Fritz Lang’s seminal German masterpiece is extremely filmic sophisticated for an early sound film. The dark thriller induced the cinematic world to Peter Lorre. Many of the innovations it introduced have become standards in filmmaking. From its precise plotting to its psychological depth to its cutting irony, the film has more in common with modern cinema than the films of its era.

Children sing a song about a child killer on the prowl. Mrs. Beckman (Ellen Widmann) awaits the arrival of her daughter home from school. Cut to: a mysterious man buying her daughter Elsie (Inge Landgust) a balloon from a blind vendor (Georg John, DAS TESTAMENT DES DR. MABUSE). Soon we see that same balloon tangled in electric wires. Lang takes his time setting the emotional state of this German town where the citizens are on edge, wanting to string up anyone who even talks to a child.

Karl Lohmann (Otto Wernicke, DAS TESTAMENT DES DR. MABUSE) is the cocky police inspector who starts raiding known criminal hangouts in a desperate search for the killer. He knows they have little evidence and that 80% of the leads that come in are bogus. All he has is two letters written by the killer, taunting the police. Meanwhile, Schranker (Gustaf Grundgens) gathers the criminal element of the city and organizes a mob of burglars to search for the killer. The police raids are bad for business. The criminals can go where the police cannot go. So it becomes a race to whether the law or the criminals will catch the killer first.

The fact that the criminals do a better job hunting down killer Hans Beckert (Lorre, CASABLANCA) is wonderfully ironic. More irony comes as Beckert is fingered by an unexpected way. He hums the tune “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and it becomes an ominous motif for the character. We hear that tune and we know he’s around even if he’s off screen. Lang was one of the first to use this old stage technique in film. The film’s most famous visual is when Beckert is tagged with an M on his back so that he can be tracked. This leads to a brilliantly constructed sequence where the criminals search a busy office building right at closing time for the killer. It has the feel of a chase scene and a heist film.

The psychology of the characters is complex for a film of its time. Lorre’s Beckert makes an impassioned speech toward the end of the film about his compulsion to kill. His mind is consumed with killing or getting caught at every moment. Only killing can let him release the tension. Wernicke’s Inspector Lohmann is a crafty lawman, who is a predecessor to great lawmen like Tommy Lee Jones’ Samuel Gerard in THE FUGITIVE. His reverse psychology against the burglar Franz (Friedrich Gnass) is classic. Grundgens’ Schranker is a cool customer. His bowler hat, black leather trench coat with the collar turned up and cane make him out like an early gangster and it’s hard not to notice the influence on Kubrick’s A CLOCKWORK ORANGE. He’s a business man who happens to work in an illegal field.

The film ultimately has something to say about the guilt of criminals and the difficult work that men of the law have in catching them. The last note of the film says a lot about the futility of punishment for heinous crimes as well. Lang paints the most difficult issues in gray, while making definitive statements that are hard to argue against. It makes the film’s message powerful and moving. There’s no moralizing here.

Or is he? In 1931, the Nazis were rising to power. The world of M is a paranoid and dirty world where citizens inform on their neighbors and criminals and the law are indistinguishable at times. With this in mind, the final line of the film — “One has to keep closer watch over the children. All of you” — takes on even greater meaning.

Crime has been a topic of films since their beginning. Lang made it art with this one. He used his craft to its fullest extents and expanded it and commented on his times. Every crime story, especially the police procedural and serial killer subgenres, that followed owes a great deal of gratitude to M. But few have even come close to equaling it since.

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I first saw Billy Wilder’s SUNSET BOULEVARD in college and was struck by its dark look at the Hollywood Dream. Now years later, having lived in Los Angeles for 10 years, the film cuts to the bone. One sees William Holden’s character Joe Gillis driving the streets of Hollywood, a few of the buildings are the same, but everything around them are different. When it comes to the tale of a fledging writer and the aging movie star, the types are the same today only the trappings around them have changed.

