Film Noir HoF III

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Angel Heart (1987)

I loved the first hour! Especially the way the director handled the scenes. I noticed on the longer scenes the opening fade-in would be a close-up of an object, something on a table or something small in the foreground. Then the scene would open up to a master shot so we could see the entire scene. The director would then take his time with the camera movements giving us plenty of 'in between time' so that we could soak up the atmosphere and 'be in the scene'. The sets themselves were so realistically dressed with small period piece items that I would pause the film just to get a good look at all the detail that went into those scenes. I'm impressed by this director!

I don't think I've seen many of Mickey Rourke films, but I was blown away by his performance. He covered the range of emotions and did them very believably. He made the perfect film noir detective and embodied the soul of Philip Marlowe.

I can't say the same for Robert DeNiro. IMO he's one of the most overrated actors, at any rate, he made a lousy devil. Even before I knew that's who he was, I could tell he didn't have a handle on his character so his performance felt flat.

Unfortunately the second hour went down the tubes. Charlotte Rampling and Lisa Bonet played intriguing characters and I liked their storylines. I wish they had more screen time as I would've liked the story to unfold in part through scenes with them. As it was their time was all too brief.

The scene in the gumbo house where the older man in a white suit delivers one helluva long monologue explaining the whole movie to the audience, was ridiculous. Though the big reveal with Robert DeNiro confessing to be the devil was even more silly, but not as silly Lisa Bonet's little kid with glowing eyes, OMG what a pathetic ending for a film that started out so damn promising.


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I can't say the same for Robert DeNiro. IMO he's one of the most overrated actors, at any rate, he made a lousy devil. Even before I knew that's who he was, I could tell he didn't have a handle on his character so his performance felt flat.
I agree about de Niro. It's easily the worst performance of the film. I still need to do my rewatch before going for more details.



I agree about de Niro. It's easily the worst performance of the film. I still need to do my rewatch before going for more details.
During the first half of Angel Heart I was thinking I would tell you that if it had been in a main HoF, it might have won. It's too bad the ending went so far astray.

Oh, I don't know why this was rated X? I've seen R rated movies that had more nudity, like Bob Hoskins full frontal in Mrs Henderson Presents, yikes!



During the first half of Angel Heart I was thinking I would tell you that if it had been in a main HoF, it might have won. It's too bad the ending went so far astray.

Oh, I don't know why this was rated X? I've seen R rated movies that had more nudity, like Bob Hoskins full frontal in Mrs Henderson Presents, yikes!
I don't remember anything wrong with the latter half of the film. On the other hand, I'm most likely more into that supernatural and horror crap than you.

And I didn't even know it was X rated. That's so surprising that it never even crossed my mind to check.



The trick is not minding
Murder, My Sweet

Marlowe sure knows how to get himself into trouble.
He takes a case (2 actually) that are seemingly separate and seemingly easy. One involves finding a woman. The other involves a jade necklace, your standard macguffin. Before long he finds himself deeper then expected and the bodies piling up. What follows is a little too complicated plot.
It’s the cinematography that works best here. The smoke curling up from the femme fatale. The mist lifting from the ground as it swirls around Marlowe during his meet up.
The acting is ok. Powell at times lacks the world weary cynicism that seems permanently etched into Bogarts face. But he makes the most of his more important scenes.
It’s the femme fatales, Claire Trevor and Anne Shirley that make this work best with their performances.
Marlowe is one of those characters that have been played by many different actors over the decades. Much like Dracula, James Bond, Tarzan, Zorro, Sherlock Holmes, and even Batman and Superman, Marlowe has seen many portrayals. Yet somehow he has been forgotten. The last actual film released was back in the 70’s, a remake of The Big Sleep, with Robert Mitchum filling in. (Interestingly enough, he also was cast as Marlowe in the remake of this film in 1976, Farewell, My Lovely).
The last actual portrayal was in 1998 TV movie (thank you Wikipedia!)
If there was ever a time to bring him back.....

Good film, could have been better.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
This is an accurate depiction of the "X-rating controversery" from Wiki:

"After filming concluded in June 1986, Parker spent four months editing the film in Europe, with 400,000 feet of film and 1,100 different shots. The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) gave the original cut of Angel Heart an "X" rating, which is widely associated with pornographic films. The board, composed of industry executives and theater owners, expressed concerns over several seconds of the sex scene involving Rourke and Bonet in which Rourke's buttocks are seen thrusting in a sexual motion. Parker appealed the rating but did not receive the two-thirds vote required to reclassify the film to an "R" rating..

