The actor was shocked when a real bullet went by him into the barrel. Fuller used a sharp shooter for the scene and when the actor complained, Fuller told him the shooter know what he was doing.

Review: I Wake Up Screaming

April 22, 2015April 22, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Betty Grable, Carole Landis, Elisha Cook Jr., Film Noir, H. Bruce Humberstone, Hot Spot, I Wake Up Screaming, Laird Cregar, Noir, Steve Fisher, Victor Mature

I Wake Up Screaming is from 1941 and is based on the book by Steve Fisher, I have not read the book yet but will keep my eye out for a copy. The films two main stars are Betty Grable and Victor Mature and is Directed by H. Bruce Humberstone.

This film was also released in England under the title Hot Spot.

The star who I found most interesting is Carole Landis who plays Vicky. She was the classic beauty who was trying to get ahead, using her looks and charms to get a career in entertainment, no matter who she hurt. She is a classic femme fatale for this story. I didn’t know much about her so I did a little research to see why I have not seen her in anything before, at least anything I remember. Turns out after giving the entertainment business her best shot she committed suicide at the age of 29. It’s to bad, she seemed to have some talent, maybe her character from this film was a lot like the real life Landis.

Our story starts with Vicki being the center of attention for a lot of men, men who easily fall in love with her. Vicky lives with her more down to earth sister played by Grable in an apartment. We find our hero played by Mature under the bright light in the integration room, but he is as cool as a cucumber. We soon find out he is being questioned for Vicky’s murder. The story is told with a number of flashbacks as we find out bits and pieces to why Vicky may have been killed. We also learn about our suspects, including Mature and 2 of his friends as the main suspects. We soon learn Vicky had more than these three men in her life. Grable soon helps Mature, who is our prime suspect as they weed through the clues. One of my favorite character actors, Elisha Cook Jr., appears as the phone board operator in the building our sisters live in. I also liked Laird Cregar who played our hardboiled tough guy cop that is out to get our hero.

This film was remade a few years later in 1953 as Vicki. I have not seen this one yet and hope to watch it soon and compare it to this film. By all accounts this original film is the superior movie.

This story has some great twists and turns, some good dialog, but what stood out to me is the classic film noir style of black and white filming. The shadow play is very interesting and visually stimulating. I enjoyed this one and think any classic film noir fan will enjoy it too.

Review: Shiner

April 21, 2015April 21, 2015 bryancyr Movie, Neo-Noir Andy Serkis, Frank Harper, John Irvin, Martin Landau, Michael Caine, Scott Cherry, Shiner

As the poster says “Caine’s back on top form, packing his biggest punch since ‘Get Carter'”

Well this might not be as great as Get Carter, but it is pretty good. The poster shows Michael Caine staring alongside Martin Landau, but Landau doesn’t play that big a role in this film. Caine is the one and only star you need to know about in this film.

This film is directed by John Irvin who has done a hodge-podge of action, neo noir, and war movies through his career with some great stuff as well as some I’d rather forget. Scott Cherry wrote the screenplay, this his first movie, but he has extensive television work.

This film is about Billy ‘Shiner’ Simpson who is a gangster and shady boxing promoter. He has a contender under his management, his own son, and has gotten him a big title fight. He has everything he owns on the line, his son needs to win and Shiner is looking pretty, if he loses, Shiner loses everything! Shiner’s son loses….to easily. Shiner thinks the fix is in, he confronts his son…and the next thing you know this son is shot! Shiner continues to solve who got to his son? who shot his son? Why would somebody do this to him? Besides Caine’s usual great performance we have, Landau playing the American promoter who manages the title holder. Frank Harper as Stoney and Andy Serkis as Mel, both thugs in Shiner’s employ.

This neo noir again has our favorite noir sport, boxing! We have some police detectives but they pretty much stay out of the picture. We got a crooked lawyer, some other shady boxing promoters, lots of thugs and a great English back drop.

This film is a good picture, worth watching for any Caine fans out there, but might not be to everyone’s liking. I gave it a 7 out of 10, IMDb is at a 6 out of 10. Seems about far for this film.

Review: Don’t Bother to Knock

April 20, 2015July 2, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Anne Bancroft, Charlotte Armstrong, Don't Bother to Knock, Elisha Cook Jr., Film Noir, Marilyn Monroe, Richard Widmark, Roy Ward Backer

Don’t Bother to Knock is a film noir from Roy Ward Backer, his first for Hollywood and one of many great noir movies he did. The movie is based on a book by Charlotte Armstrong. This movie has superstar Marilyn Monroe as our most interesting character. Noir great Richard Widmark plays a pilot in town on an over night stay at the hotel. We also get Anne Bancroft in her first film, as the lounge signer Widmark is in love with.

