I love film noirs (or films noirs for you
hardcore francophones). I saw my first noir,
Double Indemnity (1944), when I was fifteen (I'll be blogging about it soon, I assure you) and I've been hooked ever since. I've seen most of the big enchiladas (
Double Indemnity, The Asphalt Jungle, The Big Heat, etc. etc.). And I've also seen a lot of obscure noirs. What follows is my list of Five Noirs you probably haven't seen, but should watch at some point.
1. Shack Out on 101 (1955): Put
Lee Marvin in a film and no matter how lousy the film is, he always has a way of partially redeeming it. This is a terrific B-movie set in seaside diner. The movie is brimming with Red Scare paranoia. Marvin plays a goon who cooks in the diner and hatches a scheme with
Dr. Sam Bastion (Frank Lovejoy) to deliver secrets to the Reds. Bastion might be a good guy or he might be a bad guy (you'll find out).
Terry Moore foils the plot. Throw in
Keenan Wynn as the owner of the diner and you've got a forgotten noir full of unintentional laughs, truly tense moments and good old
Lee Marvin.
2. The Hitch-Hiker (1953): Actress
Ida Lupino directed this tight Fifties noir. This one also stars
Frank Lovejoy. Along for the ride is another noir veteran,
Edmond (White Heat, The Killers) O'Brien. They play buddies who make the mistake of picking up a psychotic hitch-hiker. I know what you're thinking:
Not another psycho hitch-hiker movie... But this is the granddaddy of 'em. This one started it all.
William Talman (right, who played Hamilton Burger on
Perry Mason) plays one of the coolest psychopaths in any Old School Noir: a maniacal gunman with a dead eye who menaces Lovejoy and O'Brien. There's a great night scene in the desert, near a campfire, where you can't tell if Talman's character is asleep or awake (because of his dead eye). Truly chilling stuff. Lupino was not only an underrated actress. She was a gifted director, too.
3. Quicksand (1950): Mickey Rooney had recently stopped playing 17-year-olds when he took the role of
Dan Brady, a two-bit grease monkey who wants to impress looker
Jeanne Cagney by taking her out for a night on the town. Problem is, Brady's broke, so he lifts a $20 out of the cash register, thinking, "What's the worst that can happen?" Mayhem ensues. How, you wonder, can a stolen twenty dollar bill snowball into a noir full of twists and turns where even
Peter Lorre makes a small appearance? To find out, you have to watch
Quicksand. Actor/director
Irving (Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid) Pichel directs this taut B-thriller.
4. Red Rock West (1992): Looking for a truly great modern noir? Look no further than
Red Rock West.
Nicolas Cage (right), back before he won the Oscar for
Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and then made the leap into all these lame action movies, stars as Michael Williams, a fundamentally honest guy who is down on his luck and looking for work. The late, great
J.T. Walsh plays a wealthy married man who mistakes Cage for the hitman he planned to hire to kill his wife (
Lara Flynn Boyle). Cage takes the big bucks from Walsh and then goes to warn femme fatale Boyle that hubby wants to bump her off. Add to the mix the real hitman (played in the usual over-the-top fashion by
Dennis Hopper) and the pure noir mayhem ensues. Director John Dahl is the neo-noir director who also gave us
The Last Seduction (1994) and
Rounders (1998). He also co-wrote the script with his brother Rick. The end result is a tight, well-made Western noir with plenty of atmosphere, fine performances, and a really cool ending (I won't give it away).
5. He Walked By Night (1948): Richard Basehart stars in this noirish police procedural as
Roy Morgan, a genius psycho who shoots and kills a patrolman in the middle of a burglary attempt. Morgan is pursued by two police detectives, but he stays one step ahead of the police by monitoring their movements on a radio that picks up police frequencies. Roy actually has a past with the Police Department (I won't give it away, but you find out his connection -- and the experience he gained from it helps him outwit the police at every turn).
Scott Brady and
James Caldwell are the police detectives who relentlessly pursue every tiny lead, every dead end and twist and turn, in the search for Morgan. The real treat in this film is a pre-
Dragnet Jack Webb, who actually has a pretty decent role as a police forensics specialist. The pseudo-documentary Los Angeles street scenes remind me of the same year's
Naked City, set in New York City.