The film's distributor, Tri-Star Pictures, refused to release it with an X rating, as the film would have fewer theaters willing to book it and fewer venues for advertising; Steve Randall, executive vice-president of marketing for Tri-Star, stated that it was the studio's "firm policy not to release an X-rated film." With only a few weeks before the film's release, the studio was desperate for the less-restrictive R rating, but Parker was reluctant to alter the film. He filed another appeal, on which the board voted 8 to 6 in favor of the X rating. Parker then removed ten seconds of sexual content from the scene. "That scene was very complex, very intricate, and the cutting quite rapid, involving 60 to 80 cuts in the space of about two minutes," he said. "Eventually, I cut only 10 seconds from the scene, or about 14 feet of film. On February 24, 1987, the film was granted an R rating. Parker later stated that the MPAA's concerns led to "a wasteful, pointless and expensive exercise"
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Warning: Spoilers for Angel Heart below!

Though the big reveal with Robert DeNiro confessing to be the devil was even more silly, but not as silly Lisa Bonet's little kid with glowing eyes, OMG what a pathetic ending for a film that started out so damn promising.
It was a little disappointing that the film felt the need to really explain everything to the audience. It didn't bother me too much, but I would've preferred a more ambiguous ending, and ideally one that leans more into the psychological than supernatural, where Harry is left mentally broken down and we don't know whether or not he killed those people.

I actually burst out laughing at the kid's glowing eyes. It was so ridiculous, and it completely took me out of the film at an important moment, but I liked the idea of the elevator so it wasn't wholly disastrous to me. I enjoyed the film, weird ending and all.



Angel Heart (1987)

...

OMG what a pathetic ending for a film that started out so damn promising.

I knew you wouldn't like that one, but didn't want to spoil it for you... I agree with you about the first hour. A lot of folks thought Rourke was over the top, but I enjoyed his performance. He puts me in mind a little of Brando's tendency to want to be beat up or mauled in his films. I suppose it's a chance to let out their acting chops.



During the first half of Angel Heart I was thinking I would tell you that if it had been in a main HoF, it might have won. It's too bad the ending went so far astray.

Oh, I don't know why this was rated X? I've seen R rated movies that had more nudity, like Bob Hoskins full frontal in Mrs Henderson Presents, yikes!
I agree with the X rating. Last Tango in Paris had an X (now NC-17), and it had no particular bloody violence in it. I went to see it with my wife and folks. It was a damned embarrassment, but at least we knew going in that it would be rough.

In my view many of the R rated movies today ought to be NC-17, and many PG-13s ought to be R. It shows you how far we've slid as a society, and how desensitized audiences have become to graphic violence, deviant sex, and gutter language. Every time I think it's reached its nadir, it goes lower...



I don't remember anything wrong with the latter half of the film. On the other hand, I'm most likely more into that supernatural and horror crap than you.
I actually like supernatural stuff when it's done right. I rated The Innocents
. There's a certain cheese level to the horror elements in Angel Heart in the way it is depicted on film, which would be fine if it wasin Omen III or Friday the 13th part 22, but the film making was so fine that it was disappointing to see the supernatural stuff handled so b movie like. I would rate the first half (without the one brief horror scene) a
that's how well I thought of the film making style. I'm glad you nominated it as I want to check out other stuff from the director.

... concerns over several seconds of the sex scene involving Rourke and Bonet in which Rourke's buttocks are seen thrusting in a sexual motion..

Parker then removed ten seconds of sexual content from the scene. "That scene was very complex, very intricate, and the cutting quite rapid, involving 60 to 80 cuts in the space of about two minutes," he said. "Eventually, I cut only 10 seconds from the scene, or about 14 feet of film...
Thanks Mark for posting that, very interesting! I wonder if there was any personal grudges against the director or producer that earned the film an X? The first R rated movie I was able to see on my own was Monty Python's Life of Brian which has full male frontal nudity. It's just strange that Angel Heart received an X.

Warning: Spoilers for Angel Heart below!
It was a little disappointing that the film felt the need to really explain everything to the audience. It didn't bother me too much, but I would've preferred a more ambiguous ending, and ideally one that leans more into the psychological than supernatural, where Harry is left mentally broken down and we don't know whether or not he killed those people.

I actually burst out laughing at the kid's glowing eyes. It was so ridiculous, and it completely took me out of the film at an important moment, but I liked the idea of the elevator so it wasn't wholly disastrous to me. I enjoyed the film, weird ending and all.
WARNING: "Spoilers" spoilers below
I like your version of the ending, of course I'm seem to always like your alternative endings I was OK with the film showing him as the real killer, but I would've liked the supernatural devil part to be left ambiguous...So that we don't know if the devil was really involved? Or was it all in the twisted head of Mickey Rourke's character?



