Author: pparcellin@gmail.com
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The Big Knockoff: 14 Films With Armored Car Heists
Burt Lancaster struggles for the gun. “Criss Cross” (1949). By Paul Parcellin If the movies are any indication, the 1940s and ’50s, especially the ’50s, must have been the golden age of armored car robberies — they were getting knocked over like clay pigeons in a shooting gallery. A common armored car robbery movie plot:…
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‘The Long Good Friday’: A Gangster Noir That Saw the Future
Bob Hoskins, Helen Mirren, “The Long Good Friday” (1980). Mobster’s World Blown to Bits in an Easter Wave of Terror Contains spoilers By Paul Parcellin ‘The Long Good Friday’ (1980) As Good Friday approaches it’s fitting that we look at one of the slender number of crime films set on the holiest of Christian holy…
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When Gangsters Collide with the Dark Side: 65 Mobbed Up Films Noir
Jean Hagen, Sterling Hayden, “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950). In Noir, Racketeers Aren’t Like the Ones In Your (Grand)Father’s Mob Pictures By Paul Parcellin Gangster films were already a cinematic staple when a new kind of crime film began to emerge in the early 1940s. Films noir captured the popular imagination for a couple of decades…
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Barber Aims to Be a Dry Cleaner, Blackmail, Murder and Suicide Result
Frances McDormand, Billy Bob Thornton, “The Man Who Wasn’t There” (2001). Why Did an Acclaimed Coen Brothers Noir Tank at the Box Office? Contains Spoilers By Paul Parcellin ‘The Man Who Wasn’t There’ (2001) Ed Crane (Billy Bob Thornton) is the kind of guy who can enter or leave a roomful of people without a…
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‘Murder by Contract’: This Guy Kills Me
Vince Edwards, Caprice Toriel, ‘Murder by Contract’ (1958). Dreams of a suburban home, picket fence and a garden can lead a man to homicide By Paul Parcellin “I want to be a contractor,” announces Claude (Vince Edwards), a determined, 30ish guy in the middle of an unusual kind of job interview at the start of…
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Headshrinker Noir: 10 Films With Mind Games, Crime
Ingrid Bergman, “Spellbound” (1945). From Dedicated Healers to Evil Control Freaks, Noir Psychiatrists Want to Pick Your Brain By Paul Parcellin Do all psychiatrists intentionally drive their patients insane and force them to commit awful crimes? In real life it’s unlikely … probably. But in film noir it’s a 50-50 bet. Not that all noir…
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Could You Repeat That? — 36 Noirs That Unfold In Flashbacks
Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, “Double Indemnity” (1944). They pop up in all kinds of movies and TV shows, but flashbacks are the stuff that films noir are made of By Paul Parcellin Is that film you’re watching a noir? Here’s one semi-reliable way to tell: Look for flashbacks. In noir, flashbacks show us the stuff…
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D.O.A.: Small Town Man Visits Big City, Murder Follows
Frank Gerstle, Edmond O’Brien, “D.O.A.” (1949). The doctor delivers some astonishingly bad news. Frank Bigelow needs to find the truth,but he’s driven by a deeper motivation By Paul Parcellin When you think of noir, it’s probably not 18th century British author Samuel Johnson who first springs to mind. But his most famous quote really nails the…
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Whiteout Noir: 6 Films With Cold Blooded Crimes In Wintery Places
Ward Bond, Robert Ryan, “On Dangerous Ground” (1951). Murder has a different look atop a crisp blanket of snow By Paul Parcellin Winter is upon us, and in many places snow has either fallen or soon will. So it’s time to consider noirs that feature arctic blasts of frigid air and piles of the white…
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New Year’s Noir: 8 Crime Films Bring You Dark Tidings
Allen Baron, “Blast of Silence” (1961). Noir for the year’s last day. Was that a popping cork or the report of a firearm? By Paul Parcellin Why is it that a lot of noirs take place around Christmas, but not so many focus on New Year’s Eve? Granted, New Year’s doesn’t carry the same weight…