Gillis has had some minor success as a writer, but he’s now behind on his rent and about to have his car repossessed. By happenchance, he blows a tire and pulls into what he assumes is an abandoned mansion off of Sunset Blvd. Norma Desmond (Gloria Swanson, GREED) is waiting. Her and her dutiful butler Max von Mayerling (Erich von Stroheim, THE GRAND ILLUSION) believe he is a mortician come to deliver the child’s casket for Norma’s dead monkey. It’s a perfect scene to introduce the eccentric star. And when Gillis recognizes her and says, “You used to be big.” She replies, “I am big. It’s the pictures that got small.”

When Norma discovers Gillis is a screenwriter, she wants him to read her manuscript, which is not for her comeback, but for her return. Gillis knows its hack melodrama, but he needs the work and agrees to live over the garage and help Norma clean up her opus. From this point on, both of them know what is really going on, but they put on a show to make it look less desperate. Gillis likes living in a mansion and being pampered. Norma likes having a younger man, who makes her feel that her return is eminent.

While Norma is flamboyant and dramatic, she isn’t haggard. She’s still beautiful at 50, but she’s obsesses over every wrinkle and pound of weight, and overcompensates his loads of makeup. She’s amusing, putting on performances for Gillis. It’s also clear that Max loves her too and will do anything for her. His secret revealed toward the end underscore how far his devotion goes. Both men seem in awe of her at times. If the great Norma Desmond wants us around then we must be special too. Swanson teeters on the edge of caricature for the whole film, but never slips over the edge, until slipping over the edge is required. It’s a classic iconic performance.

Gillis left a paper in Dayton, Ohio to make it big in Hollywood, and dreads admitting failure and going back home. At first, Norma’s offer is a quick fix for his problems, but then something happens. On New Year’s Eve, she throws a party for just them. He knows this day has been coming, but he’s not quite ready to accept how it makes him feel. In the end, as tainted as it may be, he has resigned himself to the fact that Norma might be the closest he ever gets to his Hollywood fairy tale. The screenwriting was just the means to the end. Holden is the perfect fit, good-looking actor for the role. He fills Gillis with wit and cynicism. That’s latter part of his personality is what brings him down.

When the young script reader, Betty Schaefer (Nancy Olson, THE ABSENTMINDED PROFESSOR), finds an honest nugget in one of his scripts, he resists following through with it. He’s been faking it ever since he got to L.A. and this Norma affair is easier than putting his real self out there. He’s the opposite of Norma really. She lives off her former glory, and he lives off his failure, because real success might reveal he’s a hack. His begins his struggle — take the easy way out with Norma or risk it all with Betty.

Wilder, whether working in comedy, drama or noir, had a knack for social commentary. Look at his resume, DOUBLE INDEMNITY, THE LOST WEEKEND, ACE IN THE HOLE, STALAG 17, SABRINA, WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION, SOME LIKE IT HOT, and THE APARTMENT. He knew how to tell a story and create sympathy for characters that might not get it normally. His use of camera was always in service of the material. In SUNSET BLVD., he uses some bold foreground-background framing that draws attention to itself, but he only does so to evoke an off kilter mood. Norma’s mansion is like a reflection of herself. A fading reminder of her former glory, which she can polish up from time to time, but can’t bring back to life fully. And while we’re talking about bold, the dead protagonist narrates the film. Now that’s noir.

Making it and staying on top in Hollywood is tough. No film displays it better than this one. It starts with its gutsy casting. Erich von Stroheim was a top director in the silent days that ended up playing Nazis for years afterward. Norma throws a bridge party that features real silent stars Buster Keaton, Anna Q. Nilsson and H.B. Warner. Gillis cruelly refers to them as the waxworks. When Norma goes to visit the legendary director Cecil B. DeMille, he calls her “little fellow,” which was his actual nickname for Swanson. Real actors names were used. This isn’t a make-believe Hollywood — this is the Hollywood of the 1950s. Wilder was a Tinsel Town insider and he laid secrets bare. And yet, the film could be the Hollywood of today. I’m sure you can think of some modern day Norma Desmonds. You live in L.A. long enough you meet a lot of Joe Gillises.

The inevitable end is a poignant statement on Hollywood and how trying to gain or hold onto fame and fortune can warp your soul. How the easy route can make you lose yourself, but it’s easier than letting go of the illusion and looking at who you really are. And once you’ve been sucked in, it’s nearly impossible to leave. For Norma Desmond, the line between the actor and real life has become indiscernible. Everything she does is a performance even if it’s just for the few people that remain in her life. That’s why the closing line is so brilliant — All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup.