...In my view many of the R rated movies today ought to be NC-17, and many PG-13s ought to be R. It shows you how far we've slid as a society, and how desensitized audiences have become to graphic violence, deviant sex, and gutter language. Every time I think it's reached its nadir, it goes lower...
I remember when I was a teen a PG movie was a 'PG movie' and a family with small children could see it. It's like a lot of directors use 'shock' elements to draw people into buying tickets. Everything has it's place but when over-the-top stuff gets in the way of film making, the quality can go down.



In my view many of the R rated movies today ought to be NC-17, and many PG-13s ought to be R.
You wouldn't like our system then. Most R rated films in the US are only 14A here haha.

WARNING: "Spoilers" spoilers below
I like your version of the ending, of course I'm seem to always like your alternative endings I was OK with the film showing him as the real killer, but I would've liked the supernatural devil part to be left ambiguous...So that we don't know if the devil was really involved? Or was it all in the twisted head of Mickey Rourke's character?
WARNING: "Angel Heart Ending" spoilers below
Perhaps I was a writer in a previous life haha. I probably would've had everything be ambiguous so that it's only implied that Cypher is devil, but there's no concrete evidence. We also wouldn't know for sure if Harry was the killer, or if Cypher just got into his head. Either way he'd be on the hook for the murders, and convinced he's going to hell.



You wouldn't like our system then. Most R rated films in the US are only 14A here haha.
...
Must be Canadian, eh?.. Well IMO that attests to a weakness in both systems.

I like the idea of an "A" for Adult rating. But rather than it meant to contain porn type material, I'd like to see it used as a label for adult themed content-- stuff that most young people would not be interested in. Think I first heard that from Siskel & Ebert 30 years ago, when they were promoting it to the board. The board wouldn't adopt it though. I suppose the studios believed that an "A" rating would narrow the audience too much.




Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)
***Spoilers***

First Act:
Wow, that look in Phyllis' eyes says it all! It tells us why a savvy insurance man like Walter Neff would agree to murder a woman's husband. That screenshot though doesn't capture the raw magnetism of that moment, like the movie does. As soon as the film hit the 24 minute mark and Phyllis locks Walter in her gaze, you just know Walter has been hooked!

But it's easy to think of Fred MacMurray's Walter as a gullible, nice guy who's beguiled by the notorious desires of a femme fatale (Barbara Stanwyck). Some people have thought that...but the script written by two of the great writers (Billy Wilder & Raymond Chandler) has enough backstory juice to justify the criminal action motivation of Walter..and Phyllis too.

Walter is more than just a moth drawn to an iridescent flame. Walter's a player, an insurance salesman who likes to outsmart the customer and talk them into policies they probably don't need. We see this in the scene where Barton Keyes (Edward G. Robinson) offers Walter a desk job as an insurance underwriter. But Walter will have no part of it. He values the art of the sale. His skills are reading people and saying just the right thing at the right time. Skills that would go to waste sitting behind a desk. He's the ultimate salesman, slick, fast and full of self importance. He has so much self importance that he images he can outwit his boss, who's an ace at spotting fraud. Walter images he can come up with the perfect crime and get away with it. That desire to prove he can do it, is just as much motivation as any feminine wiles are.

Phyllis is more than just a noir femme fatale. Sure she's hot...and obvious with her provocative angle bracelet and cheap blonde wig. But she's also has reason for wanting her husband dead. He's a lout, he slaps her around and is never home and he probably can't satisfy her either. But that's not enough motivation for a murder, so the writers let us know that she want's a divorcee, but he'll have no part of it. That puts Phyllis at a dead end, or more to the point it leads to a dead end for her husband.

Second Act:
The second act goes by in a blur, it's the murder of Phyllis' husband. The actual homicide takes place off screen..well sort of, we do see the scene but we don't see Walter actually killing him. If we had seen that heinous act, our sympathy for Walter would've evaporated right then and there. Immediately after the murder we start to see a rapid change in Walter's demeanor. He's no longer confident, but visually nervous. The guilt inside him is mounting. I initially thought Barbara Stanwyck didn't act well here, as she showed no signs of remorse. Of course the clever writing team of Wilder & Chandler had that planned all along.

Third Act:
If one hasn't figured it out yet, Double Indemnity isn't about the actual murder and it's not even about the investigation, it's about the unraveling of Walter (Fred MacMurray). The entire script is set up to put us, the viewer, in his shoes. When we hear his thoughts in a voice over, he's talking to us. It's brilliant how the daughter who we met in the first act, now comes into play. It's her purity of character that makes us feel just how wrong the act commented by Walter was. As Walter tries to make up for his guilt by consoling her, we see just how deep his troubles go.

They go deep alright, straight down the line, when we find out Phyllis is a steely, cold, calculating murder who's killed before. With no place to go, Walter rides the trolley until the end of the line....he has only one pathway to undue some of the damage he's done and he takes it.

"I killed him for money and a woman...and I didn't
get the money and I didn't get the woman."
Walter Neff







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