Got some gift cards; want to buy some film noir

[TaylorTRoom]

Help me out hornfans. I tend to buy the obscure movies I'm interested in, rather than get them on net flix, because I just never know when I'm going to have the time to see a particular movie- maybe in a couple of months, or maybe time will free up tomorrow night.

Help me out- which of these should I buy, and in what order (best to worst)-

Rififi
Night and the City
Kiss of Death
Pickup on South St
Detour
Shock Corridor
The Naked Kiss
The Long Goodbye
Le Cercle Rouge

Any others?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Dr Fear]

L.A. Confidential.

 

[Ranxerox]

Too many to list. I own about 275 crime and noir type films. These are some that get my highest rec.

Angel Face (very solid)
T-Men (great cinematography)
Asphalt Jungle (very solid)
The Big Combo (very solid)
The Set Up (short and sweet)
Brute Force (classic, though not often spoken of)
The Naked City (classic)
Detour (low budge but solid)
Gun Crazy (low budge but solid)
Scarlet Street (absolutely great film)
Rififi (means 'rough and tumble' - solid)
Le Trou (menas 'the hole' - solid)
Le Cercle Rouge (hard to go wrong with Melville (Le Samourai, Bob Le Flambeur))
Force of Evil (influenced Scorsese quite obviously - super)
He Walked By Night (great photography - think the final scene of the Third Man)
In a Lonely Place (under-appreciated Bogey gem)
Kansas City Confidential (a little uneven, low budge, ripped off by Tarantino)
The Killers (Classis Mitchum)
Kiss Me Deadly (straight ahead gumshoe story with a pop)
Leave Her to Heaven (color - oscar for photography - creepy)
Night in the City (top notch)
Pick Up on South Street (Fuller's best film, period)
Shadow of a Doubt (Hitch's ctreepy little killer)
Out of the Past (Mitchum -- classic)


More recently---

Charley Varrick (Matthau is great -- Tarantino ripped)
Honeymoon Killers (bizarre little indie from the 60s)
The Long Good Friday (Hoskins is awesome)
The Long Goodbye (really satisfying take on the Phillip Marlow franchise-- by Altman - counterintuitive)

Japanese?
Youth of the Beast (great 60s crime drama)
Underworld Beauty (ditto)
Tokyo Drifter (another super piece of Nipponese jazz crime)
High and Low (Kurosawa's noir)
Black Test Car (an intrigue filled, noirish take on Japanese industry)

 

[TaylorTRoom]

Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[HenryGandorf]

the third man
the maltese falcon
double indemnity
the asphalt jungle
the big sleep

these are some of the most famous and classic noir films, so you've probably seen / own them, but if not, get on it.

 

[airportlobby]

Some favorites (Noir loosely defined): Pickup on South Street, Out of the Past, Cape Fear, Sweet Smell of Success, Long Goodbye, Shoot the Piano Player, Night of the Hunter, The Hustler, Man with the Golden Arm, Wages of Fear, Diabolique.

 

[Continental Op]

In addition to pretty much everything on Ranxerox's list, I'd recommend "Too Late For Tears." I think it's also available on DVD under the name "Killer Bait."

 

[Basketball Jones]

Three VERY good ones not mentioned:

The Killing (a Stanley Kubrick film--his first major film)

Blood Simple (Coen Bros.)

The Third Man (with Joseph Cotten and Orson Welles)

 

[TaylorTRoom]

OK, I've ordered "Bob Le Flambeur" and (not film noir, but supposed to be good) "Shadow of the Vampire" (has Dafoe and Malkovich.

Now, I'm trying to decide on two out of "Pickup on South St", "Night and the City", "The Long Goodbye", "Touch of Evil", and "The Big Heat".

Suggestions or comments about these?

 

[Ranxerox]

I didn't mention films like

The Third Man
Maltese Falcon
M
Touch of Evil
The Killing
Chinatown

because I assumed that they are well-known.

Of the five listed, Touch of Evil is a must see. Nothing else quite like it, really. Absolute tour de force. Once you accept and digest Heston as a Mexican the rest is ice cream and razor blades.

The other four are pretty much interchangeable in that you will not be disappointed regardless. The Big Heat is excellent but in some way not as quirky or interesting as the others. Glen Ford is always solid in noir or western formats, but never spectacular or moving, imo. Lee Marvin gives a nice turn as a heavy. #5.

Pick Up on South Street would get my nod for number two. It is just a great piece of nastiness. The Criterion edition is superb. Fuller could be uneven, hit or miss, trapped by his own sensationalism. PUoSS distills all of his best tendencies and skips all of his weaknesses. True classic.

Widmark, who is great in PUoSS, also slays in Night in the City, which would get my #3. Again, Criterion's release is very strong. The film has everything, including presentations of regret and redemption that don't always shine so brightly in film noir.

Altman's The Long Goodbye should be seen eventually. It is very different. Not really hard boiled until key moments. Much more California, if that makes sense (I always think NYC or Chicago when I conjure up noir (London in the case of Night and the City)). Gould is great, and the direction, with Altman's characteristic mumblings and clashing verbiage, helps to create a new strain of murkiness. 'Those crazy, crazy girls.' The # 4.

 

[johnny chimpo]

Brick.