Our story starts with Bancroft sitting at a bar, telling the bartender her troubles with her boyfriend and then the spotlight hits her and she starts singing. We soon meet her boyfriend, the pilot that comes to town from Chicago played by Widmark. They’re relationship is on the rocks and Widmark is trying to save it. We also meet the elevator man played by the great character actor,Elisha Cook Jr., who is taking Monroe up to the 8th floor. We find out he is her uncle and got her a job babysitting. Seems like a pretty average day in the Hotel, but things get stranger and stranger as time goes on.

This film is in real-time, so the events happen in the same amount of time as the film length. This is pretty cool and done very seamlessly. The whole movie also takes place in a high-end hotel, basically the lounge, 2 rooms and the elevator contain all the scenes. This gives you a bit of claustrophobia as the suspense grows through out.

Marilyn Monroe was a popular star at this point. The problem was, she was not know for her acting. Up to this point she just played her lovable self and people ate it up. This was her 18th movie and she made this movie to show she could act, and act she did! This is an amazing performance of a suicidal, mentally disturbed young women, it is not over the top, very real feeling and subtle . At the time critics loved her performance, and I got to say, I did too. Unfortunately looking back at her life, this may have been the real Monroe and she was acting as Marilyn Monroe all the other times she was in the spot light.

This is not as gritty as most film noir but it is just as dark, maybe even more so. If you are a fan of any of the 3 main stars, especially Monroe you should see this. I give it an 8 out of 10, a must see film noir.

Re-watching: Kalifonia

April 18, 2015April 18, 2015 bryancyr Movie, Neo-Noir Brad Pitt, David Duchovny, Dominic Sena, Juliette Lewis, Kalifornia, Michelle Forbes, Neo-Noir, Noir, Stephen Levy, Tim Metcalfe

Kalifornia is a road trip noir directed by Dominic Sena and written by Stephen Levy and Tim Metcalfe. This also has an amazing cast of four. Brad Pitt plays the psychopath Early Grayce and steals the show with his performance. This is fairly early in his career, just after his break through role in A River Runs Through It. We will see Pitt in quite a few neo-noir films through the decade of the 1990’s. Juliette Lewis plays Early’s girlfriend and is no stranger to playing characters who are a little off the wall. David Duchovny plays our hero, a writer who gets in over his head, and his girlfriend is played by Michelle Forbes.

Our story starts with Duchovny getting a gig writing a book about serial killers and plans a trip across the country to visit sites of famous murders. His girlfriend is excited, because as a photographer she wants to go to California and this is their chance. The don’t have enough money to make it on their own so they advertise to find somebody that will share the ride. Pitt and Lewis live in a trailer and are down on their luck. They owe back rent and don’t have a job. They soon decide to start over in California. Before they leave Pitt kills the landlord and torches the trailer and his car. The four all meet at a bus depot and start our adventure across the country.

This film is shot in a very noir style and the story is very dark. We visit a lot of strange and disturbing locations as the crew traverse the country. The performances from our four main actors are spot on.

This may not be a classic, but maybe it should be. Maybe it gets over shadowed by Pitt’s other movies to come like Seven and Fight Club. If you haven’t seen this in a while you should go back and re-watch it too. If you haven’t seen it yet, seek it out, you will enjoy it.

Favorite Tidbit: The four famous murder scene locations all are named after our four main characters in some way.

Re-Watching the Classics: White Heat

April 17, 2015May 22, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Edmond O'Brien, Film Noir, James Cagney, Margaret Wycherly, Raoul Walsh, Steve Cochran, Virginia Kellogg, Virginia Mayo, White Heat

White Heat is a classic and should be watched by any film nut. This is directed by Raoul Walsh who did several noir films. We have James Cagney at his best as psychopath Cody Jarrett. Our top billed femme fatale is Virginia Mayo who uses her beauty gets men to do whatever she wants.

Well let’s be honest, our protagonists true femme fatale isn’t his beautiful wife, it’s his mom, played by Margaret Wycherly. He will do anything for her, from robbing trains, to killing cohorts, to going to jail for a crime he didn’t commit.

This story starts with a train robbery, and it does not go as planned. The heat is on and to get out of it Jarrett admits to a lesser crime that took place up north. If he did that crime, he couldn’t have done the much worse train robbery. Jarrett goes to jail, but the police are on to him. They send Hank Fallon in undercover as the hood by the name of Vic Pardo. This character is played by Edmond O’Brien, our good guy hero? Pardo quickly be-friends Jarrett and they soon plan an escape. In the mean time his wife is siding with his number two-man, Big Ed Somers, played by Steve Cochran. They conspire to kill Ma Jarrett and soon do.

