The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

I can't find my commentary for either Shadow of a Doubt or The Killing.

Both are great pictures. I must have watched Shadow 15 times over the years. It's one of two great noirs from Hitchcock. I put the other one on my list...

The Killing is one of the greatest heist films ever, and it has been imitated many, many times.

Both have one thing in common: flawless casting. Uncle Charlie was Cotten's creepiest role, and he meshed perfectly with Teresa Wright. The supporting cast was perfect. It's interesting that Hitch chose Santa Rosa for the setting. He loved central Calif. with it's redwoods and coastal climate. He bought a home up in the hills, and he filmed The Birds and Vertigo there, as well as Shadow.

Marie Windsor is my favorite "B" femme fatale, and Elisha Cook, Jr. is one of the best ever noir character actors. Having them both together in The Killing is wonderful.

Neither picture made my top 25 noir list, but they could have.

I'd take John Huston anyday over Kubrick Especially for noir.

I think I know what you mean. But you did turn in a solid noir ballot, I'd say, it was pretty well diversified too.

I was totally surprised Ride the Pink Horse made the countdown. I'm a big a fan of course ever since I seen it when you nominated it.

Yeah, not sure why but I hadn't heard much praise for it here. Glad to see it come up so high.

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My guesses for the top 10:

1. Sunset Boulevard
2. The Maltese Falcon
3. The Third Man
4. Double Indemnity
5. Touch of Evil
6. The Big Sleep
7. Laura
8. Sweet Smell of Success
9. In A Lonely Place
10. Out of the Past

Yes I'm copying Holden's #1 guesses for both countdowns. Sunset Boulevard and Chinatown are just that popular it's difficult to see them not taking top spot. But who knows.

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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."

#103 The House on Telegraph Hill (1951) 20 points - 1 list

Top 10 Guess
1. Sunset Boulevard
2. Double Indemnity
3. The Third Man
5. Maltese Falcon
6. In a Lonely Place
7. Touch of Evil
8. Laura
9. Out of the Past
10. The Big Sleep

A One, Two, (not-Three) Billy Wilder punch to top the list eh.



You're missing four.

I've only seen one of the near-misses: Thieves Highway, which I saw late last year in the Film Noir HoF. However, I thought it was interesting that two "Whistler" films got votes, but not the first one, which I did see late last year as well.

That is a lot of near-miss and just-plain-miss information.

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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

From the near misses:

The Fallen idol was #20 on my ballot.

Phenix City Story is very good as well.

Obsession is pretty good, but one of the lesser Visconti films I've seen.

I'm a huge fan of Los Olvidados, but it didn't occur to me that it was even eligible for this list.

The Seventh Victim is pretty good. I don't remember it too well.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

Me too. I had no deep cuts in my list. I'm pretty basic. A Hufflepuff that likes Disney cartoons, Muppets, and the Ninja Turtle Michelangelo.

I watched these near misses.

Pitfall
Raw Deal
The Red House
Hangover Square
The Hidden Room (Obsession)
The Fallen Idol
The Mob
Flamingo Road
Phenix City Story
Border Incident
He Ran All the Way
Cast a Dark Shadow
Death of a Cyclist (Muerte de un Ciclista)
Lured
The Seventh Victim
The Two Mrs. Carrolls
While the City Sleeps

I didn't watch Human Desire but I did watch Jean Renoir's La Bête Humaine which it was based on.

@Citizen Rules, thanks for the Near-Misses, so I can mark out a few on my list (at this point, I pretty much knew they weren't going to make it). But it gives me hope for one I've seen hide-nor-hair of. But, maybe it was overlooked on your notes? I just can't see it placing over the ones that everyone's guessing will make it. At this point, this is how mine lays out:

