Best Ever Neo-Noir Films/Modern Film Noir [List] - Games

PurpleHazel

badseed wrote:

when is Memorial Day?

Labor Day's September 3rd.

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I'm gonna try to get an early start on the next one.

Like the 'tude! Good idea, since poll viewing periods are short.

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Here's a good list if 177 I found for reference. Just at a glance I'm sure I've seen well over half and many others have been on my radar. Not sure that all of them are truly noir but not sure any of them aren't.

Good list. Rebecca jumped out at me because it's a clearly a gothic, but it's on the list I plan to use too, so fair game. Where's the list from? I ended up counting how many I haven't seen -- 27. I've also seen at least 50 that aren't on there. Some are subpar, but there are major ones too:

Cry Danger
Drive a Crooked Road (first getaway driver noir)
The Hitch-Hiker
I Wake Up Screaming (1941; an early one)
Moonrise (recently released by Criterion)
The Prowler
Tomorrow is Another Day
Try and Get Me!

Too Late for Tears - Haven't seen it yet, but has a really good rep

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

badseed wrote:

Dont mean to interrupt a healthy discussion but when is Memorial Day? I'm gonna try to get an early start on the next one. Here's a good list if 177 I found for reference. Just at a glance I'm sure I've seen well over half and many others have been on my radar. Not sure that all of them are truly noir but not sure any of them aren't.

I Am a Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932)
Fury (1936)
La Bête Humaine (1938, Fr.) (aka The Human Beast)
You Only Live Once (1937)
The Letter (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
They Drive By Night (1940)
High Sierra (1941)
The Maltese Falcon (1941)

The Shanghai Gesture (1941)
Suspicion (1941)
The Glass Key (1942)
Moontide (1942)
This Gun For Hire (1942)
The Fallen Sparrow (1943)
Journey Into Fear (1943)
The Seventh Victim (1943)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Christmas Holiday (1944)

Dark Waters (1944)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Gaslight (1944)
Laura (1944)
The Lodger (1944)
The Mask of Dimitrios (1944)
Murder, My Sweet (1944)
Phantom Lady (1944)
The Suspect (1944)
The Woman in the Window (1944)

Cornered (1945)
Detour (1945)
Dillinger (1945)
Fallen Angel (1945)
The House on 92nd Street (1945)
Johnny Angel (1945)
Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Scarlet Street (1945)
Spellbound (1945)

The Spiral Staircase (1945)
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Crack-Up (1946)
The Dark Corner (1946)
Deadline at Dawn (1946)
Gilda (1946)
The Killers (1946)
The Man I Love (1946)
Notorious (1946)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
Somewhere in the Night (1946)
The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
The Stranger (1946)
Undercurrent (1946)
Body and Soul (1947)
Boomerang! (1947)
Born to Kill (1947)
Brute Force (1947)
Crossfire (1947)

Dark Passage (1947)
Dead Reckoning (1947)
Desperate (1947)
A Double Life (1947)
Fear in the Night (1947)
Kiss of Death (1947)
Lady in the Lake (1947)
The Man I Love (1947)
Nightmare Alley (1947)
Odd Man Out (1947, UK)

Out of the Past (1947)
Possessed (1947)
Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
Secret Beyond the Door... (1947)
T-Men (1947)
The Unsuspected (1947)
The Woman on the Beach (1947)
Act of Violence (1948)
The Big Clock (1948)
Call Northside 777 (1948)

Cry of the City (1948)
The Dark Past (1948)
Force of Evil (1948)
He Walked By Night (1948)
Key Largo (1948)
The Lady From Shanghai (1948)
The Naked City (1948)
Pitfall (1948)
Raw Deal (1948)
Road House (1948)

Ruthless (1948)
Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
Beyond the Forest (1949)
The Big Steal (1949)
Border Incident (1949)
Caught (1949)
Champion (1949)
The Clay Pigeon (1949)
Criss Cross (1949)
Gun Crazy (1949) (or 1950) (aka Deadly is the Female)

