movies

The Thin Man
One of my favorites of all time. Featuring Nick (William Powell) and Nora (Myrna Loy) Charles, The Thin Man, based on the novel by Daschiell Hammett, is one of those 1930's movies where the gin is straight, the eyelashes are false, and the murder is real. Apparently, while the rest of the country was mired deep in the Great Depression, Nick and Nora had no financial woes and traveled the country living off the fortune her father left her.

When old friend, Mr. Wynant, turns up missing, his daughter, Dorothy, calls on Nick Charles to track the absent-minded old man down. Poor Nick is retired from sleuthing and has no interest in taking the case...until Mr. Wynant's secretary-slash-girlfriend is murdered. Wynant's watch chain is clenched in the still-warm hand of the corpse and Mr. Wynant goes from missing father to murder suspect in an instant. Dorothy, in an effort to protect her father, takes a stab at confessing to the crime.

Now Nick is on the job with his wife, Nora and their trusty dog, Asta, by his side.

Like I said, I love this movie. Films from this decade are filled with actors predisposed to speaking in stage dialect. Vowels are exaggerated and 'r' sounds are unheard of...as for dipthongs...don't get me stah-ted, dah-ling.

If you like a good murder mystery, check this one out. It's one to own, not rent. And keep in mind, it was nominated for four academy awards, including Best Picture, in 1934.

This is Noir all the way, baby. There's the cheeky narration filled with the hard-luck story, encounters with shady characters, and the downward spiral so common in Noir. Men wear fedoras. Women are dames. Everyone smokes.

Mystery starts right away as poor Al (Tom Neal) hitches a ride with a hitchhiker "goin' all the way to L.A." The driver has three scratches on his right hand from the wildest of animals...a woman. When she refused his advances, he tossed her out on the road. (Clearly, sexual harrassment was not considered a crime back then.)

The driver buys Al a meal and then falls asleep, never to wake again. And that's just the beginning of poor Al's trouble.

Several times during the movie I found myself saying, "Stop! You idiot! Don't do it!" But Al didn't listen to me, and I had to watch that inevitable downward spiral that is Noir, not liking Al, but unable to look away from his predicament.

A happy ending? No way. But a good film for the genre of Noir. For the true collector, this is a "must have" not a rental. For those sissies out there who aren't real fans...don't even bother watching it. You won't get it and you certainly won't appreciate it.

I watch a lot of movies. A lot of movies. Most of them black and white, all of them great. And I love each and every one.

This page is a tribute to a few. I'll try my best to bring you one a month. Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to watch and enjoy. If you can't enjoy, than at least appreciate. And if you can't appreciate, then beat it, chump...

Movie for March 2008
The Maltese Falcon
Come on, man. You knew I’d bring this one to the front of the list sooner or later. This is arguably the gold standard for film noir…gritty, unhappy, everyone has a motive, and everyone is flawed (hopelessly so).
Humphrey Bogart is Sam Spade, the detective to rival all detectives, in this dark mystery. And no one could have pulled it off like Bogie. With his dark looks, his tough but wiry frame, and his overly expressive eyes, Bogart brings the tortured soul of Sam Spade to life.
It’s the story of a bird…or the quest for one…and the mystery surrounding the deaths surrounding the bird that Spade must unravel. There are plenty of twists and turns, most of them manipulated by the silver screen’s first femme fatale, Brigid O’Shaughnessy (played by Mary Astor), who has no less than three (count them, THREE) names in the movie. Talk about trouble…
When Sam’s partner, Miles Archer is murdered after being hired by Brigid, the cops think Spade may have had a hand in it. After all, Sam was boinking Mrs. Miles Archer, so who had better motive? Hmmm. Guess you’ll have to watch and see.
Is there a happy ending? Hell no. This is NOIR, remember. This film was directed by John Huston (his directorial debut). The original book was written by Dashiell Hammett.
This isn’t my favorite film, but it is an important picture. Spade set the standard for all noir…anything aspiring to be noir came from this movie. Can you disagree with me? Of course you can. But you’d be wrong.
And now, you want to know whether to rent or buy. Buy it. This is it. This is THE movie that started it all, baby. Don’t let it pass you by.