Some of you will remember my first wave of
-
mgtbltp — 10 years ago(August 30, 2015 02:59 PM)
"NIPO, Noir In Plot Only."
On an unrelated note to the film I like that phrase which of course describes Neo-Noir best.
Well Jess, I'm very visually oriented the so called Neo Noir would have to be extremely twisted to off set it's lack of Noir stylistics. That said these below are either nicely visually styled and twisted, or extremely twisted in a good enough way to make my list.
.
The
True
NEO-NOIR LIST (a chronological film list (a work in progress) I just added
Blink
(1994))
Blast Of Silence (1961)
Underworld USA (1961)
Something Wild (1961)
Cape Fear (1962)
Experiment In Terror (1962)
Satan in High Heels (1962)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Shock Corridor (1962)
Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)
The Naked Kiss (1964)
The Pawnbroker (1964)
Brainstorm (1965)
Once A Thief (1965)
Harper (1966)
Mr. Buddwing (1966)
In Cold Blood (1967)
In The Heat Of The Night (1967)
Marlowe (1969)
The Honeymoon Killers (1970)
Shaft (1971)
Across 110th Street (1971)
The Getaway (1971)
Get Carter (1971)
Hickey & Boggs (1972)
Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia (1974)
The Nickel Ride (1974)
The Drowning Pool (1975)
Farewell My Lovely (1975)
Night Moves (1975)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Dressed to Kill (1980)
Union City (1980)
Body Heat (1981)
Thief (1981)
Blade Runner (1982)
Hammett (1982)
Blood Simple (1984)
To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Angel Heart (1987)
Frantic (1988)
Kill Me Again (1989)
The Grifters (1990)
The Kill-Off (1990)
The Hot Spot (1990)
Wild At Heart (1990)
Impulse (1990)
Dick Tracy (1990)
Delicatessen (1991)
Reservoir Dogs (1992)
Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (1992)
Romeo Is Bleeding (1993)
True Romance (1993)
The Wrong Man (1993)
The Last Seduction (1994)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
Blink (1994)
Se7en (1995)
Fargo (1996)
Mulholland Falls (1996)
Hit Me (1996)
Jackie Brown (1997)
L.A. Confidential (1997)
Lost Highway (1997)
This World, Then the Fireworks (1997)
Dark City (1998)
A Simple Plan (1998)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Payback (1999)
Night Train (1999)
The Man Who Wasnt There (2001)
Mulholland Drive (2001)
Sin City (2005)
No Country For Old Men (2007)
Dark Country (2009)
The Killer Inside Me (2010)
Sin City: A Dame To Kill For (2014) -
Jessica_Rabbit69 — 10 years ago(August 31, 2015 09:05 AM)
"the so called Neo Noir would have to be extremely twisted to off set it's lack of Noir stylistics."
I agree with that.
This is a great list, most of the 60's, 70's and 80's ones you mention I have seen and liked. Interesting to put
In the Heat of the Night
as Neo-Noir, but I can see it.
I have been trying to track down
Hickey & Boggs
for a long time. No luck as of yet. It is on youtube, but there seems to be something wrong with the print.
Blink
I saw when it came out and liked it a lot.
Se7en
is a movie I cannot stomach. That was a bit too much.
Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." -
mgtbltp — 10 years ago(August 31, 2015 11:02 AM)
RE:
In The Heat Of The Night
the menu on the 40th anniversary edition has a B&W Noir homage. You get, in your face Noir, just from the opening credits, then the rest of the sets are what I like to call Edward Hopper-esque Noir. It's gets so hyped as a landmark/breakthrough film that its not noticed how Noir it is the same goes for
Shaft
, it practically started the Blaxploitation craze but its a solid Neo Noir PI flick and not at all like the cheap flood of over the top quasi imitations that followed, check it out too.
I get a lot of hard to find DVD films through Ebay (
Hickey & Boggs
,
Romeo Is Bleeding
) they may be from Hong Kong, Thailand, etc. but if they are R0 and have English listed as one of the languages I've had no problem. The DVDs are just default set to whatever the native language of country of origin is, you just go to the menu click English, and then click no subtitles.
