So over the last few years, I've been exploring those old, classic films that I was told I was supposed to see, but never gotten around to, largely through laserdisc collecting. I've found it really rewarding, and people liked my list of 1940s films, so I figured I'd give you another decade's worth of films that I think are worth watching.
Edit: So after I started this, I realized I was missing a film that should have been on this list. So fuck it, it's a top 11 now.
Did you know noir can cover relationship dramas? Barbara Stanwyck plays a woman who moved out east to make a better life for herself, but after a years long affair with a politician ended with the man's death, she's left with no money and returns back to her fishing town in California. A fisherman there is crazy for her, and he's a nice guy, but she's not sure she loves him. And he has this friend who's an asshole, but might be a way out. A moody film about lonely people who don't know what they want, and a complex female protagonist back when that was a rarity.
Vincent Price plays the spoiled son of a newspaper mogul who just inherited the business, but he has no interest in actually running it. There's a serial killer on the loose, and and Price's character decides that whoever unmasks the killer will get to be the new manager for the paper. It's noir, so of course this leads to everyone making the kinds of terrible, selfish, dangerous decisions you'd hope for in a great drama.
A nihilistic hardboiled detective noir that in some ways is a commentary on that detective archetype and an update for more modern anxieties. It's a great looking, influential film that's often brought up as one of the best examples of it's genre. The awkward thing about trying to talk about it is that it's one of those films that works best if you know little going in. It fucking goes places. I wouldn't recommend this as a first noir, but if you've seen one or two other old detective films, jump right in. Trust me, you'll have a time you won't forget.
When people bring up this movie, I feel like they tell you two things:
- It was a big inspiration for Star Wars.
- It's not one of Akira Kurosawa's better, more meaningful works.
And sadly, I have to say that they're right about point two. What we have is only a great action/adventure film by one of the best directors who ever lived starring one of Japan's greatest actors. I'm so sorry for wasting your time.
Seriously though, this film is a blast, and this would make a good break between the heavier films I've been recommending. It's probably also the most accessible thing Akira Kurosawa ever made, so it's not a bad starting point if you've ever been curious if he lives up to the hype.
Humphry Bogart is a washed up, alcoholic screenwriter with temper problem. A woman who visited was murdered, and he's the prime suspect, only saved from arrest by the alibi provided by his neighbor, played by Gloria Grahame. The two begin dating, but the police still suspect Bogart's character, and she starts to wonder if they just might be right.
This is often regarded as Bogart's greatest performance, and now that I've finally seen it, I'd agree. Grahame also does a hell of a job. The film's a bit of a slow burn, but it's a good one. A tale of romance, loneliness, abuse, and the dark side of Hollywood.
Stanley Kubrick's studio debut isn't quite as inventive and showy as you'd expect from his later films (or his previous independent film Killer's Kiss), but it's a pretty much perfectly executed heist film. Probably the last real masterpiece of classic noir.