The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

I tried to help this film get more fans:

From the Noirvember 2023 thread
My first and only viewing of this excellent noir was eight years ago in the very first Noir HoF, hosted by me. It was Holden Pike's nomination and I was impressed. So much so that I've never forgotten it. Last night I revisited The Set-Up and if anything was more impressed with the film.

I was utterly impressed at how polished the film was. The direction by Robert Wise is perfect. The performance by Robert Ryan was real, not acting, I believed him, the boxing looked real too. Audrey Totter is good here, I enjoyed her screen time as much as I did Robert Ryans.

Talk about world building! The Set-Up in one long sequence that's set in the locker room, gives us so much insight into the comradery, hopes, dreams and fears of these boxers. We see what they have to go through in a hope to move up the boxing ranks. I appreciated the sequences where Audrey Totter, who's too nervousness about the fight walks around Paradise City and is constantly reminded of the dangers her husband faces in the ring. Loved the realistic look of this dingy little town and the people who inhabited it. The resolve at the end is perfect.

So you noir fans, watch it, consider it for your ballot if you really like it.

Nothing at all for me during the last 8 reveals...

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I know! I'm still ticked that it ruined any chance for a sequel.

I only got to see The Set-Up after the deadline, but I loved it. Robert Wise is one of my favorite directors who could work in almost any genre with skill, and this was no exception. Robert Ryan was 40 when this film came out but somehow he always seened to carry a "bit older" vibe and look about him, for me at least. Still, I totally bought him as a man in his mid-30s still puching away, trying to make something out of his going-nowhere boxing career. Audrey Totter is aces as his worried wife, just knowing that he's not going to make it out of the ring one night after being beaten so much. Everybody else was fine, especially George Tobias as his manager, who does not have his boxer's best interests in mind. You can't help but get invested after the half-hour stretch in the locker room, where various boxers tell of their hopes and dreams only to came back either a winner or a soon-to-be hospital occupant. One boxer keeps talking about how one boxer got beaten time-after-time only to finally escape the Paradise City venue and become World Champion. But you just know that this is but a dream for almost all these guys. Still, our hero just wants to beat this one guy and make enough to buy an interest in a boxer, not just for him, but for his wife's future also.

When Ryan finally gets in the ring, the fighting is not pretty like a Rocky movie, but messy, sweaty, and close-up business, with no slow-motion stuff going on. I love Rocky films but this is pretty much the real deal. I liked the set of Paradise City, where everything seemed to be about playing a game or getting entertained, like a mini-Reno or something. And Totter's nervous walk around the town helps offset her husband's fight, where she's constantly reminded of what he does to try to make money. The final minutes of the movie are great, with Ryan facing bad odds and Totter trying to make something good out of it. This is almost a perfect movie for me and again, another one I wish I'd seen before the Countdown because this would surely have been in my Top Ten.

I've heard of Ride the Pink Horse but didn't even know it was a Noir. I like Robert Montgomery both as actor and director so I'll definitely give this one a shot.

#4 The Big Combo List Proper List Proper #52
#6 Kansas City Confidential List Proper #53
#14 Kiss of Death List Proper List Proper #59
#15 He Walked By Night List Proper #88
#16 The Naked City List Proper #60
#22 This Gun For Hire List Proper #78
#25 Crossfire List Proper #51

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"Miss Jean Louise, Mr. Arthur Radley."

The Set-Up was my #23. Powerful classic boxing tale film noir and probably my favorite noir starring Robert Ryan.

SEEN 24/56
BALLOT 5/25

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I had The Set-Up at #23. I first saw it for a noir hall of fame several years ago. This is what I wrote about it then:

My List:
11. Where the Sidewalk Ends (#66)
20. This Gun for Hire (#78)
23. The Set-Up (#46)

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

Ride the Pink Horse was my #2! Love the film!

#44 Criss Cross (1949)

Director: Robert Siodmak
Production: Universal Pictures
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Yvonne De Carlo, Dan Duryea
106 Points, 8 Lists

#43 The Narrow Margin (1952)

Director: Richard Fleischer
Production: RKO
Cast: Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White
109 Points, 10 Lists

Seen and liked both. Didn't vote for either one.

Seen: 55/58

Criss cross just barely missed my list. An excellent noir only held back by the unbelievable naivety of its protagonist. I also have some issues with the final 15 minutes, but it's still excellent. Our femme fatale's speech at the beginning, in the parking lot, is classic.

