The MoFo Top 100 Film Noir Countdown

I expect these to make it:

The Maltese Falcon
Out of the Past
The Asphalt Jungle
Touch of Evil
Mildred Pierce
Double Indemnity
Sweet Smell of Success
Ace in the Hole
Kiss Me Deadly
The Night of the Hunter

I don't think Thieves' Highway will make the countdown, but you never know. It's also possible that one of the films that everyone assumes will make the list might end up missing it in a shocking upset.

I just watched Bogart in the TV drama Producers Showcase: The Petrified Forest (1955) I believe it's on Youtube. The video quality was rough of course but it was interesting seeing a different cast perform. Of course Bogart was reprising his role as Duke Mantee, Lauren Bacall played the Bette Davis part 'Gabby', and Henry Fonda played the Leslie Howard part 'Alan Squier'. Bacall wasn't good in this role and Fonda wasn't a good fit either. You could call that produced for television noir!

Love Detour! It made my ballot at #12 I wrote this in a Noir HoF

I also love The Postman Always Rings Twice it was #14 on my ballot. I wrote this about it:



The Postman Always Rings Twice is based on the 1934 crime novel by James M. Cain. A novel that oozed so much steamy sexuality that it took 12 years before a movie script could pass the Hays production code. Before the 1946 classic, there had been two other movie versions made: Le dernier tournant (1939) a French movie, and the Italian Ossessione (1943). In 1981 there was an American remake The Postman Always Rings Twice (1981) featuring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange. But it's the 1946, Lana Turner, John Garfield classic that lives in the hearts of film noir fans.

The Postman Always Rings Twice had one of the most nuanced scripts I've seen for a noir and was very polished as one would expect from a big budget MGM production. So many wonderful little details and a great supporting cast that makes this noir stand out.

I loved the way the movie introduced John Garfield to the Two Oaks Diner with the Man Wanted sign, and he'd just hitched a ride from the District Attorney of all people.

And I loved the way they introduced Lana Turner, with her lipstick rolling across the floor, as the camera pans to her and then up her legs, then back to Garfield's stunned expression as he takes in her sheer beauty. Then the scene continues with her expecting Garfield to bring the lipstick across the floor to her, but Garfield is too cool to do that.

That scene really established the love hate relationship between the love crossed pair. Oh, and the hamburger burning on the grill because of Garfield's distraction at seeing her, really laid it out...she would be his doom. Like I said lots of nuanced details.


John Garfield was made for this role. MGM thought so too as they borrowed him from Warner Brothers. Garfield is excellent in this as his personality of the roguish, but self destructive rebel worked perfectly for the film.

I liked Lana Turner better than I would have expected. This is one of her greatest roles. She's the cold beauty, that spells doom. She sure looked great in the all white ensemble that she wore.

Not to be missed are three great character actors, Cecil Kellaway as her likeable goof of a husband. Hume Cronyn has one of his finest screen moments as a sleazy defense lawyer and Leon Ames isn't too shaby either as the prosecuting attorney.

++

Not that #24 and #23 are bad spots at all, but I thought both of these titles would be higher. I had them Top 20, and I thought Postman may even go Top 10.

I voted for neither, though both are obvious classics.

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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

Watched Detour twice now, and I just don’t get the love. Feels like a cheap imitation of good Noir to me.

I need to see Postman again. I remember absolutely nothing and it’s only been a couple years. Want to see the remake as well. Still haven’t checked that out.

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Letterboxd

Detour was #9 on my ballot. The Postman Always Rings Twice was #16 on my ballot. Huge fan of both.

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IMDb
Letterboxd

5) Night and the City
8) White Heat
9) Detour
14) Gun Crazy
16) The Postman Always Rings Twice
18) The Stranger
19) Odd Man Out
22) The Lost Weekend
24) Crossfire

I had both The Postman Always Rings Twice and Ossessione (which has no chance showing up now so I guess it's ok I mention it) on my list.

2 for 2 today. Detour really impressed me the first time I watched it and it's my #18 pick. Edgar G. Ulmer turned out an excellent 67 minute long noir on a 30,000 dollar budget. Ann Savage really put the fatal in femme fatale.

I was convinced I hadn't seen The Postman Always Rings Twice. I thought I had started it once and stopped. But when I tried to pinpoint how far I had gotten I kept remembering more and more of the movie. So I guess I did watch it all. This was a while back. For some reason, this and Double Indemnity are inextricably tied together in my noir watching experience.

47 of 78 seen and 13 picks accounted for with 22 more to be revealed.

I hope you're right. I have six of those in my picks.

Getting down to the nitty gritty, still expecting a bunch of my picks, plus both no.1s to show rather high. My neo-noir will seemingly have casualties.

