Crime classics

[Connavar]

Im about to watch Point Blank from 1967 with Lee Marvin. I have heard good things about it.

It made me think about if there is other older classic crime/noir movies people would recommend. I want you guys with a better and bigger movie history and knowledge help me out.


Also no need to recommend Humphrey Bogart's Noir movies that based on Chandler and Hammett's books, as a admirer of Bogart i have seen most of those movies

[Foxbat]

Fritz Lang's Scarlet Street is an interesting example of film noir. It's got the great Edward G. Robinson in the leading role and has plenty plot twists.

[Connavar]

Good to know thanks.


Also to everyone dont forget to recommend movies from other places like europe,asia etc

[iansales]

Pretty much anything directed by Otto Preminger.

[Connavar]

Originally Posted by iansales

Pretty much anything directed by Otto Preminger.

What kind of movies did he do ?


Just to know what to expect, so i can look after something of his that sounds interesting to me.

[iansales]

In the 1940s and 1950s, mostly noir - see here. Whirlpool, Where the Sidewalk Ends, Fallen Angel... loads of them :-)

[Foxbat]

He also did my favourite Sinatra movie - The Man With The Golden Arm

[TK-421]

Avoid The Black Dahlia. Big disappointment.

But L.A. Confidential was a good one.

[Connavar]

You mean the modern ones right ?

I was hoping for movies that isnt as new and well remembered like that.


I think i have seen every famous crime and gangster movie since the early 80's.

Its older than the 80's or less famous works i have problem with.

[littlemissattitude]

White Heat (1949). Starred James Cagney, Virgina Mayo, and Edmond O'Brien. Directed by Raoul Walsh. Classic.

Edited to add: How could I have forgotten Double Indemnity (1944), starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, and Edward G. Robinson. Noir at its best.

[littlemissattitude]

Sorry for the double post, but I thought of another one.

The Thomas Crown Affair (1968). This is the original version, starring Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway. Amazing film. Not as old as the others, but it is 40 years old now, so maybe it fits your criteria.

Also, the theme song is one of my favorite movie songs of all time, "The Windmills of Your Mind". The lyrics begin:

Round, like a circle in a spiral,
Like a wheel within a wheel.
Never ending or beginning,
On an every spinning wheel.

Which captures the complexity of the film perfectly.

[Foxbat]

Originally Posted by littlemissattitude

White Heat (1949). Starred James Cagney,

Still Hollywood's greatest bad guy in my opinion.

Other Cagney notables are The Public Enemy, The Roaring Twenties and Angels With Dirty Faces.

[Connavar]

Foxbat and littlemissattitude thats exactly what im looking for thanks


Double post how many times you want if you are adding other classic crime movies

[Foxbat]

Amazon UK are selling the Cagney signature collection for £15. It contains all the films mentioned (White Heat, Public Enemy, Roaring Twenties, Angels With Dirty Faces). They are all highly recommended but I don't know what £15 (not a lot for 4 movies in the UK) equates to in Swedish money

[Musky]

If you like the noir classics, you have to include movies with Sterling Hayden. If you can find them, check out Naked Alibi, Suddenly, The Asphalt Jungle, and The Killing. The last is a Stanley Kubrick movie about a race track heist. The one before it is a jewel heist. All four are really good.

Don't forget Orson Welles' Touch of Evil. Welles directed and plays a sweating, wheezing, corrupt, immensely fat Mexican border town police captain. It's a can't miss.

Try Robert Mitchum in Out of the Past, Cape Fear (the original), and The Night of the Hunter.

For a little different twist on Chandler's Marlowe, try Murder, My Sweet, starring Dick Powell. This more light hearted portrayal is maybe my favorite.

There are so many great crime/noir movies from the 40's, 50's, and 60's.

Don't forget Chinatown with Jack Nicholson.