Oldies.com has a good DVD copy of
The Kill-Off
which is one of the best adaptations of a Jim Thompson book.
My next option (lucky for me I still have a VHS player) is VHS tapes which have a lot of titles that still haven't made it to DVD, and may never. I got
Delusion
, and
This World Then The Fireworks
that way. -
Jessica_Rabbit69 — 10 years ago(August 31, 2015 01:07 PM)
"It's gets so hyped as a landmark/breakthrough film that its not noticed how Noir it is the same goes for Shaft,"
Very true. I also looked at those movies simply as landmark movies, with the Blaxploitation films being the more fun version of serious ones. My fault.
I don't have the 40th anniversary DVD of
In the Heat of the Night
, but the B&W Noir homage sounds great.
Shaft
is a fun movie and I even like the new version.
There still seem to be quite a lot of people who have their old VHS players. Mine went out a long time ago, but maybe I should have held on to it.
Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." -
mgtbltp — 10 years ago(September 01, 2015 05:04 AM)
Here you go J_R69 I posted the menu of the 40th anniversary edition a while ago on Youtube to illustrate it's homage to Noir:
And here are the very Noir opening credits chiarocuro lighting, high and low angle cinematography, shadows: -
jgcole — 10 years ago(August 31, 2015 12:49 PM)
Good list, a few I haven't seen including
Shaft
which I've been meaning to watch. It's got to be worth it for the soundtrack alone. Watching
Alfredo Garcia
this week.
Here's a few you might want to check out that I didn't see on your list or spike's:
Devil in a Blue Dress, The Long Goodbye, The Two Jakes
and
After Dark, My Sweet
.
NIPO is about the best to be hoped for from today's cinema. Nobody's going to make a black and white and nobody is going to lean too much towards style over substance. The movie going demographic is simply not interested and directors do want their films to be seen. -
Jessica_Rabbit69 — 9 years ago(November 21, 2016 06:57 AM)
Great review. I'm a fan, but it's one of those films where I have to steel myself before watching. I've seen it twice, and read the book, and it's nothing you can just sit down, watch and forget. I also wouldn't watch it by myself when I'm home alone. Too horrific and chilling.
I see you got a little lecture on the CFB when you posted this.
It's so unfortunate that the CFB has become such an annoying board.
Jessica Rabbit
"I'm not bad. I'm just drawn that way." -
mgtbltp — 9 years ago(November 21, 2016 07:29 AM)
I don't ever look for hidden agendas in films, but there are folks out there who see everything in black and white, good and bad, who think they are the watchdogs of the culture. I just ignore it.
The main point of my reviews is the Visual thread that runs through these films that's sort of why they are heavy on screenshots. The exceptional ones are are works of art. -
XhcnoirX — 9 years ago(November 25, 2016 03:42 AM)
One Shoe Makes It Murder
(1982): Robert Mitchum is a private eye who has given up on life. He's hired by casino owner Mell Ferrer, someone has been cooking his books and he thinks his wife might be in danger because of it. Mitchum finds her quickly enough, but minutes after he leaves her apartment he witnesses her fall from her balcony to a sudden death. Inspector Jose Perez thinks it's murder due to one of her slippers being nowhere near the balcony while she was wearing the other one, and isn't crazy about Mitchum acting like a clam. Ferrer re-hires Mitchum however, this time to find out what happened to his wife. He eventually discovers that ex-hooker and barfly Angie Dickinson, who's been throwing herself at him ever since he stepped into the casino, might be the key to unlock the mystery.
