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?
Noir
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: Zift
Zift is a film from Bulgaria, made in 2008. It is filmed in black and white and takes place in the 1940’s and 1960’s.Vladislav Todorov wrote both the book in which the movie is based as well as the script. Javor Gardev directed and it looks to be his only film to date.
Zift is a great combination of modern neo noir with nods to movies like Pulp Fiction as well as classic noir style with nods to films like Gilda. There are plot points which remind me of D.O.A. and Shawshank Redemption as well as scenes which reminded me of Sin City and the bar scene is an obvious nod to Gilda, but reminded me of a number of other classic noirs. So is this just a rehash of great noir films of the past? Yes and no, it is, but it adds a lot of originality as well.
The story starts with our hero in prison for a murder he did not commit. Zahary Baharov plays our hero and has appeared in a few American productions. We use flashbacks to tell his story of how he got in prison and some of his adventures while in prison. The main story takes place over one day, the day he gets out of prison for good behavior. He is meet at the gate by two men who give him a ride. Along the way we meet our hero’s first love, a classic femme fatale in every sense, played by Tanya Ilieva. She starts out as his sweetheart in school, after prison she is singing in a night club and far more jaded about life. We also come across an old partner named Slug.
This story is really dark and puts a lot of grim noir scenarios in an hour and a half. There are also some comedic moments, most of them I did not find funny, maybe it was lost in translation. Overall an enjoyable neo noir film. I didn’t know a bunch about this one but glad I was able to see it. This is going to be for foreign noir fans and people who enjoy avant-garde foreign films.
Review: I Wake Up Screaming
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.
Book Review: Love You to a Pulp by C.S. DeWildt
Love You to a Pulp is another great book from the small publisher All Due Respect. This one is from C.S. DeWildt.
The story telling here is very interesting, it tells two stories, alternating from chapter to chapter. Both revolve around our hero Neil. The first story is about our adult Neil, a glue sniffing down on his luck, hardboiled private detective. The second story is about a teenage Neil growing up. I found this interesting because we find how he was raised and why he is a glue sniffing adult.
Like all the noir fiction I’ve read from All Due Respect, this book is very dark and this one made me cringe more than once. The story starts with Neil taking a case from a father who wants his daughter back in his life. The daughter and her boyfriend have ripped him off, the father owns a pharmacy and the pair has taken a bunch of drugs from the store. He doesn’t want his daughter to get in trouble, and wants her taken away from her boyfriend. The second story shows Neil growing up with his pimp father and whore mother. To make a few bucks, his father enters him into illegal fights, reminiscent of dog or cock fights, but with young boys. We learn as the story goes on and gets darker and darker how Neil grew up to be a man. We also take a crazy voyage in the present, with Ex-wives, lawyers, shady motels, drug deals, suicides, strippers and on and on.
I enjoyed this book immensely, the characters were interesting and most were more twisted than Neil if you can believe that. I think it is safe to say, after three books, if you have a weak stomach don’t read anything from All Due Respect. If you like to go deep down that dark rabbit hole, All Due Respect is your one stop shop. This is another amazing original noir for the hard-core fan. I look forward to reading more from DeWildt and hope to soon. Check out All Due Respect’s website to find this and other great books.
Re-watching: Kalifonia
Re
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.
Book Review: Time to Murder and Create by Lawrence Block
Time to Murder and Create is the second book in the Matthew Scudder book series. I recently read the first book in the series and reviewed it here:
https://everythingnoir.com/2015/02/23/review-the-sins-of-the-fathers-by-lawrence-block/
I fell in love with this character after reading the first book and watching the new movie Walk Among the Tombstones, I reviewed this movie here:
https://everythingnoir.com/2015/03/03/review-a-walk-among-the-tombstones/
Lawrence Block wrote this book in 1976 and reflects that time frame in New York City. Some plot lines may not work today as well as they worked in the 1970’s, I’ll get to this a little later.
In this story there is only one returning character and that is Scudder himself. I would say you can read this book without reading the first book and still enjoy it. We do flashback to his “origin” story for a lack of a better word in this book, so if you are not familiar with what happened in book one, it gives you a brief synopsis.
Scudder evolves a little more in this book, but not much. He is still very religious or at least looking at religion for some answers. He is drinking very heavily in this installment as well. He is our typical hardboiled ex-cop in a lot of respects, but very original in many ways, right up your alley if you are a fan of hardboiled and noir fiction.
This book puts our hero in a very unique situation. He is approached by an old informant who feels Scudder is an honest man. Jake “The Spinner” Jablon is the former informant turned blackmailer. He gives Scudder the sealed envelope to open in the case of his death. Of course we have seen this “if something happens to me the information will go straight to the Police” scenario. What was unique is we usually see it from the blackmailer or the person being blackmailed, never from the point of view of the person holding the information in case of death. We soon find out Spinner has been murdered and Scudder is on the case to find out who did it. The problem is Spinner has been blackmailing three people, not just one! So our hero must investigate all three to find the murderer, all the while keeping their secrets safe from the police. Spinner only wanted the guilty party punished in this case and the other two set free of their past crimes.
Now back to why this works in the 1970’s but would never work today. One of the three being black mailed used to be in the porn industry, she is married to a rich and powerful man and wants this kept secret from her new circle of society. Another is a politician hoping to be Governor of New York someday. His past is one of liking little boys and Spinner has the proof. In today’s world of the internet, I would find it hard to believe a former porn-star who is rich and famous now would be able to hide that fact. The second case I feel could be hidden from the public, but someone of that stature and with today’s politicians looking for dirt on their competition, this would be hard to keep secret very long.
This is another fun read and I look forward to reading more of Mr. Blocks work and the Scudder series in particular. The stories may not be totally original, but Block always puts an original spin on them making them very unique and entertaining. A good read for any fan of crime fiction.
Review: The Killer is Loose
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.
Review: Whiplash
“I’m not exactly beautiful, but I am available. I’m kind to my mother and I make very good spaghetti”.
“Sorry I don’t like spaghetti.”
That is a couple of lines of dialog in Whiplash, and there are a few more gems in this little known noir.
This is directed by Lewis Seiler who looks to have directed quite a few films throughout his career though this is the only one I’ve seen.
This movie starts out with our hero played by Dane Clark in a boxing bout in New York City and getting beat pretty handily. He has an inner dialog with himself asking why is he here? What is he doing? He just wants to be back home in California on the beach. In film noir fashion we flashback to a better time in California,with our hero painting a beach scene. He soon finds out one of his paintings has been sold and he thinks the buyer has been ripped off. Our hero doesn’t feel he has enough talent for his paintings to be sold. He hunts down the buyer and soon falls in love with her. Our buyer is also our femme fatale, Laurie, played by Alexis Smith. They fall in love and all is great, until Laurie turns up missing and our hero’s only clue is the painting she bought of his is being sent to a doctor in New York City. Our hero packs up and goes to New York to find his lost love.
When in New York we discover a plethora of new characters. Including Laurie’s husband, an ex-fighter who is now a promoter played by Zachary Scott. An alcoholic doctor played by Jeffrey Lynn. We also get some comic relief from fellow artist played by Eve Arden (from Grease fame).
This film has some more of noir’s favorite sport, boxing, we have a love triangle between our hero, our femme fatale and a fallen hero doing anything he can to get back to the top. This film has not been viewed a lot and maybe a little undervalued. I found this film to be pretty good. With only 200 votes on IMDb and a current rating of 6.4 it is a little underrated.
This film will be enjoyed by film noir fans and boxing fans alike. Worth a viewing if you get a chance.
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