In the 1974 film Chinatown starring Jack Nicholson as JJ ‘Jake’ Gittes who is a private detective who seems to specialize in matrimonial cases. A suspecting wife who suspects her husband is having an affair hires him. Hollis is the builder of the cities water supply. When he realizes that an impersonator and not the real Mrs. Mulwray hired him. Mr Mulwray is found dead. Now caught in a web of deceit and lies involving murder and corruption. He must find out what the right thing to do is and escape from this mess he got himself into. Chinatown is a classic modern day film noir with dynamic characters that maybe considered the best film noir characters in the genre. This movie has a great ending and you really appreciate the movie and the complexity of Roman Polanski’s greatest films. If you want to get students or anyone into the film noir genre this is the movie they should watch first. It was a very good film with a great story.

In the 1983 film Blade Runner starring Harrison Ford, it takes place in Los Angeles the year 2019. Rich Deckard is a blade runner, a hunter of the replicants. Humans have engineered Replicants, which are designed as humans for labor and entertainment. They are illegal on earth, and the blade runner is supposed to hunt them down and kill them. This group of replicants known as Nexus 6 life span is nearly up. So Rich Deckard is out to find these replicants and kill them. As the film goes on you question if Rich Deckard is a replicant himself implanted with memories of a former human. The film ends with the viewer speculating if he truly is human or not. This is one of my favorite movies for many reasons one being it’s a classic science fiction. I consider it a film noir for many reasons because there are many similar qualities like a crime, a law official, a femme fatale, and criminals.

In the film noir The Asphalt Jungle from 1950 you are introduced to Doc a legendary crime brain just out of prison. He has a plan for a million dollar burglary. Doc recruits a team of drivers, financial backers, safecrackers and a strong-arm by the name of Dix Handley. The plan goes like clockwork, and then slowly accidents start to occur to derail the robbery. Dix knows a women by the name if Doll Conovan who gets involved in the mess that Dix and Doc have gotten into. With the police on their tail they split up, with Doc getting caught and Dix being able to get home to his farm in Kentucky. This was an interesting film noir, but it was not the best the plot took a while to develop it could have been better but it set the tone for a classic film noir in the class.

The 1985 film Brazil is an odd film, it is very similar to the novel by George Orwell 1984. This movie focuses on Sam Lowry, who is a low level ministry work but is good at his job. His mother is an influential member of society. Sam is a daydreamer and he wants to fall in love with his dream girl. Throughout the film we follow Sam as he experiences the society which is under heavy surveillance, the government does not permit you to make an adjustments to the ducts without ministry approval. Sam meets his femme fatale in Jill Layton as she is trying to escape Sam as she thinks he is a part of the ministry to retain her. Same accepts the new job his mom gets him through connections she has. As he starts his new job he uses the information to track down Jill. He tracks her down and tries to escape. But they are both captured and are charged with treason. He finds out that Jill was murdered for resisting arrest. He then falls into a day dream where he dreams he escapes and is able to get away with Jill and live happily ever after. We are then aware that Sam was dreaming of his escape the whole time. As Sam is still strapped to the chair being observed by his fellow friends and they deem him a lost cause.

In this 1944 American Film Noir film the protagonist Phillip Marlowe is hired by Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend Velma Valento since he was released from jail. As the story goes on Phillip is dragged into a bigger problem than he originally though. He witnesses a murder of someone trying to get back his jewelry. Then has Marlowe goes in deeper he sees there is more to the store then a lost girlfriend. Phil meets Helen Grayle his femme fatale who turns out to be Velma. She has coned an older man into marrying her and plans to kill him and take his money. He tries to stop it and in the end Moose, Mr. Grayle and Velma end up dying in an odd love triangle. But Marlowe ends up getting Ann Grayle the girl he has had his eye on since the beginning of the movie.

The Set-Up is a 1949 film noir movie that is based on American boxing, it is starring Robert Ryan as Stoker Thompson, and Audrey Totter as Julie Thompson his wife. This is unlike all of the other film noirs we have watched in class because it is not solely based on crime, and murder like the others are. This is based on fixing a boxing match, between two boxer’s managers, and one boxer learning the consequence of not going through with the fix.

