cigarjoe
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Posts posted by cigarjoe
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Gangster, I remember thinking it wasn't much of a Noir last time I saw it.
There's folks that classify some Gangster films a Proto Noirs, You can even say Horror films are equally Noir-ish.
But it's subjective. A thought to throw into the equation of what makes a Noir/Neo Noir is an individual internal factor. It's subjectivity. Noir is in all of us. Think of us all as having an internal tuning fork, these tuning forks are forged by our life experiences which are all unique. When we watch these films their degree of Noir-ness resonates with us differently, so we either "tune" to them or we don't. The amount of "tuning" (I'm appropriating this term from the Neo Noir Dark City (1998)) to certain films will vary between us all also."
James Ellroy's take:
“Here’s what film noir is to me.
It’s a righteous, generically American film movement that went from 1945 to 1958 and exposited one great theme and that theme is you’re ****. You have just met a woman, you’re inches away from the greatest sex of your life but within six weeks of meeting the woman you will be framed for a crime you did not commit and you’ll end up in the gas chamber and as they strap you in and you’re about to breath the cyanide fumes you’ll be grateful for the few weeks you had with her and grateful for your own death.”
-James Ellroy
Novelist,
L.A. Confidential
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Cigarjoe. Appreciate your movie posts, but way too much detail. The Missing Person sounds like one I would enjoy, but if I read all you posted I wouldn't need to.
Siesta and Slam Dance as well. I read the first sections and then rapidly scolled to the next topic.
Virginia Madsen could really nail a part. Throughly enjoy her in The Hot Spot with Don Johnson.
Incidentally, I seldom go to this thread because all the lengthy descriptions and picture inserts make it too long.
Oh I can understand where you are coming from. Here's my reason, I've seen all the well noted Film Noir from the classical period, but when you start delving into the Neo Noir lists you find that there are a lot of just plain crap films or just films labeled Noir for apparently marketing purposes that aren't remotely stylistic visually.
Judging from most of the comments on the General Board there aren't a whole lot of folks that are going to be familiar with some of the titles, some are only available on DVD in other regions.
What I'm doing is something that I personally would like to see for myself, an in-depth review with a lot screen caps to actually get a good handle on what the film actually looks like, before I fork over money, I've been burned too many times on films that don't measure up to my personal noir expectations. I'm visually oriented in that respect, so I really like seeing as many caps as I can.
A recent example is The Man I Love (1947) an Ida Lupino film that is not really noir at all, at least by my standards.
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The Missing Person (2009) The Soft Boiled Detective
Brilliantly directed and written by Noah Buschel (Neal Cassady (2007), Glass Chin (2014), The Phenom (2016)). The film contains some interesting cinematography by Ryan Samul (Cold in July (2014). It also has a great jazz score compiled by Jim Black.
The film stars Michael Shannon as P.I. John Rosow, Frank Wood as Harold Fullmer, Amy Ryan as Miss Charley, Linda Emond as Mrs. Fullmer, John Ventimiglia as cabbie Hero Furillo, Margaret Colin as Lana Cobb, Paul Sparks as NYPD cop Gus Papitos, Yul Vazquez as Don Edgar, Paul Adelstein as attorney Drexler Hewitt, Kate Arrington as Jane Rosow. The great Joe Lovano appears doing a sax solo.
The Missing Person is one of the best Detective Films to come along in years. The story is smart and original, with a witty sense of humor. The dialogue crisp. It's partly a fish out of water story as NYC native John negotiates Southern California, and partly a psychological drama. The film is also an entertaining riff on past detective films, The Narrow Margin, Murder My Sweet, The Big Sleep, the later Harper, Marlowe and even Pulp Fiction. There is there's also a nod to Edward Hopper's classic oil, New York Movie, 1939.
It's a fresh, realistic tack that this detective tale takes. This is exactly the kind of film that actually advances our Classic Hardboiled Detective into a believable place in today's world, it renews and resets the genre. He's not the P.I. on steroids. He's not the perfect knight in shining armor, he's damaged, jaded, anxious, weary, bordering on melancholia. The weight of some hidden world seems to be upon him. Our modern small time P.I. is also a bit of dinosaur around the new technology, he's an ex NYPD cop, and an alcoholic. Our updated P.I. is pickled and has soft boiled cool.
The Missing Person is a gem, another Noir lovers wet dream. The film is highly stylized and nicely accented with jazz pieces throughout. The mood and atmosphere created by director Noah Buschel is a marvel. I'll be sure to check out the rest of his films.
Michael Shannon is extraordinary as Rosow, his performance is understated as the haunted, damaged hero, who still retains a modicum of "cool". The rest of the supporting cast is excellent. The screencaps are from the Strand Releasing DVD. 9/10 Full review here in Film Noir/Gangster thread and with even more screencaps here http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-missing-person-2009-soft-boiled.html-
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The Missing Person (2009) The Soft Boiled Detective
Brilliantly directed and written by Noah Buschel (Neal Cassady (2007), Glass Chin (2014), The Phenom (2016)). The film contains some interesting cinematography by Ryan Samul (Cold in July (2014). It also has a great jazz score compiled by Jim Black.
The film stars Michael Shannon as P.I. John Rosow, Frank Wood as Harold Fullmer, Amy Ryan as Miss Charley, Linda Emond as Mrs. Fullmer, John Ventimiglia as cabbie Hero Furillo, Margaret Colin as Lana Cobb, Paul Sparks as NYPD cop Gus Papitos, Yul Vazquez as Don Edgar, Paul Adelstein as attorney Drexler Hewitt, Kate Arrington as Jane Rosow. The great Joe Lovano appears doing a sax solo.
The Missing Person is one of the best Detective Films to come along in years. The story is smart and original, with a witty sense of humor. The dialogue crisp. It's partly a fish out of water story as NYC native John negotiates Southern California, and partly a psychological drama. The film is also an entertaining riff on past detective films, The Narrow Margin, Murder My Sweet, The Big Sleep, the later Harper, Marlowe and even Pulp Fiction. There is there's also a nod to Edward Hopper's classic oil, New York Movie, 1939.
It's a fresh, realistic tack that this detective tale takes. This is exactly the kind of film that actually advances our Classic Hardboiled Detective into a believable place in today's world, it renews and resets the genre. He's not the P.I. on steroids. He's not the perfect knight in shining armor, he's damaged, jaded, anxious, weary, bordering on melancholia. The weight of some hidden world seems to be upon him. Our modern small time P.I. is also a bit of dinosaur around the new technology, he's an ex NYPD cop, and an alcoholic. Our updated P.I. is pickled and has soft boiled cool.
5:10 AM, John Roscow (Shannon) our private dick, sleeping off a bender in a Chicago flop, is awakened by a phone ringing. He gropes about in the twisted sheets finally grabbing the handset of his landline, only to discover it's his cell phone, welcome to the modern world John. In a traditional voice over:
John Rosow: I could lie there forever. But the phone rang.
[ringing]
John Rosow: Hello?
[still ringing]
It's a New York attorney, moniker, Drexler Hewitt, on the other end. The first words out of Roscow's mouth is "I'll pay the bills tomorrow...." before he discovers that the call is for a job.
Hewitt wants him to tail a subject who is taking the 7:00AM California Zephyr to The City Of Angels out of Union Station. The attorney tells him that an old NYPD acquaintance Gus Papitos (Sparks) recommended him for the job. The attorney's secretary will arrive with the details in a few minutes. John asks "do I get paid for this." It's $500 a day plus expenses. Eaten' Money. While he's still talking he gets a knock on his door it's the secretary Miss Charley (Ryan) with the case details.
