# Film Noir Appreciation Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 23, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222 "2010-08-23T23:00:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/1 "2010-08-23T23:00:41Z")
I admit it - I own lots and lots of movies (two terabytes worth). I tend to categorize them by year with a few exceptions; musicals, submarine movies, documentaries, noir… Looking at my Noir listing, I realize I have more in that category than any others - more than 150 flicks. I never get tired of watching them, even the bad ones. Sometimes the B-rated ones are more fun to watch. My favorites? Almost anything with Claire Trevor and Barbara Stanwyck for starters. _Detour_ and _D.O.A._ are ones I can watch over and over. I love _Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid._ These movies helped my lifelong love affair with Burt Lancaster. I am lucky to live in “the foggy city” where we actually have a Noir festival, but what are your favorites? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/2 "2010-08-24T01:01:47Z")
_Out of the Past_ is deservedly a classic. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/3 "2010-08-24T01:17:15Z")
[Kiss Me Deadly](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048261/) deserves a mention, I think. ---
**Author:** ![Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a88e57/32.png) [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fried_Dough_Ho)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/4 "2010-08-24T01:24:10Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > [Kiss Me Deadly](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048261/) deserves a mention, I think. Thanks for the reminder - I have two versions (one with an alternate ending) and I have been waiting until I have time to watch both back-to-back. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/5 "2010-08-24T02:05:52Z")
_The Big Clock_ (1948). Remade in 1987 as _No Way Out_, which launched Kevin Costner’s career. _The Sweet Smell of Success_ (1957). An incredibly great movie. Starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis. _The Last Seduction_ (1994), with Linda Fiorentio as perhaps the ultimate femme fatale. ---
**Author:** ![25.1327\_Octopi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/2/ecb155/32.png) [@25.1327\_Octopi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/25.1327_Octopi)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/6 "2010-08-24T02:21:07Z")
One cannot discuss noir without mentioning _Double Indemnity_. And a bit of a shout out to some French noir masterpieces: _Bob Le Flambeur_, _Riffifi_, and _Le Samourai_. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/7 "2010-08-24T02:36:39Z")
Oh, yes, French noir. There’s some great stuff. _Le Cercle Rouge_ (1970) comes to mind immediately. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/8 "2010-08-24T12:18:27Z")
Ah, black and white - my favorite… [The Devil Thumbs a Ride](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0039317/) [The Ghost Ship](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0035937/) [Scarlett Street](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038057/) ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/9 "2010-08-24T13:01:07Z")
_The Glass Key_, both versions. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Nader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Darth\_Nader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Nader)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/10 "2010-08-24T14:59:48Z")
Can one imagine what the world would be like today if men wore hats-- not baseball caps? And took them off when they went inside? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/11 "2010-08-24T17:24:34Z")
I wear hats – and not baseball caps – and I take them off when I go inside. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/12 "2010-08-24T17:30:02Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > I am lucky to live in “the foggy city” where we actually have a Noir festival, Indeed–I go every year, though it’s always tough choosing which day to go (I attend enough other fests throughout the year, my better half will not abide being a noir widow). Lots of great mentions (especially _Smell_ & _Scarlet_), but one personal fave is _Criss Cross_, another lean, tight Lancaster vehicle directed by Robert Siodmak, who was no slouch in that genre. ---
**Author:** ![Caprese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9a28c/32.png) [@Caprese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caprese)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/13 "2010-08-24T17:49:41Z")
I still like noir, but I went through a phase of romance-tinged noir as a teen. Some favorites of mine: [Laura](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037008/) A crime thriller about obsession. [Rebecca](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0032976/) IMDB description: _When a naive young woman marries a rich widower and settles in his gigantic mansion, she finds the memory of the first wife maintaining a grip on her husband and the servants._ [The Uninvited](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037415/) Crumbling home on the Cornish coast. A cat arches its back at the unseen, flowers wither from a “malignant hand.” Good black and white stuff on a rainy night. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/14 "2010-08-24T18:06:23Z")
“She walked in pointing a pair of .45’s at me… …then she pulled out a gun.” _Tommy Sledge_ ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/15 "2010-08-24T18:20:41Z")
A noir from Kurosawa, [High and Low](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057565/), is riveting. Then there’s Truffaut’s, [Shoot the Piano Player](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0054389/), one of my all time favorites. Also have to reco [I Wake Up Screaming](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033740/), if for nothing else than for Laird Cregar’s performance. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2010, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/16 "2010-08-24T21:57:38Z")
> [@Fried\_Dough\_Ho](#): > > These movies helped my lifelong love affair with Burt Lancaster. [The Killers](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038669/) is my Burt favorite. I mentioned it before I think, but [The Big Sleep](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0038355/) is a good one IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 5:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/17 "2010-08-25T05:35:57Z")
[Brick](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393109/) On my personal top-ten movie list, it shows you can have a riveting, 100% Noir movie with any setting if you do it right. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/18 "2010-08-25T05:40:15Z")
Apocalypse Now ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/19 "2010-08-25T06:12:09Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > Apocalypse Now Interesting take. There are certainly elements of film noir in it, but not enough to classify it as such, imo. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2010, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222/20 "2010-08-25T10:34:13Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](#): > > A noir from Kurosawa, [High and Low](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057565/), is riveting… I cannot agree more, one of my favorites. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/film-noir-appreciation-thread/551222.md?page=2)