Comments on: The 15 best color film noir movies

By: tnewman

tnewman — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 06:45:49 +0000

Would LA Confidential not count as noir? It certainly felt like it to me. And I suppose Miller’s Crossing does too, given the story was hoiked from Dashiell Hammet’s Red Harvest.

By: Mathew Hennessy

Mathew Hennessy — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:06:30 +0000

If _Point Blank_ qualifies, than so does _Get Carter_.. It’s probably more nihilist than noir though.

And the best Lalo Schifrin theme not written by Lalo Schifrin ever!

By: Mike Harvkey

Mike Harvkey — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 23:18:56 +0000

Scott, personally I think it falls into the serial killer movie camp. Though it’s certainly noirish and bleak, I think the happy ending, the relentless storyline, the body count, and the focus on action rather than plot (there’s no sense of causality, really, other than some mumbojumbo about a writer needing to experience killing somebody in order to write well about it), and ultimately, I think, the fact that the story is about a spate of murders that have little to do with, or little effect on, the main characters; all of that, IMO, makes it more S-K than F-N. Though it’s been a while since I’ve seen it. You?

By: rob p

rob p — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:44:51 +0000

Good list to start with. I’m just adding a couple more that come to mind. My first thought was Brick. Another (lesser example) would be Cherry Crush. Brick is a much better example.

Blue Velvet?

I remember Point Blank being a cult classic in the vein of Two Lane Blacktop – though I see them being more cult films than film noir.

Kalifornia was just on cable. Enjoyed it as usual.

By: Scott Bowen

Scott Bowen — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:34:04 +0000

Mike — Do you think “Kalifornia” would count as (color) noir, or is that just a serial-killer film? It’s kinda noirish, no? A trailer-park murder. Hidden identities. Female characters better than the men but victimized. Etc.

By: dianahorowitz

dianahorowitz — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 01:03:23 +0000

Much needed nod for Bruce Dern as Uncle Bud in “After Dark My Sweet.” He delivered sociopath like no other. His brand of crazy in the unrelenting desert heat has long made this one of my favorite modern noir films.

By: davidlosangeles

davidlosangeles — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:45:42 +0000

Mr. Marvkey,

Ah, the Nuart, what a great theater. That is where I first saw “Seven Samurai”, a life altering experience. The “New Beverly” is still around too. Most of the other old revival houses are gone though, “The Fox Venice”, “The Rialto”, &c.

I only stumbled across “Act of Violence” by accident, it was on TCM. It is hard to top for visuals and the story is a different one than most.

By: Mike Harvkey

Mike Harvkey — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:29:18 +0000

Thanks for this, David. I’ll have to check out Act of Violence. I’ve never seen that one. I went through a period a while back of watching almost nothing BUT films noir. I was living in Los Angeles at the time, and a friend of mine lived then in an apartment building that had once housed Jim Thompson. We used to go to the New Beverly and the Nuart all the time, and there were, for some reason, very frequent noir retrospectives going on. Good times.

By: Mike Harvkey

Mike Harvkey — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 21:27:12 +0000

Arggghhhh!!! I forgot to get it in. You are right, though, Devil in a Blue Dress is a fantastic, full color, film noir (and I’d even think of including Carl Franklin’s earlier, Billybob Thornton-scripted film, One False Move, as well). Thanks for the shout-out.

By: davidlosangeles

davidlosangeles — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:59:14 +0000

Mr. Harvkey,

The “noir” in film noir refers more to the spirit of the movie than the actual color of the images. It is the story that is told and the fate of characters that is black. Even in terms of the imagery, it is not that the film noir movies were black and white, it that they were almost all black and just a little white. The cinematographers often used intense chiaroscuro with dramatic use of shadows to capture the darkness of the world that the movie created. I recently saw a film noir I had never even heard of “Act of Violence” (1948, Directed by the great Fred Zinnemann and starring Van Heflin, Robert Ryan (Mr. Under Appreciated Himself) and Janet Leigh). Quite naturally set in LA it is only film noir movie that takes place in just 24 hours (like “DOA” only even shorter and more intense). What is really amazing is the overwhelming use of shadows.

All of that is an introduction to why the one can have a great film noir movie in color. Who can argue with “Chinatown”, it is the very best of the film noir. You are right, it is really the perfect movie, writing, direction, acting, locations (in LA of course), music, even credits are just right. The world of Chinatown is dark, even when the sun is shining in Technicolor.