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"Forum Moderator"
Super Bad-Ass Jedi
Posted
I hope everybody likes a good mystery. It just seems that nowadays, most mysteries are either horror flicks or only seem to be a mystery after a surprise ending, not during the bulk of the film. There have been several great mysteries adapted from Agatha Christie, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, James M. Cain, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allan Poe, and many newer writers, which I'll leave for you guys to add.

I read all the Dashiell Hammett mysteries, and my favorite was "The Maltese Falcon". When John Huston adapted it for his first film as a director, he had the common sense to leave 95% of the plot and dialogue intact. You can't really fiddle with perfection. Huston did do an incredible job of casting the film and shooting and editing it so that there's basically not a wasted second.

On the other hand, there have been some original mysteries produced for the screen, including (if I'm not mistaken), "se7en" and "The Usual Suspects." But for my money, the best original film mystery is "Chinatown." It's not a coincidence that the main character is a private detective in California, and that John Huston plays a significant role in the proceedings. Great job by director Roman Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne.

Well, I hope I left enough for people to share, or just tell me I'm a bag of hot air. C'mon, sharin' is carin'!


"Naked Woman, Naked Man
Where did you get that nice sun tan?"
 
Posts: 12874 | Location: Behind the Orange Curtain | Registered: 14 May 2004Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
"Forum Moderator"
Super Bad-Ass Jedi
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I love the Hitchcock mysteries best- Rear Window, Marnie, The Trouble with Harry (caught this again recently), Rebecca, etc, etc.

Other favorites include Mulholland Drive, Bunny Lake Is Missing, The Seven-Percent Solution, Smilla's Sense of Snow, Manhattan Murder Mystery, the already mentioned Memento and especially Picnic at Hanging Rock.
 
Posts: 8456 | Location: State of Insanity | Registered: 22 September 2005Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Apprentice Guru
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Terenigma, did you mean Memento? If you did, I agree that that was a great mystery. One of my favorites is also Minority Report. I think this movie was genius and is way under appreciated. The sci-fi futuristic-ness combined with mystery and action along with good acting from Tom Cruise and excellent direction by Steven Spielberg or as Tom Hanks calls him "The Big Cheese."
 
Posts: 451 | Location: Northern California | Registered: 16 August 2004Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Upwardly Mobile Participant
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I gotta go with "The Usual Suspects" here. I looooove that film.
 
Posts: 64 | Location: sf, ca | Registered: 16 August 2004Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
International Playboy
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I've always been a pretty huge fan of "Deathtrap" (1982) starring Christopher Reeve, Michael Caine, and Dyan Cannon. At the time, I remember that the most shocking thing about the movie for me, as a fairly sheltered 11-year-old, was the fact one guy passionately kisses another guy on the big screen. But after I got over that one, the climactic final scenes were absolutely terrifying. It also has some amazingly cool twists. If you haven't seen it, I'm sure you'd like it.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Metacritic Games Editor,


Death to Videodrome... long live the new flesh!
 
Posts: 392 | Location: Santa Monica | Registered: 12 May 2004Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Enthusiast
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Ima Go With Momento And Basic Is Also A Kool Mystery Kinda Film That I Love


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Posts: 84 | Registered: 29 August 2004Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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I like se7en but didnt think it was that great. As for recent movies, momento was a good mystery. So was minority report. The Silence of the Lambs was a good mystery, at least if you would consider it a mystery.

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Posts: 635 | Location: California | Registered: 24 August 2004Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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