Jules Dassin: When Noir Turned Black

[jake_fink]

Here's a great article on the legendary writer director Jules Dassin, creator of noir masterpieces The Naked City, Topkapi, Night and the City, Thieves' Highway, Brute Force and Rififi, not to mention The Canterville Ghost and A Letter for Evie among others.

Dassin was blacklisted in 1950, and he is now a gracious and interesting 95 year old link to the bad old good old days of Hollywood.

When Noir Turned Black

 

[happyfilmluvguy]

Great interview and article!

It's always facinating to read about the dark depths of the motion picture industry. Nothing is secret forever.

"There are 8 million stories in the Golden Age of Hollywood, this has been one of them"

 

[Feraud]

What a great read. It is amazing how after having suffered through a blacklist he maintains his love of country.

As an aside, what is with the Rififi remake with Pacino?
There are 8 million stories in the Naked City, and Hollywood is hellbent on remaking them all.

 

[miss1934]

due out in 2007, doesent seem to have an awful lot of people looking forward to it due to the imdb boards. It also has a tremenbous lack of info on it.

 

[Feraud]

I think the film is listed as in preproduction. There is probably not much to report yet. No daily weblogs like Jackson did for his King Flop remake.

I used to have an extreme dislike of remakes but now see them as a way of getting the originals released on dvd!

 

[nightandthecity]

Fantastic article Jake, thanks for the link. Dassin made several of my all time favourite films (including, of course, Night and the City).

Apart from anything else, great to know he is still alive, and still kicking.

 

[jake_fink]

Regarding the remake of Rififi: Neil Jordan's take on Bob le Flambeur was a very interesting and worthy film in its own right. Unfortunately Howard Beck is not Neil Jordan, having only managed to make two good movies in a thirty-odd year career. So, yeah, Rififi remake =

 

[Baron Kurtz]

Another Dassin fan here.

Well, i hope a Rififi remake never comes out of preproduction. Especially not with Al Pacino.

bk

 

[carebear]

There are a million stories in the Naked City...

and 13 million in the Greater Naked Metropolitan Area.