Underworld USA (1961)

I was in the mood for a classic black-and-white film noir that I hadn’t seen and selected Underworld USA (1961) because it was a Samuel Fuller film (of Pickup On South Street and Shock Corridor), which he directed, wrote and produced. On a New Year’s Eve in the back alleys of a city, a young […]

The Drowning Pool (1975)

I was in the mood for some 1970s neo-noir and this fit the bill. Harper was a 1960s private eye flick starring Paul Newman as Lew Harper, a character from a series of Ross Macdonald novels. I saw it awhile back and I remember it intentionally reviving the 1940s Humphrey Bogart PI mould for a […]

Blood Simple (1984)

I’m such a fan of the Coen Brothers that Blood Simple (1984) is low on my list of favourites since it is their first (directed by Joel Coen, produced by Ethan Coen, written and basically made together). From the show-off camera moves and bold imagery to the way in which action over dialogue is emphasised […]

The Late Show (1977)

Not to be confused with either David Letterman or The D-Generation, The Late Show (1977) is another entry in the seventies era’s love of film noir. Produced by Robert Altman, director-writer Robert Benton goes for a different take rather than Altman’s own deconstructive The Long Goodbye. There’s more of a classic witty vibe of detective […]

The Long Goodbye (1973)

American cinema in the 1970s had an interest in reviving older genres, and film noir was a great way of expressing society’s disillusionment and paranoia. Casting the hangdog, bemused charm of Elliott Gould as the classic detective character of Philip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye (1973) must have seemed like a joke to fans of […]