House of Strangers (1949)
The Reckless Moment (1949)
The Set-Up (1949)
Shockproof (1949)
Slattery's Hurricane (1949)
Tension (1949)
They Live By Night (1949)
Thieves' Highway (1949)
The Third Man (1949)
White Heat (1949)

Armored Car Robbery (1950)
The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
Backfire (1950)
Caged (1950)
Dark City (1950)
Dial 1119 (1950)
D. O. A. (1950)
The File on Thelma Jordon (1950)
In a Lonely Place (1950)
Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye (1950)

Mystery Street (1950)
Night and the City (1950)
Outrage (1950)
Panic in the Streets (1950)
Side Street (1950)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Where Danger Lives (1950)
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)
The Big Carnival (1951) (aka Ace in the Hole)
Detective Story (1951)

His Kind of Woman (1951)
The House on Telegraph Hill (1951)
The Lost One (1951, Germany) (aka Der Verlorene)
On Dangerous Ground (1951)
The Racket (1951)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Affair in Trinidad (1952)
Beware, My Lovely (1952)
Clash By Night (1952)
Kansas City Confidential (1952)

Macao (1952)
The Narrow Margin (1952)
Scandal Sheet (1952)
The Sniper (1952)
Sudden Fear (1952)
Angel Face (1953)
The Big Heat (1953)
City That Never Sleeps (1953)
Niagara (1953)
99 River Street (1953)

Pickup on South Street (1953)
Crime Wave (1954)
Hell's Half Acre (1954)
Human Desire (1954)
Pushover (1954)
The Big Combo (1955)
The Desperate Hours (1955)
Diabolique (1955, Fr.)
Illegal (1955)
Killer's Kiss (1955)

Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
The Phenix City Story (1955)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
Crime in the Streets (1956)
The Killing (1956)
While the City Sleeps (1956)
The Wrong Man (1956)
The Brothers Rico (1957)
Crime of Passion (1957)

Nightfall (1957)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Cry Terror! (1958)
I Want to Live! (1958)
The Lineup (1958)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)

Never realized before I was so unfamiliar with the old Noir movies. I've seen about half of these, the other ones I don't even recognize the names of them. Some of these here I love but never associated with noir, but they obviously are now that I think about it. When I was really young I used to love all those ones with Susan Hayward like I Want to Live. I thought they were so dramatic. Lol. And Sudden Fear with Joan Crawford and Sorry Wrong Number. I'm really glad that they're considered Noir, so now I can vote for them!!! It's gonna be awesome. Ha ha.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

Yeah, it has fairly good production values compared a lot of the other 80s-early 90s remakes and trashy noirs -- it goes down pretty smooth. The Phil Collins song was of course a hit and was nominated for a best original song Oscar.

From what I remember, The Black Bird was basically a Mel Brooks-imitation spoof of the Maltese Falcon. Brooks movies were really big at that time and there were a bunch of imitations -- Black Bird might've been one of the first.

Bobbyb5, are there any movies from the 80s onward that are specifically about a wife and her boyfriend plotting to kill the husband that aren't on my list? (Actually there aren't that many of those on the list.)

The Blackbird wasn't really a spoof like a Mel Brooks movie would be a spoof. I don't know how to describe it. You know how sometimes movies are described as a comedy-drama? It would probably be something like that. It was as if they were making a movie like The Maltese Falcon except instead of being a straight-up drama it was a comedy-drama. Maybe something like the way the long goodbye was a mystery detective movie but Elliott Gould was cynical-funny. But it wasn't like cynical-funny, it was crappy-funny. Lmao. Even while I was watching it I was saying to myself "what is this supposed to be? I don't get it." But I always try to watch every movie with George Segal in it. He was in so many good 70s movies and he's funny. His character was Sam Spade's son instead of Sam Spade from the original Maltese Falcon.
The best noir spoof is The Cheap Detective. Much better than those Mel Brooks movies and that stupid spoof of Fatal Attraction and Basic Instinct. I think it was called Fatal Instinct. Not sure if it was a Mel Brooks movie tho. I think it was.

badseed

Gender: Male
Age: 35
Location: FL

PurpleHazel wrote:

Labor Day's September 3rd.

