"Reality is a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there." -John Barth
Directed by Raoul Walsh, written by Ivan Goff and Ben Roberts (screenplay) “If I turned my back long enough for Big Ed to put a hole in it, there’d be a hole in it.” The film opens with a train heist where multiple victims fall, and as the law closes in, gang boss Cody Jarrett... Continue Reading →
Directed by Billy Wilder, written by Billy Wilder, Lesser Samuels and Walter Newman “I’m a 250 dollar a week newspaperman. I can be had for 50.” The Ace is a crack reporter (Kirk Douglas) from all the major cities, fired multiple times for being just this side of a hellraiser. The Hole is a mine... Continue Reading →
Directed by Otto Preminger, written by Jay Dratler, Samuel Hoffenstein and Elizabeth Reinhardt (screenplay), Vera Caspary (novel) “Young woman. Either you have been raised in some incredibly rustic community, where good manners are unknown, or you suffer from the common, feminine delusion that the mere fact of being a woman exempts you from the rules... Continue Reading →
Directed by John Huston, written by Ben Maddow and John Huston (screenplay), W.R. Burnett (novel) “Crime is only a left-handed form of human endeavor.” A criminal mastermind is released from prison and makes his way to a bookie where he pitches a new job he’s dreamed up. When the particulars are hammered out, the crew... Continue Reading →
Directed by Orson Welles, written by Orson Welles (screenplay), Sherwood King (novel) "Some people can smell danger. Not me." An Irishman (Welles) saves the life of a rich lawyer's wife (Hayworth) and is invited to their yacht as part of the crew. When he realizes the madness of the people he's dealing with, he's already... Continue Reading →
Directed by John Huston, written by John Huston (screenplay), Dashiell Hammett (novel) “I certainly wish you would have invented a more reasonable story. I felt distinctly like an idiot repeating it.” Often regarded as the very first of the film noirs, the film that inspired the rest, The Maltese Falcon is a very complicated but... Continue Reading →
Directed by Nicholas Ray, written by Andrew Solt (screenplay), Edmund H. North (adaptation), and Dorothy B. Hughes (story) “I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.” A Hollywood screenwriter, bordering on washed-up, brings a check girl from a restaurant home with... Continue Reading →
Directed by Carol Reed, written by Graham Greene A broke American writer (Joseph Cotton) receives a job offer from his friend (Orson Welles) and travels to post-war Vienna to accept. On arrival he finds his friend has been hit by a car and killed. As our writer asks a few questions and receives answers from... Continue Reading →
Directed by Howard Hawks, written by William Faulkner, Leigh Brackett & Jules Furthman (screenplay), Raymond Chandler (novel) OK, this one's different. It's got great beats, gorgeous women (all over the place), procedural crime, Humphrey Bogart, and it's one of the most damned-complicated plots seen in movies and has a large list of characters. Seriously, you... Continue Reading →
Proudly powered by WordPress | Theme: Baskerville 2 by Anders Noren.