Category: film noir
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‘Pale Flower’: Gambling dens, yakuza and a mysterious woman who lives on the edge
A taste for danger. Saeko (Mariko Kaga), “Pale Flower” (1964). By Paul Parcellin “Pale Flower” (1964) It’s clear from the start that Masahiro Shinoda’s “Pale Flower” isn’t your typical yakuza picture — the kind that’s simmered in the Japanese underworld’s intricate codes of conduct, with a lead character who agonizes over prickly themes such as…
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‘The Killers’: A much loved noir that’s the spitting image of another American classic
Ava Gardner, Burt Lancaster, ‘The Killers’ (1946). By Paul Parcellin “The Killers” (1946) Some say “The Killers” is the “Citizen Kane” of noir, but how can that be? One is a beloved noir, the story behind a brutal murder of a washed up prizefighter. The other, a fictional biography of a media tycoon, loosely based…
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Off the Hook: A bedridden heiress glimpses the face of doom in ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’
Barbara Stanwyck, ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’ (1948). Crossed phone lines deliver chilling news to a woman stranded in her apartment. Post war prosperity, women’s position in society go under the microscope Contains some spoilers By Paul Parcellin ‘Sorry, Wrong Number’ (1948) Barbara Stanwyck plays Leona Stevenson, a woman distinctly different from cold blooded Phyllis Dietrichson, whom…
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‘Out of the Past’: 13 Signs that Jane Greer is About to Destroy You
Jane Greer, ‘Out of the Past’ (1947). Dressed in mink and deadly. Warnings abound, but the only thing Mitchum can sputter is ‘Baby, I don’t care’ Contains spoilers By Paul Parcellin ‘Out of the Past’ (1947) You can’t say that Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) had no way of knowing what he was in for. A…
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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…