Quote:

I'm gonna try to get an early start on the next one.

Like the 'tude! Good idea, since poll viewing periods are short.

Quote:

Here's a good list if 177 I found for reference. Just at a glance I'm sure I've seen well over half and many others have been on my radar. Not sure that all of them are truly noir but not sure any of them aren't.

Good list. Rebecca jumped out at me because it's a clearly a gothic, but it's on the list I plan to use too, so fair game. Where's the list from? I ended up counting how many I haven't seen -- 27. I've also seen at least 50 that aren't on there. Some are subpar, but there are major ones too:

Cry Danger
Drive a Crooked Road (first getaway driver noir)
The Hitch-Hiker
I Wake Up Screaming (1941; an early one)
Moonrise (recently released by Criterion)
The Prowler
Tomorrow is Another Day
Try and Get Me!

Too Late for Tears - Haven't seen it yet, but has a really good rep

Labor day, memorial day. I always get them mixed up. Kinda funny that I do, considering the time in between is when I usually make over half my yearly income. You'd think I'd have it memorized by now.

Got the list from filmsite.org. I think I've shared the site before. It's affiliated with AMC somehow. Very good site for studying the history of American film.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

Yeah, it has fairly good production values compared a lot of the other 80s-early 90s remakes and trashy noirs -- it goes down pretty smooth. The Phil Collins song was of course a hit and was nominated for a best original song Oscar.

From what I remember, The Black Bird was basically a Mel Brooks-imitation spoof of the Maltese Falcon. Brooks movies were really big at that time and there were a bunch of imitations -- Black Bird might've been one of the first.

Bobbyb5, are there any movies from the 80s onward that are specifically about a wife and her boyfriend plotting to kill the husband that aren't on my list? (Actually there aren't that many of those on the list.)

The only one I can think of that you don't already have is Malice. I don't know why people don't like that movie. Its far from horrible. And its my favorite kind of Noir. The ones about an insurance fraud scheme gone awry. I watched a really good one while doing this poll. It's called zigzag starring George Kennedy from 1970 and it has a great plot about insurance fraud that goes awry. Malice has a really really original premise: the plot is based on a botched operation on a woman's ovaries. It's really that idea that was the most interesting thing about it. Far as I'm concerned that's a really original idea. Lol. Toward the end some of the plot twist are kind of stupid, but otherwise I found it really interesting. If you like scheming lovers type movies.
There's one other movie I can think of that's pretty close to the wife and boyfriend killing the husband. Except instead of killing the husband, it's the husband killing the boyfriend.. It's the remake of La Femme infidel. I thought it was pretty good. I think the actors were pretty good too.

PurpleHazel

bobbyb5 wrote:

Never realized before I was so unfamiliar with the old Noir movies. I've seen about half of these, the other ones I don't even recognize the names of them. Some of these here I love but never associated with noir, but they obviously are now that I think about it. When I was really young I used to love all those ones with Susan Hayward like I Want to Live. I thought they were so dramatic. Lol. It's gonna be awesome. Ha ha.

Half is really good! Don't be hard on yourself! I participated in a film noir poll a few years ago and watched 44 movies for it (the poll period was 9 months), so I was able to fill in a lot of gaps.

I Want to Live! isn't always considered noir, because, like you said, it has the feeling of a serious drama -- Hayward won an Oscar for it -- but it makes sense to me.

bobbyb5 wrote:

The Blackbird wasn't really a spoof like a Mel Brooks movie would be a spoof. I don't know how to describe it. You know how sometimes movies are described as a comedy-drama? It would probably be something like that. It was as if they were making a movie like The Maltese Falcon except instead of being a straight-up drama it was a comedy-drama. Even while I was watching it I was saying to myself "what is this supposed to be? I don't get it."