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Ridley Scott’s sci-fi classic brings a film noir feel to a futuristic Earth where human-like renegade androids called replicants are hunted by blade runner assassins. However killing a replicant isn’t murder; it’s retirement. Perfectly paced for its haunting material, BLADE RUNNER is a moody detective story, but also ponders bigger issues about the meaning of life. If you knew that the day of your death was predetermined, but didn’t know the day, how would that affect the way you live your life?

Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford, INDIANA JONES) is the best blade runner around. Detective Bryant (M. Emmet Walsh, BLOOD SIMPLE) calls on his services after four top model replicants escaped an off-world site and since coming to Earth killed a police officer. Deckard is losing the taste for killing replicants, so Bryant keeps creepy detective Gaff (Edward James Olmos, STAND & DELIVER) on his tail. Meanwhile the renegade replicants, led by the military model Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer, TURKISH DELIGHT), begin searching for Eldon Tyrell (Joe Turkel, THE SHINING), the creator of the replicants. In his mission to retire Batty, Deckard visits Tyrell and meets the seductive woman Rachael (Sean Young, NO WAY OUT), who turns out to be the most advanced replicants he has ever seen. Sadly she doesn’t know she isn’t human.

A masterwork of tone, Scott crafted a world that has influenced dozens upon dozens of sci-fi films since. A dirty future that looks like an exaggerated version of the modern world, especially when it comes to over-exaggerated advertising. Scott has tinkered with the film ever since its original theatrical release was hampered with a studio-insisted voice over. Considering the film was a box office failure, but has since gained a classic status since with most fans having long forgotten the original cut, Scott’s true vision has been vindicated. Those fans are the ones that look for something more than the visceral in their sci-fi. BLADE RUNNER is a moody piece, draped in shadows. This has stayed the same across all the versions.

As for the characters, Deckard is a typical film noir, grizzled private eye. He’s manipulated by the cops, who offload their dirty work on him. He falls for a marked woman; one he’s supposed to kill. Ford makes the character a beaten man whose indifference is a hazard of the job. For a top killer, he can be awkward and vulnerable at times. His soft spot for Rachael is against everything he’s supposed to be, but I think he feels sorry for her, because it’s not her choice to be a replicant, just like his role as a blade runner has become. Depending on whether you read Deckard as human or replicant (there are supporters on both sides), the film takes on different nuances. Though Scott has declared that Deckard is a replicant in his mind, the film’s ambiguity allows viewers to make up their own mind, giving the film different readings.

As replicants get older they begin developing emotions, which makes them dangerous. They begin wanting respect. Born fully-grown, Roy Batty is nearing his termination date and like a bitter terminal patient lashes out against God for the bum wrap. In his case, God is Eldon Tyrell, a man who likes to play God. Hauer’s “villain” is one of the most unique in film history, because we develop such sympathy with a character whom we should be scared of.

This sad tale deals with the grandest issue of all — life and death. More specifically, it deals with the quality of life and the mark that we leave behind. If our life at the end amounts to our memories, what was our life worth if there is no one to be a witness to our lives, or even worse discover that part of those memories are completely false? Deckard and Rachael’s unorthodox love becomes key to this idea — life is too short to not follow your heart.

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This short is featured on the Animation Show Vol. 3 DVD.

Many people will know Bill Plympton’s work from his early shorts that aired on MTV, like HOW TO KISS and YOUR FACE. His I MARRIED A STRANGE PERSON! is one of the great (and tragically underrated) animated features. Sadly, SHUTEYE HOTEL is not one of his best efforts. Guest after guest turns up dead at the sleazy Shuteye Hotel. A female detective decides to spend the night as bait to the mysterious killer. However, when the bait gets caught in its own trap, this stakeout could be the detectives last.

With his recent feature HAIR HIGH, Plympton seems to be going through his film noir and horror period. This short sets up the story well, but the pay off is massively anticlimactic. Lifting elements from NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET, Plympton’s homage feels more like a retread. The one gag story never made me laugh and when it was over I was left with the “that’s it?” feeling. While a variance on his typical colored pencil style, his art mixes uncolored line drawings with dramatic flares of color very effectively. Like always, the acting is good with its smart and funny exaggeration. This all goes back to the good set-up leading to a pay-off that quickly lets the air out of the whole production.

