Best Rediscoveries in Film Noir in 2024

I’m setting aside the books for a bit to focus on movies. Today I’ll cover film noir rediscoveries, films I haven’t seen in a few years and made me wonder, “Why haven’t I revisited this movie sooner?” Some of them are neo-noir or at least contain noir-stained elements.

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Lone Star (1996) John Sayles (2x, previously viewed in 1997)

Lone Star will always stand as a touchstone for me. My wife and I had moved to Texas just a few months before I saw the film. Other than visiting my brother and his family in the Dallas/Fort Worth area for years and driving to Lubbock one summer for a convention, I knew little about Texas (unless listening to ZZ Top counts). Lone Star (1) delivers a great story, (2) taught me that places matter, and (3) proves that history often runs dark and deep.

The narrative moves along two timelines. In the present, Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper), sheriff of the fictional town of Frontera, seeks to identify a body he believes to be Charlie Wade (Kris Kristofferson), the sheriff who was in charge of Sam’s father Buddy (Matthew McConaughey), a deputy from 30 years earlier. Charlie, an abusive and racist man, had a falling out with Buddy, a battle of wills I won’t describe here, but all Sam has been told is that after the altercation, Charlie simply disappeared.

The film is strongly grounded in a place’s identity, which becomes a point of contention from the opening scene and is reflected in the movie’s supporting players. Everyone, Mexicans and Anglos, harbors secrets they are reluctant to disclose. The film causes me to dwell on the stories we tell each other, how we interpret our pasts as individuals and groups, and how complicated and broken we are. I could say much more, but instead, I’ll refer you to an excellent essay on the film by Domino Renee Perez.

And if you’re a John Sayles fan, you might enjoy this discussion our Great Movies group had with him about another of his excellent films, The Secret of Roan Inish (1994).

Sorcerer (1977) William Friedkin (2x, previously viewed in 2016)

William Friedkin’s Sorcerer (1977) may be one of the most cursed films of all time. Not only did it have one of the worst openings in cinematic history, competing with the initial release of Star Wars, but it also featured only one recognizable American star, Roy Scheider. To further complicate matters, Sorcerer’s title was misleading and confusing. (It’s not about a wizard. The title was chosen primarily due to Friedkin’s love for the Miles Davis album of the same name.) After the movie’s 15-minute prologue, in which no one speaks English, the story shifts to one of the most destitute locales ever filmed. Writing about the movie in Noir City Annual 16, Kelly Vance states that the production woes and mishaps were “near-biblical, rivaling even Francis Ford Coppola’s ordeals while shooting Apocalypse Now.” Although it was a box office disaster when released, audiences and critics have come to regard Sorcerer as a stunning film noir and a top-notch thriller.

My full review is available for paid subscribers only, but I hope you’ll seek out this film.

Act of Violence (1948) Fred Zinnemann (3x, previously viewed in 2016)

Frank Enley (Van Heflin), a WWII hero, is lauded in his small California town, loved by his wife Edith (Janet Leigh), and has everything a man could want, but when a man (Robert Ryan) from Frank’s past begins tracking him down, Frank’s world collapses. There’s much more to say about this stellar film noir, so I hope you’ll check out my article on the women of Act of Violence, appearing in the next installment of the Noir City Magazine, issue #42. You can find out more about the magazine here.

Circle of Danger (1951) Jacques Tourneur (2x, previously viewed in 2018)

Ray Milland plays Clay Davis, an American who takes his cut from a highly profitable Florida salvage operation and leaves it to go to England. Why? He’s looking for a man named Alec Smithers, whom Clay hopes can answer some questions about the mysterious death of his brother Hank. Hank volunteered to join a British commando unit during WWII and was the unit’s only casualty, although the enemy was not attacking at the time of his death. The film may move too slowly for some, but the last ten minutes are filled with white-knuckle tension as Clay finally arrives at the truth about his brother, and perhaps himself. Although many consider it a minor work from Tourneur, Circle of Danger is well worth tracking down. The new Studio Canal (Region B) disc includes an audio commentary by Imogen Sara Smith.

Odd Man Out (1947) Carol Reed (2x, previously viewed in 2015)

Johnny McQueen (James Mason), an escapee from a Northern Ireland prison, has been hiding out in the home of his girlfriend Kathleen (Kathleen Ryan) and her grannie (Kitty Kirwan) for several months. He’s gaining strength, but more importantly, he’s planning to rob a local mill to obtain funds for “the Organization,” which, for all practical purposes, stands in for the IRA as much as its unnamed city stands in for Belfast.