Miss Charley (Ryan)He's wearing a Tshirt and boxers, she's all prim and proper and a little amused. She gives him an envelope with the details. He's attracted to her and she obviously notices, but spurns his advances.
Miss Charley: Any other questions?
John Rosow: Yeah, what makes this Drexler Hewitt think I'll tail this guy without any more information?
Miss Charley: [flips the money envelop at him hitting him in the crotch] Good day, Mr. Rosow.
John Rosow: [finding money in envelop] So far, I guess...
John showers, shaves, throws on a suit and tie, fills up a flask with gin and walks to Union Station, Chicago to catch the Zephyr.
John Rosow (Shannon)
The whole California Zephyr sequence provides a bit of magical cinematic memory to The Narrow Margin.
Once upon the train, John discovers that his subject is hiding in plain sight and traveling with a little Mexican boy. He calls Miss Charley to complain. He tells her that if he'd known he'd have asked for more money. He suspects that the man is a child molester. Miss Charley tells him to follow Fullmer to wherever he goes.
drunk again
After getting sloshed in the dining car John stumbles back to his compartment in an alcoholic fog. He passes out. He has a dream/flashback of his deceased wife Jane. He wakes up as the Zephyr pulls into the City Of Angels.
He tails the suspect and the child to a hotel, checks in and arranges for a rental car. In his room he calls Miss Charley. She tells him to get a cell phone that takes pictures, (of Fullmer) so that he can send them to her. This simple assignment provides the film with some very humorous sequences. The first with a cell phone store salesman, the second with an LAPD cop riding on a Segway in Hollywood, who threatens to give him a ticket for jaywalking.
While eavesdropping with a stethoscope on Fullmer through a heat vent, he discovers that a team of F.B.I. agents is also tailing the subject. Who we find out is actually Harold Fullmer, a wealthy stockbroker who is a Missing Person. He was one of the last people to escape from the North Tower collapse of the World Trade Center. He just walked away from his life and wife and never looked back.
Jaywalking, are you a real cop?After all this excitement. John needs a drink bad so he dips into the Hotel's lounge. There, a vamp, appropriately named for our genre, "Lana" buys him a drink and slinks right on over to his booth. More humor is provided by the slightly ditzy Lana who accompanies John back to his room to, we assume, ride his baloney pony. Lana comes on a bit too strong. John makes her slow dance the night away. She passes out. This is another very humorous sequence.
Lana: Are you, like everyone else here, in show business.
John Roscow: I'm in the hide and seek business.
Lana: But that's a kids game.
John Roscow: Not if you add money to it. then it's for adults.
Lana (Colin)
The next morning John snap's a capture of Lana in bed, this he later sends to Miss Charley to make her jealous. John sits in his rental waiting for Fullmer. He then tails Fullmer and the kid in their cab, through a desert of Joshua trees on an old two lane down towards Mexico.
At a roadside diner he approaches Fullmer's taxi driver and shows him his PI License. He discovers that the driver Hero Furillo (Ventimiglia) is an ex-New Yorker from his old neighborhood. He asks him where they are headed. It's a small seaside town with a one lane dirt road. John won't be able to follow. He gives him half of a $500 bill to let him ride in the trunk.
Hero pops the trunk and John hops in.
Hero Furillo: Hope you can breath in there
John Roscow: I've had apartments small than this in New York
Once he reaches the small Mexican village and he finds out from a Mexican drug lord, Don Edgar, what exactly Fullmer is doing it all starts to fall into place. It all involves an elaborate set up and a double cross.
Joe Lovano on sax
The Missing Person is a gem, another Noir lovers wet dream. The film is highly stylized and nicely accented with jazz pieces throughout. The mood and atmosphere created by director Noah Buschel is a marvel. I'll be sure to check out the rest of his films.
Michael Shannon is extraordinary as Rosow, his performance is understated as the haunted, damaged hero, who still retains a modicum of "cool". The rest of the supporting cast is excellent. The screencaps are from the Strand Releasing DVD. 9/10 Full review with even more screencaps here http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-missing-person-2009-soft-boiled.html -
I recorded Farewell My Lovely from Flix and nothing was censored, but am sure that TCM would show it the same. TCM can be "graphic" when it adds to the plot. I do agree that depicting nudity and "sexual activity" is not necessary to any movie, but it does not need to be totally obfuscated either.
I have not read the books nor do I intend to. It shouldn't be necessary to read the books to find out the real story as the author intended it. That is primarily what changed from Code to non-Code movies. Admitedly too many movies deviate way too much from the books, but that is another issue.
To answer TopBilled; way too many scenes that were improved (IMO) in the '75 version. But the biggest was the Frances Amthor role and the clear connection to prostitution.
I agree it's the best version, For clarification and ease I'll abbreviate the film titles FML = Farewell My Lovely, and MMS = Murder My Sweet
I just finished reading Chandler's "Farewell My Lovely" fairly recently and with the recent viewings of both films fresh in my mind I have to admit that they both deviate from the novel quite a bit in different areas.
Moose Malloy gets more memorable screen time in FML he becomes an almost sympathetic character in FML you end up caring for the dumb lug, less so in MMS. In the novel you barely get the character at all, which is reflected in MMS. Though you do have the very memorable "peppers ghost" introduction of Malloy (Mike Masurki) in MMS.
The character Ann Riordan is eliminated entirely from FML. The most likely reason being Mitchum's age, he's portrayed as a Marlowe in his declining years.
The whole scenario of how Marlowe finds Jessie Florian in FML is not in the book what is in the book is the hotel, and a clerk finds Florian with a City Directory.
The whole flashback sequence with the temporarily blinded Marlowe is a fabrication in MMS. But the hint of the love affair with Riordan is in the novel.
In novel there are two cops that Marlowe has to deal with Nulty, of LAPD and Randal of the Bay City Police in FML they are combined into just Nulty played by John Ireland, in MMS the main cop is Randal.
Amthor in the novel is a psychic, in FML he becomes a she and a notorious LA madam and Amthor's and Dr, Sonderborg's sequences in the novel are combined into the same house, in MMS I think he's still a psychic but the way its played out in the novel is much more elaborately detailed and memorable than what is in the film. Interestingly there is a second big bruiser in the novel a henchman of Amthor called The Indian.
In the novel there are two ships off shore one is a whorehouse ship, one is a gambling ship. In FML there is only one ship, in MMS no ship.
In the novel the final denouement between Malloy and Velma takes place in Marlowe's apartment, she puts five bullets in him and escapes. In MMS it takes place in a beach house and Malloy and Velma kill each other and Marlowe is temporarily blinded by a close gunshot. In FML it takes place in Brunette's office on the gambling ship and Malloy and Velma both die too.
In the novel Velma disappears again, becomes a brunette and is singing in a band again like what she used to do at Florian's but she is finally spotted by a cop back east who approaches her in the dressing room and confronts her, she guns him down then kills herself.
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Requiem For A Heavyweight (1962) New York-Boxing Neo Noir
"Sport? Are you kidding? If there was headroom they'd hold these things in sewers."