Night and the City and Detour are both films I watched in preparation for the Countdown. They both made my list, and have now made the Countdown as well! I don't think I've seen Key Largo (or at least not all of it), but The Postman Always Rings Twice is one of those films that always seemed to be on tv when I went home (on TCM, usually), and I'd frequently turn it on. It didn't squeeze onto my ballot, however.

Seen: 29/78

My List: 11
03. Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) - #92
04. Murder My Sweet (1944) - #28
06. Detour (1945) - #24
07. Rebecca (1940) - #35
08. Ministry of Fear (1944) - #75
09. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) - #40
11. This Gun for Hire (1942) - #78
13. Odd Man Out (1947) - #47
18. Night and the City (1950) - #25
19. Phantom Lady (1944) - #69
25. The Stranger (1946) - #38

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If you had voted for them, they'd be Top 20

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Same here. It's gonna be the Pork Chop Hill of countdowns.

#23. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) is my #10.

In my post-school years, the 1981 version of this film has been one of my favorite movies. Naturally, when film-noir theme was launched, I've hurried to catch up with the older one. I've found it quite good so it made my top 10.


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My Ballot
▽
1.
2. Rebecca (1940) [#35]
3.
4. The Wrong Man (1956) [#39]
5. Suspicion (1941) [#49]
...
10. The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) [#23]
11. Gilda (1946) [#27]
12. The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946) [#40]
...
15. The Lost Weekend (1945) [#34]
...
19. Key Largo (1948) [#26]
20. Night and the City (1950) [#25]
21. Spellbound (1945) [#68]
22.
23. Woman on the Run (1950) [#91]
24. High Sierra (1940) [#50]
25. Niagara (1953) [#56]
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"Population don't imitate art, population imitate bad television." W.A.
"You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." M.T.

Some of those might make it, some might not

Tom Neal (Detour) had to be one of the most noir like actors in real life. While noir actor Dan Duryea was a commented family man who attended PTA meeting and spent his time gardening in his greenhouse. Tom Neal was a real life sleaze ball. From Wiki:

In the early 1950s, Neal met actress Barbara Payton at a party. The two began dating, but Payton ended the relationship after meeting and becoming engaged to actor Franchot Tone. Despite her engagement, Payton began seeing Neal again. On September 14, 1951, Neal, Payton, and Tone made headlines after Neal got into a physical altercation with Tone over Payton in her front yard. Tom Neal beat Tone severely while Payton reportedly watched the fight. Tone suffered severe injuries, including a smashed cheekbone, a broken nose, and a brain concussion, for which he was hospitalized....

After his much publicized fight with Franchot Tone, Neal was blacklisted in Hollywood, as was Barbara Payton...With his acting career over... In 1961, Neal married receptionist Gail Bennett in Las Vegas. On April 2, 1965, police were summoned to the couple's Palm Springs home by Neal's attorney. They discovered Bennett's body on the couch, partially covered by a blanket, with a gunshot wound in the back of her head. It was later determined that Bennett had been shot with a .45 caliber gun on April 1. Neal, who was not at the home when police arrived, became an immediate suspect. He surrendered to police on April 3 and was indicted on one charge of murder on April 10
At his trial, Neal admitted that he and Bennett were separated at the time of her death but said that her death was accidental. He testified that on April 1, he had returned to the couple's Palm Springs home from Chicago, where he had been living, to see if a reconciliation was possible. Neal said the two began fighting after he accused Bennett of sleeping with other men. He claimed that Bennett pulled out a gun and held it to his head, and the two began to struggle. During the ensuing struggle, Neal said that the gun accidentally discharged, killing Bennett. Although prosecutors sought the death penalty, a jury convicted Neal of involuntary manslaughter...he served six years.

I had The Postman Always Rings Twice at #21, but it certainly could have been higher. An excellent noir, where sexuality is a dangerous weapon to be used to manipulate others and always leads to disaster. As for Detour it has one of the best endings to a noir ever, but I otherwise don't get the love.

My List:
7. Stray Dog (#32)
11. Where the Sidewalk Ends (#66)
15. Elevator to the Gallows (#41)
18. Gilda (#27)
20. This Gun for Hire (#78)
21. The Postman Always Rings Twice (#23)
22. The Wrong Man (#39)
23. The Set-Up (#46)
24. Scarlet Street (#29)
25. Gun Crazy (#36)

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

I thought The Postman Always Rings Twice was decent but didn't care for it too much. It's been a very long time so I wonder what I would think on a rewatch. I don't need a rewatch to tell me how cool Detour is. What a great, low-budget, film noir. Great example of the genre by the director and what can be done with very little. I had it at #13. It's raw.

10. Stray Dog (1949)
13. Detour (1945)
15. Bob le flambeur (1956)
17. Rififi (1955)
20. Gilda (1946)
23. White Heat (1949)
25. Nightmare Alley (1947)

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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."