Good Film Noir

m.norton

I have been tryin to write a screenplay with a Film Noir feel and would like some suggestions for films to watch that may help me get the vibe i'm looking for

Footoo

Well classics such as Sunset Blvd and Double Indemnity would be the obvious place to start but considering your writing a screenplay, I presume you've seen them.

If you're looking for something more leftfield and modern I would suggest Suzhou River from 2000

The Big Lebowski.

There is only one scene in which The Dude doesn't appear, we basically follow him through the whole film from start to finish in his head and outside as the story unfolds. True film noir stlye, or so I've led myself to believe...

Karl Hungus

Chinatown, The Long Goodbye and for something a bit more quirky, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

rednik

Body Heat with William Hurt and Kathleen Turner.

paulanthony

I like The Good Thief

krudler

Who Framed Roger Rabbit, and yes I'm being serious

johnny_ultimate

The 1941 version of the Maltese Falcon is still a brilliant example of the genre - full of femme fatales, McGuffins and hard-boiled detectives.

A more contemporary favourite would be Brick, but it is very much a love/hate film with its blend of clever/pretentious (delete as appropriate) dialogue and stylised take on the genre. Gets a lot of flak on occasion, but I for one thoroughly enjoyed its twist on an old fashioned detective noir.

dave13

Blade Runner.

tunguska

Altmans The long Goodbye. Elliot gould used to be cool before he became Ross' dad on friends.......

randomchild

Another coen classic is the man who wasn't there if not that then I highly recommend Memento and The Third Man as well.

MiloYossarian

[QUOTE=Karl Hungus Kiss Kiss Bang Bang[/url].[/QUOTE]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang isn't film noir. It's not even close. Why didn't you just say 'Scary Movie is an excellent example of modernist film noir.'?-Forget it Milo. It's boards.ie town.

Valmont

MiloYossarian wrote: »

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang isn't film noir. It's not even close. Why didn't you just say 'Scary Movie is an excellent example of modernist film noir.'?-Forget it Milo. It's boards.ie town.

?

Anyway, I'm looking forward to buying some of these films. I've seen the Maltese falcon, Brick, and a few other Noir films that I've really liked so I think this genre is for me.

Magic Eight Ball

MiloYossarian wrote: »

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang isn't film noir. It's not even close. Why didn't you just say 'Scary Movie is an excellent example of modernist film noir.'?-Forget it Milo. It's boards.ie town.

OP, a few titles for ya to check out..
Shadow of a Doubt
The Lost Weekend
Spellbound
The Big Sleep
Rope
Touch of Evil
The Killing
Kiss Me Deadly
Red Rock West

Wacker

Double Indemnity is my favourite. In terms of Neo-Noir, nothing beats LA Confidential.

nix

Brick

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0393109/

Payback

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120784/

I enjoyed all of the above and dont think they were mentioned, Neo Noir but meh could be what your after ;P

ginoginelli

"The missing man" is the best recent one I have seen. It has some really cool shots and scenes in it.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1105512/

MiloYossarian

Trevor Coulaghan

How dare you manipulate Picard in to saying that to me, but I take your point, I was a bit smart with Karl Hangus (to whom I now offer my apologies). It is twice as bad because I hate when people do that to me. I've read a few of your posts and noticed that your grammar is fairly poor. Maybe as you're squatting you could lay a grammar book on the floor and read it when you dip. That way you could improve yourself in two ways at once.

As to the person that originally started this thread, I found that some books I read really helped me define and work within the structure of noir, so it would benefit you to read more as well. That way you can apply what you learn to the films you watch. Some of the books give you so many details of what the genre needs to have to be considered that genre that it nearly takes the work out of writing it. (Film: a critical introduction by Tom Wallis was a big help to me but I'm sure you could find better ones)

krudler

MiloYossarian wrote: »

Trevor Coulaghan

How dare you manipulate Picard in to saying that to me, but I take your point, I was a bit smart with Karl Hangus (to whom I now offer my apologies). It is twice as bad because I hate when people do that to me. I've read a few of your posts and noticed that your grammar is fairly poor. Maybe as you're squatting you could lay a grammar book on the floor and read it when you dip. That way you could improve yourself in two ways at once.

post of the year so far

Corkfeen

Won't mention the ones already said but heres a few...
La Confidential
Lucky Number Slevin. (some may disagree):p

Magic Eight Ball

MiloYossarian wrote: »

Trevor Coulaghan..

I stopped reading. :rolleyes:

MiloYossarian

Trevor Coulahan wrote: »

I stopped reading. :rolleyes:

Maybe that's why your grammar is so bad. Reading improves grammar. What you should have said in your reply was 'I have stopped reading.' What you said means that reading was going somewhere and you halted its progress.

artielange

Enjoyed this...you might


Zero Effect

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120906/

+1 for Brick, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, La Confidential

Karl Hungus

Milo, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a huge pastiche of the film noir genre, the narrative structure is very noir indeed. It's clever, witty, and steeped in film noir conventions. I think it's a perfectly suitable recommendation.

pwd

brick is crap

The Asphalt Jungle is good. Don't be put off by its age. I usually don't bother with films made before the 70s, but I liked this one a lot.

Chinatown was already mentioned - it's superb.

loveissucide

Miller's Crossing, although it is a bit clever-clever
LA Confidential
Pretty much all Billy Wilder's work in the genre.
Force Of Evil

AnonoBoy

pwd wrote: »

The Asphalt Jungle is good. Don't be put off by its age. I usually don't bother with films made before the 70s, but I liked this one a lot.

If you're put off by when a film was made then you're missing out on some brilliant movies. It's your loss though.

loveissucide wrote: »

Miller's Crossing, although it is a bit clever-clever

I'd put it as more a gangster flick than a noir myself, but it's probably got bits of both really. And since it's a Coen Brothers film, I expect nothing less than clever-clever for my buck!

MiloYossarian

Karl Hungus wrote: »

Milo, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a huge pastiche of the film noir genre, the narrative structure is very noir indeed. It's clever, witty, and steeped in film noir conventions. I think it's a perfectly suitable recommendation.

It has noirish elements yes, but really has more in common with pulp fiction (books not the movie). It's not strictly a noir. I think we are just going to have to agree to disagree on this one. Plus there is a good chance I'm wrong.

p.s I hope you saw the post where I said sorry to you for that smart reply earlier. I feel like a bit of a ****.

Nervous Wreck

pwd wrote: »

brick is crap

QFT.

loveissucide

AnonoBoy wrote: »

I'd put it as more a gangster flick than a noir myself, but it's probably got bits of both realy. And since it's a Coen Brothers film, I expect nothing less than clever-clever for my buck!

I loved it, but I'd have it down as noir as much for the period trappings, being taken from a Hammet novel and having most of the conventions of the genre.

AnonoBoy

loveissucide wrote: »

I loved it, but I'd have it down as noir as much for the period trappings, being taken from a Hammet novel and having most of the conventions of the genre.

But it's about gangsters???

Ah - I'm not as cine-literate as some in here so I'm not going to pretend I know - I just always figured it as a gangster flick first.

Either way it's fuppin' fantastic!