Requiem For A Heavyweight easily slips into Pantheon of the Great Boxing films and additionally to the select few that are also Noirs, i.e., The Set-Up (1949), Champion (1949), The Harder They Fall (1956), Killers Kiss (1955), Bio Noir, Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Body and Soul (1947), and Bio Neo Noir, Raging Bull (1980).
The story originally debuted as a teleplay in 1956, with Jack Palance in the lead, it also had an uplifting ending. This 1962 big screen version is decidedly darker and melancholic. The 1962 film opening sequence is a fighters bar called a "Graveyard" the denizens are glued to a TV, we hear a prisefight, this segues into a POV of the fight in progress the camera against Cassius Clay, an homage to Robert Montgomery‘s Lady In The Lake (1947), and Dark Passage (1947).All said and done you get the feeling that the actors actually did train and fight together for 17 years, their relastionships are that believable. The screencaps are from the Columbia Pictures DVD. 10/10
Full review with more screencaps here in Fillm Noir/Gangster board here and with all screecaps here http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/requiem-for-heavyweight-1962-new-york.htm
http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/requiem-for-heavyweight-1962-new-york.html
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Requiem For A Heavyweight (1962) New York-Boxing Neo Noir
"Sport? Are you kidding? If there was headroom they'd hold these things in sewers."
Director Ralph Nelson (Blood Money (1957), Once a Thief (1965), Playhouse 90 (TV Series),The Twilight Zone (TV Series)), Written by Rod Serling (teleplay) (The Twilight Zone, TV Series). The film stars Anthony Quinn (The Long Wait (1954), La Strada (1954), The Naked Street (1955), Hot Spell (1958), Across 110th Street (1972), Jackie Gleason (The Hustler(1961)), Mickey Rooney (Quicksand (1950), The Strip (1951), Drive a Crooked Road (1954),Baby Face Nelson (1957), Julie Harris (The Haunting (1963), Harper (1966), The Split (1968)), Stanley Adams, (Hell Bound (1957) , Madame Spivy (The Fugitive Kind (1960), The Manchurian Candidate (1962)), , Lou Gilbert, real prisefighters Jack Dempsey, Paolo Rosi, and Muhammad Ali himself (as Cassius Clay).
The films initial POV and then sharp noir-ish-ly claustrophobic cinematography of trash littered side streets, stadium tunnels, lockerooms, hotel flops, hallways, bare light bulbs, and dive bars, was by Arthur J. Ornitz. Music by Laurence Rosenthal .
Requiem For A Heavyweight easily slips into Pantheon of the Great Boxing films and additionally to the select few that are also Noirs, i.e., The Set-Up (1949), Champion (1949), The Harder They Fall (1956), Killers Kiss (1955), Bio Noir, Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), Body and Soul (1947), and Bio Neo Noir, Raging Bull (1980).
The story originally debuted as a teleplay in 1956, with Jack Palance in the lead, it also had an uplifting ending. This 1962 big screen version is decidedly darker and melancholic. The 1962 film opening sequence is a fighters bar called a "Graveyard" the denizens are glued to a TV, we hear a prisefight, this segues into a POV of the fight in progress the camera against Cassius Clay, an homage to Robert Montgomery‘s Lady In The Lake (1947), and Dark Passage (1947).
POV Sequence
Cassius Clay (Mohammad Ali)
Army (Rooney), Mountain (Quinn), Maish (Gleason) The POV sequence comes to a close when Mountain Rivera (Quinn) see's himself reflected in a cigarette machine mirror.
The tale is of boxer, Mountain Rivera, a proud, inarticulate, fading, aging, heavyweight, past his prime, once ranked at number five, who battles in a bout with Cassius Clay (playing himself) to a tragic career ending injury. The Doc tell him he's through, another good punch and he'll be selling pencils with a tin cup. He must adjust to finding work out of the ring.
Maish: Maybe he's lucky at that, at least he walks away with his brains, that's more than most.
His cut man Army (Rooney) is heartsick for his fighter, the man he has both celebrated triumphs and nurtured wounds with. Mountain knows nothing else but prise fighting. He's never had any other job, or life for that matter outside the ring. His manager Maish (Gleason) of 17 years is desperate, he not only bet against Mountain (putting a wager of $1500 on him not lasting two rounds), but also convinced the local bookie Ma Greeny (played convincingly by Madame Spivy) who fronted him the $1500, to put up her money also. He now owes them big time, and Mountain is out of boxing. Maish has boxed himself into a corner. He's not a complete ****, he still feels for Mountain, but self preservation is number one.
Ma Greeny (Spivy) While Army is helping Mountain find a job through the wanted ads, Maish is cooking up a seamy scheme with a wrestling promoter Perelli (Adams) as a way of using Mountain to payback his debt to Ma Greeny.
Pirelli (Adams) After a few rejections, Army takes Mountain down to the local N.Y.S. employment agency to apply for work. While there he talks to a surprisingly compassionate employment agent Grace Miller (Harris). Grace takes a special interest in Mountain fixing him up with a shot to be a councilor at a kids camp up in the Adirondacks.
Mountain (Quinn) and Grace (Miller)
Of course the prospect of Mountain working in the Adirondacks will put the kibosh on Maish's plans to keep Mountain in the ring, so he sets about sabotaging Mountain and ko'ing everything to Noirsville.
Noirsville
Anthony Quinn as Mountain Rivera is unforgetable, as a vet of 111 fights he sports for this role, a many times broken nose, cauliflowered ears, bruised, lacerated, and smashed eyebrows, swollen cheekbones, and he talks in a raspy-wheezy voice. He clings to the only didnity he knows, the ring, but can't quite fanthom the reason he must stop.
Jakie Gleason is great as Maish the pragmatic sketchy heel who you feel a bit of empathy for, Gleason even throws fans of The Honeymooners a few bones during his card playing sequence with Mickey Rooney doing a Ralph Cramden and Ed Norton vibe.
Mickey Rooney shines as the melancholy, cutman with a heart, and Julie Harris is playing her regular schtick, a spinster, (at least for me, since that is the role I've usually seen her play), albiet one with a heart of gold. Her sequences with Quinn are both touching and disheartening.
Madame Spivy, is uniquely off putting as an obese froglike lump in mans clothes who rules the bookmaking world with a cadre of goons. You get reminded of the great Shirley Stoler.
All said and done you get the feeling that the actors actually did train and fight together for 17 years, their relastionships are that believable. The screencaps are from the Columbia Pictures DVD. 10/10Full review with more screencaps here
http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/requiem-for-heavyweight-1962-new-york.html
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Siesta (1987) Lynchesque Film Soleil
"Somewhere, and I don't know where, I turned a corner and there was no turning back. Somewhere I made a mistake"Siesta is a updated version of a woman's noir. The story is told exclusively from a woman's perspective and in a non linear fashion. It's art house, experimental, surreal, symbolic, dreamlike, erotic, low rent Lynchesque, if you will. The film has got in-your-face style.The film is odd, whacky, atmospheric, and mind tripping. It's full of religious symbolisim and ancient mythology. It definitely needs to be watched more than once to fully appreciate it. Each character Claire encounters are more than they seem.The end has a twist but most of us will sort of guess it in advance, I know that I did. Miles Davis performs the haunting score. Sex And Death - Siesta. It is available on an R2 DVD from Germany in English. Worth a watch especially for Barkin fans, a 6-7/10. If this was ever to be shown on TCM it would be in the late late night, early morning hours, wink, wink if you know what I mean, it's not family time fare.Full review with some screencaps here in Film Noir/Gangster thread and also with extremely NSFW screencaps here http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/siesta-lynchesque-film-soleil.html
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Siesta (1987) - Lynchesque Film Soleil
"Somewhere, and I don't know where, I turned a corner and there was no turning back. Somewhere I made a mistake."