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I have a fascination with carnivals and circuses. Many filmmakers have as well Fellini, Bergman both made films set in the circus. So when I first read about this long forgotten film noir gem, I was hooked by the combination of a dark seedy crime story set in the carnival world. Surprisingly what I got was more than that — a thoughtful drama on the psychic con game.

Stanton Carlisle (Tyrone Power, THE MARK OF ZORRO) is a streetwise hustler who finds a home working as the talker at a carnival. He warms the crowd for low rent psychic Zeena Krumbein (Joan Blondell, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN), who use to be in the big time until her partner/husband Pete (Ian Keith, QUEEN CHRISTINA) became lost in the bottle. Zeena and Pete’s legendary act was based on an intricate code, which allowed one person in the crowd to hold up objects obtained from the spectators and relate covertly what they were to the blindfolded “psychic” on stage. The code is worth a fortune and Stanton works his charms on Zeena to learn it. Now with the code, Stanton teams with the beautiful carnie girl Molly (Coleen Gray, RED RIVER) to go legit on the nightclub scene. But as his career skyrockets, Stanton gets greedy and hooks up with the cool and beautiful psychiatrist Lilith Ritter (Helen Walker, CALL NORTHSIDE 777) to turn his mentalist act into a medium.

Harry Houdini made a side career out of debunking psychics. Like Penn & Teller today, he despised tricksters who tried to pan themselves off as having supernatural abilities. This film uncovers how many of those charlatans perform their seemingly otherworldly acts. Stanton is a hustler from the start, a good one. He has a gift for feeling people out. At first we admire him because he is so skilled at what he does, but when he begins to pray on people’s weaknesses and the pain of loved ones they have lost, he begins fooling himself and his own loved ones too.

Matinee idol Power is very charming as the gifted huckster. He plays the audience as much as the marks in the film. But then he steps over a line and we see his downfall coming, which was foreshadowed by a tarot card reading. Power is supported well by the other performers in fairly stock roles. Gray is the cliché supportive wife while Ritter is the icy femme fatale. Blondell has a richer role as the former star, who puts up with traveling the sticks circuit because she loves her drunk of a husband, who is played with great conviction by Keith.

Director Edmund Goulding, best known for the 1932 Oscar winner GRAND HOTEL, doesn’t shy away from the noir conventions of the story, but seems more interested in playing the material as human drama rather than playing up the pulpy side. His pacing is dead on for the most part until he races through the overwrought comeuppance arriving at the pat happy ending. Despite, the forced cheery outlook right before The End card roles, the solid set-up and second act make for a taut and convincing examination of the moral corruption of a con man. As for its relevance today, with psychics on SCI FI crossing over and mediums on Discovery and A&E helping cops with murder investigations, the skepticism of this film is refreshingly progressive now as it was 60 years ago.

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Brian DePalma’s adaptation of James Ellroy’s famed crime novel perfectly displays why the complex story has taken so long to reach the screen, because so much has to be crammed into two hours. The characters suffer from too many emotional leaps as well as an ending that tells the solution of the mystery instead of showing us.

Officer Dwight “Bucky” Bleichert (Josh Hartnett, SIN CITY) is an ambitious young cop and we know this because he tells us in voice over. The L.A. police department needs a funding bill passed, so they stage a benefit boxing fight between Bucky, a former pro, and fellow officer and former pro fighter Leland “Lee” Blanchard (Aaron Eckhart, THANK YOU FOR SMOKING). This raises the two cops up in the ranks of the department. Now as partners, they quickly become good friends. Bucky even gets close to Lee’s girl Kay Lake (Scarlett Johansson, MATCH POINT). Lee is always out for the top collar, but he drops everything when the mutilated body of Elizabeth Short (Mia Kirshner, TV’s THE L WORD) is found in a vacant lot.