Seen 5 of 58

I have seen Criss Cross twice now. It’s good but another one coming from them that’s great.

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2 and 2 seen AND 2 and 2 from my list!

I saw Criss Cross last year for one of the MoFo HoF and I loved it. You can read my full review here, but here's an excerpt from it:

I had it at #11, but it could probably be a bit higher. It has certainly stuck with me.

The Narrow Margin is one I saw a couple of years ago and I really liked it. It is a very lean and stripped down thriller. Feel free to check out my full review here, but here's an excerpt from it as well:

I had it at #17. At 70 minutes, it's a very breezy and fun watch.



SEEN: 11/58
MY BALLOT: 6/25

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Two great noirs, wish I had room on my ballot for them.

Some list facts!

• The 6 point gap between yesterday's Ride the Pink Horse and today's Criss Cross is the second largest of the countdown; obviously after yesterday's 18 point gap.
• With Criss Cross, Robert Siodmak joins the group of directors with multiple entries. He had Phantom Lady at #69.
• With a 100% RT score and a 7.6 IMDb rating, The Narrow Margin is tied at the top of the countdown on both. Others with the same scores/ratings are Odd Man Out (#47), and Where the Sidewalk Ends (#66).
• The Narrow Margin is only the second entry whose ballot count (10) hits the double-digits. The other one was Crossfire (#51) who also had 10. Obviously, from now on, most entries will fall on that category.

Another day, another choice from my Top Ten.



As I said when Phantom Lady (#69) was revealed, to me and many Noir enthusiasts Robert Siodmak is THE director of the genre’s classic age. Criss Cross is arguably his best, along with another title that is more famous and will likely be top ten on the collective list. Lesser known or not, Criss Cross is fantastic. Burt Lancaster stars as a lovelorn man who returns to L.A. He thinks the last thing in the world he wants is to reunite with his ex-wife (Yvonne De Carlo), but once he sees her he can’t deny that he is still drawn to her. Unfortunately for him she has remarried, to a violent gangster (Dan Duryea). Don’t you hate it when that happens? Rather than give up on the idea Lancaster gets embroiled in heist with the gangster. He works driving armored cars and has a plan to knock one over when it is most full of cash. Double crosses upon double crosses are on deck from there.



This may be the best use of Los Angeles locations in a Noir, or any film of that era. The Bunker Hill neighborhood and the famous Angels Flight are the perfect den for this tale of mistrust and betrayal. I had Criss Cross ninth on my ballot, seventeen of its hundred and six points. On another day it could have been even higher on my list. It is a magnificent Noir. Like The Set-Up it is ridiculous where it falls on the collective, but so be it. Hopefully more of you MoFos see it, now.

HOLDEN'S BALLOT
3. Too Late for Tears (#81)
4. The Set-Up (#46)
8. Odd Man Out (#47)
9. Criss Cross (#44)
12. The Big Combo (#52)
13. Phantom Lady (#69)
14. Born to Kill (#84)
18. He Walked By Night (#88)
19. Fallen Angel (#80)
22. Panic in the Streets (#98)
24. Crossfire (#51)
25. The Crimson Kimono (DNP)

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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

Criss Cross was a little underwhelming for me. I have not seen The Narrow Margin.

Haven't seen either film.

Finally a couple more from my list!

I had The Big Combo at #16 and D.O.A. at #21.

The Big Combo is a fantastic noir, and thinking back, I probably should have put it in my Top 10. It is a quintessential noir, one that ticks all the boxes and is a great example of what noir can be.

D.O.A. is also great, with the fun mechanic of the poisoned man trying to track down his killer as the last hours of his life tick away.

Both films are must-sees in the genre, IMO.

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The Narrow Margin and Criss Cross both have Neo Noir remakes from the 1990s. The 1990 version of Narrow Margin was directed by Peter Hyams (Capricorn One, Outland, Running Scared) and is worth a watch if only because Gene Hackman is Gene Hackman and James B. Sikking enjoys his best non-"Hill Street Blues" role. As much as I love Criss Cross I kinda like its remake, too. Retitled The Underneath (1995) it was directed by Steven Soderbergh. Soderbergh has pretty much publicly disowned it, but I think it works very well, especially being the first time I really noticed the wonderful character actor William Fichtner, playing the Dan Duryea part.

Criss Cross is another classic film noir by Siodmak that I like but not the one I chose for my list. I haven't seen Narrow Margin but I'm adding to my watchlist every noir that ranks this high up seeing as enough Mofos are voting and telling me I should.

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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."