When it comes to film noir, there are so many films that possess such overall brilliance they transcend the genre and top many critics lists of best films ever made.
Films like Gilda and Casablanca are considered by many to be 'Noir' but I find both titles too female-centric to sit among the bad boys. I prefer my noir to be hard bitten and bubbling with greed and revenge--romance is another animal altogether.
Ten to love:
Public Enemy - Breakfast? Cagney smashes a grapefruit in his 'moll's' face.
Sunset Blvd - Narrated by a dead man, I'm all ears.
Strangers on A Train- "You're a naughty boy Bruno!"
White Heat- Cagney's Cody Jarrett has a mother complex but he is amazing in every scene.
Double Indemnity- Fred MacMurray and Barbara Stanwyck play against type superbly.
Night of the Hunter- The only film directed by Charles Laughton yet one of the best films of the 1950's (or ever!)
Out of the Past- Nearly every line is quotable. This film is also on my 'what to take to a desert island' list.
Key Largo-Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson made 5 films together, this is my favorite.
The Killers-Hemingway's story of a murdered former boxer is told in flashback by several of the main characters.
Kiss of Death- Richard Widmark as Tommy Udo throws a wheelchair bound woman down the stairs, "Ya lyin' old hag!"
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