Suddenly, Lee is obsessed with finding Short’s killer, which disturbs Kay. Bucky tries to dig up clues, which lead to the mysterious rich girl, Madeleine Linscott (Hilary Swank, MILLION DOLLAR BABY), whose father Emmet (John Kavanagh, ALEXANDER) is a wealthy construction company owner and whose mother Ramona (Fiona Shaw, HARRY POTTER series) is a ridiculous drunk. As secrets are revealed, we’ll get a glimpse into the dark pasts of all the characters.

The first act takes its time developing Bucky and Lee, but once Short’s body is found, the story seems to take huge emotional leaps forward. Lee’s instant obsession with the case seems so abrupt. As the story progresses, the clues to the crime are laid out for us, but it finally reaches a point where writer Josh Friedman has to resort to talking killers to explain what happened. There’s even the addition of a character who we don’t really know or care about.

In many ways, the look and feel of the film reminded me of classic neo-noirs like CHINATOWN and L.A. CONFIDENTIAL. However, those films really sold the characters motivations by developing the characters’ hang-ups and using the events of the plot and those issues to drive the narrative engine forward. I never felt clearly enough what Bucky had emotionally invested in the crimes.

As for the performances, Hartnett and Eckhart don’t stand out, because their characters don’t stand out. Johansson is fine as the girlfriend. The only stand out really is Swank, who gets to play the steamy femme fatale. She’s a versatile actresses whose two Oscar wins are not a fluke. She’s able to develop an original character, yet still slyly hearken back to the sexy temptresses of classic film noir.

DePalma is able to create a proper look and tone, but seems to lose the heart of the story in balancing between the film noir, murder mystery, historical drama and character elements. In the end, the complex plot gets in the way of the emotional resonance. It’s a case of too many ingredients spoiling the stew.

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This neo-noir simmers with sin and corruption. J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson, ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO’S NEST) is a former cop who worked the seedy streets of Chinatown where he eventually became so disillusioned by the violence and sleaze that he left the force and became a private eye. However, that move still doesn’t remove him from violence and sleaze as he becomes notorious for making his living taking incriminating pictures of people. His life seems to be trapped in a vicious circle of meaning well, but always causing others to get hurt.

Then walks in his next case, Mrs. Mulwray wants her husband Hollis (Darrell Zwerling, GREASE) followed, because she suspects that he is cheating on her with a younger woman. So Gittes watches the big wig in the water department as he battles others in the city government who want to build a new dam to supply much needed water to the drought plagued city of Los Angeles. When Gittes and his men get shots of Hollis with the young girl, they end up on the front page of the paper, which is followed by the real Mrs. Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway, NETWORK) wanting to sue and finally Hollis’ murder.

However, nothing is as it seems and Gittes doesn’t like being played for a sap. He pries further into Hollis’ relationship with the girl as well as his recent dealings surrounding the water department. Other characters who play key roles include: Noah Cross (John Huston, 1967’s CASINO ROYALE), the former owner of the water department; Lt. Lou Escobar (Perry Lopez, THE TWO JAKES), who unlike Gittes was able to work his way out of Chinatown, but, in possibly with less than ethical ways; Russ Yelburton (John Hillerman, MAGNUM, P.I.), an exec at the water department; Ida Sessions (Diane Ladd, ALICE DOESN’T LIVE HERE ANYMORE), a call girl who gets wrapped up in the plot; Kahn (James Hong, BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA), the Mulwray’s butler; and Claude Mulvihill (Roy Jenson, 1976’s HELTER SKELTER), a former cop turned hired thug.

If you know anything about the film you at least know there is a big twist. If you don’t know it, it will wallop you when it comes. However, the film isn’t about some big twist, but about the endless cycle Gittes has found himself in. He doesn’t like what he does, but he has to make a living. His time in Chinatown haunts him. However, he isn’t perfect. He’s a bit of a shyster, trying to squeeze every coin he can out of every situation. Yet, he’s not cruel about it. His biggest flaw would be not knowing when to keep his mouth shut. He puts himself and others in danger with snide remarks and the knack for pushing people too far with the damning information he knows. He’s good at his job; crafty and resourceful, which makes us like him. However, he underestimates whom he is dealing with and as things get dicier the situations get more dangerous.

