Created by Rian Johnson "The ape blows or I clam." Much like The Big Lebowski, Rian Johnson's Brick (2005) is a P.I. film that has everything you'd want in a P.I. film -- except a P.I. And like the Coen Brother's Dude, Brick's BRENDAN FRYE (in an amazing performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a loose cannon, … Continue reading Brendan Frye (Brick)
Tag: Film Noir
Mel Samson (Too Late)
Created by Dennis Huack "I need to change my life." -- Mel Samson MEL SAMSON is the hapless L.A. private eye centrepiece in Too Late, a twisted little bit of cinematic chess perpetrated by writer/director Dennis Hauck that plays with all your favourite P.I. and noir tropes (circa 2016) in all-new ways, thanks to a … Continue reading Mel Samson (Too Late)
Harry Moseby (Night Moves)
Created by Alan Sharp "Ain't it funny how the night moves/When you just don't seem to have that much to lose? Ain't it funny how the night moves/With autumn closing in?" -- "Night Moves" by Bob Seger* One of the great private eye flicks of all time, Night Moves (1975, Warner Brothers) is too often … Continue reading Harry Moseby (Night Moves)
Tim “T.M.” Slade
Created by Raoul Whitfield "Sure." -- Slade's reply to almost everything. In High Tide, a rarely seen but highly recommended little 1947 B noir from Monogram, Lee Tracy plays gruff, crusading Los Angeles tabloid newspaper editor Hugh Fresney and Don Castle plays TIM "T.M." SLADE, a former reporter who's become a private eye. When Fresney, … Continue reading Tim “T.M.” Slade
Al Hickey & Frank Boggs (Hickey & Boggs)
Created by Walter Hill At the time, circa 1998, my original entry on this much loved but definitely bleak cult film had a lot of fun suggesting it was rarely shown because it might contradict Bill Cosby's squeaky clean image as America's favourite TV dad. That was such a long time ago... Actors Robert Culp … Continue reading Al Hickey & Frank Boggs (Hickey & Boggs)
The Neo-Noirs
Noir in the Nineties (Sometimes the Eyes Don't Have It) The private eye film seems to be an increasingly rare animal, but the nineties saw a major rebirth of the crime film. Some of these were small, cash-in-the-empties indie productions, barely appearing in theatres before rushing to video or cable, and others were big budget … Continue reading The Neo-Noirs
My Scrapbook: The Greatest Movie Poster of All Time?
My Scrapbook The Greatest Movie Poster of All Time? If you're a regular visitor to this site, and you haven't seen Chinatown, what the hell are you doing here? Leave this site immediately, and go watch this classic from 1974. You can thank me later. Of course, for those of you still here, I'm sure … Continue reading My Scrapbook: The Greatest Movie Poster of All Time?
My Scrapbook: Chinatown Poster by Genzo
My Scrapbook Chinatown Poster by Genzo Recently, our pal J. Kingston Pierce of The Rap Sheet posted Digging the Art of Chinatown, a mind-blowing array of alternative posters for the 1974 classic, Chinatown, and I have to confess: I was gobsmacked. The variety was startling, and the audacity of some of the twelve posters displayed was staggering. … Continue reading My Scrapbook: Chinatown Poster by Genzo
Bradford Galt (The Dark Corner)
Created by Leonard Q. Ross Pseudonym of Leo Rosten (1908-97) "There goes my last lead. I feel all dead inside. I'm backed up in a dark corner, and I don't know who's hitting me." -- Bradford Galt New York City private detective BRADFORD GALT can't seem to catch a break in the almost-classic noir The Dark … Continue reading Bradford Galt (The Dark Corner)
Jackson Kratz (Eruption)
Created by Justin Welton What the world needs now is... A "porn remake" of Double Indemnity? Yes, that's exactly how A Comprehensive Encyclopedia of Film Noir describes Eruption, an X-rated 1977 cinematic offering that "borrows" the set-up and even lifts some of the dialogue from the 1944 film noir classic, directed by Billy Wilder from … Continue reading Jackson Kratz (Eruption)