Review: The Big Clock

March 31, 2015January 3, 2016 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Film Noir, Harry Morgan, Henry Luce, John Farrow, Kenneth Fearing, Maureen O'Sullivan, Noir, Ray Milland, Rita Johnson, The Big Clock

The Big Clock is an amazing noir story with all the best features of noir. We have a femme fatale, we have a protagonist in a situation way over his head and has to out smart the enemy to get out of danger, we have adultery, murder, a rich and powerful antagonist and a claustrophobic setting that even as a viewer we want to get out of.

The film is based on a book by the same name written by Kenneth Fearing. There have been two remakes of this film, or two more movies based on this book, depending on how you look at it. Police Python 357 is a film made in 1976, I have not seen this one. The other one is No Way Out starring Kevin Costner and Sean Young, I’ve seen this movie but it was so many years ago I would like to re-watch it before I make any comments about it.

John Farrow directed this, he had a storied career as a director with over 49 credits to his name. Ray Milland plays our hero and was in many film noir movies as well as westerns and horror films. We will look at more if his films in the future. He is amazing in this film as our everyday man who hates his job, but is a very successful author and journalist. He decides he is going to quit his job for two reasons, he is married and wants to go on his honeymoon and his boss has pushed him to his limit. The boss is played by the great Charles Laughton and our hero’s wife is played by Maureen O’Sullivan. He goes out for a drink to celebrate his new freedom and runs into a beautiful blonde played by Rita Johnson. She makes him miss his meeting time with his wife, and they make the best of it by having a grand old-time. They go back to her place and things are implied. We soon find out our mystery blonde is dead. His old boss and the magazine he used to write for wants him back for one last assignment, find the man who was with the blonde last night!?!?! This has an amazing set up and the story does not disappoint. As the trap tightens around our hero the tension grows.

Harry Morgan, that went on to fame many years later on T.V.’s Dragnet and M*A*S*H, plays an interesting role as the silent henchman. We also see the Bride of Frankenstein herself, Elsa Lanchester as an eccentric artist.

Favorite tidbit: Kenneth Fearing wrote this book as revenge on publisher Henry Luce and his “Time” magazine, where Fearing worked for many years for financial reasons. The character Earl Janoth played by Laughton is based on Luce.

This is an amazing movie and should be watched by any noir fan or classic film fan in general.

Re-Watching a New Classic: Out of Sight

March 30, 2015March 29, 2015 bryancyr Movie, Neo-Noir Catherine Keener, Dennis Farina, Don Cheadle, Elmore Leonard, George Clooney, Jennifer Lopez, Karen Sisco, Luis Guzman, Michael Keaton, Nancy Allen, Out of Sight, Samuel L. Jackson, Steve Zahn, Steven Soderbergh, Ving Rhames

Out of Sight is best known for the relationship between George Clooney’s Jack Foley and Jennifer Lopez’s Karen Sisco, but it is so much more than that. I haven’t seen this since it came out in 1998 and just re-watched it. I remember that Steven Soderbergh directed this Elmore Leonard story. I didn’t realize this was Soderbergh’s first big budget film, not a bad first try, Though this was a box office flop for the studio. This is also one of my favorite Leonard adoptions, it’s funny but it’s the classic one liners and a few characters that don’t quite fit into society that make it funny, not trying to make it a comedy, that happens way to much with Leonard’s work. Leonard is a crime storyteller first, funny second. What I forgot about this film is the rest of the cast is brilliant! Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Catherine Keener, Dennis Farina,Steve Zahn, Albert Brooks, Nancy Allen and Luis Guzmán!

This movie’s most famous scene happens towards the beginning of the film and sets in motion what is to come. That scene happens after Foley out smarts the prison guards and escapes prison. When he is getting picked up by his buddy…Buddy, played by Rhames, FBI Agent Sisco is in the parking lot on an unrelated mater. They steal her car and throw her in the trunk with Foley for the escape. Their conversation about movies, which includes the classics Bonnie and Clyde, Network, and Three Days of the Condor, and life in general make for an intimate conversation that changes both of their lives. We find from this scene that there is chemistry between our two leads, and both have a mutual attraction. Both know this might just be their downfall.