This is a decent but unremarkable made-for-TV movie, which stands out due to the presence of Mitchum ('Out Of The Past') and Dickinson ('The Killers'). Mitchum plays the type of role he was made for, as a broken man who's so jaded by his past (which includes a failed suicide attempt) that he cannot even get it up for the sexy and affectionate Dickinson. Dickinson is good and gives her character a genuinely warm side, but because of it, the impact of her character on the dead wife's past is never really felt. The 'kindred spirit' chemistry between Mitchum and Dickinson works really well however, it is there, but neither character really knows how to act on it, and fall back in their old ways. Their scenes together, as well as Mitchum's world-weary lines and voice-over narration which is used extensively throughout this movie, are what make this movie stand out.
The movie itself plays out at a very leisurely pace, and doesn't really 'thrill', even tho it's competently made. It's just not an edge-of-your-seat mystery/thriller. Pretty routine work from director William Hale and DoP Terry K. Meade, with only an occasional creative shot such as when Mitchum witness the fall. The plot, based on a novel, is also pretty straight-forward and not too surprising. Watch this one for Mitchum and Dickinson's scenes. 6/10
This TV movie can be found on youtube in decent quality in its original 4:3 aspect ratio (the version I watched), but it has also been released as a widescreen DVD. -
mgtbltp — 9 years ago(November 30, 2016 05:21 AM)
"The world is full o' complainers. An' the fact is, nothin' comes with a guarantee. Now I don't care if you're the Pope of Rome, President of the United States or Man of the Year; somethin' can all go wrong. Now go on ahead, y'know, complain, tell your problems to your neighbor, ask for help, 'n watch him fly. Now, in Russia, they got it mapped out so that everyone pulls for everyone else that's the theory, anyway. But what I know about is Texas, an' down here you're on your own."
All I can say is Wow! What a debut film of the Coen Brother's. This film has got STYLE. Directed by Joel Coen, (& Ethan Coen (uncredited)) (
Miller's Crossing
(1990),
Barton Fink
(1991),
Fargo
(1996),
The Big Lebowski
(1998),
The Man Who Wasn't There
(2001),
No Country for Old Men
(2007)), and written by both Joel Coen & Ethan Coen. The films cinematography was by Barry Sonnenfeld (
Raising Arizona
(1987),
Miller's Crossing
(1990)) and the music was by Carter Burwell (
Fargo
(1996),
The Big Lebowski
(1998),
No Country for Old Men
(2007),
Mildred Pierce
(TV Mini-Series)).
The film stars John Getz (
The Fly
(1986)) as Ray, Frances McDormand (
Fargo
(1996), Lone Star (1996),
The Man Who Wasn't There
(2001)) as femme fatale Abby Marty, Dan Hedaya (
True Confessions
(1981),
Tightrope
(1984),
Mulholland Dr.
(1999)) as Julian Marty, M. Emmet Walsh (
Midnight Cowboy
(1969),
Serpico
(1973),
Straight Time
(1978),
Blade Runner
(1982),
Narrow Margin
(1990)) as private investigator Loren Visser, Samm-Art Williams (
Dressed to Kill
(1980),
A Rage in Harlem
(1991)) as Meurice, and Deborah Neumann as Debra.
P.I.'s are arguably, along with the femme fatale, probably the two top icons of Noir, but in the totality of the Noir/Neo Noir canon there are surprisingly, contrary to popular perception, not very many films that actually do feature your classic hardboiled private detective. Oh don't get me wrong there is sleuthing going on in quite a bit of Film Noir, but it's done by a plethora of characters, newspaper reporters, the falsely accused, the amnesiacs, the framed, cabbies, tabloid photographers, secretaries, taxi dancers, average joe's, even kids. Out of those films that do actually have P.I.'s, I can only think of four with private detectives that have gone bad, Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) in,
Out Of the Past
, J.B. MacDonald (Raymond Burr) in
Pitfall
, Kerric (Raymond Burr) in
Abandoned
, and hayseed sheetkicker Loren Visser (M. Emmet Walsh) in this film
Blood Simple
, which takes "The Bad Detective" to a whole new level.
