The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

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My ballot. Outside of some glaring omissions/brain farts there isn't much I'd change. Maybe the order. I really wish Shaft and Bullitt had made the countdown. And even though I more or less knew Rolling Thunder wouldn't show up it would have still been nice to see it included. The rest are just personal favorites.


1. The French Connection (#58)
2. You Were Never Really Here (#50)
3. Get Carter (#49)
4. In the Heat of the Night (#98)
5. Blast of Silence (#48)
6. Shaft
7. Rolling Thunder
8. Taxi Driver (#4)
9. Thief (#29)
10. Hell or High Water
11. Blade Runner (#2)
12. Blood Simple (#9)
13. Badlands (#103)
14. Winter's Bone
15. L.A. Confidential (#3)
16. Harper (#101)
17. Dark City (#24)
18. One False Move (#73)
19. No Country for Old Men (#12)
20. Blood and Black Lace
21. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three
22. Bullitt
23. Drive (#14)
24. Point Blank (#72)
25. Collateral (#33)



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Wow! 104 points between #1 and #2.
I didn't know that Chinatown is so popular here...
Chinatown is popular everywhere, and empirically it is the clear and obvious choice for top Neo Noir.



Blade Runner was my #1. It's one of those films that every time you watch it, there seems to be something new to appreciate. As a neo-noir film, I think it's excellent. It takes a lot of the ideas and themes from noir and transplants them successfully to a completely different futuristic sci-fi setting.


I don't like Chinatown.
You can go off people, can't you?



Before I get to the meat of it all, HTH did The Taking of Pelham One Two Three qualify? Now, I love that film (like top 100 love it) but I still don't think I'd have voted for it even if I knew it did. Though, I do really love it, so maybe I would've? Anyway, seems weird to me but then, what else is new?

Had I known Wild Things counted I'd have defintely added that to my list (and I can see the noir there) as that's a damn good film (if a little heavyhanded with the metaphors) too I'll say the same for The Killer (which I did look at but couldn't see the Neo-Noir tag for) and Hard Boiled, which I love but really don't think of as Noir and, had I already had The Killer, I think I'd have left it off anyway as being too far removed from what I think of neo noir. But I love all those films and, along with Angel Heart (which I shamefully forgot and After Dark, My Sweet which I decided against, plus a couple more I've thought of since, Miami Blues and Kill Me Again) I'd have gotten close to a full list. Ah, well. Them's the breaks.

At least you all got #1 correct. Double Indemnity should be the #1 choice for classic noir, but Chinatown had to be. It's the best example and the best film. I'd have liked to have seen L.A. Confidential at #2, but the fandom of Bladerunner is very strong and it's not as if there's any argument to be made that it isn't neo-noir, is there? It just is, even for someone like me. I could've done my bit though, as I only had it at #16, which I can't explain at all beyond I made the list quickly and it must've gotte lost in the shuffle as I tried to get my list in before the deadline.

Thanks for running a good countdown, Thief. Excellent work.
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Trouble with a capital "T"
Thanks Thief for volunteering to do this portion of MoFos' first (and hopefully not last) duel countdowns. You did an excellent job!!!
I totally appreciate you helping out so that the MoFo community could turn out two different Top 100 Film Noir/Neo Noir list. Without this countdown the Film Noir countdown would not have worked!

Thanks to everyone who participated here in the Neo Noir countdown, hope everyone had fun!

Here's my Neo Noir ballot:
1. Le Samouraï (1967)
2. The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)...
3. The Hustler (1961) ***
4. The Naked Kiss (1964)***
5. The Long Goodbye (1973)
6. Thelma & Louise (1991)
7. Strange Days (1995)***
8. The Hole (1960)
9. Body Heat (1981)
10. Blood Simple (1984)
11. L'avventura (1960)
12. Seconds (1966)
13. Blue Ruin (2013)***
14. Blow-Up (1966)
15. Road to Perdition (2002)
16. L.A. Confidential (1997)
17. Alphaville (1965)***
18. Gone Baby Gone (2007)
19. Mulholland Drive (2001)***
20. Miller's Crossing (1990)
21. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)***
22. Blade Runner (1982)
23. Le Cercle Rouge (1970)
24. Dark City (1998)***
25. Portrait in Black (1960)



Trouble with a capital "T"
I just logged off and was heading to work when I realized I need to thank Yoda ....Chris does all the behind the scenes work that makes the auto generated images and auto generated ballot tabulations that the Neo Noir countdown used. And he has to work with the data base and do a whole bunch more work to get both countdowns' list into the MoFo list section. So a big thanks to Yoda for making all this possible for all of us MoFos! This is what I love about the site it feels like a community



I just logged off and was heading to work when I realized I need to thank Yoda ....Chris does all the behind the scenes work that makes the auto generated images and auto generated ballot tabulations that the Neo Noir countdown used. And he has to work with the data base and do a whole bunch more work to get both countdowns' list into the MoFo list section. So a big thanks to Yoda for making all this possible for all of us MoFos! This is what I love about the site it feels like a community



A friend to Noir, Yoda is.



Yes, yes, thank you, Yoda.
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Yes, by all means, thank you to Yoda for all his behind the scenes work in making these two countdowns such polished and top drawer affairs.



WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... BLADE RUNNER


RT – 89%, IMDb – 8.1

Roger Ebert said:

"The visual environments [Ridley Scott] creates for this film are wonderful to behold, and there's a sense of detail, too; we don't just get the skyways and the monolithic skyscrapers and the sky-taxis, we also get notions about how restaurants, clothes and home furnishing will look in 2020 (not too different). Blade Runner is worth attending just to witness this artistry." (read full review here)
Ben Sherlock, from Game Rant, said:

"[Ridley Scott] connected the central detective story to film noir and helmed Blade Runner as one of the first-ever tech noir films. Blade Runner arguably contributed as much to establishing the neo-noir as Roman Polanski’s Chinatown, whose soul-crushing ending redefined the noir as audiences knew it, as Scott’s movie proved it was possible to bring in elements from other genres and still succeed as a complex, morally challenging entry in the noir canon." (read full review here)
@John McClane said:

"Blade Runner is a film that deserves its status as a cult classic because of these things. It gives us no answers, no explicit meaning, and no purpose to which to cling. Instead, it paints a mirror copy of our own world in the darkest of grays. More human than human? Our humanity is already tough enough." (read full review here)
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WHAT DID YOU THINK OF... CHINATOWN


RT – 99%, IMDb – 8.1

Roger Ebert said:

"Roman Polanski’s Chinatown is not only a great entertainment, but something more, something I would have thought almost impossible: It’s a 1940s private-eye movie that doesn't depend on nostalgia or camp for its effect, but works because of the enduring strength of the genre itself." (read full review here)
Glenn Frankel, from The Washington Post, said:

"An existential detective story bathed in shades of film noir, Chinatown is more of a who-are-we than a whodunit. Besides Polanski’s masterful direction, it boasts one of the most admired screenplays in movie history, by Robert Towne; a fabulously nuanced star performance by Jack Nicholson; and a grand theme: the fatal fragility of good intentions in an evil world. It’s also wickedly entertaining." (read full review here)
@Daniel M said:

"Directed with so much confidence, the film has a highly ambitious 'epic' feel about it. The story is one of the most complex and haunting mysteries of all time, and the screenplay has some fantastic dialogue with a great mixture of intelligence and humour." (read full review here)



Ok, the only one from my list that didn't make it was my #25, Brian de Palma's Femme Fatale.



Admittedly, I haven't seen it in a good while, but it's still a film that stuck with me for its vibe, mood, and twisty story, which I think made it a perfect fit for this countdown. I expected it to be a one-pointer, but someone else voted for it, so I guess I'm happy about that.



SEEN: 73/100
MY BALLOT: 24/25

My ballot  



Ok, the only one from my list that didn't make it was my #25, Brian de Palma's Femme Fatale.



Admittedly, I haven't seen it in a good while, but it's still a film that stuck with me for its vibe, mood, and twisty story, which I think made it a perfect fit for this countdown. I expected it to be a one-pointer, but someone else voted for it, so I guess I'm happy about that.
*sees @Wigram liked this*




I can't find my review of Chinatown, but it was #1 on my list. I consider it to be the greatest neo-noir ever, followed by Body Heat. The story, the acting, the directing, the settings and production design were all in the stratosphere. I also liked The Two Jakes, but it didn't click with the public as much as its predecessor. I wish Nicholson would have made a third.

I liked Blade Runner, but I had the 2017 version at #21. I probably could have used the '82 version, but I didn't...



Thanks very much to Thief for running this countdown!

He's a great guy, and it takes a lot of time and effort to put one of these things together.

Many thanks, you old cinephile you!

~Doc



AWARDS?



Blade Runner received several nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:
  • Eight (8) BAFTA Film Award nominations, including a win for Best Cinematography (Jordan Cronenweth)
  • Four (4) Saturn Award nominations, including a win for Best Supporting Actor (Rutger Hauer)
  • Two (2) Academy Award nominations, including Best Visual Effects
  • One (1) Golden Globe Award nomination for Best Score (Vangelis)



AWARDS?



Chinatown received several nominations and awards. These are some of the most notable:
  • Eleven (11) Academy Award nominations, including a win for Best Original Screenplay (Robert Towne)
  • Eleven (11) BAFTA Film Award nominations, including a win for Best Actor (Jack Nicholson)
  • Seven (7) Golden Globe Award nominations, including a win for Best Picture
  • One (1) Writers Guild of America Award for Best Writing (Towne)



Stats: Finish Line





Now that we hit the finish line, here's were we ended up after 100 entries:

Decade Breakdown
  • 1960s = 13
  • 1970s = 15
  • 1980s = 12
  • 1990s = 30
  • 2000s = 17
  • 2010s = 13
  • 2020s = 0

As expected, the 1990s end up taking the prize. However, it's interesting that after that, the field is pretty much even all across. Also, the 1970s had the strongest showing in the Top 10 with 3 entries.


Recurring Directors
  • Coen Brothers = 6
  • David Fincher = 4
  • Michael Mann = 4
  • David Lynch = 3
  • Martin Scorsese = 3
  • Christopher Nolan = 3
  • Quentin Tarantino = 3
  • William Friedkin = 3
  • Ridley Scott = 2
  • Robert Altman = 2
  • Jean-Pierre Melville = 2
  • Brian de Palma = 2
  • Bong Joon-ho = 2
  • Shane Black = 2

Also as expected, the Coen brothers dominated with 6 entries total. Fincher and Mann settle for the second spot with 4, while this last batch brought Scorsese his third notch, and Ridlsey Scott his second.



The three that didn't make it were my one pointer Serie noie, The Limey at #16, which was talked bout a ways back, and Wong Kar-wai's Fallen Angels.
23. Bad Lieutenant (1992)
Also Bad Lieutenant didn't make it - a bit surprising. So that's 21/25 for those of us who are counting, which is just me I'm sure.