Tough guys and seductive women are at the heart of these crime films from the 1940s and on. Film noir brought us the iconic images of the hard-boiled private eye and the alluring femme fatale, but just as important to the appeal of these films is the atmosphere: moody, dark, and dangerous.
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Fresh from a stint in prison, an older burglar assembles a crackerjack group of experienced criminals for a big jewel heist, one of the tensest and most realistic action sequences ever filmed. Sterling Hayden stars, and Jean Hagen and a young Marilyn Monroe shine in supporting roles. | |
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Around the time his investigation of a fellow officer's death begins pointing to the mob, homicide detective Dave Bannion (Glenn Ford) encounters signs of corruption in the force. When he refuses to back off in his investigation, the ramifications are felt shockingly close to home. Gloria Grahame is stunning as a mol's girlfriend who finds reason to question her allegiances. | |
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Tough-talking private eye Philip Marlowe is hired to find out who's blackmailing a dying General's beautiful yet dangerous daughter, but the case soon opens a Pandora's box of family secrets. The thrilling action, bracing cinematography and memorable dialogue trump the famously convoluted plot. Featuring the incomparable team of Bogey and Bacall. | |
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Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) is an insurance agent making a typical house call, but when a flirtatious lady of the house (Barbara Stanwyck) asks how to buy a large insurance policy on her husband�s life without his knowledge, Neff realizes there�s nothing routine about this particular case. | |
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Gilda |
Not long after small-time crook Johnny Farrell arrives in Argentina, he's rescued from a vicious beating by a casino owner who takes Farrell under his wing, making him his right-hand man. But when his new boss returns from a trip with his new wife Gilda (Rita Hayworth), a beautiful woman Farrell once has a tempestuous relationship with, things get complicated. |
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This mean and lean cult classic was made over a decade before Bonnie and Clyde but begs comparison. Gun-loving Bart Tare and carnie sharpshooter Annie Starr fall hard for each other, but when the money runs out the doomed lovers hit the road on a crime spree. | |
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Dix Steele (Humphrey Bogart) is a talented but unsuccessful screenwriter who falls under suspicion for murder because of his history of violent outbursts. Around this time he meets Laurel Gray (Gloria Grahame), an aspiring actress he begins to fall in love with. She believes him to be innocent, but she is also troubled by his violent tendencies, and the question remains whether they can have a future together. | |
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Laura |
The more Detective Mark McPherson (Dana Andrews) learns about beautiful young socialite Laura Hunt, whose murder he's been assigned to investigate, the more he finds himself falling strangely in love with her. In that regard, he has plenty of competition from snobby columnist Waldo Lydecker (Clifton Webb), not to mention Hunt's fianc� (Vincent Price) in this biting, twisty masterpiece. [Inspired David Lynch to dream up Laura Palmer in Twin Peaks.] |
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Gene Tierney wows as a beautiful neurotic whose jealous nature brings twisted torment to those she loves. The film's breathtaking color photography makes the film a stand-out in a genre celebrated for its black-and-white compositions. Martin Scorsese has cited the film as one of his personal favorites. | |
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Humphrey Bogart plays detective Sam Spade in this thrilling, fast-paced adaptation of a Dashiell Hammett novel. After his partner is killed, Spade becomes embroiled in the treacherous hunt for a priceless golden statuette of a falcon, "the stuff that dreams are made of." | |
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Based on Raymond Chandler's novel Farewell, My Lovely, this adaptation surprised audiences with the daring yet effective casting of the clean-cut Dick Powell in the role of hardboiled detective Philip Marlowe (hero, also, of The Long Goodbye). Marlowe is hired by an ex-con to track down an old girlfriend, a case that leads him through an underworld of blackmail and murder. | |
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Night and the city |
Harry Fabian (Richard Widmark), a small-time hustler in the underbelly of London's East End, dreams up an improbable scheme as a wrestling promoter to escape his debts and become master of his own destiny. In the last film that director Jules Dassin made before being exiled by the blacklist, the noose seems to draw tighter by the minute. |
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Jeff Bailey (Robert Mitchum) is laying low in a small town at the start of this film. Years earlier, he'd been hired by gangster Whit (Kirk Douglas) to track down a woman (Jane Greer) who ran off with a lot of money. Bailey ended up finding, falling for, and being betrayed by this alluring femme fatale. Now Jeff's past has caught up with him, and his troubles have only just begun. | |
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In this popular French noir from the 1960s, Jef Costello is a fedora and trench-coat wearing contract killer with samurai instincts. When Jef assassinates a nighclub owner, he finds himself confronted by a series of witnesses, who drop his perfect world into the hands of a persistent police investigator and Jef's shadowy employer, both of whom are determined to put an end to the career criminal. | |
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A middle-aged banker and painter played by Edward G. Robinson falls in love with a scheming, manipulative femme fatale (Joan Bennett) and begins embezzling money in order to woo her. Wild plot twists and Fritz Lang's direction distinguish this adaptation of a French novel. | |
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In this first pairing of Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake, Ladd plays a hired gun seeking retribution from a backstabbing client and Lake plays a patriotic entertainer enlisted by a Senator to do some undercover investigation. Ladd takes Lake as a hostage but their relationship evolves as it becomes clear they have a common enemy. Based on a novel by Graham Greene. |