Nicholson becomes Gittes; one cannot see another actor playing the role. I’ve heard writer Robert Towne wrote the part with Jack in mind. Towne’s script plays on the conventional characters of film noir and casts them in a new light. And like classic noir, things don’t always turn out rosy.

However, the darker ending is credited to director Roman Polanski. He uses all his filmic tools to paint a dark and ominous story amid the bright sunshine of L.A. and the art deco style of the 1930s. Along with composer Jerry Goldsmith, Polanski creates an eerie soundtrack that is simple and effective. Another key to the film’s success is Dunaway who brings a unique tone to her neo-femme fatale. She presents herself at first with snobby sophistication. But her sheen begins to crack when her secrets start to come uncovered.

Great performances, masterful direction and an amazingly crafted script all come together in a classic film that pays homage to its genre’s conventions while expanding on them. Film noir is supposed to sink the viewer into the world of crime. CHINATOWN’s shady world is original and unexpected. You never know the extents in which an individual will go.

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Similar to many 1950s crime/message movies, THE PHENIX CITY STORY distinguishes itself with a raw and unflinching look at violence that was uncommon for the era. Based on the true story of Phenix City, Alabama, the film chronicles the men who stood up to 100 years of organized crime in an effort to clean up their town.

The film begins with a very dated documentary segment, which interviews some of the real life people involved in the story. Because it is completely separate from the fictionalized narrative, its weakness can be quickly forgotten. It’s like a bad newsreel was just tacked onto a good movie.

John Patterson (Richard Kiley, BLACKBOARD JUNGLE) is a young lawyer, who after working in Germany, has returned home to Phenix City. His father, Albert (John McIntire, PSYCHO), is the town’s lawyer, who has stayed out of the way of organized crime, which is run by Rhett Tanner (Edward Andrews, TORA! TORA! TORA!), a portly fellow who hides his dark streak behind a genteel southern demeanor.

Ed Gage (Truman Smith, TV’s SERGEANT BILKO) and his son Fred (Biff McGuire, 1968’s THE THOMAS CROWN AFFAIR) are organizing the people of the town to fight the corruption, which leads to beatings and deaths. Ed tries to convince sweet Ellie Rhodes (Kathryn Grant, THE 7TH VOYAGE OF SINBAD) to stop working at Tanner’s gambling club, but the pay is too good for her to leave. When John decides to get involved in fighting Tanner and his men, the situation for him and his family gets dangerous and his wife Mary Jo (Lenka Peterson, DRAGNET) has a hard time copping.

With stale interviews starting the film off, one would expect the film to be a preachy, sanitized version of the story. However, director Phil Karlson (WALKING TALL) and writers Daniel Mainwaring (INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS) and Crane Wilbur (HOUSE OF WAX) infuse the story with brutal violence. This isn’t the sugarcoated mob where violence happens off screen — this is a film where the mob throws little girls from moving cars to make their point. Karlson doesn’t flinch when filming the violence either. One character in close-up gets shot point blank in the face.

Kiley brings a raw anger to his performance that is unnerving when it comes to his confrontation with Tanner. McIntire brings dignity to his role as he reaches the point when he can no longer look the other way. It’s a B-movie, but that’s not a bad thing. It has the grittiness that some of the best B-film noirs have. With the black & white cinematography matching the film’s tone, THE PHENIX CITY STORY tells a true life crime story with brutal honest and dramatic power.

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This modern film noir plays well for its first two acts, but jumps the tracks in the end. It wants to be a film noir, but it wants a happy ending, which is actually vicious when one thinks about it. Moreover, the criminals are so stupid in the end that one cannot believe they would be smart enough to pull off their original crimes in the first place.

Charles Schine (Clive Owen, CLOSER) is an advertising exec, whose daughter, Amy (Addison Timlin, film debut), is suffering from Type 1 diabetes. His wife, Deanna (Melissa George, 2005’s THE AMITYVILLE HORROR), and him worry constantly about their child’s health and the financial strain that it puts on their family. One morning, Charles rides to work on the train and realizes he has no money to pay for his ticket. Sexy stranger Lucinda Harris (Jennifer Aniston, TV’s FRIENDS) offers to pay for him, which Charles feels obligated to pay back.

