cigarjoe

More Mondo cane (1962) A "shockumentary" consisting of a collection of mostly real archive footage displaying mankind at its most depraved and perverse, displaying bizarre rites, cruel behavior and **** violence. Rat Pfink a Boo Boo (1966) Picking a name at random out of the phone book, three thugs decide to terrorize a woman. She is kidnapped by the goons. They decide to ransom her. After receiving the ransom call, Vin Saxon and the good-natured, but not- to-bright gardener sit around despondent, wondering what to do. "There's only one thing to do!" exclaims Vin. The two rush off into the next room and become the costumed heroes Rat Pfink and Boo Boo. Supposedly the title cards came back "a" Boo Boo and they ran with that title. Chatterbox! (1977) A young woman who works in a beauty parlor discovers that her v-a-g-i-n-a can talk, which causes her no end of trouble.

The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies!!? (1964) Jerry falls in love with a stripper he meets at a carnival. Little does he know that she is the sister of a gypsy fortune teller who turns him into a zombie and he goes on a killing spree. Pink Flamingos (1972) Notorious Baltimore criminal and underground figure Divine goes up against a sleazy married couple who make a passionate attempt to humiliate her and seize her tabloid-given title as "The Filthiest Person Alive". Bad (1977) Hazel runs a beauty salon out of her house, but makes extra money by providing ruthless women to do hit jobs. Blood For Dracula (1974) A vampire is on the loose in NYC but is in serious danger because he can't find any "wergin" blood as he calls it. Eating Raoul (1982) A relatively boring Los Angeles couple discovers a bizarre, if not murderous, way to get funding for opening a restaurant. Santa Sangre (1989) A former circus artist escapes from a mental hospital to rejoin his armless mother - the leader of a strange religious cult -, and is forced to enact brutal murders in her name as he becomes "her arms". Boxing Helena (1993) A surgeon becomes obsessed with the seductive woman he once was in an affair with. Refusing to accept that she has moved on, he amputates her limbs and holds her captive in his mansion. Color of a Brisk and Leaping Day (1996) The grandson of a Chinese railroad laborer embarks on a romantic, but ultimately doomed, quest to save the Yosemite Valley Railroad from being sold for scrap.

Yep, he was great in 99 River Street and check out Slightly Scarlet (1956) it's a color noir with some interesting color-noirish cinematography by John Alton. It's sort of pulp fiction cover noir.

Chungking Express (1994) The story of two Hong Kong policemen who patronize a late-night restaurant Chungking Express they fall in love: one with a female underworld figure, the other with the restaurant's server. Some nice stylistic cinematography. 8/10

Exactly the same take away, I knew it was going to be a lesser film as soon as I saw that it was in color and what looked liked the set of a cheap pirate movie.

Yea it's great I agree.

The Lost Weekend (1945) The Lost Noir No, not lost as in not available, not seen, or unknown. It's the red-headed stepchild of Classic Film Noir. The Lost Weekend is left off almost all citations of the "discovery" or "recognition of the "new" Film Noir by French Critics in 1946 after the end of WWII. The term Film Noir was used in the French newspapers and magazines of Paris as far back as the 1930s. It was used as both a right wing political dig at the poetic realist movement that they felt was associated with the leftist Popular Front and a condemnation of the negative trend in films that were considered immoral and demoralizing during the pre-war years. Two 1946 pieces that are always cited in the canon on post WWII Film Noir are Nino Frank's "A New Kind of Police Drama: the Criminal Adventure" for L'Écran français, and Jean-Pierre Chartier's "Americans Also Make Noir Films" for La Révue du Cinéma. The four films invariably always mentioned when referring to these two critics are Double Indemnity, Laura, The Maltese Falcon, and Murder My Sweet. The film almost always left out in these texts is the third film that Chartier mentions the one that deals with addiction and human frailties The Lost Weekend. Ray Milland is excellent, he is a wonderful drunk, he effectively portrays all the nuances of an intelligent man who is keenly aware of his own helpless degradation. Jane Wyman is impressive as the loyal girlfriend who determinedly fights for her man. Phillip Terry is believable as the disgusted and disgruntled brother. Howard Da Silva put in a good show as the disapproving barkeep, and Doris Dowling is great as the hopeful B-girl/hooker. The film also features some great sequences of Manhattan and the Third Avenue el, sure some of it is second unit rear projection but other sequences aren't. It's a nice time capsule to 1945. Will Don make it? Or is this another interlude? He gets the girl in the end but he still has the revolver in his pocket. 10/10 Full review with screencaps in Film Noir/Gangster page.

