The Hardest Noir You've Ever Witnessed

[Dr Doran]

Maybe I better repeat:

just funnin'.

Hee hee, so was I.

 

[Miss Brill]

Kiss of Death - Just for the scene where Richard Widmark ties Victor Mature's mother to her wheel chair with an electrical cord and pushes her down the steps.

I was going to say that & couldn't remember the name of the movie.

Another is John Garfield bashing Cecil Kellaway in the head in Postman.

 

[dhermann1]

There are SOOOO MANY! I like Asphalt Jungle, maybe not the hardest, but I love the poetic irony. How about Public Enemy!!! You can't top the way they deliver the deceased Jimmy Cagney!
For more modern "Noir" how about Mona Lisa? Hard to think of a more sordid atmosphere. And Michael Caine was thoroughly repulsive! (That's meant as a complement.)

 

[Dr Doran]

There are SOOOO MANY! I like Asphalt Jungle, maybe not the hardest, but I love the poetic irony. How about Public Enemy!!! You can't top the way they deliver the deceased Jimmy Cagney!
For more modern "Noir" how about Mona Lisa? Hard to think of a more sordid atmosphere. And Michael Caine was thoroughly repulsive! (That's meant as a complement.)

I am most delighted to hear of another fan of Mona Lisa with Bob Hoskins, the actor who most physically resembles Danny Devito yet, unlike him, is actually talented. I adored that movie. I agree about Michael Caine, perhaps one of my favorite working actors -- despite his horrid hippie role in Children of Men including a particularly disgusting personal habit relating to poor digestion which I could not deal with although it was used well in the scene in which he was slain. Who was the lovely mulatta? She was marvelous. A superb film on the intersection of class (Hoskins always concerned about his accent, his jail time, his working class-ness), race (the prostitute), revenge, honor, and more -- just brilliant. I saw it in the short lovely time in which I had digital cable. I had never heard of it, but it just happened to be on. Pure magic.

 

[Rumpled Fedora]

For sheer, gripping, hard-boiled noir I vote for "Ace in the Hole" (1951). Definitely.

 

[Feraud]

For sheer, gripping, hard-boiled noir I vote for "Ace in the Hole" (1951). Definitely.

A great one!
Was this just on TCM? I meant to remind the Loungers about it.
Would you believe viewers in '51 thought Douglas' character was unbelievable? As if a reporter would never do such things..

 

[goldwyn girl]

Tension is a huge favorite of mine.
A mousy drugstore manager turns killer after his conniving wife leaves him for another man. He devises a complex plan, which involves assuming a new identity, to make it look like someone else murdered her new boyfriend. Things take an unexpected turn when someone else commits the murder first and he becomes the prime suspect.
Richard Basehart
Audrey Totter
Cyd Charisse

 

[Feraud]

Tension is a huge favorite of mine.
A mousy drugstore manager turns killer after his conniving wife leaves him for another man. He devises a complex plan, which involves assuming a new identity, to make it look like someone else murdered her new boyfriend. Things take an unexpected turn when someone else commits the murder first and he becomes the prime suspect.
Richard Basehart
Audrey Totter
Cyd Charisse

I tried to Netflix this film but they do not have it..

 

[goldwyn girl]

I recorded it off (shhhhh) TCM some time back, but I first saw it years ago and then for thie life of me could'nt remember the name and late one night last year TCM had it on and the repeated it a month later and I got it. I just checked TCM's site and it's s not currently scheduled.They do have a trailer you can watch though.

 

[BegintheBeguine]

Doran, Cathy Tyson is the lovely lass in Mona Lisa. She was in The Serpent and the Rainbow and nothing else that I know of.

 

[Dr Doran]

Doran, Cathy Tyson is the lovely lass in Mona Lisa. She was in The Serpent and the Rainbow and nothing else that I know of.

Amazing. I'll rewatch Serpent. I did not know that was her.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Brute Force - A gritty prison break movie with Burt Lancaster. This movie got a lot of flak in the 40s when it was released for being so violent. The scene where they're planning to break out of prison while in the tunnel and Lancaster realizes that 2 of his group members squealed on them is so intense! (I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone who hasn't seen it, so I won't say more about what happens.)

I agree. Check out the scene where Hume Cronyn "gives" Burt the bandolier of ammo. I was actually quite surprised at the level of violence in this one. It's probably my favorite Lancaster Noir.

 

[Rumpled Fedora]

A great one!
Was this just on TCM? I meant to remind the Loungers about it.
Would you believe viewers in '51 thought Douglas' character was unbelievable? As if a reporter would never do such things..

Yep, TCM has been showing it since March. It's been criminally unreleased on DVD forever it seems. Luckily we have Criterion to thank for putting it on the shelves next month! :eusa_clap
A very cynical picture that's still finding its audience today. Easily Billy Wilder's darkest in my opinion.

 

[Feraud]

Luckily we have Criterion to thank for putting it on the shelves next month! :eusa_clap

I did not know it was being released. It is going on my "to get" list.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Yep, TCM has been showing it since March. It's been criminally unreleased on DVD forever it seems. Luckily we have Criterion to thank for putting it on the shelves next month! :eusa_clap
A very cynical picture that's still finding its audience today. Easily Billy Wilder's darkest in my opinion.

Just saw this the other day; I liked it! 1951 was darn good year for Kirk, even if I am amused by his overacting in that same year's Detective Story. No one can scream "Now lay off!" quite like Kirk!lol

 

[Feraud]

Detective Story is another great one.
Interesting subject for the era.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Detective Story is another great one.
Interesting subject for the era.

It's a good movie to play "Spot the Character Actor", too.

 

[Feraud]

I like the small details such as removing a pistol from the holster when in close proximity to a perp.

 

[Nathan Dodge]

Too Late For Tears (1949)

Haven't seen this one yet, but if the poster art is any indication...

Dan Duryea can't help it, he's a hitter!

 

[Mr. 'H']

Exploding! Like a gun in your face!

An ex-con trying to go straight is framed for a million dollar armored car robbery and must go to Mexico in order to unmask the real culprits.