This gives a different spin on our plot. Foley can’t keep away from Sisco even though he knows she will eventually put him back in jail and Sisco can’t stay away from Foley, even though she knows she should put him back in jail. This is also unique because Lopez is not only our femme fatale, but also our hero for good. We have noir’s favorite sport-boxing, bank robbers, kidnappers, magician assistants, ex-cops, F.B.I., Detroit detectives, and a surprise appearance by none other than Samuel L. Jackson.

Enjoy this Leonard romp in the way a Leonard romp should be done.

Favorite tidbit: Michael Keaton reprises his role as Ray Nicolette in a cameo, Keaton played Nicolette in Jackie Brown(another of my favorite Leonard adoptions) as well.

Review: In Cold Blood

March 29, 2015March 29, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie, Neo-Noir Dick Hickock, Film Noir, In Cold Blood, John Forsythe, Neo-Noir, Perry Smith, Richard Brook, Robert Blake, Scott Wilson, Truman Capote

In Cold Blood is based on the book by Truman Capote, that is based on the true story of the murder of the Clutter family by Perry Smith and “Dick” Hickock. Smith is played by Robert Blake, later known for his role as Baretta on the T.V. show by the same name, and maybe more so for being accused for the murder of his second wife. Hickock is played by Scott Wilson, who I know from The Walking Dead and look forward to watching him on the series Bosch. I did not recognize him at all, as his older bearded self doesn’t look much like he did in his youth, and his voice isn’t as distinctive yet either. The two actors looked remarkably like the real life killers that they play.

John Forsythe plays our lead detective on the case, Alvin Dewey. Forsythe already had a pretty decent T.V. career going when he made this movie, but of course he would go on to great heights as the voice of Charlie on Charlie’s Angels and the prime-time soup Dynasty.

Though this is not a classic film-noir, I guess it is to new for that, it was made in 1967. Richard Brook wrote this for the screen and directed it. He used black and white and many shadows, it looks like any good noir made in the 1950’s to me. It is a neo-noir in date alone in my opinion. Brooks, kept this as close to the book as possible and as accurate as possible, using some of the same jurors and a lot of the locals for extras. As well as going to the actual locations to film as many scenes as possible

The story starts with Perry Smith getting off the bus in Kansas to meet his friend Dick Hickock. Hickock has a plan for some big money, no witnesses and an escape to Mexico. The plan doesn’t seem to go well and our duo is on the run, broke and not sure what to do.

The movies Capote and Infamous are both very good movies about Truman Capote and him writing the book “In Cold Blood.” I have never read the book, but it is one on my long list of “Want to Read.” This movie makes me want to move it up the list a bit.

Favorite Tidbit: The character Perry Smith mentions the movie “Treasure of the Sierra Madre” twice, some thought this was written into the script because Smith was played by Robert Blake. Blake had an uncredited role in the film as a child. The real reason Smith mentions the movie in the film is because it was the real Perry Smith’s favorite film and he often referred to it.

This movie is for everybody that likes good film. If you are a noir fan it is a must watch. Fans of true crime stories should also love it.

Review: Son of a Gun

March 28, 2015March 28, 2015 bryancyr Movie, Neo-Noir Alicia Vikander, Australia Noir, Brenden Abbott, Brenton Thwaites, Matt Nable, Neo-Noir, Post Card Bandit, Son of a Gun

Son of a Gun is a neo-noir film from Australia, this is the second film from Australia I seen this week. This films biggest star is Ewan McGregor, but our main character is played by Brenton Thwaites who has already stared in a few big Hollywood movies and looks to have more to come. He will be a name to watch in the future. Our femme fatale is played by Alicia Vikander who is also an up and comer with roles in the impressive looking Ex Machina and big Hollywood movie Man from U.N.C.L.E.. Matt Nable plays a small but memorable role as one of the gang of thieves.

Son of a Gun starts out with Thwaites getting thrown in prison. He is taken under the wing of McGregor who saves him from other baddies. Thwaites gets out of prison but soon finds he needs to pay back McGregor for his kindness. A prison escape is the first plan and then a robbery spree ensues. Thwaites is in over his head, like any good protagonist in a good noir story. This story has prison violence, a prison escape, gangsters, double crosses, triple crosses, torture, murder, a heist, car chases, cheap hotels and femme fatales. What more do you want?

Though this isn’t an original story by any means, more of a mishmash of things we’ve already seen put together to make an entertaining film. It’s worth watching if you’re looking for something new to see.