Alfred Werker, who built a whole career around directing now-mostly forgotten B-movies, handles this one superbly. It will keep you on the edge of your seat.
1. Shack Out on 101 (1955): Put Lee Marvin in a film and no matter how lousy the film is, he always has a way of partially redeeming it. This is a terrific B-movie set in seaside diner. The movie is brimming with Red Scare paranoia. Marvin plays a goon who cooks in the diner and hatches a scheme with Dr. Sam Bastion (Frank Lovejoy) to deliver secrets to the Reds. Bastion might be a good guy or he might be a bad guy (you'll find out). Terry Moore foils the plot. Throw in Keenan Wynn as the owner of the diner and you've got a forgotten noir full of unintentional laughs, truly tense moments and good old Lee Marvin. 
2. The Hitch-Hiker (1953): Actress Ida Lupino directed this tight Fifties noir. This one also stars Frank Lovejoy. Along for the ride is another noir veteran, Edmond (White Heat, The Killers) O'Brien. They play buddies who make the mistake of picking up a psychotic hitch-hiker. I know what you're thinking: Not another psycho hitch-hiker movie... But this is the granddaddy of 'em. This one started it all. William Talman (right, who played Hamilton Burger on Perry Mason) plays one of the coolest psychopaths in any Old School Noir: a maniacal gunman with a dead eye who menaces Lovejoy and O'Brien. There's a great night scene in the desert, near a campfire, where you can't tell if Talman's character is asleep or awake (because of his dead eye). Truly chilling stuff. Lupino was not only an underrated actress. She was a gifted director, too.
3. Quicksand (1950): Mickey Rooney had recently stopped playing 17-year-olds when he took the role of Dan Brady, a two-bit grease monkey who wants to impress looker Jeanne Cagney by taking her out for a night on the town. Problem is, Brady's broke, so he lifts a $20 out of the cash register, thinking, "What's the worst that can happen?" Mayhem ensues. How, you wonder, can a stolen twenty dollar bill snowball into a noir full of twists and turns where even Peter Lorre makes a small appearance? To find out, you have to watch Quicksand. Actor/director Irving (Mr. Peabody and the Mermaid) Pichel directs this taut B-thriller.
4. Red Rock West (1992): Looking for a truly great modern noir? Look no further than Red Rock West. Nicolas Cage (right), back before he won the Oscar for Leaving Las Vegas (1995) and then made the leap into all these lame action movies, stars as Michael Williams, a fundamentally honest guy who is down on his luck and looking for work. The late, great J.T. Walsh plays a wealthy married man who mistakes Cage for the hitman he planned to hire to kill his wife (Lara Flynn Boyle). Cage takes the big bucks from Walsh and then goes to warn femme fatale Boyle that hubby wants to bump her off. Add to the mix the real hitman (played in the usual over-the-top fashion by Dennis Hopper) and the pure noir mayhem ensues. Director John Dahl is the neo-noir director who also gave us The Last Seduction (1994) and Rounders (1998). He also co-wrote the script with his brother Rick. The end result is a tight, well-made Western noir with plenty of atmosphere, fine performances, and a really cool ending (I won't give it away).
5. He Walked By Night (1948): Richard Basehart stars in this noirish police procedural as Roy Morgan, a genius psycho who shoots and kills a patrolman in the middle of a burglary attempt. Morgan is pursued by two police detectives, but he stays one step ahead of the police by monitoring their movements on a radio that picks up police frequencies. Roy actually has a past with the Police Department (I won't give it away, but you find out his connection -- and the experience he gained from it helps him outwit the police at every turn). Scott Brady and James Caldwell are the police detectives who relentlessly pursue every tiny lead, every dead end and twist and turn, in the search for Morgan. The real treat in this film is a pre-Dragnet Jack Webb, who actually has a pretty decent role as a police forensics specialist. The pseudo-documentary Los Angeles street scenes remind me of the same year's Naked City, set in New York City. Alfred Werker, who built a whole career around directing now-mostly forgotten B-movies, handles this one superbly. It will keep you on the edge of your seat.
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