Siesta a Film Soleil Noir was Directed by Mary Lambert. The Film stars Ellen Barkin (The Big Easy (1986), Sea of Love (1989)), Gabriel Byrne (Miller's Crossing (1990)), Jodie Foster (Taxi Driver (1976), The Silence of the Lambs (1991)), Martin Sheen (The Incident (1967)), Isabella Rossellini (Blue Velvet (1986), Wild at Heart (1990)), Grace Jones, Julian Sands and Alexei Sayle. Written by Patricia Louisianna Knop (screenplay) and based on the novel by Patrice Chaplin. Cinematography was by Bryan Loftus and the score is by Miles Davis and Marcus Miller.
Siesta is a updated version of a woman's noir. The story is told exclusively from a woman's perspective and in a non linear fashion. It's art house, experimental, surreal, symbolic, dreamlike, erotic, low rent Lynchesque, if you will. The film has got in-your-face style.
The film begins with what looks like a discarded manequin, clad in a red dress laying in a field of burnt grass. A jetliner zooms into the frame overhead and we see that we are looking at the end of a runway. The manequin is a scantily clad woman, Claire (Barkin) sucks in a deep breath and awakens from a siesta.
Claire eyes herself, her dress is dirty, torn, rumpled, and darkly stained, the stains look like blood. They are blood. She panics and pulls up her dress to examine her body. She is nude beneath but unmarked. Another jet screams down to land on the runway and Claire jumps up and begins to run. She stops next to a drainage ditch with running water. The water is muddy but she strips off the dress and rinses out the blood. She washes the dirt and mud from her body and then lays down to sun dry. Jet planes are replaced by spiraling vultures.
Dryed off Claire runs to a nearby road and flags down a taxi. While riding in the back seat Claire trys to remember what happened and with flashbacks, flashforwards, and jump cuts. we the audience, and Claire begin to piece the past five days together.
Claire (Barkin)We discover that Claire for the last seven years has been a professional daredevil, her slogan is "Claire On A Dare". She is married to her promoter Del (Sheen) and they live in a airplane hanger. They are planning a 4th of July stunt in Death Valley a skydive into a burning net, but Claire after receiving a letter from her old lover Augustine (Byrne) who is living in Spain, gets a wild hair up her **** and decides to take off for Europe five days before the stunt.
Claire looking over the bruises on her body and remembering the blood on her dress begins to believe that something terrible may have happened. She thinks she may have killed somebody, but has no idea who. She continues to flashback.
Arriving in Spain, we see various episodes in Claire's life that occured during the last five days, or did they, are we seeing actual events, wishful daydreams, or acid trip hallicinations. The characters she encouters are odd, twisted, slightly off. The quirky taxi driver with metal teeth. The shaggy maned Julian Sands as Kit, a jaded artist and his sugar momma Nancy (Jodie Foster) sporting a British accent. Byrne playing a Spaniard is also interesting and convincing. I'm reminded of Charleton Heston and Marlene Dietrich playing a Mexicans in Touch Of Evil.
Claire tracks down Augustine but discovers that he has recently married Marie (Rossellini). Claire is unperturbed and boldly approches Augustine who initially pushes her off but finally relents. The result is catostrophic.
Noirsville
Augostine (Byrne) and Marie (Rosselini)
This is a gutsy performance by Barkin, who is both mesmerising and compelling as the obsessed amnesiac searching for the events of her life during the past five days. The film is odd, whacky, atmospheric, and mind tripping. It's full of religious symbolisim and ancient mythology. It definitely needs to be watched more than once to fully appreciate it. Each character Claire encounters are more than they seem.
The end has a twist but most of us will sort of guess it in advance, I know that I did. Miles Davis performs the haunting score. Sex And Death - Siesta. Worth a watch especially for Barkin fans, a 6-7/10. Review with NSFW screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/siesta-lynchesque-film-soleil.html-
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While her husband of two weeks Zachary Scott is away at war Ann Sheridan has an affair with a sculptor who becomes something of a stalker.Scott plays the cuckold husband to a T, Ayers is a bit preachy in this. Sheridan is fine and the rest of the cast is adequet, the main reason for me to watch is for the long gone Angels Flight and Bunker Hill segments. 6/10Review with some screencaps in Film Noir & Gangster thread and also here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-unfaithful-1947-womans-noir.html
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The Unfaithful (1947) Woman's Noir
Directed by Vincent Sherman, starring Ann Sheridan (They Drive by Night (1940), Nora Prentiss (1947), Woman on the Run (1950)), Lew Ayres (The Dark Mirror (1946), The Capture(1950), No Escape (1953)), Zachary Scott (twelve classic Noir), Eve Arden (Mildred Pierce(1945), The Arnelo Affair (1947), Whiplash (1948)), Jerome Cowan (The Maltese Falcon(1941), Moontide (1942), Street of Chance (1942), Deadline at Dawn (1946), Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948), Scene of the Crime (1949)), Steven Geray (seven classic Noir), John Hoyt (six classic film noir), Douglas Kennedy, and Marta Mitrovich. Music by Max Steiner and Cinematography by Ernest Haller. There are a few nice sequences that feature Bunker Hill. The film was derived from the 1927 play The Letter by W. Somerset Maugham, which also was the genesis of the 1940n Bette Davis film The Letter. The Unfaithful falls into the category of Noir labeled woman's noir.
Chris attacked The tale begins when Chris Hunter (Sheridan) stabs a man in her home late one evening while her husband Bob (Scott) is out of town on business. The dead man's name is Tanner and she claims to the police that she doesn't know him.
A blackmailer Martin Barrow (Geray) contacts Chris's lawyer Larry Hannaford (Ayers) and tells him to come to his antique shop where he displays a bust of Chris Hunter's head signed by Tanner. He offers to sell it for $10,000. Hannaford, who is also Chris's good friend, knows that Chris is lying about not knowing the man she killed, and that this if it comes out will go bad for her with contradicting story she told the police detective (Hoyt).
Chris goes to see Barrow but he has already double-crossed her and Larry by taking the artwork to Tanner's wife (Mitrovich). She now knows that Chris had an affair with her husband. She and Barrow now put the touch on Bob Hunter thinking he'll want to keep the info out of the papers. Unknown to Bob and Barrows the police have the Elmar Hotel where Mrs. Tanner lives staked out. Bob goes home to Chris and demands a divorce after Chris admits having an affair with Tanner while her husband was away during the war.
Chris is charged with murder by the DA and tried. The last quarter of the film is Hannaford trying to persuade the jury that even though Chris was guilty of adultery, she did not murder Tanner but stabbed him in self-defense. Tanner was known as a drunk who lost control when he was in his cups. The final preachy segment has Hannaford doing a monologue trying to convince Bob and Chris to at least consider saving their marriage rather than get a divorce.
Noirsville
Scott plays the cuckold husband to a T, Ayers is like I said a bit preachy in this. Sheridan is fine and the rest of the cast is adequet, the main reason for me to watch is for the Angels Flight and Bunker Hill segments. 6/10\
Review with more screencaps here http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-unfaithful-1947-womans-noir.html
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**** for tat.
