The Seven-Ups (1973)

Directed by Philip D'Antoni

Something of an unofficial sequel to The French Connection, directed by the producer of that movie as his first shot sitting in the director's chair.  It's fair to say it does not really live up to the quality of the William Friedkin original.  One of the problems is, Roy Scheider with his perfect Southern California tan, never really is that believable as a tough gritty New York cop.  However, the one standout scene in this movie is the thrilling car chase with stunt driver Bill Hickman.  Bill also did the driving in the famous car chase scenes in Bullitt and The French Connection.  For my money, this one is the best of them all and it's not modern fast-editing, shaky camera, computer aided nonsense.  It's just real, bad-ass, stunt driving.

The Woman in the Window (1944)

Directed by Fritz Lang

This is one of the best film noir that Fritz Lang directed.  Much better than the over-hyped Scarlet Street which had the same main cast of Ed G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea.  A great example of the genre, it has all the identifiers associated with film noir and builds to a conversation piece of a conclusion.  Some love it some hate it (the ending that is).  Worth seeing so as to judge for yourself.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Directed by Arthur Penn

The famous outlaws are given a revisionist treatment that attempts to give them some moral justification and emotional depth that seems to sit more comfortably in the 60s than the 30s.  Watching it today, when we are used to seeing multi-dimensional difficult characters, it's all a little too much to be very believable.  And god, Faye Dunaway is just awful.  She can never just play the part in a way that serves the overall film.  Every scene she's in she tries to steal it with a bunch of pretentious over-acting.

At the time it was seen as shockingly violent.  As much as I hate to build the impression that older things can't measure up to that of today, these days it would merely be par for the course.  No child of the 80s or later would even flinch at anything shown here.

Lady In The Lake (1947)

Directed by Robert Montgomery

This Philip Marlowe hard-boiled detective (or whatever you call Marlowe) story is seriously underrated in my oh-so-humble opinion.  It relies on a somewhat gimmicky first person camera technique which some people don't care for.  I thought it was actually done very well (considering the limits of the technology it's amazing really).  Robert Montgomery is a fairly decent Marlowe, he leans heavy on the wise-cracking but that's his wheelhouse and it works for him.  It also doesn't hurt that there's a lot of great looking women in the movie.

Scarlet Street (1945)

Directed by Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang film-noir that would be all but forgotten if not for a shocking murder scene that got the movie banned in the US for years. The usually dependable Ed G. Robinson puts in one of the poorer performances of his career.

White Heat (1949)

Directed by Raoul Walsh

Great action movie. Strange that this often gets categorized as noir though. There's nothing really noir about it, it's sort of the prototypical action movie with a cop after the psycho master criminal.

The Wrong Man (1956)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

A different sort of picture for Hitchcock.  Instead of his usual suspense thriller this is what you might call a docu-drama.  An attempt to realistically paint a picture of events as they really happened.  A fascinating look at how an innocent man can get caught up in the criminal justice system.

Mean Streets (1973)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

This is an early example of Scorsese's now well tread genre: the crime picture.  First major role for Harvey Keitel, and a very early one for De Niro as well.  The budding talent is jumping off the screen here.  Has more of a loose indie-film feel to it than Scorsese's later work.  Not as caustically violent as his later gangster pictures.

The Big Combo (1955)

Directed by Joseph Lewis

Has all the archetypal noir identifiers, unfortunately fairly hindered by poor performances by the male and female leads and not particularly interesting characters or plot. Well overrated on IMdB; probably because the only people interested in watching it are film noir fanboys.

The Strange Love of Martha Ivers (1946)

Directed by Lewis Milestone

It seems old-fashioned and slow at first.  Just hang in there, because it pays off in the end.  You need to be very careful about reading too much plot info beforehand on this one because it is easily spoiled.  It's about a man who returns to the town where he grew up.  His childhood friends are now of prominent status in the town, but they don't seem so happy to see him.  Barbara Stanwyck plays a powerful business woman which is an unusual role for a woman at this time.  But of course Stanwyck is always great in these "tough broad" types.  Kirk Douglas puts in a very strong performance in this, his screen debut.

The Killing (1956)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

Quintessential yet often overlooked is this early Stanley Kubrick classic.  It's a heist film that starts slow but accelerates quickly as the plan goes into action culminating in an unforgettable conclusion.  Often classified as film noir because the story is told from the criminal's POV and they are characters with reasons for their actions, not just flatly rendered bad men. However it doesn't have the necessary dark tonal quality that would make it a true noir in my opinion. Kubrick is sardonic, not dark.

Thief (1981)

Directed by Michael Mann

 
Michael Mann's directorial debut is a stylish heist film starring a brusque James Caan.  Worth it for the extensive heist sequences given a high-tech edge by the futuristic Tangerine Dream soundtrack.