Favorite Tidbit: Ewan McGregor’s character is based on real life bank robber Brenden Abbott known as the Post Card Bandit. Abbott has escaped prison 2 times and is currently serving a 23 year sentence.

Gangsters in Movies from Jorge Luengo Ruiz

March 26, 2015March 26, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie, Neo-Noir Film Noir, Neo-Noir

I just found this and thought it was pretty cool. After seeing this, can you name any great actors that have not played a gangster?

Gangsters in Movies

from Jorge Luengo Ruiz

AS FAR BACK AS I CAN REMEMBER, I ALWAYS WANTED TO BE A GANGSTER.

Movies than appear:

Little Caesar (Mervyn LeRoy, 1931)
The Public Enemy (William A. Wellman, 1931)
Scarface (Howard Hawks, 1932)
Angels With Dirty Faces (Michael Curtiz, 1938)
On the Waterfront ( Elia Kazan, 1954)
Some Like it Hot (Billy Wilder, 1959)
Bonnie & Cylde (Arthur Penn, 1967)
Get Carter (Mike Hodges, 1971)
The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)
Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese, 1973)
Chinatown (Roman Polanski, 1974)
The Godfather II (Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)
The Long Good Friday (John Mackenzie, 1980)
Scarface (Brian de Palma, 1983)
City Heat (Richard Benjamin, 1984)
Cotton Club (Francis Ford Coppola, 1984)
Once Upon a Time in America (Sergio Leone, 1984)
The Untouchables (Brian de Palma, 1987)
Dick Tracy (Warren Beatty, 1990)
The Godfather III (Francis Ford Coppola, 1990)
Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese, 1990)
King of New York (Abel Ferrera, 1990)
Miller’s Crossing (Joel Coen, 1990)
State of Grace (Phil Joanou, 1990)
Bugsy (Barry Levinson, 1991)
Resevoir Dogs (Quentin Tarantino, 1992)
A Bronx Tale (Robert de Niro, 1993)
Carlito’s Way (Brian de Palma, 1993)
True Romance (Tony Scott, 1993)
Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)
Casino (Martin Scorsese, 1995)
The Funeral (Abel Ferrara, 1996)
Donnie Brasco (Mike Newell, 1997)
Hoodlum (Bill Duke, 1997)
Jackie Brown (Quentin Tarantino, 1997)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (Guy Ritchie, 1998)
Analyze This (Harold Ramis, 1999)
Snatch (Guy Ritchie, 2000)
Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes, 2002)
Una Historia de Violencia (David Cronenberg, 2005)
The Departed (Martin Scorsese, 2006)
American Gangster (Ridley Scott, 2007)
Eastern Promises (David Cronenberg, 2007)
Public Enemies (Michael Mann, 2009)
Drive (Nicholas Winding Refn, 2011)
Killing Them Softly (Andrew Dominik, 2012)
Spring Breakers (Harmony Korine, 2012)
Gangster Squad (Ruben Fleischer, 2013)
The Family (Luc Besson, 2013)
The Drop (Michael R. Roskam, 2014)

Review: Mystery Road

March 25, 2015March 25, 2015 bryancyr Movie, Neo-Noir Aaron Pedersen, Australian Noir, Bruce Spence, Hugo Weaving, Ivan Sen, Mystery Road, Neo-Noir, Ryan Kwanten, Samara Weaving

Mystery Road is a neo-noir from Australian written and directed by Ivan Sen. Sen is an up and coming director in Australia who was able to get an all-star cast to do this film with him. Our lead is Aaron Pedersen as an indigenous detective who has returned to his home town after 10 years of working and training as a detective elsewhere. The two biggest names for American audiences will be Hugo Weaving and Ryan Kwanten. Hugo Weaving has a role as a hardboiled detective who has been on the force for a while. Ryan Kwanten plays a smaller role but it is a very interesting one. Bruce Spence of Mad Max movie fame plays a small role of a coroner.

Our story starts with a trucker stopping along side the road, hears something strange…maybe a dog…a big wild dog? He follows the noise and finds a body of a young girl. Our detective comes on the scene to start the investigation. He knows the girl as a friend of his young daughter. As our story continues, he is worried for his daughter’s safety. The mystery grows deeper as he uncovers drugs, corrupt cops and prostitution.

