The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

John Huston is one of the great directors/writers of Hollywood's golden era. One of these days I'd like to watch all of his filmography.

Wow. Had it at #1, was for sure it would take the top spot. Im assuming Double Indemnity will be one of the final two.

Surprised about Sunset Blvd, although I expected it top 10, so I’m not that surprised. Picked Indemnity for the top spot from the beginning, so we shall see. Wilder for the win regardless.

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I went down a Huston rabbit hole a couple years ago and ended up watching 25. He has some weaker stuff, but his top few are pretty great. He is also a classic auteur in the sense that I don’t really think you see a through line in his filmography. As much as I love my modern directors, I do appreciate how old Hollywood directors seemed much more adaptable to the material. Didn’t always feel like everything had to be from their POV.

I was thinking along those lines last night when I watched a film from one of your favorite directors...and is probably why I don't like the modern auteur POV. Sorry, cause I know you really like this director too

Looks like we got ourselves a one-two Wilder punch to top off the countdown. That's great and well deserved. We'll see which one is the winner tomorrow but I'm sticking with Sunset Boulevard. I had The Maltese Falcon at #5. Absolute classic of a film and of the genre. All the players are here nailing it, the dialogue is full of memorable lines, and the direction is on point by one of the golden age's best in his debut at that.

1. The Third Man (1949)
3. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
4. Touch of Evil (1958)
5. The Maltese Falcon (1941)
7. Notorious (1946)
8. Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
9. Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
10. Stray Dog (1949)
11. Mildred Pierce (1945)
12. In a Lonely Place (1950)
13. Detour (1945)
14. The Big Sleep (1946)
15. Bob le flambeur (1956)
16. The Killers (1946)
17. Rififi (1955)
18. The Killing (1956)
19. Strangers on a Train (1951)
20. Gilda (1946)
21. Pickup on South Street (1953)
22. Laura (1944)
23. White Heat (1949)
24. Out of the Past (1947)
25. Nightmare Alley (1947)

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Well, you gotta tell me now

Just check out the new post section on MoFo, I'll be posting about the movie today.

The Maltese Falcon is just a damn near perfect piece of entertainment, and with over eighty years of cinema between us and its premiere it also remains one of the greatest directorial debuts of all time as well, heralding the long, brilliant career of John Huston. A tough, funny, clever, endlessly watchable adaptation of Hammett’s first Sam Spade novel, and along with everything else it was the perfect star vehicle for Bogart. But whole movies could be made about the side characters, especially Greenstreet’s genial fortune hunter Kasper Gutman, Peter Lorre’s more anxious Joel Cairo, and of course Elisha Cook Jr.’s would-be gun thug Wilbur. There should have been a whole series of movies following their misadventures. What affable baddies they are. And Mary Astor’s Brigid "Rhymes with Frigid" O'Shaughnessy, ready to shed a tear or jump into bed if it will advance her towards her goal, and in it for absolutely nobody but herself.



The Maltese Falcon is not in the same class as Casablanca, which reunited Bogie, Greenstreet, and Lorre, but that is only because Casablanca is peerless. But it is similar in that it is endlessly quotable, consummately crafted, and agelessly appealing. Being one of the first dark-hearted mystery thrillers that in retrospect was marked Noir, it is does not have a lot of the visual hallmarks that the genre became known for but its dark humor, colorful villains, and Bogart effortlessly exuding cool make it one of the eternal greats among greats.

The Maltese Falcon was sixth on my ballot.

HOLDEN'S BALLOT
1. In A Lonely Place (#6)
2. The Killers (#22)
3. Too Late for Tears (#81)
4. The Set-Up (#46)
5. Out of the Past (#7)
6. The Maltese Falcon (#3)
7. The Asphalt Jungle (#16)
8. Odd Man Out (#47)
9. Criss Cross (#44)
10. Stray Dog (#32)
11. The Killing (#11)
12. The Big Combo (#52)
13. Phantom Lady (#69)
14. Born to Kill (#84)
15. Pickup on South Street (#21)
16. The Big Heat (#17)
18. He Walked By Night (#88)
19. Fallen Angel (#80)
20. Shadow of a Doubt (#12)
21. Thieves’ Highway (DNP)
22. Panic in the Streets (#98)
23. Black Angel (DNP)
24. Crossfire (#51)
25. The Crimson Kimono (DNP)

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"Film is a disease. When it infects your bloodstream it takes over as the number one hormone. It bosses the enzymes, directs the pineal gland, plays Iago to your psyche. As with heroin, the antidote to Film is more Film." - Frank Capra

Maltese Falcon was my #8. One of the all time greats. Love the story and all the performances.

Probably not the first to ask this, but which movie was the 1 you hadn't seen?

I only watched The Maltese Falcon once and it was in the past decade. I was actually disappointed I didn't care that much for it.


The top two, those are both on my ballot and high up. So, not unhappy about us ending on two Wilders'.

Bob le flambeur is the one I have not seen.

I think you'd like that one.

I'm sure I will get around to it eventually.

The Maltese Falcon was my #17 pick and the last unclaimed spot on my list. As far as the final two spots go I guess Double Indemnity makes the most sense (it should have made my list). I don't know about the other spot.