Lucinda has a playful sexuality about her that tempts Charles, who falls less for her charms and more for their shared misery. She is in a bad marriage and he just needs someone outside of his life to confide in. They end up in a seedy hotel. There, violent thief LaRoche (Vincent Cassel, OCEAN’S TWELVE) robs them and rapes Lucinda. Believing they will not go to the cops because they were caught in affairs, LaRoche begins to blackmail them, threatening to expose their affair and bring harm to their loved ones. Desperate, Charles confides in the mail clerk at work named Winston (RZA, GHOST DOG), who previously served some prison time. Winston devises a plan to scare LaRoche, but as these things go the plot only gets more desperate as Charles’ control of the situation gets more and more out of his hands.

Director Mikael Håfström (2003’s EVIL) crafts a nice noir feel to the first two acts. The mounting problems that Charles has to face add nicely to the dread. However, things become too neat and coincidence takes over too much for the conclusion to work. The film loses its way by trying to play its genre for a twist. The end feels too standard, losing all the tension that has been built. Charles cast as an avenging hero just doesn’t work.

It’s a shame considering Owen, Aniston, Cassel and RZA all provide solid performances. Owen shows he has great range. Aniston at first seems miscast as the sexpot, but she actually is perfect for this sexpot, because it’s less about straight sex appeal and more about the tone and vulnerability of the character. The film made me remember how great the ending to BODY HEAT is. That film understood the genre and carried its bittersweet tone to the very end. DERAILED plays like it wants to be a film noir, but ends up wallowing in revenge thriller land.

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Samuel Fuller’s gritty film noir, PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET, follows the shadowy tale of a ditzy dame and her three-time loser. Candy (Jean Peters, NIAGARA) is delivering a package for her abusive ex-boyfriend Joey (Richard Kiley, THE PHENIX CITY STORY). While on the subway, her purse is pickpocketed by Skip McCoy (Richard Widmark, JUDGEMENT AT NUREMBERG), a three-time loser who just got out of jail on his last rap.

What both Skip and Candy don’t know is that in Candy’s wallet is a strip of microfilm that Russian spies are after. FBI agent Zara (Willis Bouchey, THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE) was on the subway when Skip pinched the film. So while Zara enlists Capt. Dan Tiger (Murvyn Vye, ROAD TO BALI) to help find the thief, Joey pressures Candy to use her “contacts” to do the same. Tiger calls on the services of grifter Moe Williams (Thelma Ritter, REAR WINDOW) to lead them to Skip.

When the cops arrive at his place, Skip has a few snide comments for the fuzz. Skip isn’t proud of what he does, but he isn’t going to let anyone make him feel bad about it. If he’s a three-time loser than Candy is a 10-time loser. She’s an impressionable, young woman, who always falls for the wrong guys and falls for them fast. The first thing that Skip does to her is knock her out, but that doesn’t stop her for falling for the lug. She may be the first person in his life to see the good in him.

The story is a redemption tale about a guy who ends up doing the right thing because a pretty girl believes in him. The sexual tension between Widmark and Peters burns holes in the celluloid. Widmark has never been better. His laid-back cynicism masks his buried scars. If Candy knows one thing, it’s how to use her looks to get men to do what she wants. However, it seems Skip is the first man that knows it and doesn’t mind letting her at least try. Peters smolders sex and Widmark watches her with a wry grin. Additionally, Ritter gives yet another fine performance. Her big speech when confronted by Joey is great. It embodies all the feelings of the “loser” characters in the tale.

Fuller (SHOCK CORRIDOR) paces the story nicely with some wonderful subtle flares to add texture. Listen to the subtle sound that plays when Candy realizes that the film has been stolen. Fuller also doesn’t hold back on the violence. For a 1950s film, the fights are raw and unflinching. When Joey roughs up Candy, we feel it.

The themes tackle conflicts such as greed against redemption, Right versus Red, and passion against self-preservation. It’s interesting to watch the film demonize the “Commies,” but what do you think Fuller is saying with the events involving the Feds and Candy? Skip and Candy are obviously the little people stuck in-between the manipulations of big powers. The final scene between Skip and Capt. Tiger says a lot about what the establishment thinks of Skip and what Skip has become. PICKUP ON SOUTH STREET is a great example of the best in classic film noir.

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