Widows (2018) – This critical darling of a heist film was directed by Steve McQueen, fresh off his Oscar-nominated helming of 12 Years a Slave. I guess once you’re in critics’ good books, you can release sketchy flicks like this and still find yourself on year-end Top Ten Lists. Widows won’t be making mine. While it certainly looks great, and McQueen gets some truly amazing performances out of (some of) his leads, Widows comes up pretty short as an engaging heist flick. Viola Davis plays the widow of a well-connected criminal mastermind who gets blown up, along with the rest of his crew, in a robbery-gone-wrong that opens the flick. The chase sequence here features some great cinematography, although most of its ideas are cribbed from Johnnie To’s far superior 2004 HK flick Breaking News. It turns out her husband stole $2 million from the coffers of a gangster-turned-mayoral candidate (Brian Tyree Henry), and now he’s demanding that she pay it back. How this is supposed to work and why Henry and his henchmen think violently menacing her is going to help them get their money back isn’t really explained. So. Davis calls together the widows of the rest of her husband’s crew, with the idea of using his crime notebook to pull off their own $5 million score. Why she thinks these women will be able to pull off a professional-style crime isn’t really explained, either, and their motivations never really rise beyond “I need money.” Ignoring the holes in his actual plot, McQueen tries to make the film “relevant” by adding in corrupt Chicago politicians and a white cop/black civilian shooting, but these elements really didn’t work for me. They seem very tacked on, especially the shooting, a shocking event fairly late in the flick that cheapens an explosive, serious topic in order to use it as one character’s supposedly telling backstory. The heist occurs fairly late in the game, but it’s awfully hard to figure out when the widows figured out or practiced their parts in it. They just kind of “become” professional heisters over the course of a few days. I guess that occurred off-screen. It’s too bad that McQueen wasn’t content with just making a good heist film, and felt compelled to make it more “serious” by larding it up with social issues and shallow, pointless backstories. Maybe if he had focused more on a story that makes logical sense, these other elements would serve to deepen his tale. Instead, they slow down an already fairly slow-moving film without really adding anything to it except maudlin melodrama. It’s a shame, especially because Davis’ incredible work here is largely wasted on an ultimately empty grab bag of social issues and poorly-thought-out criminal behavior.
The Big Steal (1949) – This tightly-wound noir-ish b-movie brought together Robert Mitchum and Jane Greer for the first time since their star turns in the classic Out of the Past. It’s a lightweight adventure flick that follows Mitchum’s attempts to retrieve $300,000 stolen from the military. Rushed into production by Howard Hughes in order to cash in on Mitchum’s recent marijuana arrest, the flick packs a decent little story into its lean 71-minute running time. Director Don Siegel went on to helm a bunch of thrillers and action flicks over the next few decades, including the 70s Clint Eastwood flicks Dirty Harry and Escape From Alcatraz, and he shows a great ability to make the most of a low budget here. Siegel keeps things moving along at a brisk pace as Mitchum traverses Mexico in search of the missing cash. The flick looks pretty great, its use of location shooting helping ground the sometimes preposterous proceedings. Jane Greer is one of the all-time great women in noir, and she’s as great and gorgeous as ever here, with some real chemistry opposite Mitchum. There’s even a late twist that I somehow never saw coming. While this is certainly no Out of the Past, it’s a great way to once again bask in the charisma of two of the genre’s heavy hitters.
Stranger on the Third Floor (1940) – Another low-budget noir that I caught courtesy of TCM’s Noir Alley, this one’s notable mostly for its awesome cinematography. Director Boris Ingster and cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca bring in a lot of elements of German expressionism, with looming shadows, canted angles, and stylized sets creating a truly dark atmosphere. This film is often cited as one of the first true film noirs, and it certainly has the look. The story revolves around a reporter whose testimony is key in convicting a man of the murder of a diner owner. As soon as the trial is over, the reporter starts having serious second thoughts about condemning a man on what is really very circumstantial evidence. I mean serious second thoughts. He spends a sweaty night having vivid hallucinations – scenes that really make the most of the expressionist imagery. I found his reaction to be quite a bit over the top; if I didn’t know better I would think this was a Reefer Madness-style screed about the dangers of cocaine abuse. I mean, the guy really freaks out. I also found the ending a bit pat and predictable. If you can’t guess who the real killer is the moment he appears on screen, you’re not really paying attention. It all wraps up a bit too neatly, with a tidy bow on top. Not the greatest, but probably worth checking out for noir fans interested in the early days of the genre.