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Slam Dance (1987) Stylish Punk L.A. Neo Noir
Slam Dance was directed by Wayne Wang, and was written by Don Keith Opper, the beautiful cinematography was by Amir Mokri, with music by Mitchell Froom. The film stars Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Virginia Madsen, Adam Ant, Don Opper, Herta Ware, Millie Perkins, John Doe, Lisa Niemi, Judith Barsi and Harry Dean Stanton.
Drood (Hulce)C.C. Drood (Hulce) is a moderately successful L.A. offbeat single panel cartoonist/artist creator of "Drood's World". He drives a classic 1960 Buick LeSabre. He has recently gone splitsville from his wife Helen (Mastrantonio) for wetting his noodle where he shouldn't. Drood is batchin it in his rented downtown 4th floor artist loft. He has a very snoopy landlady (Ware) who intercepts, and removes items from his mail.The cause of the separation was a seductive, blonde, floosie femme fatale, in the form of a **** call girl named Yolanda Caldwell (Madsen), who we see in a flashback. She is wearing a wedding ring. Yolanda easily seduced a, three sheets to the wind, Drood at punk rock L.A. nightclub owned by his pal Jim Campbell (Ant). Drood is trying to repair the damaged marriage so that he can get back together with his wife and daughter "Bean" (Barsi).
Returning one night to his loft, he sees that the door has been jimmied open and that his studio has been tossed. He is slugged, ko'ed, and wakes up in the backseat of a speeding car. His attacker Buddy (Opper) asks him "where is it?" He answers "where's what?" and gets a fist in the breadbasket. He gets worked over repeatedly, the line of questioning revealing that "she gave" him something. Drood has no idea what they want. He manages to get the back door open and fling himself into the street almost getting run over by a semi in the process. He reports the incident to the LAPD and while there is taken into custody as a suspect in the murder of Yolanda.
Slam Dance was a surprise, the cast was good, it held my interest, and it looked great, the ending was a bit farfetched but it's worth a watch for the cinematography. 6.5-7/10 Fuller review in Film Noir/Gangster and here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/slam-dance-1987-stylish-punk-laneo-noir.html-
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Slam Dance (1987) Stylish Punk L.A. Neo Noir
Slam Dance was directed by Wayne Wang, and was written by Don Keith Opper, the beautiful cinematography was by Amir Mokri, with music by Mitchell Froom. The film stars Tom Hulce, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Virginia Madsen, Adam Ant, Don Opper, Herta Ware, Millie Perkins, John Doe, Lisa Niemi, Judith Barsi and Harry Dean Stanton. Drood (Hulce)C.C. Drood (Hulce) is a moderately successful L.A. offbeat single panel cartoonist/artist creator of "Drood's World". He drives a classic 1960 Buick LeSabre. He has recently gone splitsville from his wife Helen (Mastrantonio) for wetting his noodle where he shouldn't. Drood is batchin it in his rented downtown 4th floor artist loft. He has a very snoopy landlady (Ware) who intercepts, and removes items from his mail.
The cause of the separation was a seductive, blonde, floosie femme fatale, in the form of a **** call girl named Yolanda Caldwell (Madsen), who we see in a flashback. She is wearing a wedding ring. Yolanda easily seduced a, three sheets to the wind, Drood at punk rock L.A. nightclub owned by his pal Jim Campbell (Ant). Drood is trying to repair the damaged marriage so that he can get back together with his wife and daughter "Bean" (Barsi).
Helen (Mastrantonio) & Drood
Yolanda (Madsen) & Drood 
The affair Returning one night to his loft, he sees that the door has been jimmied open and that his studio has been tossed. He is slugged, ko'ed, and wakes up in the backseat of a speeding car. His attacker Buddy (Opper) asks him "where is it?" He answers "where's what?" and gets a fist in the breadbasket. He gets worked over repeatedly, the line of questioning revealing that "she gave" him something. Drood has no idea what they want. He manages to get the back door open and fling himself into the street almost getting run over by a semi in the process. He reports the incident to the LAPD and while there is taken into custody as a suspect in the murder of Yolanda. He is questioned by Detectives Benjamin Smiley (Stanton) and John Gilbert (Doe).
Smiley (Stanton)
Released after police questioning he heads to his apartment. His landlady gives him a bulging manila envelope that arrived in the mail from Yolanda. He rips it open and looks at the photos. Some showing some kinky sex. The photos are marked with arrows and names.
Outside of his apartment, Buddy grabs the envelop and splits. Drood now begins his own investigation, searching Yolanda's apartment, and going over his affair with her (which we see in another flashback). He hits her speed dial numbers, etc., etc. He checks to county morgue to see if her husband picked up the body. He finds out that there is no husband. He calls the number he finds on a business card for Zeta Temporary Office Services to question a woman that was trained by Yolanda and a hooker Adrienne Schell (Nemi) shows up. Yolanda was a call girl who went by the name of Nancy Barron.
Drood and Adrienne (Niemi)At the same time Detective Smiley is carrying out his own investigation, discovering a connection between Bobby Nye (Perkins) a wealthy L.A. philanthropist, Detective Gilbert, and Yolanda in a "sexfluence" scandal.
This really start spiralling down into Noirsville when Drood discovers a dead Adrienne lying naked with a bullet through her head in his apartment, and he recognises Gilbert as the driver of the car he was abducted in. He's being set up.
Noirsville
Slam Dance was a surprise, the cast was good, it held my interest, and it looked great, the ending was a bit farfetched but it's worth a watch for the cinematography. 6.5-7/10 Fuller review with more and also NSFW screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/09/slam-dance-1987-stylish-punk-laneo-noir.html -
Two New films to add to the Neo Noir list
Slam Dance (1987)
The Missing Person (2009)
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A sample of Bernard Herrmann's Taxi Driver soundtrack accompanied by shots of 1976 NYC, it's a visual treat, enjoy
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Taxi Driver (1976) New York Neo Noir Masterpiece
Directed by Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull (1980), After Hours (1985), Goodfellas (1990),Casino (1995)), written by Paul Schrader (Hardcore (1979), Raging Bull (1980)), cinematography by Michael Chapman (Hardcore (1979), ), Music by the legendary Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane (1941), On Dangerous Ground (1951), Psycho (1960), Cape Fear(1962).
The film stars Robert De Niro (Raging Bull (1980), Angel Heart (1987)) as Travis Bickle, Jodie
Foster (The Silence of the Lambs (1991)) as hooker Iris, Harvey Keitel (The Two Jakes (1990),Reservoir Dogs (1992), Bad Lieutenant (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), ) as the pimp Sport, Cybill Shepherd (The Last Picture Show (1971)) as Betsy, Albert Brooks as Tom, Leonard Harris as Charles Palantine, Peter Boyle (The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), Hardcore (1979),Hammett (1982)) as Wizard, Harry Northup as Doughboy, Norman Matlock (Across 110th Street (1972)) as Charlie T, Martin Scorsese as Passenger Watching Silhouette, Steven Prince as Andy - Gun Salesman, Diahnne Abbott as Concession Girl, Bob Maroff as the Mafioso and finally New York City circa 1976.The film and credits start with a cloud of steam hissing into the wet night on a Manhattan street.
