another new Blade Runner really-final director's cut

[hypatia]

I'll never forget seeing an actor who played a famous "50's style perfect father" on some sitcom like "Father Knows Best" trying to fool Edward G. Robinson with an insurance scheme.

Double Indemnity definitely had a plot, and a damned good one. And some of the finest acting I've seen.

But let's face it, it's easy to see how some might laugh at certain overly-dramatic aspects, and dialog. Good film noir is always kind of on the edge of incredulity to me.

 

[KoshFan]

That's why it's so great when it's parodied.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

I'll never forget seeing an actor who played a famous "50's style perfect father" on some sitcom like "Father Knows Best" trying to fool Edward G. Robinson with an insurance scheme.

Double Indemnitydefinitely had a plot, and a damned good one. And some of the finest acting I've seen.

That would be Fred MacMurray, of My Three Sons, not Robert Young of Father Knows best, and later, Marcus Welby. Fred was also a fine jazz sax player.

 

[hypatia]

Ah, thanks. All of those shows have kind of blurred together in my memory. I can't imagine why.

And I didn't know about his musical side. He sounds like he was a pretty interesting guy.

 

[GKarsEye]

I just have a problem with when noir is portrayed as some hokey style and not taken as "seriously" as other movies. To so many today, they're not "real" movies like the "classics." But when you consider the mindless crap that was the majority of the Golden Age of Hollywood(tm) hit factory conveyor belt style of committee film-making, at least the noir films were going for something a bit gritty, darker, and challenging puritanical gender roles and trying, if even awkwardly, to incorporate elements of the counter-culture.

 

[hypatia]

Oh, no, I didn't mean to imply that at all. But yea, you're right: many people do.

No, it's a style. And not everyone can pull it off, so it's not like any no-talent hack can produce as good a performance or a movie.

I'm glad so many were preserved. They set a whole different mood than the more fast-paced, rapid-cut movies give you. Maybe that's why I like older films so much: they are calm enough to not hyper-activate me when I want to relax, the stories are usually very worthwhile (though as was pointed out, some were rather notorious for caring about how a script sounded more than if a plot made sense sometimes) and the acting just takes me in. I can't really watch many modern movies and "lose track of time" because the pace and style of the film itself makes me restless.

And film noir showed you how you can build tension. Key Largo was great with that. Especially the ending knew how to use simple, situational tension like that. But then a movie with the likes of Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, and Lionel Barrymore alone would have made the movie worth watching. The small parts were played very well, too.

Just a well done film. But yea, some people really get turned off by the slightly melodramatic tone these movies tend to have.

God, I'll have to rent Key Largo again. I've not seen it for awhile.

I might be watching Blade Runner the director's cut tonight. Just to see if I've ever really seen it before.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

...at least the noir films were going for something a bit gritty, darker, and challenging puritanical gender roles and trying, if even awkwardly, to incorporate elements of the counter-culture.

And then there is the aspect of film noir which gave it its name... the films are shot/lit with lots of dark and shadow, with just a few bright areas, looking almost like high contrast film, using odd camera angles, and more tight shots than most film used. For Hollywood, the cinematography was about as experimental as it gets, at least until the advent of 60s LSD/hippie influenced film making. I also love the terse, often sarcastic, disillusioned, dialog of film noir. It is a far more adult style of film making than most of what Hollywood has to offer.

 

[KoshFan]

I've seen very little classic noir. I'm rather fond of the relatively recent, not-noir-but-influenced-by-it "Brick," which basically sets a classic noir-type story in a modern US high school. You basically need to spend the first fifteen minutes of the movie learning the language, because the kids in the story rely very heavily on made-up slang (again noir-influenced), but it's a great tale.

It's got a great line early on, the hero confronting a herd of possibly-threatening druggies: "I've got all five senses and I slept last night, which puts me six up on you!" Felt very noir-ish to my uninitiated eye.

 

[Jade Jaguar]

Yeah, I like Brick, I burnt it to a DVD. It is definitely a neonoir, and lots of fun, with great dialog. If you liked it, you should check out The Chumscrubber. It is somewhat darker, with less humor, but a fine film.