Armored Car Robbery (1950) – This nifty little noir is another low-budget gem that I caught on Noir Alley. It’s a tight, gritty crime drama about a group of guys who stage a heist outside the old Los Angeles Wrigley Field. I’m a sucker for flicks that feature that long-gone piece of SoCal history, but this flick has tons of other great location shooting throughout, as well. As a Long Beach resident, I was particularly intrigued by the parts shot in and around the old Terminal Island oil fields. This is one of a string of down-and-dirty noirs shot in the late 40s and early 50s by Richard Fleischer, who would go on to enjoy a long career as a (mostly) b-movie director of flicks like Soylent Green and Fantastic Voyage. Fleischer makes the most of what he’s working with here, delivering a rock-solid heist flick filled with memorable characters and performances. The best of the lot is long-time b-movie staple William Talman as the somewhat psychotic leader of the heist gang. He exudes a kind of slimy menace throughout, right up until his final comeuppance on the runway at L.A. Metropolitan Airport. There’s nothing fancy on display here, just a crisp little noir that more than overcomes its clearly small budget.
Night and the City (1950) – This flick is frequently trotted out as a film noir classic, and was certainly presented that way when TCM showed it recently. I’m not so sure, myself. The flick stars Richard Widmark as an American hustler in London, a conman who’s always on the lookout for his next get-rich-quick scheme. He’s got a long-suffering girlfriend in town, an utterly thankless and empty role that Gene Tierney gamely attempts to bring to life. The “action” commences when Widmark runs into an old-time wrestler and decides (from out of nowhere) that he’s going to become London’s biggest wrestling promoter. The only problem is that there’s another promoter in town who doesn’t want him horning in on his action. None of this is all that compelling, and long stretches seem to demand an audience that cares about the distinction between Greco-Roman and other forms of wrestling. The climax of the flick hinges on a spur-of-the-moment brawl between two rival wrestlers that goes on way too long. I’m talking They Live long, except without any of the self-awareness or fun. The flick builds to what’s supposed to be a shatteringly nihilistic ending, which kind of works. It’s undercut by an absurd bit of business in which Tierney pops in on Widmark as he’s hiding out from the thugs out to get him. It’s been demonstrated that literally the entire London underground is searching for Widmark, yet somehow Tierney knows exactly where he’s run to and just drops by for a chat. Widmark’s bizarre portrayal of the grafter as a sweaty, grinning wierdo doesn’t really make you want to root for the guy, nor does the fact that he’s not really a good guy who goes bad. He’s a creep from the very first time you see him, and does absolutely nothing during the film to change that impression. While Night and the City looks good and make the most of its seedy London locations, I didn’t find it all that compelling otherwise.
Safe in Hell (1931) – This pre-code melodrama stars Dorothy Mackaill as Gilda, a New Orleans prostitute who finds herself on the run from the law after accidentally killing a would-be john. Despite its racy subject matter, though, the flick is surprisingly flat and moralistic. One thing the movie definitely gets right is its depiction of Gilda’s predicament as a single woman in the early 20th century. She had been working as a maid in a couple’s home, until the man broke into her room one night and raped her. When the wife found out, she fired Gilda and hounded her out of every other job she tried to get, destroying her reputation and calling her a homewrecking tramp. With every avenue for work closed to her, Gilda’s forced into prostitution, only to have that very same jerk who raped her call up her madam and request Gilda for a “date.” That’s when she accidentally kills him while fending off his creepy advances. Of course, when she explains this very predicament to the naïve sailor who says he truly loves her, he slaps her for being a slut. Anyway, the sailor cools down and helps her escape to the only island nearby with no extradition treaty, where she holes up in a hotel filled with scummy creeps who ogle her all day and try to come up with ruses to get into her room and/or skirt. I’m making this sound more exciting than it plays on film, though. Safe in Hell is awfully slow moving in parts, and doesn’t give Gilda the easy way out that a lot of pre-code flicks did with their sexually promiscuous heroines. The flick ends on a decidedly grim and fatalistic note, after a teary-eyed Gilda promises her beau she’ll never “be bad” again. I’m not so sure how “bad” she was to begin with, so the flick’s punishing finale seemed really over the top. I prefer the pre-code flicks where the unrepentant bad girl makes off with all the loot.
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