Blood Simple starts off with sleazy bedroom dick Visser's voice over about there being no guarantees in life. Visser was hired by Julian Marty who owns Neon Boots a honkey-tonk/strip bar. Marty wants Visser, to keep tabs on his "funny: acting wife, Abby. Julian suspects some hanky panky is going on between Abby and one of his barkeepers, either "Motown" Meurice or "Cowboy" Ray.
On a rainy night Ray offers to drive Abby to Houston on his day off. Abby spills the beans to Ray about her screwed up marriage. Ray replies that he's always liked her.
Abby:
He gave me a little pearl-handled .38 for our first anniversary.
Ray:
Uh-huh.
Abby:
Figured I'd better leave before I used it on him. I don't know how you can stand him.
Ray:
Well, I'm only an employee, I ain't married to him.
One thing leads to another and Abby ends up repeatedly batter-dipping Ray's corn dog in a variety of positions in a cheap roadside hot sheet motel. Visser who has been tailing them all along in his VW bug is able to indulge in one of his perverted kinks, peeping and photographing their dirty deeds. Visser takes particular pleasure rubbing Julian]s nose in his armature porn shots of Ray and Abby.
Private Detective Visser:
[about a photo of Ray and Abby] I know a place you can get that framed.
Marty:
What did you take these for?
Private Detective Visser:
What do you mean? Just doin' my job.
Marty:
You called me, I knew they were there, so what do I need these for?
Private Detective Visser:
Well, I don't know Call it a fringe benefit.
Marty:
How long did you watch her?
Private Detective Visser:
Most of the night They'd just rest a few minutes and then get started again. Quite something.
Julian stews over the revelations, confronts Ray and Abby to little effect, then decides to make Visser an offer.
Marty:
I got a job for you.
Private Detective Visser:
Uh, well, if the pay's right, and it's legal, I'll do it.
Marty:
It's not strictly legal.
Private Detective Visser:
[Thinks for a second] Well, if the pay's right, I'll do it.
Julian offers Visser 10 Gs to kill Ray and Abby and get rid of the bodies.
Of course this being a Neo Noir nothing goes down quite as expected, and when it does go down, it's with great style. The film is full of twists, double crosses and a healthy helping of bizarre black humor.
Dan Hedaya and M. Emmet Walsh are both in top form as the films unforgettable two sleazeballs around which this picaresque universe revolves. The soundtrack and -
mgtbltp — 9 years ago(December 04, 2016 03:51 AM)
This post Hays (Motion Picture Production) Code and pre PC "code" version of Raymond Chandler's "Farewell My Lovely" is probably the closest version to the novel we are going to see, it's firing on all cylinders. It pulls no punches, it's serious, dialog wise, doing justice to the novel.
In the previously adapted for film 1944 version Murder, My Sweet, Dick Powell was great as wisecracking Marlowe, he's pretty much as I pictured him in my mind's eye as I read the book. Mitchum at 58 years, in this film, is just a tad too old to fit the Marlowe of the novel. He's also a tad too iconic, Mitchum is playing Mitchum playing Marlowe, but the script reflects at least this age difference, he's written as an older wiser Marlowe, a weary character who realizes he's over the hump and sort of coasting. This small change becomes very believable as Mitchum settles into the part. He's still the knight of streets but now he creaks and is just a bit more tarnished.
Farewell My Lovely was ably directed by Dick Richards just like an old studio "B" production picture without any noticeable in your face style.
The features Robert Mitchum (Film Noir Icon in no less than eight classics) as the definitive private detective Philip Marlowe. The film also has Noir star John Ireland (a vet of at least six classic noirs where he either played the bad guy, the good guy, or the not so bad guy) as Detective Lt. Nulty.
Charlotte Rampling (Angel Heart (1987)) as Femme Fatale Helen Grayle, Sylvia Miles (Murder, Inc. (1960), Naked City (TV Series), Terror in the City (1964), Midnight Cowboy (1969)), as Jesse Halstead Florian, Anthony Zerbe (Naked City (TV Series), Cool Hand Luke (1967), The Laughing Policeman (1973)), as Laird Brunette gangster/gambling ship operator. Harry Dean Stanton (The Wrong Man (1956), In the Heat of the Night (1967), Dillinger (1973), Paris, Texas (1984), Wild at Heart (1990)), as Detective Billy Rolfe LAPD, Jack O'Halloran as Moose Malloy.