The Lost Weekend (1945) The Lost Noir No, not lost as in not available, not seen, or unknown. It's the red-headed stepchild of Classic Film Noir. The Lost Weekend is left off almost all citations of the "discovery" or "recognition of the "new" Film Noir by French Critics in 1946 after the end of WWII. The term Film Noir was used in the French newspapers and magazines of Paris as far back as the 1930s. It was used as both a right wing political dig at the poetic realist movement that they felt was associated with the leftist Popular Front and a condemnation of the negative trend in films that were considered immoral and demoralizing during the pre-war years. Two 1946 pieces that are always cited in the canon on post WWII Film Noir are Nino Frank's "A New Kind of Police Drama: the Criminal Adventure" for L'Écran français, and Jean-Pierre Chartier's "Americans Also Make Noir Films" for La Révue du Cinéma. The four films invariably always mentioned when referring to these two critics are Double Indemnity, Laura, The Maltese Falcon, and Murder My Sweet. The film almost always left out in these texts is the third film that Chartier mentions the one that deals with addiction and human frailties The Lost Weekend. "...the hand of Billy Wilder is clearly evident, particularly in the first person narrative which is used as well in his other ‘noir’ film ‘The Lost Weekend.’” Here we have one of the legendary postwar French critics specifically citing a film as a “noir” and yet this film has been ignored in what is considered “film noir” by the noirists. In the pantheon of American so-called film noirs, “The Lost Weekend” could be known as “The Lost Noir.” “The Lost Weekend” isn’t listed in Film Noir: An Encyclopedic Reference of the American Style. In A Panorama of American Film Noir, Raymond Borde and Etienne Chaumeton mention “The Lost Weekend” as “having been classified, somewhat superficially, as belonging to the noir genre, doubtless because of the hospital scenes and the description of delirium tremens. Strangeness and crime, however, were absent from it, and the psychology of the drunk offered one of the most classic examples there are of the all-powerfulness of a rudimentary desire.” When A Panorama of American Film Noir was published in 1955, the notion that a “film noir” described a crime film, [it] created a gospel from which the form would never recover. Dismissing “The Lost Weekend” as “superficially . . . belonging to the noir genre” doomed the film to be ignored by future writings on “film noir.” On “The Lost Weekend,” Chartier writes, “The impressions of insanity, of a senseless void, left by the drama of a young man in the grip of singular addiction, makes ‘The Lost Weekend’ one of the most depressing films I have ever seen. Certainly a charming young lady helps our alcoholic hero sober up and permits the film to end with a kiss. But the impression of extreme despair persists despite this upbeat ending.”" (The death Of Film Noir the other Critic (2009) William Ahearn) Directed by Billy Wilder (Double Indemnity (1944), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Ace in the Hole (1951)) The film was based on Charles R. Jackson's 1944 novel of the same name, the screenplay was by Charles Brackett (Edge of Doom (1950), Sunset Boulevard (1950), Niagara (1953)) and Billy Wilder. The excellent cinematography was by John F. Seitz (Double Indemnity (1944), The Big Clock (1948), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948), Chicago Deadline (1949), Sunset Boulevard (1950)). The music score by Miklós Rózsa (composer for fourteen Classic Noir) was among the very first to make use of the theremin, it was very effective in creating an eerie leitmotif for creeping addiction of alcoholism. The film was nominated for seven Academy Awards and for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Writing (Adapted Screenplay). It also shared the Grand Prix at the first Cannes Film Festival. Don and Helen (Wyman) The film stars Ray Milland (Ministry of Fear (1944), The Big Clock (1948), Alias Nick Beal (1949), Dial M for Murder (1954)) as Don Birnam, Jane Wyman (The Glass Menagerie (1950)) as Helen St. James, Phillip Terry (Born to Kill (1947), Deadline - U.S.A. (1952)) as Wick Birnam Howard Da Silva (five Classic Noir) as Nat, Doris Dowling (The Blue Dahlia (1946), Bitter Rice (1949)) as Gloria, Frank Faylen (They Drive by Night (1940), The Blue Dahlia (1946), 99 River Street (1953)) as 'Bim' Nolan, and Manhattan, New York City circa 1945. Thursday. Manhattan. Upper East Side apartment house. A pan to the side of a building reveals a window with a plant and another, out of which hangs a booze bottle on a string. As we zoom into the window we hear the first faint wail of the theremin. You could say the bottle on the string below the window is like a noose around his neck symbolised by the pull shade cord Don Birman (Milland). Broke. Loser. Wasted word slinger. Alkie for six or so years. His brother Wick (Terry), his keeper. Been watching over Dons periods of lucidity between his binges. They are packing for a four day weekend in the country. Don hasn't touched the "stuff" for ten days. Don has a loyal girlfriend of three years, Helen (Wyman), who is helping to combat his problem. Helen arrives with a book, cigarettes, and chewing gum for Don's trip. Don anxious. Don conniving. He wants to get at that bottle. He finagles himself out of the picture getting Helen and Wick to go to a concert so that he can drink before getting on the train, but Wick finds his stash and pours it down the sink. Don is irate but Wick and Helen reluctantly leave him alone to stew in the apartment. Wick isn't worried because Don hasn't any money to buy any hooch and He's told all the neighborhood sources not to give him any credit. Don begins a frantic search of the apartment as the theremin addiction leitmotif kicks into high gear. He's almost defeated until the cleaning lady arrives at the door to get her money. Don finds out from her that Wick has left her a ten spot in the lid of the sugar bowl. He tells her that Wick must have forgot and he pockets the dough. She leaves. Don is ecstatic and on the loose on his "lost weekend." "You know what brand...." He heads to the nearest liquor store. Don Birman: Two Bottles of rye. Mr. Brophy: What brand? Don Birman: You know what brand Mr. Brophy. The cheapest. None of that twelve year old aged in the wood, chi chi, nuts, for me. With his newly acquired swag he goes to Nats (Da Silva) Bar at 42nd and Third Avenue. He buys a shot and knocks it back. He flirts with B-girl hooker Gloria (Dowling) and five shots later expounds about his boozing to Nat. Don Birnam: It shrinks my liver, doesn't it, Nat? It pickles my kidneys, yeah. But what it does to the mind? It tosses the sandbags overboard so the balloon can soar. Suddenly I'm above the ordinary. I'm competent. I'm walking a tightrope over Niagara Falls. I'm one of the great ones. I'm Michelangelo, molding the beard of Moses. I'm Van Gogh painting pure sunlight. I'm Horowitz, playing the Emperor Concerto. I'm John Barrymore before movies got him by the throat. I'm Jesse James and his two brothers, all three of them. I'm W. Shakespeare. And out there it's not Third Avenue any longer, it's the Nile. Nat, it's the Nile and down it moves the barge of Cleopatra. "I'm Michelangelo, molding the beard of Moses." Meanwhile back at the apartment Helen and Wick discover Don is gone and probably off on one of his binges. Wick is **** and leaving for the weekend at the farm. Helen: You know how he gets, he'll get run over by a car, he'll get arrested, a cigarette may fall from his mouth and he'll burn his bed. Wick Birnam: If it happens, it happens and I hope it does. I've had six years of this. I've had my belly full... Who are we fooling? We've tried everything, haven't we? We've reasoned with him. We've baited him. We've watched him like a hawk. We've tried trusting him. How often have you cried? How often have I beaten him up? Scrape him out of a gutter and pump some kind of self-respect into him and back he falls, back in every time. Helen St. James: He's a sick person. It's as though there was something wrong with his heart or his lungs. You wouldn't walk out on him if he had an attack. He needs our help. Wick Birnam: He won't accept our help. Not Don, he hates us. He wants to be alone with that bottle of his. It's all he gives a hang about. Why kid ourselves? He's a hopeless alcoholic. Don stumbles back to his pad just as Wick and Helen are leaving. He hides at the back of the hallway and then goes up and drinks himself into an alcoholic stupor. Friday morning he's back a Nat's Bar at 11AM just as he's opening up. Don Birman: Just give me another drink, Nat: Mr. Birman, this is the morning. Don Birman: That's when you need it most in the morning, haven't you learned that yet? At night that stuffs to drink, in the morning it's medicine. Of course under the Motion Picture Production Code it's all in the subtext but Gloria shows up looking for a trick her pimp called her about who is supposed to meet her at the bar, her clients are all "relatives" who come down from Albany. She usually takes them to see "Grant's Tomb." Nat: It's amazing how many guys come down from Albany just to see Grant's Tomb. Gloria (to Don while she seductively sticks a chocolate bar in her mouth): Sometimes I wish you came from Albany. Don Birman: Yea, where would you take me? Gloria: Lot's of places, the Music Hall, the New Yorker roof maybe... Don Birman: There is now being presented of 44th Street the uncut version of Hamlet, I could see us setting out for that, do you know Hamlet? Gloria: I know 44th Street. Don Birman: I'd like to get your interpretation of Hamlet's character. Gloria: I'd like to give it to you. Don and Gloria make a date, but Nat knows Don is full of BS. He chastises Don and tells him that not only is he pulling Gloria's let but he's also treating Helen terribly. When Nat asks how she ever got mixed up with someone who sops up the sauce like him we go into a long flashback sequence that begins when he met Helen at a performance of La Traviata. The opera's opening scene where there is a protracted toast with many goblets being passed among the performers is almost comically very suggestive to poor Don who begins to hallucinate his raincoat and it's bottle of booze that he checked in the lobby. When he can't take it any longer he heads to the lobby and discovers he has the wrong ticket. Helen has his and they meet. Don Birnam: Love is the hardest thing in the world to write about. It's so simple. You've gotta catch it through details, like the early morning sunlight hitting the gray tin of the rain spout in front of her house, the ringing of a telephone that sounds like Beethoven's Pastorale, a letter scribbled on her office stationery that you carry around in your pocket because it smells like all the lilacs in Ohio. Don decides to go back to the apartment to start his novel. He gets blocked again and begins to look for the bottle he hid. Frantic he can't remember where he left it. He heads out to Harry & Joe's where he runs out of money. He tries stealing money from a woman's purse. He's caught and thrown out. That night back at his flat he sees the bottle he stashed in the light fixture from it's reflection on the ceiling. He drinks himself stupid. Saturday. Broke and out of booze. Don decides to pawn his typewriter. He goes on an Odyssey up 3rd Ave. All the pawnshops are closed on Yom Kippur. He desperately goes to Gloria's and begs her for cash. She at first refuses since he stood her up then takes pity. Don relieved, starts to leave but falls down the stairs waking up Sunday in the Bellevue Hospital drunk ward "Hangover Plaza". The male nurse Bim Nolan (Faylen ) tells him that delirium is a disease of the night. That night when a fellow ward patient gets the DT's distracting the nurses he escapes. Monday. Don steals a bottle of whiskey and drinks himself increasingly into Noirsville. Noirsville Ray Milland is excellent, he is a wonderful drunk, he effectively portrays all the nuances of an intelligent man who is keenly aware of his own helpless degradation. Jane Wyman is impressive as the loyal girlfriend who determinedly fights for her man. Phillip Terry is believable as the disgusted and disgruntled brother. Howard Da Silva put in a good show as the disapproving barkeep, and Doris Dowling is great as the hopeful B-girl/hooker. The film also features some great sequences of Manhattan and the Third Avenue el, sure some of it is second unit rear projection but other sequences aren't. It's a nice time capsule to 1945. Will Don make it? Or is this another interlude? He gets the girl in the end but he still has the revolver in his pocket. Screencaps are from the 2001 Universal DVD. 10/10 Full review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/06/the-lost-weekend-1945-lost-noir.html