Bernard Herman's dual score begins with stylized discordant city sounds that slowly build tension, punctuated by a pulsing beat that's ratchet sprung. The pressure is getting jacked. A yellow Checker Cab glides through the frame, dispersing the vapor and exposing the city.Watch for the sequence with director Martin Scorsese as a cab passenger and fellow lunatic, who rants about killing his wayward wife to Travis. She is screwing a black man and they watch the suggestive silhouettes on an apartment window from the cab. As Scorsese talks the transformation on Travis' face as he recognizes a fellow traveler on the road to wingnut-ville is priceless.Another great sequence is Travis unloading his feelings to Wizard it's shot in the Neo Noir classic red/green clashing color scheme, emphasising the unease. This color scheme is repeated throughout the film in segments where a traffic light shines green or red upon Travis while other light take the opposite color.Taxi Driver is not the first Noir to employ a taxi driver as the protagonist, John Payne played an ex pug cab driver in 99 River Street (1953), whose wife is cheating on him with a jewel thief. There is also some quotes of Kubrick's Killers Kiss (1955) in the Times Square sequences and later the V.O. of a letter from Iris's father.
Enough cannot be said for the score. You can eliminated all the dialog and just watch the images accompanied by the music, to me it's New York distilled to its purest essence and on par with Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue. Bravo 10/10Fuller review in Film Noir/ Gangster page and with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/08/taxi-driver-1976-new-york-neo-noir.html-
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Taxi Driver (1976) New York Neo Noir Masterpiece
Directed by Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull (1980), After Hours (1985), Goodfellas (1990),Casino (1995)), written by Paul Schrader (Hardcore (1979), Raging Bull (1980)), cinematography by Michael Chapman (Hardcore (1979), ), Music by the legendary Bernard Herrmann (Citizen Kane (1941), On Dangerous Ground (1951), Psycho (1960), Cape Fear(1962).
The film stars Robert De Niro (Raging Bull (1980), Angel Heart (1987)) as Travis Bickle, Jodie
Foster (The Silence of the Lambs (1991)) as hooker Iris, Harvey Keitel (The Two Jakes (1990),Reservoir Dogs (1992), Bad Lieutenant (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), ) as the pimp Sport, Cybill Shepherd (The Last Picture Show (1971)) as Betsy, Albert Brooks as Tom, Leonard Harris as Charles Palantine, Peter Boyle (The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), Hardcore (1979),Hammett (1982)) as Wizard, Harry Northup as Doughboy, Norman Matlock (Across 110th Street (1972)) as Charlie T, Martin Scorsese as Passenger Watching Silhouette, Steven Prince as Andy - Gun Salesman, Diahnne Abbott as Concession Girl, Bob Maroff as the Mafioso and finally New York City circa 1976.The film and credits start with a cloud of steam hissing into the wet night on a Manhattan street.
Bernard Herman's dual score begins with stylized discordant city sounds that slowly build tension, punctuated by a pulsing beat that's ratchet sprung. The pressure is getting jacked. A yellow Checker Cab glides through the frame, dispersing the vapor and exposing the city.
Travis Bickle is an alienated ex-jarhead who follows his dream and comes to New York, but New York isn't for everyone it's real not a fantasy. Travis is wound a bit too tight, he's a nut job, a psychotic, he can't quite go with the flow or melt in the pot. Pill popping habitually chills him out, and insomnia keeps him awake, he walks the streets guzzling peach brandy, he rides the subways, the busses, he crashes and burns in 24 hr porno grindhouse theaters. He figures that if he's doing anyway, he might as well get paid for it. Travis applies and becomes The Taxi Driver. In a contemporary semi-hard boiled manner Travis narrates the thoughts and feelings that he writes in his diary. His personality and the musical motifs, phasing from wistful dreamer to disgusted realist, are in mesmerising accompaniment to the triggering images that flow past his cab windows.
Travis Bickle: Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, in cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm God's lonely man
The tension continues to escalate, The days go on and don't end, the score transitions into the slow methodical haunting beat of an ancient war drum. You get the impression that when the drum stops you know something is going to happen.
Travis Bickle: All the animals come out at night - whores, skunk ****, buggers, queens, fairies, dopers, junkies, sick, venal. Someday a real rain will come and wash all this scum off the streets. I go all over. I take people to the Bronx, Brooklyn, I take 'em to Harlem. I don't care. Don't make no
difference to me. It does to some. Some won't even take spooks. Don't make no difference to me.Travis manages to find a relief valve is the form of a beautiful angel named Betsy. Betsy is dream girl, she's proper, looks like a sorority sister, a booster, a princess. She works for presidential candidate Charles Palantine in a temporary office. Travis is infatuated. Travis is obsessed.
Betsy...They... cannot... touch... her. (Shepherd) Travis Bickle: I first saw her at Palantine Campaign headquarters at 63rd and Broadway. She was wearing a white dress. She appeared like an angel. Out of this filthy mess, she is alone. They... cannot... touch... her.
It's his destiny, but he tries too hard, he comes on too strong. He volunteers or Palantine. Betsy is intrigued though, Travis knows what he wants and she is flattered. They meet then make a date.Clueless Travis takes her to a pornflick, she balks at the box office but Travis tells her that it's notthat kind of movie and that a lot of couples go. She goes in reluctantly. But it is that kind of movie. Betsy doesn't kink that way. Betsy dumps him on the sidewalk and leaves in a cab. Travis is distraught, he tries calling, he sends flowers, they come back, finally he stomps into the office for a final confrontation. He's asked to leave and he tells Betsy that she is like all the rest of them.
The war drum beat begins again. The daily grind. Travis is boiling. Travis is nearing a tipping point. He confides to Wizard that he has this irresistible impulse, he's going to do something. He's got bad ideas in his head. He's going to break bad. Wizard doesn't pick up on this feeble cry for help. In Travis's hate for Betsy he's fixating on Palantine. Assassinating him will hurt Betsy.A new quasi outlet appears in the form of teenage hooker named Iris who climbs quickly into his cab one night in the East Village. Before Travis pulls out, Sport a pimp drags Iris forcefully out of the cab. Travis' new dream is to try to save Iris, to be her knight in shining armor. Travis begins to cruise the East Village watching for Iris. When he finally finds her he pays for her services but instead of sex he tries to get her to split from Sport. Iris is reluctant to leave, she doesn't want to go home frustrating Travis. He makes a date for breakfast the next day and he tells her that he may be going away for a whileTravis writes a letter to Iris at his apartment saying he will soon be dead, and the money he's putting in the envelope is for her to return home, but Travis's attempt to kill Palantine is aborted by the Secret Service, so he goes to plan two and heads for the East Village whorehouse to "save" Iris.Of course it all goes Noirsville in a very twisted way.