Will Jarrett and his pals escape prison? Will he have his revenge on those that took his mom away from him? Will the gang be able to overcome their differences and pull off another heist? Will they figure out Pardo is really Fallon?

This movie is a must see for any film noir fan, Cagney fan or movie fan in general. “Made it, Ma! Top of the world!” maybe only #18 on the top 100 lines in movie history by the American Film Institute, but lets face it, this is the best line in film noir history if not all of film history.

If you have not seen this yet, go do it right now! Those that have, what did you think of this film?

Favorite Tidbit: The relationship between Jarrett and his mom are based on real life bank robbers, Ma Baker and her boys.

The Great Villain Blogathon 2015: Catherine Tramell and Re-Watching Basic Instinct

April 14, 2015April 14, 2015 bryancyr Movie, Neo-Noir Basic Instinct, Chatherine Tramell, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, The Great Villain Blogathon 2015

The year was 1992 and I was a young college student. Basic Instinct was in the news, we learned it was to raw, too much violence and too much sex and nudity. We had to go see it! So the controversy and nudity got us into the theater, but would the movie be any good? The movie was amazing! We watched it over and over again when it came out on VHS. Me and my friends discussed it, it was the movie to watch for over a year. I can’t tell you how many times I watched it back in the early 90’s, but it was a lot. I was a movie fan, always have been, but at this time in my life I didn’t know what film noir was. I bought the limited edition ice pick DVD when it came out 10 years later and watched it again, I had to have this in my DVD collection, but I had moved on to other films and haven’t watched this in years.

So I popped in the DVD a few nights ago to revisit a film from my past, would it hold up? Was it as good as I remember? Was Catherine Tramell as cool as I remember?

What do I remember? I remember me and my friends being just like Michael Douglas’ Nick Curran. We were in love with Sharon Stone’s Catherine Tramell, and no matter how many times we watched this, we argued if she really did the murders. Some of us always argued she was innocent. She was to smart, to cool…to good looking to be a murderer. Jeanne Tripplehorn’s Dr. Beth Garner was the crazy one, the murderer for sure. As 19-year-old boys we didn’t know what a femme fatale was, but we all knew if Sharon Stone showed up in our home town, we would believe every word she said.

Now that I’m older, I see beyond the beauty of most femme fatales in noir movies and wonder “what the hell is he thinking!” but then I flash back to this film and realize that men are weak in the presence of a femme fatale.

Now that I’m older and have watched hundreds of femme fatale movies, I re-watched Basic Instinct. It still holds up, it still is as good as I remember. I might be smarter than I was the first time I seen it, but I still have a shadow of a doubt if Catherine Tramell is guilty or not. I guess that is what makes her a truly great villain, even though we know she is evil, we still want to believe she is not.

This post is part of THE GREAT VILLAIN BLOGATHON, hosted by Speakeasy, Shadows & Satin and yours truly. Click HERE for a list of all dastardly entries.

Review: The Killer is Loose

April 14, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Alan Hale Jr., Budd Boetticher, Film Noir, Joseph Cotton, Michael Pate, Noir, Rhonda Fleming, The Killer is Loose, Wendell Corey

The Killer is Loose is a short but sweet film noir from 1956. It doesn’t look to be viewed as much as other films with this amount of star power. This stars noir legend Joseph Cotten and femme fatale great Rhonda Fleming.

This is a tension filled hour and 15 minute movie, with a simple plot that raises the bar with the great performances.

Our story starts with a very smart bank robbery, to smart. The police force discovers clues showing it is an inside job. This narrows down the suspect list to one Foggy Poole. Soon a raid on Poole’s apartment is organized and Poole is not going down without a fight. When the police break the door down and with the lights off our hero, Detective Sam Wagner played by Cotton jumps in and sees movement, he fires…and kills Poole’s wife by mistake. Poole goes to trial and is found guilty for the bank job. He vows revenge on Wagner by promising to taking the life of his wife, Lila, played by Fleming. A few years go by and Poole escapes prison. This is where the story takes off, everybody knows Poole will be coming for our hero and his wife, but will he succeed? What will he do to get revenge on his wife’s killer?

Foggy Poole is a very creepy psychopath played amazingly by Wendell Corey. Foggy is a killing machine with above average intelligence. Are we seeing the roots of future serial killers like Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates?

Michael Pate and Alan Hale Jr.(The Skipper from Gilligan’s Island) both play smaller parts as police officers but still stand out. This film is directed by Budd Boetticher who is more known for his western films, but did very well in this dark crime film.

I really liked this film! The ending was a little abrupt, and some of the characters make some decisions that don’t exactly make sense. The story is simple but the tension builds all the way to the end. Recommended for any Cotton and Fleming fans and if you like Wendell Corey you will love this film.

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