The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

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The Film Noir Countdown...Starts Now!

I'm amazed at the positive response the Film Noir countdown has received, it far surpassed my expectations. I love film noir and have wanted to do a noir countdown for years...Thank you all for making these countdowns a reality!

A big thanks to everyone who took the time to watch noirs for the countdown and to those who joined the two Film Noir HoFs...and to those who participated in the Noirvember 2023 - Rate the last noir you watched where we had 175 noirs watched and rated!...And of course thanks to all who submitted a ballot, we had 57 ballots.

Last but not least thanks to Thief for volunteering to host the Neo Noir countdown, which is the other half of MoFo's very first duel countdowns, yahoo!

I'll be presenting two noirs each day, starting at the bottom of the list and working up to the number 1 noir.

This is going to be a blast!!!
Let the Countdowns Begin!




Film Noir Top 100 List

100 Le Corbeau (1943)
99 Sorry, Wrong Number (1948)
98 Panic in the Streets (1950)
97 Dangerous Crossing (1953)

96 Gaslight (1944)
95 Dead Reckoning (1946)

94 Body and Soul (1947)
93 Mystery Street (1950)
92 Stranger on the Third Floor (1940)
91 Woman on the Run (1950)
90 I Want to Live! (1958)
89 Brighton Rock (1948)
88 He Walked By Night (1948)
87 The Dark Corner (1947)
86 Angel Face (1952)
85 Force of Evil (1948)
84 Born To Kill (1947)
83 All The King's Men (1949)
82 The Amazing Mr. X (1948)
81 Too Late For Tears (1949)
80 Fallen Angel (1945)
79 Confidential Report (1955)
78 This Gun For Hire (1942)
77 Caged (1950)
76 Dark Passage (1947)
75 Ministry of Fear (1944)
74 The Blue Dahlia (1946)
73 Brute Force (1947)
72 The Letter (1940)
71 The Desperate Hours (1955)
70 Drunken Angel (1948)
69 Phantom Lady (1944)
68 Spellbound (1945)
67 The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
66 Where The Sidewalk Ends (1950)
65 The Woman In The Window (1944)
64 To Have And Have Not (1944)
63 Bob Le Flambeur (1956)
62 On Dangerous Ground (1951)
61 Act of Violence (1948)
60 The Naked City (1948)
59 Kiss of Death (1947)
58 The Breaking Point (1950)
57 Detective Story (1951)
56 Niagara (1953)
55 The Live By Night (1948)
54 D.O.A. (1949)
53 Kansas City Confidential (1952)
52 The Big Combo (1952)
51 Crossfire (1947)
50 High Sierra (1940)
49 Suspicion (1941)
48 The Harder They Fall (1956)
47 Odd Man Out (1947)
46 The Set-Up (1949)
45 Ride the Pink Horse (1947)
44 Criss Cross (1949)
43 The Narrow Margin (1952)
42 Rififi (1955)
41 Elevator to the Gallows (1958)
40 The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)
39 The Wrong Man (1956)
38 The Stranger (1946)
37 Leave Her to Heaven (1945)
36 Gun Crazy (1950)
35 Rebecca (1940)
34 The Lost Weekend (1945)
33 Nightmare Alley (1947)
32 Stray Dog (1949)
31 The Lady from Shanghai (1947)
30 White Heat (1949)
29 Scarlet Street (1945)
28 Murder, My Sweet (1944)
27 Gilda (1946)
26 Key Largo (1948)
25 Night and the City (1950)
24 Detour (1945)
23 The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
22 The Killers (1946)
21 Pickup on South Street (1953)
20 Notorious (1946)
19 Ace in the Hole (1951)
18 Strangers on a Train (1951)
17 The Big Heat (1953)
16 The Asphalt Jungle (1950)
15 Mildred Pierce (1945)
14 The Night of the Hunter (1955)
13 Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
12 Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
11 The Killing (1956)
10 Laura (1944)
9 Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
8 The Big Sleep (1946)
7 Out of the Past (1947)
6 In a Lonely Place (1950)
5 Touch of Evil (1958)
4 The Third Man (1946)
3 The Maltese Falcon (1941)
2 Sunset Blvd. (1950)
1 Double Indemnity (1944)






Crime Wave is cool! Too bad it didn't make the 100. Could've /should've put it on my ballot but it was just too crowded on there. Nice to see it at least got a mention, solid classic Film-Noir.