The rest of the cast has, Sylvester Stallone (Cop Land (1997)), as Jonnie, Joe Spinell (The Godfather (1972), The Seven-Ups (1973), Taxi Driver (1976)) as Nick, Burton Gilliam as Cowboy. Kate Murtagh (87th Precinct (TV Series)) in a part channeling Hope Emerson, as Frances Amthor, L.A.'s whorehouse madam/drug dealer (Believed they say to be based on Brenda Allen whose arrest in 1948 triggered a scandal that led to the reform of the L.A.P.D.). John O'Leary as Lindsay Marriott, Walter McGinn as Tommy Ray washed up jazz man. Jim Thompson (hardboiled novelist) as Judge Baxter Wilson Grayle, Logan Ramsey (Something Wild (1961), Naked City (TV Series)) as the Police Commissioner, and what was left of Greater Los Angeles of the 1940s.
The hardboiled tale starts with Marlowe's smoky voice over as he's looking out the warped glass window of a downtown LA dive hotel. He's holed up there waiting for his case to break.
When Detective Lt. Nulty, LAPD arrives at his flop Marlowe begins to lay out the case from the beginning, which we see in an extended flashback.
After successfully tracking down a wayward teen at a dime a dance hall, he is almost roughed up by The Moose, a giant ex con who did a six year stretch for armed bank robbery. He watched Marlowe deliver the girl to her folks and gets obsessed with having Marlowe find his missing Velma. Moose slips Marlowe a fifty as a retainer. Velma, Moose tells Marlowe was "Cute, cute as lace pants".
It turns out Velma used to be a stripper/B-girl/hooker who worked out of a dump on Central called Florian's. In the time that Moose was in the joint, Mike Florian died and the neighborhood turned black. When Moose and Marlowe get to Florian's, it's in the hood and the clientele is all black. During a tense confrontation, Moose kills Mr. Montgomery, the current owner, and they find out nothing about Velma. Moose scoots, leaving Marlowe to call the cops and deal with Nulty.
After telling the cops the details of what went down at Florian's, Marlowe slips out and spies a fleabag hotel, The Crescent, across the avenue. He crosses the pavement to the sidewalk and up into the hotel lobby. Marlowe finds out that Tommy Ray a bandleader, (Tommy Ray and The Sun Rays) who used to work at Florian's has rooms upstairs.
From Tommy, Marlowe finds out Jesse Florian's address, and the tip that a fifth of booze will be his best friend. Jesse is a bit of an alkie, and Sylvia Miles does an extraordinary portrayal of Jesse that is subtle, touching, and heart wrenchingly sad. After Marlowe plays a little footsie with Jesse, she decides that he's alright and calls Tommy Ray who slips him a picture of Velma from the old days. Only it's a bum steer, flashing the picture at Burly Q's, and agents gets a name, but it isn't Velma, it's a dead end to a catatonic at Camarillo, the State Mental Hospital.
Before the end of the film Marlowe gets his mellon thunked while Lindsay Marriott gets dead on a bungled jewel theft payoff. He gets his noodle wet with a horney Mrs. Grayle, and gets g -
mgtbltp — 9 years ago(December 16, 2016 10:43 AM)
A nice discovery, right before Christmas, Too Late was actually first brought to my attention by a review in The New York Times. A review that I stumbled upon while doing a search online for something else almost a half year ago. It was well after Too Late left the few theaters it was screened at. I just discovered it's available to watch now on Netflix streaming. Neo Noir is alive and doing well.
Too Late is a surprisingly brilliant addition to the Private Eye & Neo Noir Pantheon. This film passed well under practically everyone's "noir-dar" when it was debuted on March 18, 2016 in Los Angeles, California, followed on the 25th in New York City. With all the current zeitgeist going towards blockbusters, "celebrities" and oscar bait, and this having an extremely limited release, hardly anyone has seen much less heard of this fantastic modern take on Noir.
