Film Noir HoF IV

Detour

This film was shot in six days. Ulmer, the director, claimed they had "eighty setups a day". They used to call this type of film a "poverty row quicky" for the high speed and the low budget of the project. Some think the low budget helped films like this.

Let's look at some of the elements of Noir present in this film. First is the (anti) hero. He is something of a nervous wreck in the early scenes (even before he meets his female lead). The female lead is attractive, cold, and more ruthless than you could imagine.Together you end up with a sort of anti-marriage. They can't stand each other, but there fates are tied together.

According to the Film Noir site," central to every Noir is a crime, whether it be one of passion, or even an almost accidental or subconsciously committed crime, which occurs in this film (twice).
The main character is plunged into a type of anti-social hell from which there is no easy escape, because of his weakness and indecision. It is this separation from the world that gives the general public their lethal quality in film noir.
One of Noir's other great capabilities is the "fatefully unlucky coincidences which occur twice in Detour. One occurs when the driver dies and the other is when he accidentally kills Ann Savages character.Very unlucky indeed.

This is my review from the Noir III HoF, it reads alot better than the one I just wrote.


A private journey into the shadowy world of criminals who dream of much more than their bleak lives offer...and the effects of their chosen lifestyle on the women who love them.

The earliest noirs were quite stylized with their flamboyant characters and noir-ish lighting & canted camera angles, like Murder, My Sweet or The Maltese Falcon...Then there's the 1950s noir films, where a shift occurred to the, you-are-there docudrama style of movie making. John Huston's The Asphalt Jungle is a prime example of that later style of noirs that permeated the 1950s...these then gave rise to the popular 50s & 60s TV cops shows.

In The Asphalt Jungle, the traditional style of story telling was done away with and replaced with an insiders fly-on-the-wall look at three key criminal figures. The traditional hero/badguy & leading man/leading lady is absent...leaving us with a dichotomy of the perfectly planned criminal endeavor, turned sour by random circumstances in true noir tradition.

What makes The Asphalt Jungle different than most noirs is the humanistic study of the relationships. Director John Huston has various players paired up and forming believable & complex relationships:

My favorite scene is when Doll (Jean Hagen) first comes to Dix's (Sterling Haden) room. It's very telling how she comes up the stairs to greet him with a nervous yet hopeful smile...Then inside the room Dix pours himself a drink and gets a cigarette, but doesn't offer Doll any. You can see the longing hope in her eyes disappear as she realizes that Dix isn't going to offer her a cigarette, so she fumbles in her purse and takes out a bent cigarette but has no matches. Moments later she starts crying and her make up runs and her false eyelash falls off...she's literally falling apart inside and out. That's very telling of their relationship or more importantly the lack of relationship. She's an enabler, someone with low self esteem who never feels worthy of being treated any better than Dix offers. I've known people like this and if Doll ever meant a man who would unconditional love her, it would throw her own self doubts over the deep end. She deserves better but she doesn't believe it so Dix is who she latches onto.

Dix is said to be a typical hooligan with a brain, but with a screw lose. I kept expecting Dix to haul off and hit poor Doll but he never does. Dix seems to be anti-social, he doesn't or can't interact well with other people and yet in his own way he seems to care about Doll. He does offer to let her stay in his room and sex doesn't seem to be the reason for that. When she leaves he wants her new address so he contact her... is it only in case he needs a place to say while on the run or does he have some feelings for her? They're a curious couple and for me, a big reason why I love this film.

I'm a big fan of Sterling Hayden and I've seen him in a docudrama interview from the 1970s and yes he does talk and act a whole lot like Dix, that's just the way he is. I think he's a strong point in the film as is Jean Hagen who brings so much depth to her hopeful, yet sad character.

Another pairing was Doc (Sam Jaffe) the elderly gentlemen career criminal and Dix. In an early scene Dix flew off the handle when the nervous booky asked for his money...and yet the elderly criminal is like a father figure to the wound up tight Dix. The two seem to care for each other, so much so that Doc takes Dix into his confidence, trusting him with his life and even ask Dix to go with him to live high on the hog in Mexico. There's something touching with the way these two criminals respect each other.


Another director might have made the lawyer (Louis Calhern) a conniving evil man. And indeed he is conniving and tries to double cross his partners in crime. And yet Calhern plays his lawyer with so much pathos that even though he's a scoundrel cheating on his wife with a young Marilyn Monroe, Huston makes it clear that he's still got a heart inside him. He clearly loves his wife and plays cards with her, but as she's bed ridden he's entered into a relationship with Angela (Miss Monroe). I love the scene where the cop says he's kicking in the door and she angrily opens it and calls him a 'big banana head!' Too funny!

Every moment of the movie seems to reveal another layer of the onion of human endeavor. I think I'll end here.

Mildred Pierce



My second watch, but it felt like a first because I did not remember the plot at all. I’m coming down about the same on it though. I think it’s decent, but far from a favorite. First issues is on me, because I am just not the biggest Crawford fan for some reason. Baby Jane and Johnny Guitar both fall short of expectations for me as well.

I will duck under my desk while typing my second gripe because Citizen will probably throw things at me. I can see why they remade this into a miniseries, because the relationships are all under developed. The whole plot runs on five different relationships, and none of them carried very much weight for me. Maybe Mildred’s relationship with the daughter. That’s the one that felt the most fleshed out.