We are introduced to Stoker Thompson an older boxer way past his prime fighting to keep his head afloat and he has the mentality that he is only one big win away from a title shot. His wife does not want to hear it, she has been dealing with this for too long and is tired of seeing him get beaten badly. Throughout the movie you go through a perfect image of a film noir city/ setting. There is a lot of perfect silence throughout the film that really drives the point of certain scenes. It starts out in a dingy lockeroom for Stoker contemplating his fight and hoping his wife shows up. As he enters the ring with a young gun he realizes that Julie is not there, which then leads him to fighting his heart out for Julie to prove that he is not done that he has more fight left in him. His manager sees that he is clearly winning each round and may have a shot at beating him in the third round he tells Stoker take a dive that if you do not we will be in a lot of trouble. He is not going to take a dive he does not find that satisfactory. His manager and trainer leaves before the fight is over because he nearly has won and it’s inevitable that the knock out is going to come.

As the fight is over and he is approached by the other manager and gangster he realizes how much trouble he actually is in, and it is time for him to leave without being seen. He finds a door to an alley but eventually gets caught. As they hold him down he gets beaten so badly they even break his hand to the point he cannot fight anymore. Julie is worried she looks out the window to see Stoker in the gutter by the arena and rushes to his aid. Stoker realizes the stupid thing he has done and comes to the conclusion that his career as a boxer is over. This was a really good movie in my opinion I enjoyed it, I liked the change of pace it had as a film noir genre there was not that much murder and you reflected with Stoker through the whole movie. The movie device of silence was well placed throughout the movie and really made it complete.

Out of the Past is a film noir that was released in 1947 starring Robert Mitchum as Jeff Bailey, and Jane Greer as Kathie Moffat. This was one of my favorite film noirs we have watched in the class for many reasons. The story was great for starters, but I enjoyed how they retold Jeff Bailey’s past. It was also a change of pace compared to other film noir movies there were crimes and murder but the way they introduced it in the story was enjoyable. There is the classic film noir characteristics in this movie such as shadow, sleazy characters, questionable motives and actions.

Jeff Bailey is introduced as a gas station attendant that is trying to live his life then as the movie stats his past comes for him, an old friend stops by and tells Jeff that an old employer of his Whit Sterling wants to meet with him and to go to this address. As he is on his way to Sterling’s house he tells his current girlfriend the history that has led up to this meeting. She is worried for him since she thinks he is going to be murdered for having something to do with Jack Fisher’s death and not being honest that he found Kathie while in Mexico. Jeff is surprised to see Kathie there and realizes that Whit knows the whole story that Kathie, Jeff’s femme fatale has double crossed him while taking the money and now Whit wants Jeff dead. As the story goes on Jeff realizes that it is Kathie at the root of all the problems. Jeff returns to Whit’s house to find him dead and Kathie with the smoking gun, so Jeff calls the police because he knows he is next. Kathie takes Jeff and all the money and leaves and encounters the police on the way out she shoots Jeff then she gets shoot resulting in their deaths. As the movie comes to a close Ann questions if Jeff ever loved him or was he still in love with Kathie his femme fatale.

Jeff Baliey makes for a great film noir character with morals, and a heart as he is trying to remake his life and escape his past it catches up to him and leads to his demise.

Double Indemnity is a movie filmed in 1944 starring Fred MacMurray as Walter Neff, and Barbara Stanwyck as Phyllis Deitrichson. The term Double Indemnity stands for a type of clause in certain insurance policies that pays double when the death is caused by a certain accidental means. This is a perfect example to a film noir for many reasons. Some of those reasons are that they follow a certain character doing unmoral things, and being dragged in by his femme fatale, also the shadows and sleazy settings throughout the movie, the places they meet and interact, and even how they organize and go through with the murder.

The film starts off with us being introduced to Walter Neff and trying to renew Phyllis’s husband car insurance and she inquires about accident insurance. Walter is then dragged into an elaborate murder organized by both parties. As they complete the murder, Walter realizes what he has done and tries to fix some of his mistakes by not getting certain people in trouble, confusing his mistakes so after he dies the truth will be known, and he even goes as far as killing Phyllis the women who he thought he loved throughout the movie. A classic line from this movie is who knew murder smelled like sweet honey suckle which symbolizes he was drawn in by her sweet scent and beauty, then committed a murder that was not warranted of a man that did nothing wrong. As the movie ends his boss Keyes catches him and calls the police and the movie ends on the scene of him possibly enjoying his last cigarette and bleeding out. This movie has a classic story line that was adapted from the novel written James M. Cain it will be enjoyed for many years to come and still recognized as one of the best film noirs every created.