The only one I've seen from the one-pointers is Quicksand. I don't even remember if I was the one that had it at #25 but I'm happy to see it represented. It's a solid little noir with a lot of atmosphere (check out my review here)
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Crime Wave is cool! Too bad it didn't make the 100. Could've /should've put it on my ballot but it was just too crowded on there. Nice to see it at least got a mention, solid classic Film-Noir.
You said a mouthful! Crime Wave was my 1 pointer and I wish I could've voted it higher, but my ballot was too crowded. I love that movie, Sterling Hayden is a blast, and the story works really well. Loved the ending too.



The only one I've seen from the one-pointers is Quicksand. I don't even remember if I was the one that had it at #25 but I'm happy to see it represented. It's a solid little noir with a lot of atmosphere (check out my review here)
I just checked, not your #1. Funny as I would've thought it was as I remember you suggested it to me. I seen Quicksand with Mickey Rooney who's always likable in his films, well mostly likeable But he was likable and relatable in Quicksand which is a neat little noir about how an everyday guy through a chain of events can end up really screwed!



I just checked, not your #1. Funny as I would've thought it was as I remember you suggested it to me. I seen Quicksand with Mickey Rooney who's always likable in his films, well mostly likeable But he was likable and relatable in Quicksand which is a neat little noir about how an everyday guy through a chain of events can end up really screwed!
The most "meaningless" choice can sink you into *dun dun dun* the quicksand!



I'm going to endeavor to watch every single movie on this countdown, I ain't done watching noir by any means So out of the one pointers I've seen these in bold:


A Woman's Face (1941)
Black Widow (1954)
Anna Lucasta (1958)
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt (1956)
Crime Wave (1953)
I Wake Up Screaming (1941)
Quicksand (1950)
The Crimson Kimono (1959)
The Guilty (1947)
They Drive by Night (1940)




Thursday Next's Avatar
I never could get the hang of Thursdays.
Anna Lucasta was my pick. It's more of a melodrama than a noir overall, but with some noirish elements. Eartha Kitt was great as Anna and had some fun, snappy dialogue. It was interesting to see a film from the 1950s with an all black cast too.



I had too many films vying for those last few spots on my list, so I didn't go with a traditional one-pointer this time around (though I did with my neo-noir list). I briefly considered putting the film I have at #20 there because I didn't think it would get many (if any) other votes, so I guess I'll now have to wait and see if I was right about that haha.



No one pointer from me in this one. Big thanks to Citizen Rules for running this countdown. Lots of work adding it up manually. CR is old school, like a classic noir.
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I know I've seen a few of those but when it comes to classic noir, I mix them up a lot if they don't stand out to me. This is a countdown which will have me checking my records a lot. Same thing with 50's westerns and Ozu.



Society ennobler, last seen in Medici's Florence
No one pointer from my list too.
Looking forward to see #100 and #99.

In the OP is given 175 noirs for Noirvember 2023. I wonder how many are the total movies in these 57 ballots?
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A Woman's Face is my one-pointer. Joan Crawford plays a scarred woman who is also a criminal. Part of what instigates her criminal behavior is her scarred face.



I didn't vote because I could only come up with four Noirs that I'd seen and liked. I Wake Up Screaming was one of those four. Nice to see that someone else appreciates it.



Anna Lucasta was my pick. It's more of a melodrama than a noir overall, but with some noirish elements. Eartha Kitt was great as Anna and had some fun, snappy dialogue. It was interesting to see a film from the 1950s with an all black cast too.
I'd never heard of until you sent in your ballot. It's a must see for me.

No one pointer from me in this one. Big thanks to Citizen Rules for running this countdown. Lots of work adding it up manually. CR is old school, like a classic noir.
Ha, I am old school! But I would've used the new system that Yoda made only it's for one countdown at the time, so Thief used that and I used a calculator



No one pointer from my list too.
Looking forward to see #100 and #99.

In the OP is given 175 noirs for Noirvember 2023. I wonder how many are the total movies in these 57 ballots?
I can answer that: 57 Ballots with 186 Different Movies. Even the noirs that didn't make the countdown were still good ones.

A Woman's Face is my one-pointer. Joan Crawford plays a scarred woman who is also a criminal. Part of what instigates her criminal behavior is her scarred face.
I seen that long ago when I was first getting into films, I watched a bunch of Joan Crawford's movies and that was a good one. She made a number of noirs and two that I really liked was The Damn Don't Cry (1950) and Possessed (1947).