The MoFo Top 100 Neo-noir Countdown

1 for 2. Haven't seen Branded to Kill even though it was made the same year, stars the same lead, and sounds a lot like A Colt is My Passport (which I have watched).

But I have seen Point Blank and feel like it's pretty much tied in terms of entertainment value with the 1999 Mel Gibson remake. Neither of these two were on my ballot.

Have watched 16 of 30.

Branded to Kill was on my shortlist, though ultimately I left it as an also ran which I have been second-guessing, so I am glad to see it make the list. I have it on my own Top 100 of the 1960s so good on ya, MoFo!

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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

Point Blank is all right but I'm not a huge fan. It's cool to see Some Seijun Suzuki here as well. He's not my favourite director but feel he deserves to be here.

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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."

Branded to Kill is just out there crazy. I've seen about six or so Seijun Suzuki films and I wouldn't say Branded to Kill is my favorite, but I knew it had a good chance of making it, so I wanted to bump it a bit and so I had it at #12. Joe Shishido always reminded me a 1960s Japanese version of Charles Bronson, except way cooler.

My List:

11. The Friends of Eddie Coyle (#100)
12. Branded to Kill (#71)
18. Following (#84)
22. Purple Noon (#94)

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I may go back to hating you. It was more fun.

Point Blank was #22 on my ballot.


I didn't realize Branded to Kill was eligible when I made my list, so I didn't include it, but it would've made my top five.

Same opinion. Correct thread.

AWARDS?


Both Point Blank and Branded to Kill are listed as winners of two (2) awards each:

• National Film Preservation Board chose Point Blank for preservation in the National Film Registry (2016)
• Venice Film Festival gave Branded to Kill the Venezia Classici Award for Best Restored Film (2022)

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17. The Silence of the Lambs
22. Point Break

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IMDb
Letterboxd

Point Blank is my #8! A great Noir that really surprised me. It's nowhere as typical a movie as I expected.


My List:


3. Brick
8. Point Blank
24. Under the Silver Lake

Two off my ballot!

#7) Branded to Kill
#13) Point Blank

Is Branded to Kill my favorite Suzuki? No, but I do like it a lot. And I think it is definitely his most noir movie. It has a somber, stylized fatalism oozing throughout the movie. Youth of the Beast might be more fun and gonzo, but it's more crime-action with its anything-goes-spirit, which could be considered noir, but I wanted something that had visual bleakness. Pistol Opera, despite being either a remake or indirect sequel to Branded to Kill, somehow feels less noir (and, well, more operatic). Tokyo Drifter, probably his other most noir film, I just don't seem to love as much as other people do and would rank it kind of far down for reasons I never am able to find myself to explain.

Point Blank, I'll admit, it's been a while since I've seen, but it's just kind of solidified in my mind as being one of the core, defining neo-noirs (maybe it didn't define neo-noir very well, since none of us feel any confidence on what is or isn't a neo-noir), but I remember it being very solid, and particularly liked the visually representations of the imaginations of the protagonist. Maybe if I rewatched it, it would have been higher. Maybe if I had remembered to include The Conversation on my ballot, it would have simply been one lower.

Going back to the previous day...

74. Cape Fear - I love both versions of Cape Fear and it's pretty tough to pick one over the other as the better one. Films made in two distinctive eras are hard to compare. I do really like Robert Mitchum's more nuanced, understated portrayal of Max Cady, not that I've got anything against Robert De Niro's 'unbalanced and pure evil' take on the character, which was very powerful. Heaps of fun seeing both Gregory Peck and Mitchum show up in the remake, especially considering Mitchum is now one of the good guys, and Peck plays Cady's lawyer - in a bit of role reversal. This 1962 version suffers a little bit with the strict code at the time making it necessary for some things to be more alluded to than brought out into the open - while the remake can just go flat out without having to make vague insinuations. Still, I loved the original when I first saw it and it still holds up very well today. I guess we'll see the remake show up here as well, much higher on the list. Great movie, but I didn't vote for it.

I'm not familiar with One False Move or Branded to Kill. In the meantime, I've been meaning to see Point Blank for years and years and I still haven't gotten around to it. It looks like such a great movie, and I love Lee Marvin.

Seen : 16/30
Never heard of : 5/30
Heard of but not seen : 9/30

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I just caught up with One False Move and enjoyed it quite a bit. Not sure if it would've made my ballot, but it was a good watch. Bill Paxton was such a treat to watch, no matter the role.

3 so far have been on my ballot

In the Heat of the Night at #4.
One False Move at #18
Point Blank at #24

Liked Point Blank, didn't love it.

Think I saw Branded to Kill back when I watched Tokyo Drifter but I'm not sure.

Not seen Point Blank

Branded to Kill' is absolutely fantastic. It was my #9. Suspense and brutalism throughout - it was homaged very heavily in Jim Jarmusch's 'Ghost Dog, the Way of the Samurai', including one very famous hit scene involving a sink.