I only saw The Black Bird when I was a kid, so all I really remember is George Segal running around San Francisco, the Maltese falcon statuette and the main bad guy, an Italian little person, throwing a tantrum at the end.

bobbyb5 wrote:

The only one I can think of that you don't already have is Malice. I don't know why people don't like that movie. Its far from horrible. And its my favorite kind of Noir. The ones about an insurance fraud scheme gone awry. Malice has a really really original premise: the plot is based on a botched operation on a woman's ovaries. It's really that idea that was the most interesting thing about it. Far as I'm concerned that's a really original idea. Lol. Toward the end some of the plot twist are kind of stupid, but otherwise I found it really interesting. If you like scheming lovers type movies.

There's one other movie I can think of that's pretty close to the wife and boyfriend killing the husband. Except instead of killing the husband, it's the husband killing the boyfriend.. It's the remake of La Femme infidel. I thought it was pretty good. I think the actors were pretty good too.

I actually saw Malice in the theater! It was entertaining up to a point, but my recollection is that it had some lurid over-the-top plot twists toward the end.

La Femme Infidel is a great film -- the only reason I didn't include it in neo-noir my list, is that the killing isn't pre-meditated. If my list was a little longer I would've included it. Unfaithful, the remake wasn't bad -- my girlfriend really liked it -- but I'm against most remakes on principle. Makes me a little sad that practically no one who saw Unfaithful has seen La Femme Infidel.

PurpleHazel

bobbyb5 wrote:

I've seen about half of these

And Sudden Fear with Joan Crawford

Another handful of pretty well-known noirs that aren't on that list, probably because they're not always considered noir:

A Place in the Sun
Whirlpool
A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
Mr. Arkadin
House of Bamboo (Samuel Fuller)

Bobbyb5, have you ever seen The Damned Don't Cry with Joan Crawford? That's a fun melodrama that totally counts.

bobbyb5

Gender: Male
Location: New York

PurpleHazel wrote:

bobbyb5 wrote:

I've seen about half of these

And Sudden Fear with Joan Crawford

Another handful of pretty well-known noirs that aren't on that list, probably because they're not always considered noir:

A Place in the Sun
Whirlpool
A Kiss Before Dying (1956)
Mr. Arkadin
House of Bamboo (Samuel Fuller)

Bobbyb5, have you ever seen The Damned Don't Cry with Joan Crawford? That's a fun melodrama that totally counts.

The original Kiss Before Dying is pretty good. The main character was really evil and creepy, and it had one of those really noir stories about a man who marries a rich girl so he can kill her for her money.. A lot of noirs are about a man plotting to kill his wife. The remake with Sean Young was really lousy, but around the same time there was one called Masquerade with an identical story that was much more fun and much better. Even though it was kind of like a vehicle for Rob Lowe of all people.. I liked it nevertheless just because of the way story unfolded and the little plot details. It was far from great but kind of memorable anyway. .

I never thought of Place in the Sun as a noir, but I guess so. That's another murdering your wife story.. didn't the guy murder Shelley Winters so he can marry Elizabeth Taylor? Or something like that. I kind of forgot the exact story.

I'm not sure I saw the Damned Don't Cry. Unless that's the one about the violinist. I can't remember the name of that one..

I never heard of Whirlpool or House of bamboo.

Isn't Mr. Arkadin the Orson Welles one? I've never seen it. I don't even know what it's about.

PurpleHazel

bobbyb5 wrote:

I'm not sure I saw the Damned Don't Cry. Unless that's the one about the violinist.

Crawford ditches her small town, basically sleeps her way up the company ladder and into the mob.

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Isn't Mr. Arkadin the Orson Welles one?

Yep.