Author Archives: Martin

Chinatown

The movie Chinatown was probably the best film we’ve watched in this class. The movie kept on a good storyline and kept the characters realistic. I enjoyed the scenes where he was spying on Mr Mulwray and how he used a spare watch to track how long he stayed at a place. The film was very interesting but I was not satisfied with its ending. After Evelyn was killed her daughter was taken by the father leaving Jake alone and basically broken as the movie ended with the quote “Forget it Jake it’s Chinatown” which basically told us he finally gave up. This actually came unexpected as the typical noir has some type of closure to the conflicts in the film.

Brazil and 1984

Its quite clear to see that the film Brazil was based off 1984. Although in my opinion 1984 had more of a story line to it then Brazil. If both works you see a totalitarian government who is watching over its city and punishing people who do not follow their rules. In 1984 we have Winston who works for the ministry of records changing documents to suite the needs of the Government and in Brazil we have Sam Lowry who also works at a department of documents.

Both main characters are meant to start off boring and have a boring life until they meet a catalyst for example in 1984 Winston meets Julia and in Brazil Sam meets Jill and Mr Tuttle. After meeting these people the main character begins to change and want to do more then just records but want to go against this “perfect” society.

The Set-Up

The set-up film and the poem had many differences. The poem had a person named Pansy Jones while the movie had Stoker as its main protganonist. In the film Stokers manager arranged for a fight to be set up and stoker to lay down at the 3rd round after a punch. He did this without informing Stoker of his plans because he believed Stoker would lose regardless. The rounds went on and Tiger Nelson did a number on Stoker until they reached the 4th and final round where Stoker knocked out Tiger. When the manager saw Stoker had a chance he left the arena. After the fight Little Boy went to see Stoker and basically threatened him. Stoker being fearful tried to run away and leave the arena through a different exit but they found him. He fought back but he was out numbered then he punched Little Boy and thats when they decided to break his hand with a brick. In the end the wife claimed he got what he wanted which was him to win the fight and she got what she wanted which was him to stop fighting.

The film had many clips of crowds and the crowd mentality. We see alot of aggression in the crowd towards the boxers. Also in the end the numbers game on Stoker really took him out. It shows how powerful a crowd can be because had Little Boy gone alone to rough up Stoker I’m sure he would of lost.

Asphalt Jungle

Asphalt Jungle is a variation of the types of film noir we have normally watched in this class. This noir was based on a heist rather then a specific person who was a detective. The main protagonist Dix was hired to be a body guard for the heist his job was to make sure they got out safely without any human interference. Unlike other film noir’s he was not convinced to do this by a femme fatale he did it because he wanted the money for the job. They complete the heist successfully but do not all come out healthy as the driver was shot in the process of getting out. They are then double crossed by the people who were set to buy the jewels from them and the story takes a bit of a turn from a successful heist. Now the police are after the man who set up the heist and find out about the man who wanted to buy the jewels.

I liked this movie the most of all the ones we watched because there was never really a solid victory. The characters never had a strong confidence in what they were doing and it showed. This swayed my belief that main protagonist in film noirs lacked emotion and were extremely confident in themselves.

Murder My Sweet

This was a very interesting movie with good intertwining story lines. It began with the detectives first client who was a big man looking for someone. The detective listened and received a description of who he was looking for. The big man takes him out to drink and gets into a fight then somewhat forgets who the detective is and what hes doing for him for a moment. This showed the  big man isn’t very smart and seems to be easily convinced. The detective later had a man enter his office who was telling him about a trade off for a Jade necklace and wanted the detective to help him but the detective wanted no part until the man started waving his money around. The detective later asissts the man in his venture only to be knocked out and see his client beaten to death. The detective then decided to look into this mystery and started snooping around until the end of the film where the criminal was revealed to be the person he was looking for all along for the big man. This movie was much more entertaining in comparison to the other film noirs we have watched in the class.

Out of the past

This film begins with a man looking for Jeff Bailey. Jeff Bailey is a simple gas station owner. He works with a kid who is deaf. The man looking for hims starts at a diner then travels to the gas station asking the kid some questions. This man then speaks to Jeff about their old life about how they both were detectives. Jeff then reveals his past to his girlfriend telling her the entire story of his life as a detective and how he buried his partner who his old girlfriend killed.

I enjoyed this film the most out the ones prior because it had a much more interesting storyline. The characters seemed much more realistic and the story kept itself interesting. The loyalty each character had was questionable except for the kid. Since the beginning you could tell the kid was going to be loyal to Jeff since he looked like he didn’t trust anyone later he saves Jeff’s life. This film was the typical film noir with a femme fatale who gets the main protagonist Jeff in trouble except in this film she tries it twice, once being in the past and then again in the present.

Double Indemnity

This movie would stand as a perfect example to what we spoke about in regards to femme fatales. The femme fatale of this movie is Phyllis a lady who leads the main character into danger by basically seducing him and making him want to live his life with her. She feigns naivete by allowing him to take the blame when they spoke about the murder of her husband even though she has killed before as described by her daughter.

In comparison to the Maltese Falcon I would have to say this movie developed the characters to a more realistic perspective. Each character had their own emotions and showed them accordingly. You could see the feelings of regret on the main protagonist when his partner starts questioning the death of the man. You could also see his fear when the femme fatales daughter tells him the story about her real mother and how her step-mother was there when she died.

Maltese Falcon

This movie had multiple genre conventions for mystery and detective films. To start the movie it had the typical private detective office with the shaded windows that said private which I believe no longer is a convention in modern day detective films. Another convention that I noticed was when the main detective arrived to the scene of his partners death and already knew the crime scene and how it happened with seconds of arriving. That’s usually done to portray the abilities and skills of the characters in most films. Another convention I saw would be when he looked around and instantly picked something up and concluded it was a clue to the mystery.

The detective in this film was your typical superman. He was capable of describing a whole murder scene seconds after getting there. He lacked emotions which allows him to always be focused on the tasks at hand and hes witty, quick and can disarm a man aiming a gun at him with no signs of fear. He was also capable of spotting a man tailing him. His relationship towards other characters showed his knowledge of the law, the fear policemen had of him. He was a ladies man and was a very good speaker as well.

I’m not a fan of black and white but I believe this movie had a very good story line. I didn’t like how they made the main protagonist so fearless, emotionless, and extremely witty as I believe they went overboard to show his abilities in this film. Overall It did keep my interest as long as I ignored the lack of flaws the main detective had.