The '78 version with Mitchum follows the book much better and jettisons the ridiculous race track dialog that sounds as phoney as a three dollar bill. Unfortunately it's updated to '78 and takes place in the UK.

Her what?

Well, you may have been among, as my family's combination of regional dialect and fractured English called the "de la base" (with the "a" pronounced as in the word about), i.e., those from the bottom, lol, all Italian's South of Rome. There was a distinction between "high Italians" and "low Italians." Another pejorative was "mammaluccos." I remember as a kid as a joke, my father sent me into an Italian bakery to ask for some High Italian Bread.

Posted on OATITW board on IMDb by vh8686 22 hours ago (Fri Mar 30 2012 20:38:46) UPDATED Sat Mar 31 2012 05:02:26 Roy... I'm gonna open your world when it comes to movies... and hopefully a lot of other people here too, because I'm reading that a lot of people like movies and don't understand why. Here's the scoop: most people take for granted the fact that what they view on screen is part of a long deliberate creative process. Its essentially a controlled experiment... and the outcome is never what everyone expects. As the script is being written, the author makes a range of choices concerning all the elements of storytelling. If you don't understand something in one viewing about the plot, watch it again, because the guy who wrote it spent way more time thinking about the what and why overlong than you did in just a few hours. Remember you're experiencing it first in a linear span of time even though the author pieced it together out of order and in varying increments. Now, imagine writing something that doesn't exist. We like to think that there's a perfect sequence of events that should take place, but how do you know what a character should do or say, or what sort of unforeseen circumstances can be thrown into the mix. There are literary guidelines we can follow, but there are also other influences that the writer will tap into that would be totally obscure and illogical to the audience. Sometimes trying to understand a film is like trying to solve a riddle... which makes it more fun In the end we hope whats written is good, but the process isn't over by a long shot. From the page to the screen, many things change as everyone involved reflects on what has been written on paper. As new people come to work on the project, they bring something different, and the film itself is different. Actors, set designers, cinematographers... each one has something in their work that is idiosyncratic, and the difference between a good film and a bad one, is usually choosing the right people. That's the producer's job, the director's job, and the casting director's job. And you always have to think practically when watching a film, because not everything in a script is plausable... or even feasible. Even still there are things that can happen during production (like a monsoon on the set of Apocalypse Now, or an actor dying before finishing his takes) that could throw everything for a loop. Some films you just need to appreciate for the sheer fact that they got it done... no matter how crappy. Now, its not enough for a script to be interesting to read, but it has to be interesting to watch. A movie like Once Upon a Time in the West, which is a sort of operatic western more than straight up gunslinger action flick (the operatic part is what seperates it from other westerns by the way),... a film like this requires a little more attention to the build up. Thats why what you really have to pay attention to is how a film is blocked, shot and cut together, and this is where the Sergio Leone really leaves his mark. The director has to make what happens in the script (the abstract), happen in real space and real time. He is limited not to the full five senses that human's posess in reality, but to a 2.35:1 sized rectangular picture for sight, and a broader range of sounds and music (this is where I'd like to bring up Ennio Morricone's score, one of the best ever in film history. Seriously, just download some tracks to listen to without the accompanying visuals and you're in for a real treat). Anyway, back to the visuals, the director uses angles, depth of field, lighting, movement, sizing, perspective, content, and space to communicate dramatically everything that happens (grab a book on filmmaking to learn about all of these things). Sometimes these things are used to accentuate the story, sometimes the story tells itself... and sometimes these things ARE the story. The pleasure in watching a Sergio Leone film is not so much the plot or the story, but in the creative ways that he sets up and executes a scene. This is what filmmaking is all about. Which brings me to the last part... the way its cut together. I wont go into post-production much except to say that nowadays with CGI, directors can screw up a lot more than they used to and not have to worry, but as you watch a movie more and more... and you pay attention to the cuts (helps if you've edited video before) the more you pay attention the more flaws you see. Discrepencies with space between shots, movements that don't match up... the usual slew of goofs, and also some really bland acting and lazy camera work. If things are done right, you never see the seams... in essence you don't even realize you're watching a movie. That's why The Godfather is lauded for being the greatest. Aside from just being entertaining, it's seamless. Every shot is perfect. Some people are turned off by things they see in movies. A red flag is rasied and they reject the movie... This is why repeat viewings help. We tend to like things we've seen in other movies that have worked well before, not even realizing it might be a cliche. Other things contradict everything we know about people, behavior, life, the universe etc. so it takes warming up to. You have to create a new pattern of logic for the pieces of a movie to fit before you accept it. You wonder why people love some films and then hate others, but its not mystery. Most people give good grades to so-so films because they judge them purely on a story or conceptual basis. A lot of great films get overlooked because audiences don't understand the full range of criteria they can judge a film by. We tend to give an up or down vote in one showing, and the overall quality of the film really falls on the director. The better the director, the more interesting and fluid everything is. Even moreso if he accomplishes this in a way that no other movie has done before. Think of the difference between home video and a Hollywood movie. Believe me, its not just the cameras and the money otherwise everyone would be good. Deliberating through each shot is what makes the movie expeience. It has a subtle psychological impact. You're really trying to manipulate the senses of the audience... some people hit you over the head with it, others pull it back a little. Maybe I'm not opening your world like I said I would, and I could give you more specific details about what makes the movie good, but I wanted to address movies in general because a lot of people don't appreciate movies for the craft. I always recommend watching special features on the DVDs... they offer a lot of insight. You should take film classes too, or try to make a movie yourself. Compose some shots and edit them together. It really changes how you watch movies... Forewarning though... it will ruin a lot of movies for you.