The cast is perfect, De Niro's universal hayseed in shitkickers, Travis, is thoroughly believable. His fellow cabbies, Wizard (Boyle), Doughboy (Northup), Charlie T (Matlock) add touches of comic relief. Cybill Shepherd, is excellent the caste campaign worker Betsy. Jodie Foster nails the part of Iris, though she comes off a bit too gawky looking for a streetwalker. Harvey Keitel plays a believable Pimp. He as a sequence with Iris where he displays his sweet talking, silver tongued devil, charm to control her. Albert Brooks is Betsy's nerdy, flirting, fellow campaign worker.Watch for the sequence with director Martin Scorsese as a cab passenger and fellow lunatic, who rants about killing his wayward wife to Travis. She is screwing a black man and they watch the suggestive silhouettes on an apartment window from the cab. As Scorsese talks the transformation on Travis' face as he recognizes a fellow traveler on the road to wingnut-ville is priceless.Another great sequence is Travis unloading his feelings to Wizard it's shot in the Neo Noir classic red/green clashing color scheme, emphasising the unease. This color scheme is repeated throughout the film in segments where a traffic light shines green or red upon Travis while other light take the opposite color.Taxi Driver is not the first Noir to employ a taxi driver as the protagonist, John Payne played an ex pug cab driver in 99 River Street (1953), whose wife is cheating on him with a jewel thief. There is also some quotes of Kubrick's Killers Kiss (1955) in the Times Square sequences and later the V.O. of a letter from Iris's father.Enough cannot be said for the score. You can eliminated all the dialog and just watch the images accompanied by the music, to me it's New York distilled to its purest essence and on par with Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue. Bravo 10/10Fuller review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/08/taxi-driver-1976-new-york-neo-noir.html -
The Black Dahlia (2006)
First off, I've read all of Ellroy's "L.A. Quartet' but It's been so long ago since I've read "The Black Dahlia", I barely remember the plot. What I do remember is that the tale wasn't about the Black Dahlia case per se but it was about the relationship between officers Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert (Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Eckart). So basically I'm saying I came at this with a clean slate. It took me about three full sittings to really appreciate the film. I've read that De Palma had to trim the story by about an hour, don't know if that's true but it does seem a tad bit rushed at the end.Anyway, officers Bleichert and Blanchard have known each other since L.A.'s Zoot Suit Riots. They are partners and also boxers, Blanchard is sort of a semi-pro, Bleichert was ranked 7th in Ring Magazine in some up and coming article. For an upcoming vote on a bond proposal for new equipment and a pay raise, the L.A.P.D. brass wants to stage a match between them build it up as Fire (Blanchard) against Ice (Bleichert), the proceeds go to charity, the L.A.P.D. gets some good press.
Blanchard (Eckhart) middle Bleichert (Hartnett ) rightThe story revolves about the relationship between Kay Lake (Johansson) and Blanchard, which becomes a triangle when Bleichert enters the picture.
The Black Dahlia was an ambitious film, it looks great but the convoluted plot isn't for lightweights, it took me three watches to understand it all, there's a lot coming at you at once, perhaps it was more user friendly in the director's cut. It has other problems. De Palma should have gone the tried and true proven route of casting some lead actors with some better noir credentials. We get Harnett, Johanssen, and Eckart, all cold turkey to noir, but with repeated views they blend in enough. Only Hillary Swank pulls off her character convincingly from the get go, and her performance is aided by the cinematic memory of Katherine Hepburn. Her slutty Hepburn is a treat. The rest of the Linscott family is hilariously looney. The Linscott family tree has got serious heart rot. A shout out to Mia Kirshner, as Betty, a bit more with her would have only improved the film.
De Palma went the Classic Noir route and that was probably a mistake, The Black Dahlia is relatively tame in it's depiction of sexuality compared to say Dressed To Kill, so it probably disappointed some of his old fans and folks expecting a more daring film. The title also got negative reviews from those expecting a true crime story about the Dahlia case.
You almost have to approach these Neo Noirs from hindsight, there are a few gems and semi-precious jewels out there but they either got buried under the avalanche of whatever the popular genre trend was at the moment, or they stared relative (at the time) nobodies and fizzled in art house obscurity. It's only when looking at it as following a vein of Neo Noir can you discover and excavate them out.
Mark Isham's score is memorable and K.D. Lang's rendition of "Love For Sale" is the best I've heard. Not without flaws but entertaining. 7/10Fuller review in Film Noir/Gangster section and the uncensored review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-black-dahlia-2006.html
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The Black Dahlia (2006)
Directed by Brian De Palma (Dressed to Kill (1980), Body Double (1984), ). Written by Josh Friedman (screenplay), based on James Ellroy's novel "The Black Dahlia", part of his L.A. Quartet. Cinematography was by Vilmos Zsigmond (McCabe & Mrs Miller (1971). Music was by Mark Isham (The Public Eye (1992), Romeo Is Bleeding (1993), The Getaway (1994), )The film stars Josh Hartnett (Sin City (2005)), Scarlett Johansson, Aaron Eckhart, Hilary Swank, Mike Starr (Miller's Crossing (1990)), Fiona Shaw, John Kavanagh, Kevin Dunn, and Mia Kirshner.First off, I've read all of Ellroy's "L.A. Quartet' but It's been so long ago since I've read "The Black Dahlia", I barely remember the plot. What I do remember is that the tale wasn't about the Black Dahlia case per se but it was about the relationship between officers Dwight 'Bucky' Bleichert (Hartnett) and Lee Blanchard (Eckart). So basically I'm saying I came at this with a clean slate. It took me about three full sittings to really appreciate the film. I've read that De Palma had to trim the story by about an hour, don't know if that's true but it does seem a tad bit rushed at the end.
Anyway, officers Bleichert and Blanchard have known each other since L.A.'s Zoot Suit Riots. They are partners and also boxers, Blanchard is sort of a semi-pro, Bleichert was ranked 7th in Ring Magazine in some up and coming article. For an upcoming vote on a bond proposal for new equipment and a pay raise, the L.A.P.D. brass wants to stage a match between them build it up as Fire (Blanchard) against Ice (Bleichert), the proceeds go to charity, the L.A.P.D. gets some good press. Blanchard (Eckhart) middle Bleichert (Hartnett ) rightThe story revolves about the relationship between Kay Lake (Johansson) and Blanchard, which becomes a triangle when Bleichert enters the picture. At the police training gym Bleichert casually asks Kay something to the effect of, that shaking together with Blanchard "will cost him a stripe, where are the diamonds and the bassinet?" Kay knowing exactly what she is doing, answers directly, with one of those **** statements women are noted for, "well you'd have to sleep together for that, Dwight". Dwight is slightly stunned, information overload and you can see the wheels turning in his head and the lust rising in his libido.
Kay "well you'd have to sleep together for that, Dwight"The big fight goes down and so does Bleichert with his top front teeth knocked out. The bond passes and Bleichert and Blanchard are assigned to warrants.
While on the early morning stakeout of a whorehouse on January 15th, 1947, waiting to pick up an Okie Jr. Nash, Bucky and Lee get into a shootout with Nash and a black pimp's gang. Nash is killed along with a **** and a few of the pimp's gang members.Meanwhile, nearby, a rising crane shot reveals that out back, along a frontage road, a lady pushing a baby carriage who comes upon a grizzly sight. A woman's nude body, cut in half. The woman has grotesque cuts to both sides of her mouth, and her internal organs removed. The press has a field day soon dubbing the murder "The Black Dahlia" a take on "The Blue Dahlia" a popular noir film recently released.
a gruesome find
The woman is identified as Elizabeth "Betty" Short. Lee soon becomes obsessed with the murder (we later find out from Kay that Lee's own sister was killed and the murderer never caught). The sexual tension between Kay and Bucky escalate, with Kay teasing Bucky with peek-a-boo flashes.
Peek-a-boo Kay
Bucky pursues his own leads and soon discovers that Betty was doing screen tests and eventually starred in a stag film. Betty was also cadging drinks from lesbians at a nightclub. Bucky follows that lead to the nightclub and there meets the original Black Dahlia Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank). Madeleine is channeling Katharine Hepburn, and she does it convincingly. Madeleine is getting her kicks as a amateur hooker, parading herself along the boulevards turning hetero tricks, and cruising the lezbo bars. She uses the Red Arrow Inn as her hot sheet motel. Madeleine comes from one of the founding L.A. Families. She tells Bucky that she and Betty were very close, and that she will do anything to keep her name out of the papers. Bucky being a normal all American male takes her up on her offer.