#1 The Killing List Proper #11
#2 The Asphalt Jungle List Proper #16
#3
#4 The Big Combo List Proper #52
#5 Pickup on South Street List Proper #23
#6 Kansas City Confidential List Proper #53
#7
#8 While the City Sleeps NM
#9 Lady in the Lake NM
#10 The Big Heat List Proper #17
#11 Kiss Me Deadly List Proper #13
#12 The Postman Always Rings Twice List Proper #23
#13 Murder, My Sweet List Proper #28
#14 Kiss of Death List Proper #59
#15 He Walked By Night List Proper #88
#16 The Naked City List Proper #60
#17 The Killers List Proper #22
#18 Detour List Proper #24
#19
#20 Gun Crazy List Proper #36
#21 Impact NM
#22 This Gun For Hire List Proper #78
#23 The Narrow Margin List Proper #43
#24 Pitfall NM
#25 Crossfire List Proper #51

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

#12 Shadow of a Doubt - Haven't seen this one, but I have expanded my noir knowledge a great deal over the last 4 months or so.

#11 The Killing - It's been too long since I've seen this, but it's greatness lingers on. This might be the first time I ever saw Sterling Hayden in action, the big guy impressing me a great deal, but it was the fact that Kubrick had made this that got me onboard so quickly, which is why I've already checked it out. Probably my favourite heist movie, this one - it's very tense, and at times sad. It feels like a very "adult" heist movie, if that makes any sense - I guess all of film noir is like that, but The Killing is especially gritty. Like we're hanging out with the crooks and hustlers themselves, and getting really close to the danger. I really want to revisit it, but there's so much on my plate I probably won't get around to it for years. I hope something crops up where I have to, to give me a firm excuse. It was at #13 on my ballot.

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Seen : 28/90
I'd never even heard of : 47/90
Movies that had been on my radar, but I haven't seen yet : 15/90
Films from my list : 16

#11 - My #13 - The Killing (1956)
#13 - My #4 - Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
#14 - My #10 - The Night of the Hunter (1955)
#16 - My #15 - The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
#21 - My #17 - Pickup on South Street (1953)
#24 - My #20 - Detour (1945)
#27 - My #14 - Gilda (1946)
#28 - My #11 - Murder, My Sweet (1944)
#31 - My #25 - The Lady From Shanghai (1947)
#33 - My #22 - Nightmare Alley (1947)
#36 - My #16 - Gun Crazy (1950)
#44 - My #19 - Criss Cross (1949)
#54 - My #12 - D.O.A. (1950)
#58 - My #23 - The Breaking Point (1950)
#61 - My #21 - Act of Violence (1949)
#67 - My #18 - The Hitch-Hiker (1953)

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Bringing myself up to date before the top 10 commences. A lot of great movies since I last posted. Of those, I've had:

Scarlet Street #5
Pickup on South Street #9
Key Largo #15
The Killing #18



And of the near misses I voted for:

Human Desire #11
Follow Me Quietly #14
Macao #17
Screaming Mimi #24

Where I am, before top 10 opening:


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My Ballot
▽
1.
2. Rebecca (1940) [#35]
3.
4. The Wrong Man (1956) [#39]
5. Suspicion (1941) [#49]
6. The Killing (1956) [#11]
7. Shadow of a Doubt (1943) [#12]
8. The Asphalt Jungle (1950) [#16]
9. Ace in the Hole (1951) [#19]
10. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) [#23]
11. Gilda (1946) [#27]
12. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) [#40]
13. Mildred Pierce (1945) [#15]
14. Notorious (1946) [#20]
15. The Lost Weekend (1945) [#34]
16.
17. The Big Heat (1953) [#17]
18.
19. Key Largo (1948) [#26]
20. Night and the City (1950) [#25]
21. Spellbound (1945) [#68]
22.
23. Woman on the Run (1950) [#91]
24. High Sierra (1940) [#50]
25. Niagara (1953) [#56]
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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.

Drumroll, please, Elisha....

"A half hour had passed, and like so much laundry on the strings between the tenements on 18th street, I felt like I'd been hung out to dry. If Rules meant to play me as the fool like those card game hustlers on the boardwalk do to so many hibuscus-laden shirt-wearing tourists, he succeeded. However, if gumshoe meant what you thought it actually meant, all I could do is stand around...and wait."