I must be in a minority, I've watched the whole saga maybe at most once or twice, and its never really resonated with me. Growing up in an Italian neighborhood in the city I never met any Italians remotely like those depicted in the film. It was only later in the early 70's that I knew some "wizeguys" (these guys weren't the brightest bulbs BTW) and saw an incident where someone was thrown out a window.

In watched it also on demand until I fell asleep, I got to where the sculpture progressed to the clay stage, after that I must have dozed off. I'll watch the rest tonight or tomorrow.

I like the way you don't know at first who the main protagonists are going to be, but in order for everything to make sense you're asked to swallow that Marlow killed the wife suddenly on impulse then spied on Henderson's every move with enough cash in his pocket to pay off every body Henderson came in contact with, then hangs around making sure that nobody spills the beans, then after killing Cliff removes all evidence of "Kansas" being there in Cliff's apartment and then keeps that evidence in a draw in his studio. come on.....

R.I.P.

No, he's been starring in a whole lot of, shall we say, lesser acclaimed films. But then I don't really watch a lot of them, so there may be a few good performances.

Leaving Las Vegas (1995) Blue Valentines The downward spiral of a boozer and a hooker in Sin City. Written and directed by Mike Figgis (Internal Affairs (1990)). The film was based on the semi-autobiographical novel Leaving Las Vegas by John O'Brien an alcoholic writer who offed himself two weeks after selling the book rights. The beautiful cinematography was by Declan Quinn (The Kill-Off (1989)), and the music was by Mike Figgis. The film won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Nicolas Cage. It was also nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published. The performances, the atmospheric cinematography of Las Vegas and vicinity, coupled with the moody music provides a sad noir backdrop that elevates the whole into a memorable work of art. 9/10 Full review with more screencaps in Film Noir/Gangster thread.