This movie shows a lot of the racism in Australia towards the Aborigines as our hero has to work with a white police force and try to gain the trust of his fellow Aborigines, all while he tries to solve the murder of this young girl.

This film has a great look with its desert landscapes, small town flavor, and ghetto like living of some of its citizens.

This film starts out with a bang, and then slowly burns to an explosion of an ending. I enjoyed this film with its very noir story where we never know what quite is going on and where it is going. We may still feel that way when it is all over as well. This film is worth a look for any noir fan or those that just want an interesting view of the Australian outback.

Favorite Tidbit: Samara Weaving has a cameo as a police officer’s wife. She is the niece of Hugo Weaving. Looks like acting runs in the family.

Review: Killer’s Kiss

March 24, 2015March 24, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Chris Chase, Film Noir, Frank Silvera, Irene Kane, Jamie Smith, Killer's Kiss, Stanley Kubrick

Killer’s Kiss is the second movie directed by Stanley Kubrick, and the last film in which he used his own original script. He made this film on a shoe string budget while on welfare. Even though this is a very cheaply made film, we can see Kubrick’s unique eye and his future greatness. He shot scenes from a back of a truck and from the window of a car to save money on a dolly and shooting permits. The sound had to be re-dubbed after filming, making some of the voice overs look a little funny.

Some of the scenes that stand out are the boxing match at the beginning of the film, it looked very realistic and reminded me of the Raging Bulls boxing scenes.

I also liked the thugs in the alley scene, very classic noir style and suspenseful.

And the mannequin, ax, fight scene is pretty interesting as well as the short waking up from a nightmare scene.

Our story starts out with our protagonist, Davey, in the train station and begins telling his story. Davey is played by Jamie Smith. The flashback starts with Davey in an important number one contenders match with an up and coming boxer. He is beat and goes back to his apartment. He watches his neighbor the femme fatale Gloria played by Irene Kane. He hears her scream and looks into her window to see her being assaulted by night club owner Vincent, played by Frank Silvera. Davey runs to her rescue and our story really takes off.

Irene Kane said “Kubrick convinced me to play the girl by explaining that I was going to be a very important movie star, and I thought that might be better than getting a real job at Dunkin’ Donuts.” Though she did some T.V. work and a few other movies, she never became an important movie star. She did do well as a writer, becoming a journalist and co-writing many autobiographies including ones for Rosalind Russell, Alan King, Josephine Baker, and US First Lady Betty Ford. She wrote under the name Chris Chase.

Though you can see this is an inexpensive film and the plot is fairly simple, the visuals are very interesting and you can see where Kubrick is going from here. The movie is very short, only being a little over an hour-long. It is definitely worth your time if you’re a Kubrick fan, noir fan, or even a boxing movie fan.

Review: Bastards

March 23, 2015March 24, 2015 bryancyr Movie, Neo-Noir Bastards, Chiara Mastroianni, Claire Denis, French noir, Julie Bataille, Lola Creton, Michel Subor, Neo-Noir, Vincent LIndon

Bastards is a neo-noir from France written and directed by Claire Denis. This is an idea ripped from the French headlines about wealthy, powerful men and a prostitution ring. This is my first Denis film and it is supposed to be one of her darkest so far. I hope so, because this is very dark!

Denis has teamed with Vincent Lindon before and wrote this movie with him in mind. Lindon plays our protagonist who is a Sea Captain and comes back to Paris after hearing the news of his brother-in-law’s suicide. Our femme fatale for this film is played by Chiara Mastroianni who is married to an older man and lives upstairs from Lindon’s recently rented apartment.

This has a slow pace and sparse dialog, but every little thing you are seeing seems to be important. The story is told with a few flashbacks that show us what happened the night of the brother-in-law’s suicide. The older man living up stairs is played by Michel Subor in a small but pivotal role. He might be the performance of the film with his body language and how he evolves through out the film. Julie Bataille plays a widow, mom and sister to our protagonist. She is in a desperate situation with an insurmountable amount of problems to overcome. Lola Créton is our protagonist’s niece. She is very troubled and as the film goes on we find little clues to why.

Our story starts with the suicide of the brother-in-law and his daughter walking down a side street naked and disoriented. We see our hero getting the news on his ship and this is all before the opening credits role. We flash forward a month where our hero returns to Paris to help his sister get her affairs in order and to help his niece who is still in a mental hospital. As the film goes on we don’t really learn as our protagonist learns as we are used to. We do learn as things go on, but the audience is left in the dark for a lot of this film. It is worth watching to the end to see where all this goes, but be warned, it is disturbing and not for the weak of heart. This movie will stay with you for a while after you see it.

