The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

Seen both, voted for neither, don't feel like looking up my ratings at the moment!

Caged and Bob Le Flambeur are the two I haven't seen.

Finally one from my list! Bob Le Flambeur is my favorite French Noir, gotta love Melville. Had it at #10. Not sure if I've seen To Have And Have Not.

SEEN 10/36
BALLOT 1/25

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Same as John-Connor above finally one from my list makes it and it's Bob le flambeur that I had at #15. It is early Melville and while I may prefer other films by him over this one it's still a quality film/film noir that felt right including here. It may be a French film noir but it's got classic American gangster film written all over it, and would of course influence his future films and those of the French New Wave.
How can you go wrong with Howard Hawks and Bogie & Bacall. It's tough. Didn't make my list but would have been top 40.

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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."

Finally a couple films I've seen!

To Have and Have Not is pretty good, though it feels like a lesser Casablanca in some respects.

Bob le Flambeur is very good and is an atypical Melville film since the usual feelings of outside forces closing in on the main character are reversed. I voted for a different Melville though.

Neither film made my ballot.

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1 for 2. I loved To Have and Have Not. As far as Bogart goes I think it deserves a place alongside classics like Casablanca and The Maltese Falcon. The chemistry between Bogart and Bacall is off the charts and Walter Brennan is a pitch perfect sidekick/comic relief.

And it's a tossup as to which French heist flick I want to see first, Bob le Flambeur or Rififi.

15 of 40 seen.

Honestly spaced out on To Have or to Have Not or it probably would have made my list. I have another Bogie/Bacall picture on my ballot, which I am sure will place eventually. I've not heard of the other reveal today.

4/38 seen

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Back to zero's with these two.


SEEN: 5/38
MY BALLOT: 2/25

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How many Bogey films have we had so far? Three?

I don’t remember To Have Or Have Not even a little. Apparently I watched it and gave it a 3.

I have watched Bob twice now. I adore Melville, so I feel like I should like it more, but it’s just okay for me.

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To Have and Have Not is an all-time classic, with Bogart and Bacall throwing off palpable sparks, despite his being in his mid-40s and she only 19-years-old. I liked her calling him "Steve" despite that not being his name, and him calling her "Slim," both of which were supposed to be nicknames that director Howard Hawks and his wife gave each other. Don't know if it's true but it makes a good story. For me, all the story about Harry ("Steve") helping a resistance leader and his wife escape Vichy-controlled Martinique is secondary to the personalities and characters that float about the movie, including Harry, "Slim," Walter Brennan's "Eddie," Hoagy Carmichael, and Sheldon Leonard, among many. The infamous "You know how to whistle, don't you?" line, and Eddie carrying on about the dead bee makes this movie a lot of fun, unlike most standard noirs. No matter how many times I see it, it's so easy to slip back into this one and just kick back.

I've not heard of Bob le Flambeur so no vote there. In fact, neither made my ballot, although Bogie will appear eventually.

#15 He Walked By Night List Proper #88
#22 This Gun For Hire List Proper #78

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

Seen both, voted for neither.

Count me as a big fan of Bogie, Bacall & Brennan in To Have and Have Not. It's one of the very few movies I could watch multiple times. It's such a fun film to spend time with. I wrote this:


Bogie and Bacall were magic on the screen...so was Eddie (Walter Brennan), I really liked him in general and here he had a lot of heart...and that was important as it made me care about his character. I loved the dialogue in this movie, it's so melodic and snappy. We spend a lot of time hanging out with Harry, Slim and Eddie and not a lot of movies dedicate so much time to casual conversation. It's like the characters are our personal friends and we're along for the ride.

There's not much tension, it's a cake walk for Bogie and I think that's because the writers William Faulkner and Jules Furthman put their focus on developing Bogie, Bacall and Brennan's characters, and not on scene development or plot tension. The story itself isn't that exciting but for me that's OK, as I like movies that are low key and light on tension. I was happy to hang out in this 'other world' of Martinique.

My favorite scene was after the French wife faints during the bullet removal and Bogie picks her up in his arms and carries her out of the room. When he's out of sight of the others, he pauses and looks at her in his arms, and you know what he's thinking.....Then, in comes Bacall and says in her insulate tone, "What are you trying to do, guess her weight?"

If I was smarter I would have voted for To Have and Have Not. It might even be my favorite Hawks film.

Me too, I didn't vote for it, I don't know why. It looks like alot of my ballot films won't make the countdown.

To Have or Have Not - I have not seen this, but I also haven't seen a Howard Hawks film that I love (at least that I recall) despite loving some of Carpenter's films that are showing his love of Hawks' films.


I've seen Bob the Gamber, but don't remember much from it. I feel like Riffifi (not a Melville film) actually feels more similar to Melville 's later neo-noirs, particularly Le Cercle Rouge.

#62 On Dangerous Ground (1951)

Director: Nicholas Ray
Production: RKO
Cast: Ida Lupino, Robert Ryan, Ward Bond
61 Points, 6 Lists

#61 Act of Violence (1948)

Director: Fred Zinnemann
Production: MGM
Cast: Van Heflin, Robert Ryan, Janet Leigh
62 Points, 6 Lists

*Reads newspaper. Avoids eye contact.*


0 - 40

On Dangerous Ground is good, but didn't make my ballot. I was meaning to see Act of Violence, but never got around to it.

Seen: 37/40