firstly, what is film noir ?

secondly, my choices:

1- blood simple (1980): has the darkness. most of the film - at least the juiciest portions - occurs at night. and the coens brood better than most.

2- key largo (1948) speaking of brooding . . . bogie owns . .. his laconic delivery and heavy eyes are ideal complements to any gangster flic.

3- chinatown (1974) - the ending makes this the creepiest noir ever.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: syzygy,

Film Noir is probably my favorite genre and what is interesting about noirs is that as a category it didn't exist. No one set out to make a noir, it was a designation given to a group of movies after the fact.

Noirs prove to be popular draws at repertory houses.

A few of my faves, include OUT OF THE PAST, with Robert Mitchum, arguably the quintessential film noir actor. Jane Greer was never better as the femme fatale and Kirk Douglas was very good playing a smarmy character.

LAURA is arguable Otto Preminger's best film and it features a terrific story and a great performances. Gene Tierney was beautiful and Clifton Webb was terrific.

I guess you could classify THE POSTMAN ONLY RINGS TWICE as a noir and this film was arguable Lana Turner's finest. John Garfield, always an interesting actor, was also good.

Another good noirish film is another film Garfield starred in, Abraham Polonsky's FORCE OF EVIL. Polonsky was later blacklisted, a true shame because he was a terrific screenwriter & director. His career never really recovered from the blacklist.

Film Noir is a pretty open category all right, but several that I enjoy would include:

The Maltese Falcon
Double Indemnity
Detour
Crossfire
The Big Sleep (1946)
The Killers (1946)
Nightmare Alley
Odd Man Out
The Third Man
Gun Crazy (1949)
Night of the Hunter
Touch of Evil
Hundreds of others

I think Chinatown counts... and gets my vote

A great film noir parody…Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982)