Overall, this is far from a bad film. In fact it’s pretty good. I think the plot is a good one with an unexpected femme fatale. There’s a lot of good dialogue. It just falls short of my expectations because it is so well loved.

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Letterboxd

Touch of Evil



This is one of those movies that is really high up on the respect level even if it seems like it will never be a true personal favorite. On a technical scale, it's very good. Love the use of shadows throughout the film. The film itself looks really crisp especially for a black and white 50s movies. The performances are all quite good, this Welles performance really stands out in particular though. The story isn't completely engaging for me, but overall it's still a fun one to watch.

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Have you seen other Joan Crawford noirs? She made three other ones that I can think of and one of those I considered for this HoF.

I might just copy and paste your review when the time comes for me to review Touch of Evil. From what I can remember of it, it's amazing but like you said I'm not sure it's a story that I love spending time with. We'll see after a second or is it a third rewatch?

Short simple and sweet. 97% of my reviews.

Sometimes I ramble, others' I just misspell alot Think I'll go for a quickie review next.

Usually I can only seem to ramble if I really really love the movie. But I basically say the same stuff all the time unfortunately sorry everyone.

I say the same stuff too, I just change the word order around

Murder, My Sweet follows private eye Philip Marlowe (Dick Powell) as he finds himself ensnared in a complicated conspiracy of theft, kidnapping, deceit, and murder where he's never clear of where he's standing. Hired by multiple sides to perform different jobs, Marlowe realizes they're all playing a dangerous game that might leave him blindsided.

Marlowe is a character that was popularized by Humphrey Bogart's performance in 1946's The Big Sleep. But although Bogey's performance is probably the best one, Powell doesn't have a lot to envy him. He really does a great job in the role, exuding confidence, wit, toughness, and charisma as he delivers Chandler's trademark verbal jabs at anyone.

Powell is surrounded by a solid cast, specifically Anne Shirley and Claire Trevor as Ann and Helen Grayle; both potential love interests, both potential femme fatales. Like Marlowe, we're never sure which side anybody's on. Otto Kruger is also very good as one of the potential masterminds in this twisty scheme.

The plot is indeed full of numerous twists and turns, right from the get go. In the first 30 minutes, Marlowe is hired by an ex-con to find her girlfriend, by a grifter to serve as bodyguard/muscle, and by a wealthy woman to find a lost jewel, all while he tries to figure out what side anybody's on.

In the same spirit, Murder, My Sweet manages to play many sides, being both witty and fun, but also somewhat dark and twisted. I might've found myself shaking my head at some of the twists, but much like Marlowe, I shook it off and pushed through. Even if we didn't know which side anybody's on, it was sure fun to see it all play out.

Grade:

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Gilda

Knowing absolutely nothing about this movie, I was kept in the slow-moving but always tense intrigue of this screwy relationship throughout the whole of it. It helps that our two leads had serious sparks of love and hat flying all over the place. With some predictability attached, the story relies on the charisma to overcome this flaw and keep things interesting. On the side of the crime plot, I found it to be a bit underdeveloped, but it managed to be interesting at times thanks to some good twists. I have to say I loved the way the ending turned out, as it was a bit of a twist from what I expect from film noir. I like this movie quite a bit, although I wouldn't put it in my top 300.


= 87

We pretty much had the same exact journey on this one. Genuinely surprised how much I loved it this time. I wish I could go into movies with absolutely no expectations, but it is virtually impossible. Even cover art can leave you with preconceptions.

Gun Crazy

I have to say it: after the plot actually kicked in, I guessed the ending right then and there, so big points off for that one. But to be fair, the progression into that climax and the journey therein had some incredible direction, especially concerning the foggy scenes at the climax and the driving scenes. Those bits were exceptional scenes among the crowd of movies I've seen through this game. And it amazes me that these two leads aren't more well known, since their acting was perfect for the two leads. I'm also kind of amazed that after some incredible scenes like these, that director Joseph Lewis wasn't more well known and didn't have more hit movies. I'd have hired him for an adaptation of one of my own stories. So this movie has a huge problem, but makes up for it with some obvious perfect pros.

Fun review Citizen. I know you will truly come into the light on Long Goodbye someday. Look forward to mofo 2040 when I see it on your top ten list. What a great character though, just super fun.

Gilda

Gilda was an interesting watch. From what I read this film did not check all of the Film Noir boxes, such as there is no true Femme Fatalle in this film. Gilda does want to make Glen Ford's character jealous, but she does not ask him to murder, rob, or do other harmful things because of her. She is an adventurer, who does not let her marriage get in the way of her having her fun. Otherwise Gilda is a good example of Film Noir.

Gun Crazy

I have heard Gun Crazy described as an outlaw couple thriller, much like Bonnie and Clyde. One of the articles I read about this film suggestthat Girl Crazy might have been a more suitable title. They implied that the protagonist had already placed guns in the proper perspective once he left reform school and the army. His use of guns to commit crimes was only done reluctantly to win the love of his girlfriend. His participation in these crimes was due more for the sexual excitement he felt when he was with his girl. The film Noir site says that the broads, not the Rods were the chief fatal source in this film.By the time Gun Crazy came along the theories of Freud were beginning to have its influence on dramatic film. The confusion of guns and sex that takes place in the story is the result of this Freudian influence.