Richard Widmark died

Dear Film Noir Fans,

Our latest update must begin on a sad note, as we observe the passing of two men important to the legacy of film noir.

The first is Richard Widmark, who died last month after 93 years of wonderful accomplishments. Coincidentally, we concluded the recent NOIR CITY 6 festival in San Francisco with a Widmark double bill entitled "Last Man Standing." Although he went on to enjoy a long, versatile career in movies, noir fans will always cherish the fresh and dangerous vitality he brought to the screen in his first few film roles, most of them now considered classic noir: Kiss of Death, Street with No Name, Road House, No Way Out, Panic in the Streets and perhaps his two most iconic performances as Harry Fabian in Night and the City and Skip McCoy in Pickup on South Street.

Widmark was one of those actors whose emergence heralded something entirely new in the movies, something emblematic of noir but distilled into one performer--the guilty thrill of finding "badness" both sexy and sinister. Widmark allowed audiences to delight in his villainy, and American movies grew up a bit when he showed that a character could be simultaneously attractive and repulsive. That dichotomy was, and remains, an essential aspect of noir's allure. We appreciated writer Kim Morgan's tribute to him.

In real life Widmark was generally recognized as one of the "good guys" who plied his trade with dignity and professionalism and never got one drop of show-business sleaze on him in more than five decades of exemplary work.

As sorry as we are to see him go, it's impossible to feel sad. Widmark got his full ration of years and used them wisely. You can't ask for a better role model--as an actor or as a man.

Incredibly, as I was typing these words, news came of the death of filmmaker Jules Dassin, 96, the man who directed Widmark in Night and the City, and was one of the last surviving architects of the original film noir movement. It is remarkable to note that the first obituary to appear, from the Associated Press out of Athens (where Dassin had lived for decades), described him as "a film noir master who sought exile in Europe after being named during the anti-communist witch-hunts of the 1950s." With Brute Force, Naked City, Thieves' Highway and Night and the City to his credit, not to mention the great Rififi, it's hard to argue with that assessment. And like Widmark, Dassin enjoyed a full run, with good health well into the last months.


Darkly,

Eddie Muller
Founder and President
The Film Noir Foundation