The film was directed and sharpley written by Dennis Hauck, the cinematography was by Bill Fernandez, and has an eclectic smorgasbord of music by Robert Allaire. Upon first viewing you'll see obvious nods to Sergio Leone's narrative style from Once Upon A Time In America that Tarantino homaged in Pulp Fiction. This is coupled with some intelligent and, if you pay attention, clue filled dialog vis-à-vis again, Tarantino. It also uses split screen in some sequences (Marlowe (1969)) and is loaded with other subtle noir and film references, i.e., an interesting off beat quote from Altman's Short Cuts (1993). There are probably more. The film was shot not only in 35mm Techniscope, but also in five Acts, twenty-two minute individual takes, with no hidden cuts or other editing.
Too Late stars John Hawkes (D.O.A. (1988), Winter's Bone (2010), The Pardon (2013)) as a damaged, pushing 60, hawk-nosed, rough, weary, stringbean freelance Private Detective Mel Sampson, he's also a smoker, a toker, and a boozer. Crystal Reed (CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (TV Series 2010)) as Dorothy, Vail Bloom (Angel of Death (2009)) as ex stripper, femme fatale Janet Lyons, Jeff Fahey (Impulse (1990), Planet Terror (2007), Machete (2010)), as "Cowboy" Roger Fontaine, Gordy's muscle, Robert Forster (Jackie Brown (1997), Mulholland Drive (2001), Hotel Noir (2012)) as Gordy Lyons mobbed up strip club owner, Joanna Cassidy (The Outfit (1973), The Laughing Policeman (1973), Blade Runner (1982) ) as Eleanor Mahler, Natalie Zea () Brett Jacobsen as "Skippy" Fontaine, Dichen Lachman as Jilly Bean, Dash Mihok as Jesse, Sydney Tamiia Poitier as Veronica, and Rider Strong as Matthew.
L.A., 2015. In some perverse joke of the gods, Bunker Hill rises in its skyscraper reincarnation, dwarfing the stubby spike of the Los Angeles City Hall. The view is from Radio Hill, and down across a yellowish, smog shrouded Chinatown. A woman, Dorothy, calls Mel Sampson P.I. for help. He's Too Late. She's dead.
What follows, time jumps between the present, seven years in the past, and five days ago, and is wondrously Noirsville.
A bizarre confrontation on a hilltop patio between Sampson, Gordy, Fontaine, and Fontaine's and Gordy's less than classy ex stripper wives, Veronica, and the half naked Janet.
A stripbar cute meet between Sampson, Dorothy, and Sampson's future gal pal Jilly Bean, followed by a late night nightcap at a C&W bar.
The reveal in an L.A. hotel room between Sampson, and Mary and Eleanor Mahler.
The botched attempted murder of a witness.
The acting in the film by all the principles is impeccable. John Hawkes' Mel Sampson is the anti Hollywood pretty boy hero, it took me a few reflective hours to put my finger on who he reminds me of. If you grew up in the late 60's and were a part of the counterculture and read many of the seminal works of the underground comix movement you'll see the visual resemblance to comix icon R. Crumb. He downplays his part, making him accessible and believable.
Neo Noir vet Robert Forster is a nasty piece of work as the hard barked stripclub owner. Jeff Fahey is teddy bear-ish, good ol' boy enforcer with a broken leg. Vail Bloom is touching as the wound a bit too tight, ex stripper beauty, who crumbles disastrously, when her world comes tumbling down. Natalie Zea is heartbreaking in the part of Mary.
Too Late is at the moment available on Netflix streaming. If I have to point out any minuses I would say it could have used a bit more outdoor location footage, but that's me. A thinking man's Noir 9/10.
Full review with NSFW screencaps here
http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/12/too-late-2015-tarantinian-neo-noir.html