During his time in prison, Johnny has come to believe that violence is not the answer, yet he’s been ordered to lead several men from the Organization to pull off the robbery. The men are concerned that Johnny isn’t ready for the mission. Their concerns are well-founded. During the getaway, things go wrong: a mill employee is killed, and Johnny is injured, hiding out in a shelter. The entire city knows what happened, and everyone begins looking for Johnny, including his men, the police, Kathleen, and the locals who want to snag the considerable reward for Johnny’s capture. The hunt is on.

It’s the people Johnny meets and how they react to him that give Odd Man Out a depth and brilliance that you simply must experience for yourself. Some critics believe Odd Man Out is better than Reed’s undisputed 1949 masterpiece The Third Man. After watching both, it’s difficult to argue.

Some have questioned whether Odd Man Out is a film noir at all. Unquestionably it is, not only because of its superb nighttime cinematography (including the gorgeous way the rain and shadows play on brick and cobblestone), but also its themes of trust, betrayal, compassion, and greed. Odd Man Out is amazing for what it does and possibly even more for what it does not do: linger on issues of politics and religion.

La Bête Humaine (1938) Jean Renoir (2x, previously viewed in 2020)

Recently discussed here

Murder, My Sweet (1944) Edward Dmytryk (2x, previously viewed in 2013)

Recently discussed here

The Naked City (1948) Jules Dassin (2x, previously viewed in 2012)

Recently discussed here

Blood Simple (1984) Joel Coen (2x, previously viewed in 1985)

When I saw Blood Simple in 1985 (from a VHS rental), I remember thinking, “This is familiar, yet I’ve never seen anything else quite like it.” I dismissed the feeling, but after becoming a fan of the Coen brothers’ subsequent films, I can’t explain why it took me nearly 40 years to revisit their first picture. Maybe it had to do with not knowing anyone in the film besides M. Emmet Walsh, I don’t know, but Blood Simple displays so much of what we would see in future movies from Joel and Ethan Coen: intelligent scripts, gray lines of morality, brutally dark comedy, sudden violence, characters who can think, and much more. Don’t miss out on this wonderful treasure.

Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950) Otto Preminger (4x, previously viewed in 2015)

Recently covered here

Violent Saturday (1955) Richard Fleischer (2x, previously watched in 2017)

Violent Saturday is something of an oddity. It’s a color CinemaScope film noir that’s equal parts crime picture and melodrama. Think The Asphalt Jungle meets Peyton Place. A trio of bank robbers (Stephen McNally, Lee Marvin, and J. Carrol Naish) arrive in the mining town of Bradenville, Arizona to knock over the local bank. Bradenville seems quaint and innocent but is filled with adulterous affairs, a larcenous librarian, a peeping-tom bank manager, and more. The local sheriff, Shelley Martin (Victor Mature) has his own issues: his son thinks his dad’s a coward. You’d think none of this could merge into anything resembling a satisfying crime picture, but it does. And where else can you see Ernest Borgnine as an Amish farmer tempted not to turn the other cheek? For something a little different, I highly recommend tracking down Violent Saturday.

The Big Sleep (1946) Howard Hawks (3x, previously watched in 2016)

In my recent “What Did You Read” post, I mentioned my idea to compare Raymond Chandler’s novel The Big Sleep (1939) with the 1946 and 1978 film adaptations, but I’m not sure I can wrap my head around all that. Without getting into details, the spirit of the novel is present in the 1946 film, yet the relationship between Chandler’s P.I. Philip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) and Vivian Rutledge (Regan in the book, played in the film by Lauren Bacall) is very different. A filthy-rich and ailing General Sternwood (Charles Waldron) is being blackmailed and hires Marlowe to see what he can do to stop it. There’s much more to it, and while Chandler touches on themes of chivalry, the degradation of humanity, and the artificiality of Los Angeles, Hawks is primarily concerned with delivering a terrific detective story. Chandler and Hawks both succeed, so comparing the two versions is somewhat pointless. If you’ve read the book, don’t expect the film to match it note-for-note. The same goes for those who’ve seen the movie but haven’t read the novel. Both are dark, labyrinthine, and spectacular. The Warner Archive Blu-ray contains two editions of the film, a documentary on why there are two versions, and much more. I challenge you to read the novel and watch the 1946 film. (I’m going to revisit the 1978 version soon.)

For all you noir heads, let me know what you rewatched, what holds up, and what doesn’t.