Leaving Las Vegas (1995) Blue Valentines The downward spiral of a boozer and a hooker in Sin City. Written and directed by Mike Figgis (Internal Affairs (1990)). The film was based on the semi-autobiographical novel Leaving Las Vegas by John O'Brien an alcoholic writer who offed himself two weeks after selling the book rights. The beautiful cinematography was by Declan Quinn (The Kill-Off (1989)), and the music was by Mike Figgis. The film stars Nicolas Cage (The Cotton Club (1984), Moonstruck (1987), Wild at Heart (1990), Red Rock West (1993)) as Ben Sanderson. Elisabeth Shue (Palmetto (1998)) as Sera, Julian Sands (Siesta (1987), Boxing Helena (1993)) as Yuri Butso, Richard Lewis (Curb Your Enthusiasm TV Series (2000– )) as Peter, Steven Weber as Marc Nussbaum, Emily Procter as Debbie, Valeria Golino (Rain Man (1988)) as Terri, Thomas Kopache as Mr. Simpson, Laurie Metcalf as Landlady, Graham Beckel as L.A. bartender, Lou Rawls as the concerned cabbie, and Mariska Hargitay as Hooker at bar. The film won an Academy Award for Best Actor in a Leading Role, Nicolas Cage. It was also nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role, Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published. I re-watched this film the way you'd rubberneck a car wreck. I saw it upon first release, and then basically forgot about it's existence for twenty plus years. It dovetails nicely with the other addiction films some of which are Noirs, The Lost Weekend, The Man With The Golden Arm, I'll Cry Tomorrow, Stakeout On Dope Street, The Days Of Wine And Roses, Wanda, Panic In Needle Park, Barfly, Requiem for a Dream. Most of the story other than Ben's L.A. sequences is told in flashbacks as Sera confides in her analyst, counselor, therapist, we never actually find out which, who, throughout the film remains unseen and off screen. Ben (Cage) on a buying spree Ben Sanderson: I don't know if I started drinking 'cause my wife left me or my wife left me 'cause I started drinking, but **** it anyway. Washed up manic depressive screenwriter Ben Sanderson, his marriage on the rocks his boozing out of control, torches all his ties to the past and drives to Las Vegas to drink himself to death. He figures it should take him about four weeks. Sera a L.A. prostitute since she was sixteen, has fled from her Latvian pimp Yuri to make the Las Vegas casinos and streets her beat. Yuri has tracked her down and has her servicing groups of Eastern European gamblers. She is also turning tricks. Sera (Shue) on the job Ben and Sera first meet when Ben, drinking and driving of course as he blows into town, almost runs Sera down as he runs a red light. Ben checks into a dive motel, The Whole Year Inn, which he, in his drunken fog, interprets appropriately as The Hole You're In. Getting familiar with his new "home", driving around the city he spots Sera walking the streets, and offers her $500 for sex. She takes him on and the two of them drive to Ben's flop. While he sits on the edge of his bed Sera gets down on her knees and begins. Ben though stops her and tells her that he only wants to talk. Ben calls her his angel. Sera is attracted to the loveable lush and the two of them develop a dependent relationship based on both of their needs to combat depression and loneliness. They have a sort of truce, Sera will never ask Ben to stop drinking and Ben will never complain about her hooking. Ben Sanderson: We both know that I'm a drunk. And I know you are a hooker. I hope you understand that I am a person who is totally at ease with that. Which is not to say that I'm indifferent or I don't care, I do. It simple means that I trust and accept your judgment. Periods of serenity are juxtaposed with bouts of uncontrollability, usually triggered by the lack or denial of alcohol. His only drinking problem is when he can't find a drink. At first things go swimmingly but soon Sera begins to get concerned about Ben's deterioration. She begs him to go see a doctor, Ben is agast. When Sera is out turning tricks Ben heads to a casino and is picked up by another hooker. He takes her to Sera's apartment, and she finds them there. Sera throws Ben out. Things continue to spiral into Noirsville, Sera gets anally gang raped by college football players and then evicted from her apartment. Ben gives her one last call on the phone and then cashes in his chips at a dive motel. Noirsville Sera: I think the thing is, we both realized that we didn't have that much time. And I accepted him for who he was, and I didn't expect him to change, and I think he felt that for me, too. I liked his drama, and he needed me. And I loved him. I really loved him. Nicholas Gage is excellent, he gives a resourceful credible performance, energetically flying high ecstatically then becoming morose and despondent as he lurches from scene to scene. On a side note nobody could drink as much as depicted and still have a pulse, also, and this is from personal experience, there is no way a man can function sexually being as blitzed out of his gourd as Ben. Elisabeth Shue is playing the hooker with a heart of gold trope. A working girl would normally steer clear of a prospect like Ben, she gives the impression during her therapy sessions that she is a competent business woman and able to size up the trick and perform on autopilot. She confesses that with Ben it was different, she took to him as one would care for a wounded bird, it was a mutual need that each supplied the other. Her nursing of Ben assuaged her loneliness, and provides her with a modicum of redemption. Whenever Ben and Sera are together a "Ben And Sera Theme" leitmotif plays it's reminiscent of Clair de Lune. The rest of the bluesy soundtrack consists of Angel Eyes, It's A Lonesome Old Town, My One and Only Love, performed by Sting. Lonely Teardrops performed by Michael McDonald. Come Rain Or Come Shine performed by Don Henley. Ridiculous performed by Nicolas Cage. I Won't Be Going South (For A While) performed by The Palladinos, and You Turn Me On courtesy of The Crazy Horse Saloon, Paris The performances, the atmospheric cinematography of Las Vegas and vicinity, coupled with the moody music provides a sad noir backdrop that elevates the whole into a memorable work of art. 9/10 Full review with more screencaps at http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/06/leaving-las-vegas-1995-blue-valentines.html

Yea, yea, yea. spoken like a true Angeleno. Remember **** happened on 911, didn't happen in LA did it?

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Nuclear Noir - Satiric Masterpiece "It doesn't get any Noir-er than The Apocalypse." You had to have been there. The 1960s. I was a kid growing up in NYC. You couldn't help but get the feeling that you were living in the biggest bullseye on the planet. If anyplace was destined for the sobriquet "Ground Zero" it was Manhattan. The Cold War was about to boil over. The Cuban Missile Crisis and reactions to it had a way of focusing anxiety. I remember doing nuclear attack drills in school. A bell would go off and we'd all hunker down under our desks, as if that was going to be any help. I sure this was the spark that really ignited the counterculture revolution. It got slapped into overdrive. The supposed "grown-up" were totally **** nuts. If we don't shuck off all this institutional bull **** fast we may never enjoy life. If it feels go do it, and if you don't "do it" now you may never get to do it. We who went out, stopped worrying and "did it" all owe a big thanks to all the politico wackos of the world. You had to have been there. The film can still be enjoyed, but if you were actually there and were exposed to the hysteria it has an extra informed poignancy. Sellers is spot on in his various roles, his inspiration for Mandrake was his spoofs during WWII of his RAF officers, his gifts for mimicry aided his Mid-Western accent for President Muffley and the German accent for Dr. Strangelove. Sterling Hayden should have won an Oscar for the portrayal of the alienated, obsessed, and absolutely mad General Jack D. Ripper. George C. Scott was excellent as enthusiastically morbid Buck Turgidson. I'll also give a loud shout out to Slim Pickens, a real hoot to watch as Major King Kong. The design of the film is dark and at times very claustrophobic, shots of stark, barren, arctic wastelands juxtaposed against the cramped confines of the B52s cockpit, fuselage, and the mausoleum like "War Room." In other sequences B52s in flight appear to delicately be having sex as they refuel in mid air, while nuclear explosions take on an eerie bizarre beauty. The gravity of the story and the absurdity of situations are satirized brilliantly. Hey what's changed, the more things change the more they stay the same, look at the circus in Washington today. Fuller review with more screencaps are from the Columbia Pictures Special Edition 2001 DVD. 10/10

Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) Nuclear Noir - Satiric Masterpiece "It doesn't get any Noir-er than The Apocalypse." You had to have been there. The 1960s. I was a kid growing up in NYC. You couldn't help but get the feeling that you were living in the biggest bullseye on the planet. If anyplace was destined for the sobriquet "Ground Zero" it was Manhattan. The Cold War was about to boil over. The Cuban Missile Crisis and reactions to it had a way of focusing anxiety. I remember doing nuclear attack drills in school. A bell would go off and we'd all hunker down under our desks, as if that was going to be any help. I sure this was the spark that really ignited the counterculture revolution. It got slapped into overdrive. The supposed "grown-up" were totally **** nuts. If we don't shuck off all this institutional bull **** fast we may never enjoy life. If it feels go do it, and if you don't "do it" now you may never get to do it. We who went out, stopped worrying and "did it" all owe a big thanks to all the politico wackos of the world. You had to have been there. The film can still be enjoyed, but if you were actually there and were exposed to the hysteria it has an extra informed poignancy. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb was directed, produced, and co-written by Stanley Kubrick (Killer's Kiss (1955), The Killing (1956)). The screenplay was written by Kubrick, Terry Southern (uncredited for The Collector (1965)), and Peter George (Fail-Safe (1964)), author of the novel Red Alert. The film is an obvious spoof of Fail Safe (1964) a thriller about human and computer errors that snowball into a nuclear attack on Moscow by a squadron of American 'Vindicator' bombers. Cinematography was by Gilbert Taylor (Seven Days to Noon (1950), Circle of Danger (1951), High Treason (1951), Stop Me Before I Kill! (1960), The Bedford Incident (1965), The Omen (1976), Flash Gordon (1980)). Music was by Laurie Johnson (The Avengers TV Series (1961–1969)). The film stars Peter Sellers (Never Let Go (1960)) in three parts, Group Captain Lionel Mandrake, a British RAF exchange officer, President Merkin Muffley, the President of the United States, and Dr. Strangelove, the wheelchair-using nuclear war expert and former Nazi. George C. Scott (Anatomy of a Murder (1959), The Hustler (1961), Naked CityTV Series (1958–1963), Hardcore (1979)) as General Buck Turgidson. Sterling Hayden (Classic Film Noir veteran) as Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper, Keenan Wynn (Song of the Thin Man (1947), Shack Out on 101 (1955), Touch of Evil (1958), Point Blank (1967), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), ) as Colonel Bat Guano. Slim Pickens (The Getaway (1972)) as Major T. J. "King" Kong. Peter Bull (The African Queen (1951)) as Soviet Ambassador Alexei de Sadeski, James Earl Jones as Lieutenant Lothar Zogg, Tracy Reed (A Shot in the Dark (1964)) as Miss Scott, General Turgidson's secretary and mistress, and Shane Rimmer as Capt. Ace Owens, the B-52 co-pilot. A United States Air Force Brigadier General Jack D. Ripper goes off his nut and orders the Strategic Air Command 843rd Bomb Wing, equipped with B-52 bombers and nuclear bombs to leave their fail safe positions and attack the USSR with "Wing Attack Plan R." Group Captain Mandrake quickly discovers that no war order has been issued by the President. Ripper tells Mandrake that he personally ordered the attack after he discovered a Communist plot to pollute Americans' "precious bodily fluids." Ripper also tells Mandrake that he believes the Soviets have been using the fluoridation of water supplies to pollute the "precious bodily fluids" of Americans and that he came to this conclusion during "the physical act of love." When Mandrake decides to order the Bomb Wing back, Ripper shows Mandrake a Colt automatic and locks them both in his office. Mandrake now realizes that Ripper is insane. At the Pentagon, USAF General Buck Turgidson briefs President Merkin Muffley and other staff officers about how Plan "R" enables a senior officer to launch a strike against the Soviets if Washington, D.C. is nuked. Muffley orders a US Army general to order an attack the SAC base and arrest General Ripper. Turgidson then jingoistically tries to persuade President Muffley to order an all out first strike against the USSR. Muffley instead decides to bring in Soviet ambassador Alexei de Sadeski down into the Top Secret War Room, to telephone Soviet premier Dimitri Kissov on the "hot line" to give him a heads up on the looming catastrophe. Muffley also gives Kissov the list of primary and secondary targets so that the Soviet air defences can shoot them down. When U.S. Army Colonel Bat Guano finally takes the SAC base he discovers that Ripper has blown his brains out and that Muffley may have discovered the vital three letter code to relay to the Bomb Group to turn them back. Of the thirty four B52s on attack, thirty are turned back and four are reported shot down, except that one is just damaged, with its communications devices destroyed and leaking fuel. It's under the command of Major King Kong who shows some ingenuity and heads it for the nearest target of opportunity. If Kong's B52 should successfully bomb that target it will trigger what ambassador de Sadeski calls a "Doomsday Device," an underground nuclear bomb cache consisting of multiple "Cobalt-Thorium G" tipped warheads. The device is connected to a massive computer network that will automatically detonate if any bombs fall on the USSR, and will shroud the Earth in a blanket of radioactive clouds, killing all surface life and making it uninhabitable for 93 years. This device cannot be disconnected it is programmed to explode if tried. Of course Major King Kong in John Wayne mode displays some good ol' American, can do, hands on, know how and everything goes apocalyptically Noirsville. Noirsville Major King Kong (Pickins) Major T. J. "King" Kong: Survival kit contents check. In them you'll find: one forty-five caliber automatic; two boxes of ammunition; four days' concentrated emergency rations; one drug issue containing antibiotics, morphine, vitamin pills, pep pills, sleeping pills, tranquilizer pills; one miniature combination Russian phrase book and Bible; one hundred dollars in rubles; one hundred dollars in gold; nine packs of chewing gum; one issue of prophylactics; three lipsticks; three pair of nylon stockings. Shoot, a fella' could have a pretty good weekend in Vegas with all that stuff. Lieutenant Lothar Zogg (Jones) General Jack D. Rippe: Mandrake, do you recall what Clemenceau once said about war? Group Capt. Lionel Mandrake: No, I don't think I do, sir, no. General Jack D. Ripper: He said war was too important to be left to the generals. When he said that, 50 years ago, he might have been right. But today, war is too important to be left to politicians. They have neither the time, the training, nor the inclination for strategic thought. I can no longer sit back and allow Communist infiltration, Communist indoctrination, Communist subversion and the international Communist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids. General "Buck" Turgidson: If the pilot's good, see, I mean if he's reeeally sharp, he can barrel that baby in so low... oh you oughta see it sometime. It's a sight. A big plane like a '52... varrrooom! Its jet exhaust... frying chickens in the barnyard! The film was nominated for Best Picture, Best Actor in a Leading Role, Best Director, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium. Sellers is spot on in his various roles, his inspiration for Mandrake was his spoofs during WWII of his RAF officers, his gifts for mimicry aided his Mid-Western accent for President Muffley and the German accent for Dr. Strangelove. Sterling Hayden should have won an Oscar for the portrayal of the alienated, obsessed, and absolutely mad General Jack D. Ripper. George C. Scott was excellent as enthusiastically morbid Buck Turgidson. I'll also give a loud shout out to Slim Pickens, a real hoot to watch as Major King Kong. The design of the film is dark and at times very claustrophobic, shots of stark, barren, arctic wastelands juxtaposed against the cramped confines of the B52s cockpit, fuselage, and the mausoleum like "War Room." In other sequences B52s in flight appear to delicately be having sex as they refuel in mid air, while nuclear explosions take on an eerie bizarre beauty. The gravity of the story and the absurdity of situations are satirized brilliantly. Hey what's changed, the more things change the more they stay the same, look at the circus in Washington today. Screencaps are from the Columbia Pictures Special Edition 2001 DVD. 10/10 Fuller review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2017/06/dr-strangelove-or-how-i-learned-to-stop.html