1. The Third Man (#4)
2. Out of the Past (#7)
3. High Sierra (#50)
4. Touch of Evil (#5)
5. Ride the Pink Horse (#45)
6. Mystery Street (#93)
7. Gun Crazy (#36)
8. Night of the Hunter (#14)
9. Shadow of a Doubt (#12)
10. The Asphalt Jungle (#16)
11. Night and the City (#25)
12. Kiss Me Deadly (#13)
13. The Killing (#11)
14. Stray Dog (#32)
15. Strangers on a Train (#18)
16. Key Largo (#26)
17. The Maltese Falcon (#3)
18. Detour (#24)
19. The Narrow Margin (#43)
20. Kansas City Confidential (#53)
21. Where the Sidewalk Ends (#66)
22. Too Late for Tears (#81)
23. The Big Sleep (#8)
24. The Set-Up (#46)
25. House of Bamboo (3 votes, 18 points)

I had The Maltese Falcon at #6 on my ballot. Somehow, I wasn't aware that this was Huston's first film, and to that all I can say it WOW! What a debut, as it is almost perfectly put together. I think that also speaks to the high level of talent all around in this film.



As others have said, this is a top notch cast and the performances are fantastic. Although he had a couple of roles previous to this, I feel this is the film that really sent Bogie into the stratosphere as far as stardom is concerned; it's easy to see why.



Astor is good, but I have never found her to be overly attractive, and she doesn't have that classic movie star look I am fond of in the ladies of the era. She knocks the role out of the park, though.



Looks like this solidifies the final two titles for the reveal tomorrow - all the remains is to see how they land.

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I had to make some hard choices compiling my ballot. I love Lizabeth Scott so much I could probably have listed five or six of hers and been happy. But I limited myself to two. I knew Too Late for Tears would be way up top on mine, and I figured neither Dead Reckoning (#95) nor The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (#40) needed my help to place on the collective (they did not). So which of the others to choose from? Initially I was going with Pitfall where Raymond Burr plays a terrific slimeball. In retrospect I probably should have gone with I Walk Alone for another pairing of Lancaster and Kirk Douglas that might have had some traction with other MoFos. I didn’t think Desert Fury had any chance of breaking through as one of the few Technicolor Noirs. But I don’t know that a fourth Lizabeth Scott flick was ever going to make it, no matter what I chose. I went with…

The Racket (1951), which gave me not only another Liz Scott title but my favorite male actor of the genre Robert Ryan, too. Based on what was already by then an old play – Edward G. Robinson had starred in the original production in 1927. An RKO flick starring Robert Mitchum as a crusading cop, Robert Ryan as the local gangster he’s tussling with, William Talman about six years before he became TV’s most patient District Attorney Hamilton Burger on ”Perry Mason” opposite Raymond Burr playing a righteous rookie cop trying to do good, William Conrad as a corrupt copper, Ray Collins as the compromised D.A., and of course Lizabeth Scott as a nightclub singer involved with Ryan’s brother who becomes wanted as a prime witness to a murder.



Pretty much what was already considered standard Hammett-like machinations with the good guys trying to out the largely accepted corruption all around them, but elevated by the cast. Robert Ryan is his usual magnetic, despicable self as the volatile villain who doesn’t mind boldly shooting folks to get what he wants, Mitchum handsome but rather restrained this outing as the crusading Police Captain, and Lizabeth Scott as Lizabeth Scott, the beautiful, husky-voiced dame caught in the middle. I can’t tell you with a straight face that this is any kind of neglected masterpiece, I am simply a sucker for Lizabeth.

I slotted it seventeenth on my ballot. Twenty-one of my choices made it. I’ll stand pat there, Dealer.

HOLDEN'S BALLOT
1. In A Lonely Place (#6)
2. The Killers (#22)
3. Too Late for Tears (#81)
4. The Set-Up (#46)
5. Out of the Past (#7)
6. The Maltese Falcon (#3)
7. The Asphalt Jungle (#16)
8. Odd Man Out (#47)
9. Criss Cross (#44)
10. Stray Dog (#32)
11. The Killing (#11)
12. The Big Combo (#52)
13. Phantom Lady (#69)
14. Born to Kill (#84)
15. Pickup on South Street (#21)
16. The Big Heat (#17)
17. The Racket (DNP)
18. He Walked By Night (#88)
19. Fallen Angel (#80)
20. Shadow of a Doubt (#12)
21. Thieves’ Highway (DNP)
22. Panic in the Streets (#98)
23. Black Angel (DNP)
24. Crossfire (#51)
25. The Crimson Kimono (DNP)

Thank you for this. They should have just let him take over. It would have been the frozen pea commercial to end all frozen pea commercials.

Holden's post got me thinking I need to look over my ballot to see what missed, and imagine my surprise when my eyes landed on #17, In a Lonely Place!

WTF??

Until earlier this week, I had never seen that film. No clue how it ended up on my ballot, as I thought I had for sure put The Big Clock in that slot. The Big Clock is missing entirely. What sort of ass-hatted shuffling around was I doing just before ballot submission? Blimey.