Best Ever Neo-Noir Films/Modern Film Noir [Poll]

[PurpleHazel]

More recent viewings:

Hustle (Robert Aldrich, 1975) Both a slick star vehicle and a multidimensional portrait of the life of a homicide detective. Also a bleak, less multidimensional portrait of urban America circa 1975. Burt Reynolds is a L.A. detective who’s shacked up with high-end prostitute Catherine Deneuve. A stripper-porn actress is found dead, though it may or may not have been a murder. Her father, played by Ben Johnson, is distraught and increasingly unhinged. We see the day-to-day routine of Reynolds’ precinct house: his partner’s Paul Winfield and his boss is Ernest Borgnine. A mindless psycho straight out of Dirty Harry who’s holding a woman hostage conveniently asks for Reynolds just so Reynolds can swoop in and save the day. As an example of how cynical the movie is, the script needs to point out twice that the dead stripper was filled with massive amounts of semen -- once Reynolds brings it up in front of her father. The random, bleak ending puts a period to the portrayal of big cities as lawless cesspools and affirms that the movie is noir. Worth checking out -- a fascinating 70s time capsule. Leonard Maltin's Film Guide rated this a bomb! (What a wuss.) But Ebert really liked it.

True Confessions (1981) Aspires to be an artistic crime film like Chinatown and The Godfather, but it falls far short of those predecessors. Like Chinatown, it takes place in 1940s L.A. and one of the main characters is a detective, in this instance a police detective. Like The Godfather, there are long scenes of Catholic ritual that are meant to add artistic texture. But the movie’s slow – and not in a good way most of the time – and a majority of the most dramatic events take place off-screen. It takes an hour and ten minutes to reveal the connection between the Black Dahlia-like murder case and DeNiro’s world, so before then, we’re not sure why we should care about the internal politics of the L.A. Catholic archdiocese and the drawn-out ceremonies. We don’t see the main bad guy get arrested and the apparent murderer never appears onscreen except in photos. DeNiro’s tie to the murder victim is innocent and negligible, but it’s supposed to be the big dramatic pay-off. The final scenes aren’t nearly climactic enough, leaving us unsatisfied. Unsurprisingly, the performances are great, but the film leans on DeNiro and Duvall's acting too much to compensate for its deficiencies.

[PurpleHazel]

Just a reminder that the deadline is next Sunday night at midnight PDT, in case you want to update or submit a list.

[PurpleHazel]

Two fun watches:

Johnny Handsome (Walter Hill, 1989) Fun neo-noir thriller. Mickey Rourke plays a crook with a facial deformity who undergoes state-of-the-art (for the time) reconstructive surgery in prison. Except for the scenes involving the surgery, the movie moves fast. Lance Henriksen is way over the top as a treacherous armed robber and Ellen Barkin as his girlfriend isn’t far behind (the characters seem to be written and directed that way). Ending's surprisingly bleak. No masterpiece, but entertaining. Wasn't sure I'd seen it (or most of it) before till I watched it.

Slam Dance (1987) A quirky “wrongly accused” movie with an 80s new wave flavor (Adam Ant plays the best friend). Tom Hulce (Amadeus) is a newspaper cartoonist who’s framed for killing Virginia Madsen, with whom he had an affair that apparently broke up his marriage to Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Whimsical touches include Hulce living in what looks like an old-fashioned indoor swimming pool inside an otherwise average apartment building. The stylish film, directed by Wayne Wang, is darkly comic at times, but the increasing jeopardy and violence make this a definite neo-noir.

[CA Dreamin]

Just made a minor edit to my list on page 7. Added Blow Out at #16 and moved everything beneath down one.

[HokeMoseley]

For the most part tried to weigh how much I like the film vs. how noir-ish I consider it...

1. Heat (1995)
2. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
3. Thief (1981)
4. Taxi Driver (1976)
5. Homicide (1991)
6. Serie noire (1979)
7. Blue Velvet (1986)
8. The Big Lebowski (1998)
9. Carlito’s Way (1993)
10. Collateral (2004)
11. Femme Fatale (2002)
12. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)
13. Straight Time (1978)
14. Le deuxième souffle (1966)
15. Night Moves (1975)
16. Blow Out (1981)
17. Classe tous risques (1960)
18. Out of Sight (1998)
19. High and Low (1963)
20. The Driver (1978)
21. Purple Noon (1960)
22. Hardcore (1979)
23. House of Games (1987)
24. Le Samourai (1967)
25. A History of Violence (2005)
26. Jackie Brown (1997)
27. Miami Blues (1990)
28. To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
29. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)
30. Miami Vice (2006)
31. No Country for Old Men (2007)
32. The Long Goodbye (1973)
33. The Man Who Wasn’t There (2001)
34. Killing Them Softly (2012)
35. The Silent Partner (1978)
36. Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
37. Max and the Junkmen (1971)
38. Point Blank (1967)
39. The Conversation (1974)
40. Bad Lieutenant (1992)
41. The Place Beyond the Pines (2013)
42. After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
43. Fargo (1996)
44. Mulholland Dr. (2001)
45. The Last Seduction (1994)
46. The Limey (1999)
47. The Outfit (1973)
48. The Nice Guys (2016)
49. The Sicilian Clan (1969)
50. Sea of Love (1989)
51. Memento (2000)
52. L.A. Confidential (1997)
53. Blood Simple. (1984)
54. Coup de Torchon (1981)
55. They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? (1969)
56. Ms .45 (1981)
57. King of New York (1990)
58. Mississippi Mermaid (1969)
59. Revanche (2008)
60. Narc (2002)
61. Manhunter (1986)
62. Lost Highway (1997)
63. The Bride Wore Black (1968)
64. Chinatown (1974)
65. Pulp Fiction (1994)
66. Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
67. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
68. Kill Me Again (1989)
69. Cold in July (2014)
70. Obsession (1976)
71. A Simple Plan (1998)
72. Cop Land (1997)
73. Charley Varrick (1973)
74. The French Connection (1971)
75. The Getaway (1972)
76. The Hit (1984)
77. The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
78. Year of the Dragon (1985)
79. Zodiac (2007)
80. The Town (2010)
81. Oldboy (2003)
82. The Salton Sea (2002)
83. In Bruges (2008)
84. Cape Fear (1991)
85. Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead (2007)
86. Body Heat (1981)
87. La Cérémonie (1995)
88. Mona Lisa (1986)
89. Angel Heart (1987)
90. Heist (2001)
91. The Cooler (2003)
92. Fingers (1978)
93. Gone Baby Gone (2007)
94. Farewell, Friend (1968)
95. Cop (1988)
96. Hard Eight (1996)
97. Cutter’s Way (1981)
98. Serpico (1973)
99. Shallow Grave (1994)
100. One False Move (1992)

[bobbyb5]

[PurpleHazel]

Yeah, it was a lot of fun. Fast-paced, energetic. I rewatched The Driver too (also directed by Walter Hill) and am going to move that up my list a lot.

[bobbyb5]

[CA Dreamin]

[bobbyb5]