No Country For Old Men (2007) Once Upon A Time In Noirsville No Country For Old Men is a Neo Noir Masterpiece. It won Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture of the Year 2007, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Javier Bardem, Best Achievement in Directing Ethan Coen Joel and Coen, and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. All performances are spot on. Jones' excellent performance as Bell the a laconic, righteous, good ol' boy sheriff is no doubt informed by his native of San Saba, Texas upbringing. Brolin also has some Texas roots, his mother Jane Cameron (Agee), a Texas-born wildlife activist. He's equally good as the overly optimistic can do cowboy who's bitten a bit more off than he can chew. Bardem is chill inducing as the slow, deliberate, somewhat goofy looking deadpan sociopath. He has an arresting presence, in this performance. I'm reminded again of The Good The Bad And The Ugly and Lee Van Cleef's beady-eyed sneer announcing "Death on a Horse" is here, too bad Bardem hasn't been utilized more in these types of roles. It says in his IMDb bio that he didn't want to be typecast (as a brawny sex symbol in the film Jamón, Jamón (1992) so I'd assume he'd feel the same about being typecast as a "crazier than a out house rat" sociopath. Harrelson as the cocky, duded up, rival assassin has a smaller part but plays it well as does the rest of the cast. The cinematography comprises beautiful sequences, one striking one is of a herd of pronghorn and the approaching edge of the shadow of a thunderhead blowing across the prairie. The films extensive use of ambient sound combined with this excellent cinematography heightens your awareness be it either footsteps across the prairie, a pickup tailgate clanking open, ambient sounds in roadside filling station, a truck rattling over the backcountry, a trailer house TV, a creaky floored old hotel, or an eerie surreal awakening on the stone piazza steps at dawn in a Mexican bordertown to the sound of a mariachi band. The editing is masterful. Bravo! 10/10. Fuller review here in Film Noir/Gangster and with more screencaps at Noirsville