Madeleine Linscott (Swank) and her come hither lookStraight out of an even more warped Raymond Chandler "The Big Sleep" Sternwood Family type of scenario we get to meet the Linscott's. Emmett (Kavanagh), Madeleine's Father is a sleazy looking slightly zany housing czar who built L.A. firetrap subdivisions out of cheap used and rotting movie prop lumber. Ramona (Shaw), Madeleine's decaying mother is an old money heiress who is also a snobbish drunk. She rails against the lowlifes, hillbillies and Okies moving into L.A. Martha Linscott (Rachel Miner) seems to be the only truly sane member of the family but after meeting the rest of the loonies you expect her to be sniffing ether and posing for beaver shots for a porno mag a la "The Big Sleep."
Bucky finds out from Kay that Lee took off after a tip about a recently released convict, Bobby DeWitt. Bucky heads out to the location and confronts DeWitt in the atrium of the building. DeWitt is Blasted by Lee, who inturn is garotted by a man who comes up behind him. Lee fights with his attacker but has his throat slashed by a dark figure. Both Lee and his attacker fall down the atrium to their deaths.
Lee's death short fuses the Buck/Kay attraction and they make it explosively on the dining room table. The morning after Bucky accidentally finds loot from a bank heist in Lee & Kay's bathroom, Kay confesses that she was Bobby DeWitt's gal, and that he pimped her out to his friends. It was Bobby who robbed the bank and that Lee had rescued Kay and stolen DeWitt's swag. Lee had to bump off DeWitt before he spilled the beans. Lee splits **** off that Kay would not have told him any of this until he found the cash. He heads back to Madeline and her kinky needs.
Bucky keeps assembling clues and soon it all descends down into a deviant Noirsville.
Noirsville
The Black Dahlia was an ambitious film, it looks great but the convoluted plot isn't for lightweights, it took me three watches to understand it all, there's a lot coming at you at once, perhaps it was more user friendly in the director's cut. It has other problems. De Palma should have gone the tried and true proven route of casting some lead actors with some better noir credentials. We get Harnett, Johanssen, and Eckart, all cold turkey to noir, but with repeated views they blend in enough. Only Hillary Swank pulls off her character convincingly from the get go, and her performance is aided by the cinematic memory of Katherine Hepburn. Her slutty Hepburn is a treat. The rest of the Linscott family is hilariously looney. The Linscott family tree has got serious heart rot. A shout out to Mia Kirshner, as Betty, a bit more with her would have only improved the film.
De Palma went the Classic Noir route and that was probably a mistake, The Black Dahlia is relatively tame in it's depiction of sexuality compared to say Dressed To Kill, so it probably disappointed some of his old fans and folks expecting a more daring film. The title also got negative reviews from those expecting a true crime story about the Dahlia case.
You almost have to approach these Neo Noirs from hindsight, there are a few gems and semi-precious jewels out there but they either got buried under the avalanche of whatever the popular genre trend was at the moment, or they stared relative (at the time) nobodies and fizzled in art house obscurity. It's only when looking at it as following a vein of Neo Noir can you discover and excavate them out.
Mark Isham's score is memorable and K.D. Lang's rendition of "Love For Sale" is the best I've heard. Not without flaws but entertaining. 7/10Full uncensored review with more screencaps here: http://noirsville.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-black-dahlia-2006.html
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One correction Francis L. Sullivan plays the nightclub owner, not Herbert Lom. Lom played the wrestling promoter.
I'd also add stay away from the De Niro remake it has zero atmosphere and sucks.
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And you're still leaving out
Seven Beauties (1975) Pasqualino Settebellezze (original title) -
Just a warning, there will be spoilers here. I cannot talk about this film without talking about the ending.
I've been wanting to see this film forever. It's probably one of the few films that Bette Davis made during her Warner Brothers tenure that I haven't seen.
Last night, that changed. As part of the Northwest Film Center (in conjunction with the Portland Art Museum)'s series titled "Bette and Joan", they were airing Beyond the Forest. I'd heard that this film was notorious for a very campy noir and that Bette actually left Warner Brothers as a result of being cast in this film. I don't blame her, this film is definitely not in the same league as Now, Voyager and The Letter. However, I'd rank it right up there with What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?
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A short synopsis:
This noir stars Bette Davis as Rosa, a woman who lives in a podunk town in Wisconsin. To make matters worse, she lives on the outskirts of the town, so she pretty much has nothing to do but be home. Joseph Cotten co-stars as her husband, Lewis, who is the town doctor (a la Doc Baker in Little House on the Prairie). Rosa is bored being the doctor's wife. She even says that the only people doing any sort of service in their town are the undertakers, because they take people out of town. It turns out that to spice things up, Davis is having an affair with another man and plans to leave Cotten and run off with the other man. The noir angle comes into play at the beginning of the film. Davis is on trial for murdering Moose, a friend of her husband's. Much of the film is a flashback of Davis recounting the events that led up to the trial.
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My thoughts:
Bette Davis' overall look is hilarious. She wears this horrendously cheap looking wig and somewhat risque clothing and shoes (at least in comparison with the other women in town) which perfectly conveys what type of character she is. She's a trollop and she's shameless about it. She hates her life, her home (this film does have the classic "What a dump!" line), everything. The visiting Chicago businessman that she hooks up with finally brings her some excitement.
I thought it was funny that her character kept looking for cushions and pillows to sit on. I thought that that illustrated how her character was just never comfortable, no matter wear she goes.
The ending.
OMG. The ending was worth the $9 I paid for the ticket. The ending was hilarious (unintentionally hilarious, I'm sure). When Bette Davis, fighting through her (soon to be fatal) appendicitis (at least that's what I assumed she had) and trying to get dressed. When she looks in the mirror, looking like hell, and her maid is staring at her in disbelief, that made the film. I wish I could find a picture. It made me laugh.
I also laughed at this part:
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What a hilariously "so bad it's good" film. You can tell that Davis isn't interested in this film. Her performance isn't as strong in this film as it is in others. In some scenes she seems bored and lackluster (which surprisingly enough, seems to work for her character) and in other scenes, she's so over the top dramatic that it's almost like she's mocking the film.
Joseph Cotten is largely wasted in this film. But it doesn't matter. This film is all about Bette Davis.
Recommended if you want a good laugh. I also recommend pairing it with a cocktail or something else-- I think it'll enhance the experience.
I have a copy of the film, here is the clip I put up on Youtube:
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What does this trend signify?
Does it mean a lack of creativity? Or is it strictly financial-- because they save money reusing stories they already own? And they think there might be a built-in audience for these?
Or is it Hollywood vanity-- surely this generation of filmmakers can out-do what came before!
Maybe it's all of the above.
Why don't they remake films with decent stories that originally bombed because of poor direction, lousy casting, or low budget? If just owning the story is the incentive? If I thought awhile I think I can come up with a few flawed gems, or even films whose stories that were originally hampered by the Hayes Code.
Yea, that's it, only remake films that were produced under the production code, and lets see how they may have turned out, ;-)
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Is it noir or is it a gangster picture?
in Film Noir--Gangster
Posted
The Brothers Rico (1957) is similar too.