Favorite Tidbit: This film is inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s movie The Bad Sleep Well. I hope to watch and review this film soon.

This movie is for fans of Denis and other French films tackling tough subjects. Neo-noir fans that can handle a little darker and more disturbing content then the norm will…I was going to say enjoy this film, but I don’t think this film is meant to be enjoyed.

Review: Le Cercle Rouge

March 22, 2015March 22, 2015 bryancyr Movie, Neo-Noir Alain Delon, Bourvil, French noir, Gian Maria Volonte, Jean-Pierre Melville, Le Cercle Rouge, Neo-Noir, The Red Circle, Yves Montand

Le Cercle Rouge translates to The Red Circle in English. The reason I wanted to watch this was a little tidbit of trivia from the film John Wick. When I was looking at the background of that film, the night club in one of the scenes has a red circle neon sign and the club is called the Red Circle. Someone said this was in homage to this film. That was enough for me to watch and review this movie. Here is my review of John Wick:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/02/06/review-john-wick/

Jean-Pierre Melville wrote and directed this film and was his next to last film before his untimely death of a heart attack at age 55. Melville wrote and directed many classic neo noir films from France and made some masterpieces, this being one. Melville is an important influence on today’s neo noir and crime directors. Influencing a who’s who of today’s talent. John Woo, Quentin Tarantino, Michael Mann, Volker Schlöndorff, Johnnie To, Martin Scorsese and fellow countrymen Jean-Luc Godard and François Truffaut all said Melville was a big influence on their work. Needless to say we will be looking at more of Melville’s movies on this site as well as those he influenced. Melville had the idea for this film in 1950 but shelved it until 1970 because of the similarities to the Asphalt Jungle that came out that year. He held on to the idea 20 years, until he started working on this project in 1970. Here is my review of the Asphalt Jungle:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/02/08/review-the-asphalt-jungle/

Alain Delon plays our main protagonist and appears in a number of Melville movies. Delon/Melville seem to be the French version of the USA’s De Niro/Scorsese. Bourvil plays the police detective set on the case. Gian Maria Volonté plays a recently escaped convict on the run and teams up with our hero for a big score. Yves Montand plays a retired cop with chemical dependency issues and knows both our lead detective and our escaped convict. He teams up with our thieves for the big score.

One of the things this film is famous for is the 25 minute heist scene. There are no words spoken and had to be influenced by Riffi from 1955. I will re-watch Riffi and review it later for this site.

Our story starts with our protagonist in jail and is visited by a money man that lets him know he will be getting out tomorrow, on one condition. A job, one that is made for him and one that he will get away clean, as long as he doesn’t screw up! Famous last words, right? We also have our convict handcuffed on a train in the company of our lead detective, he escapes and is on the run. Our two outlaws meet in a very unusual way and our adventure begins.

I already mentioned how John Wick gave a nod to this film, and I think there are many more. I can’t help noticing this has many similarities in plot points to Heat, reviewed here:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/03/12/re-watching-the-classics-heat/

And the scene in the forest reminded me of a similar scene in Miller’s Crossing, reviewed here:

https://everythingnoir.com/2015/02/15/re-watching-the-classics-a-fresh-look-at-millers-crossing/

I also seen small similarities in Ocean’s Eleven. What other movies do you think used this for inspiration? Let me know in the comments below.

There has been a remake in the work for years, with Orlando Bloom and Liam Neeson rumored to be attached. From some reports this may be dead now. A remake could be brilliant or it could be a big disaster. How do you remake a classic of this caliber? Worst case scenario is a remake will bring attention to the original. This is a must see for neo-noir fans, and foreign movie fans alike. It is a little long and the pacing deliberate, but is well worth your time.

PBS Film Noir

March 21, 2015March 21, 2015 bryancyr film-noir, Movie Film Noir, Kathryn Bigelow, Lawrence Kasdan, Martin Scorsese

A very good little documentary from PBS on the classic era of Film Noir. Worth a look, I found it entertaining. Martin Scorsese, Kathryn Bigelow, Lawrence Kasdan and more appear in it.