No Country For Old Men (2007) Once Upon A Time In Noirsville It's amazing how many people are totally ignorant of the concept of what makes a Film Noir. Corporate Hollywood, with your endless sequels, your formulaic stories, your National Research Group sample demographic audience manipulations, you've done your job well. A good percentage of certain modern audiences must be spoon fed dumbed down stories that are totally for their meager standards predictable. Just reading through the negative registered user IMDb reviews for this film from 2007-2008 one wonders if we are on an irreversible slide into predictable Blandsville. Some reviewers cannot seem to grasp the concept of any deviation from a nonlinear story, or they miss simple plot points and exclaim "plot hole". It's discouraging, but I can at least still see an occasional creative flare burning at the end of that Blandsville Tunnel. No Country For Old Men is a Neo Noir Masterpiece. It won Academy Awards for Best Motion Picture of the Year 2007, Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role for Javier Bardem, Best Achievement in Directing Ethan Coen Joel and Coen, and Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay for Joel Coen and Ethan Coen. Written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen (Blood Simple (1984), Miller's Crossing (1990), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), The Man Who Wasn't There (2001)), and based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name. The excellent cinematography was by Roger Deakins (1984 (1984), Barton Fink (1991), Fargo (1996), The Big Lebowski (1998), Blade Runner 2049 (2017)). What little music in the film (there is an abundance of ambient sound in the film) was by Carter Burwell. The film stars Tommy Lee Jones (Lonesome Dove TV Mini-Series (1989),The Fugitive (1993), Natural Born Killers (1994), Space Cowboys (2000)) as Sheriff Ed Tom Bell, Josh Brolin (Private Eye TV Series (1987–1988), Gangster Squad (2013)) as Llewelyn Moss, Javier Bardem (El detective y la muerte (1994), Skyfall (2012)) as Anton Chigurh, Kelly Macdonald (Boardwalk Empire TV Series (2010–2014)) as Carla Jean Moss, and Woody Harrelson (Natural Born Killers (1994), Palmetto (1998), True Detective TV Series (2014– )) as Carson Wells, and Stephen Root (V.I. Warshawski (1991), Boardwalk Empire TV Series (2010–2014)) as the Houston business man who hires Chigurh, Wells, and the Mexicans. Gene Jones (The Hateful Eight (2015)) as Art the Texaco station owner. The story, Terrell County, Texas, circa June 1980: We hear wind we hear thunder. We see edges. The edge of earth and sky. The edge of the horizon. The edge of shadows across the prairie. The edge of light and dark, the edge of good and evil and eventually the edge of life and death. Sheriff Ed Tom Bell (Jones), the son of a son of Texas lawmen sadly laments the increasing violence in West Texas and the crazy world in general. Ed Tom Bell: I was sheriff of this county when I was twenty-five years old. Hard to believe. My grandfather was a lawman; father too. Me and him was sheriffs at the same time; him up in Plano and me out here. I think he's pretty proud of that. I know I was. Some of the old time sheriffs never even wore a gun. A lotta folks find that hard to believe. Jim Scarborough'd never carried one; that's the younger Jim. Gaston Boykins wouldn't wear one up in Comanche County. I always liked to hear about the oldtimers. Never missed a chance to do so. You can't help but compare yourself against the oldtimers. Can't help but wonder how they would have operated these times.... These times..... Over the county line, Anton Chigurh (Bardem), a cold, deadly and seriously demented paid assassin, strangles a deputy sheriff, escapes in his patrol car, and pulls over and kills a passing motorist with a captive bolt pistol. Chigurh then steals his car abandoning the patrol car. Anton Chigurh (Bardem) Chigurh, later stops for gas at a prairie Texaco pitstop, Art's Auto Supplies. The hayseed owner Art is just a little too noisy for his own good, he notices that Chigurh's car plates are from Dallas, and mentions it in friendly chit chat. Chigurh is immediately on guard and confrontational. Chigurh spares the life of Art, after Art accepts Chigurh's weird challenge and correctly calls heads on Chigurh's coin flip. If you are a conscientious hunter you'll collect the kill and haul it charitably to, as my old shitkicker buddy JB would call it. "the old folks home" on the Rez, they'll eat it. If you don't give a ****, you'll artistically arrange the carcass to look like it got hung up in a barbed wire fence (to elude the wrath of the game warden) and leave it for the buzzards. Llewelyn drives his outfit out on the prairie, then used his stocking feet to roam about, and his binoculars to glass the countryside. He gets the drop on a herd of pronghorn, and lying over a boulder using his boots as a rest, scopes up his shot on a trophy buck. He makes his shot but it ain't a clean kill. The buck takes off and Llewelyn, after picking up his brass (a sure sign of a reloader) and puttin' on his boots, begins to track the buck's blood trail. When that blood trail crosses the blood trail of, what turns out to be a pit bull, Llewelyn back tracks the dogs trail to the "OK corral", the site of a drug deal gone bad. Poking around the shot full of holes dead bodies and vehicles. in a sort of homage to Tuco's (Eli Wallach's) "Carriage Of The Spirits" sequence in The Good The Bad And The Ugly, he finds one man barely alive. The man asks for "agua" water, Llewelyn tells him he doesn't have any. Llewelyn finds a load of dope but finds no money. He goes back to the dying man who asked for water. Llewelyn: You speak English? Where's the last guy? Ultimo hombre, last man standing, there must have been one, where did he go?... I reckon I'll go out the way I came in. He spirals around and picks up boot tracks and another blood trail. He follows it to a dead man under the shade of a cedar tree and a leather satchel that contains two million dollars. Llewelyn grabs the satchel and skedaddles. He heads home to the his trailer park, and hides the Heckler & Koch SP89 machine gun he grabbed at the drug deal gone bad in the crawl space under his mobile home. He takes the money and the nickel plated Colt .45 inside. Ed Tom Bell: ....There was this boy I sent to the 'lectric chair at Huntsville Hill here a while back. My arrest and my testimony. He killt a fourteen-year-old girl. Papers said it was a crime of passion but he told me there wasn't any passion to it. Told me that he'd been planning to kill somebody for about as long as he could remember. Said that if they turned him out he'd do it again. Said he knew he was going to hell. "Be there in about fifteen minutes". I don't know what to make of that. I sure don't. The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to say, "O.K., I'll be part of this world." Back at the Moss's mobile home, after a so far sleepless night, Llewelyn decides to go back out to the "OK Corral" and bring that suffering Mexican some water. Here is the classic dumb ****, shoulda knowed better, move that fully plants this into Classic Noir territory. Of course the Mexican is dead and some of his companeros are hanging around waiting. Llewelyn a Viet Vet uses his wits and barely escapes by jumping into the Rio Grande. Llewelyn sends his wife off to her mother's while he heads West to EL Paso, the nearest airport. The Houston businessman/drug lord (Root) hires Chigurh to recover his money and go after Llewelyn. Night, back at the OK Corral's bloated carcasses, Chigurh, and two of the drug lord associates investigate the carnage. Mustache: These are some ripe petunias Chigurh, after picking up an automatic off of one of the dead bodies, breaks rogue killing the two associates, grabs the transponder receiver, and sets out after the cash. The businessman/drug lord then hires another hit man, Carson Wells (Harrelson), to now go after Chigurh, With Chigurh, Wells the Mexican drug cartel and eventually Sheriff Bell all after the stolen loot (which by the way has a transponder hidden in one of the bundles of hundred dollar bills), everything spirals quickly out of control into Noirsville. Noirsville Sheriff Ed Tom Bell Llewelyn (James Brolin) All performances are spot on. Jones' excellent performance as Bell the a laconic, righteous, good ol' boy sheriff is no doubt informed by his native of San Saba, Texas upbringing. Brolin also has some Texas roots, his mother Jane Cameron (Agee), a Texas-born wildlife activist. He's equally good as the overly optimistic can do cowboy who's bitten a bit more off than he can chew. Bardem is chill inducing as the slow, deliberate, somewhat goofy looking deadpan sociopath. He has an arresting presence, in this performance. I'm reminded again of The Good The Bad And The Ugly and Lee Van Cleef's beady-eyed sneer announcing "Death on a Horse" is here, too bad Bardem hasn't been utilized more in these types of roles. It says in his IMDb bio that he didn't want to be typecast (as a brawny sex symbol in the film Jamón, Jamón (1992) so I'd assume he'd feel the same about being typecast as a "crazier than a **** house rat" sociopath. Harrelson as the cocky, duded up, rival assassin has a smaller part but plays it well as does the rest of the cast. The cinematography comprises beautiful sequences, one striking one is of a herd of pronghorn and the approaching edge of the shadow of a thunderhead blowing across the prairie. The films extensive use of ambient sound combined with this excellent cinematography heightens your awareness be it either footsteps across the prairie, a pickup tailgate clanking open, ambient sounds in roadside filling station, a truck rattling over the backcountry, a trailer house TV, a creaky floored old hotel, or an eerie surreal awakening on the stone piazza steps at dawn in a Mexican bordertown to the sound of a mariachi band. The editing is masterful. There's only one false note and it's minor, it a bit of dialog from Bell, when he sees the burning car he exclaims that he "didn't think a car would burn like that", hell, when a car catches fire it, it goes out of control quick, anyone especially law enforcement would have seen one in the course of duty. No Country For Old Men can take it's place in the Pantheon of Great Film Soleil Western Neo Noirs with Bad Day At Black Rock, Inferno, In Cold Blood, Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia, The Killer Inside Me, Blood Simple , Paris, Texas, Kill Me Again , The Hot Spot , The Wrong Man , and Mulholland Falls. Screencaps are from the Miramax 2008 DVD, Bravo! 10/10. Fuller review with more screencaps at Noirsville

Les tontons flingueurs, Monsieur Gangster (1963) Entertaining 8/10 Ex-gangster turned legit dozer dealer Fernand (Lino Ventura) receives a call from a dying friend, a mob boss nicknamed "The Mexican" who has come back to Paris to die. "The Mexican" talks Fernand into taking over his rackets and being the "uncle" to his daughter. "The Mexican's" longtime mobster partners the Volfoni brothers have other ideas. They come after Fernand who reverts to his old ways.