Thanks for the link, Bill. Nailing down noir is a fun game, but hard to play because all the rules can be broken. Take “Niagara” – Technicolor, mostly daytime, American director, and so on. But it also has crime, lust, guilt, and violence.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a good choice. I would place KISS ME DEADLY and GUN CRAZY at the same level. I seem to be alone in finding OUT OF THE PAST kind of a mess, and IN A LONELY PLACE seems dishonest in its ending. Oh, and Bill -- my parents let me go to anything, too. My wife Barb is always astonished when we're watching something like BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE and I say, "I saw this in the theater -- I was four." And she says, "No wonder you turned out this way."
I have a feeling my early movie-going had a lot to do with my later weirdness. My parents never seemed to worry about what movies I went to or what comic books or other books I read.
Double Indemnity is being shown in theatres nation wide on July 19-20. While I've watched it probably a dozen times, I've never seen it on the big screen. Can't wait.
“Blackbeard” aired on TV when I was a kid. Couldn’t believe the brutal way they dispatched the old pirate at the end. A frightening noir I saw on TV as a kid: “The Window.” It’s still scary today. A top noir: “Act of Violence” with Robert Ryan hunting down Van Heflin in Heflin’s placid suburban neighborhood.
I'm glad "Detour" made the list. We must thank Ann Savage for being willing to take on what must be the most unattractive portrayal of a woman ever in noir movies. Also, did I miss "The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers"? I don't remember it being in the list, but it's great noir!
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Thanks for the link, Bill. Nailing down noir is a fun game, but hard to play because all the rules can be broken. Take “Niagara” – Technicolor, mostly daytime, American director, and so on. But it also has crime, lust, guilt, and violence.
Saw that one in the theater when I was a kid. My parents would let me go to anything.
DOUBLE INDEMNITY is a good choice. I would place KISS ME DEADLY and GUN CRAZY at the same level. I seem to be alone in finding OUT OF THE PAST kind of a mess, and IN A LONELY PLACE seems dishonest in its ending. Oh, and Bill -- my parents let me go to anything, too. My wife Barb is always astonished when we're watching something like BLACKBEARD THE PIRATE and I say, "I saw this in the theater -- I was four." And she says, "No wonder you turned out this way."
I have a feeling my early movie-going had a lot to do with my later weirdness. My parents never seemed to worry about what movies I went to or what comic books or other books I read.
Double Indemnity is being shown in theatres nation wide on July 19-20. While I've watched it probably a dozen times, I've never seen it on the big screen. Can't wait.
“Blackbeard” aired on TV when I was a kid. Couldn’t believe the brutal way they dispatched the old pirate at the end. A frightening noir I saw on TV as a kid: “The Window.” It’s still scary today. A top noir: “Act of Violence” with Robert Ryan hunting down Van Heflin in Heflin’s placid suburban neighborhood.
I'm glad "Detour" made the list. We must thank Ann Savage for being willing to take on what must be the most unattractive portrayal of a woman ever in noir movies. Also, did I miss "The Strange Loves of Martha Ivers"? I don't remember it being in the list, but it's great noir!
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