Crime

  • Raoul Walsh – Manpower (1941)

    Drama1941-1950CrimeRaoul WalshUSA

    Synopsis:
    Electric company foreman Hank McHenry (Edward G. Robinson) works with his friend Johnny Marshall (George Raft). Upon the death of an older worker in an accident, Hank and Johnny visit the man’s daughter, Fay (Marlene Dietrich), who has just been released from jail. Johnny takes an instant dislike to the jaded Fay, but Hank begins courting her and, despite not loving him, Fay eventually marries him. Later, when Hank brings Johnny home for care when he is ill, Fay falls in love and sparks fly.Read More »

  • Mickey Rooney – My True Story (1951)

    1951-1960CrimeDramaMickey RooneyUSA

    Plot Synopsis by Hal Erickson
    Mickey Rooney made his directorial debut with My True Story. Per its title, the film is based on an article which first appeared in the pages of True Story magazine. Jewel thief Ann Martin (Helen Walker) is paroled thanks to some string-pulling by criminal boss George Trent (Wilton Graff). Ann soon learns that she is expected to participate in a major gem heist. With the help of policeman Bill Phillips (Willard Parker) — who also happens to be a former member of U.S. military intelligence — Ann hopes to turn the tables on the smooth-but-deadly Trent. Featured in the cast as “Mark Foster” is Aldo DaRe, who would matriculate to stardom under the nom de film of Aldo Ray.Read More »

  • Russ Meyer – Finders Keepers, Lovers Weepers! (1968)

    1961-1970CrimeExploitationRuss MeyerUSA

    Paul, the owner of a topless go-go bar on the Sunset Strip, isn’t having a good day. His girlfriend, unbeknownst to him, is planning to rob his club, and his wife is having an affair with the hunky bartender.Read More »

  • Baltasar Kormákur – Mýrin aka Jar City (2006)

    2001-2010Baltasar KormákurCrimeIcelandMysteryNordic Noir

    A murder opens up a bleak trail of long buried secrets and small town corruption for a worn out police detective and his squad.Read More »

  • Kira Muratova – Nastroyshchik AKA The Tuner (2004)

    2001-2010ArthouseCrimeKira MuratovaUkraine

    PLOT: A young piano tuner befriends two rich old-ladies, and plots, with the help of his girlfriend, to betray their trust and steal from them.Read More »

  • Pierre Foucaud – Série noire (1955)

    Drama1951-1960CrimeFrancePierre Foucaud

    Mariani, a Corsican gangster, sympathizes with his cellmate, Léo, a police inspector who poses as an inmate. When Léo is to be released, Mariani hand him a letter to bring to his wife Elaine.Read More »

  • Yves Robert – Le retour du grand blond AKA The Return of the Tall Blond Man with One Black Shoe (1974)

    1971-1980ComedyCrimeFranceYves Robert

    Cambrai, a modest captain in the French secret service, discovers that his superior, Colonel Toulouse, was responsible for the death of his rival Milan. To cover his tracks, Toulouse immediately sends two hit-men to Rio de Janeiro to eliminate François Perrin, the innocent “grand blond” who was instrumental in Toulouse’s scheme to remove Milan. When Perrin miraculously survives, Toulouse changes his strategy. He takes Perrin into his confidence and attempts to convert him into an ace secret agent, thereby discrediting Cambrai and proving that he is innocent of Milan’s death. When his beloved Christine is abducted by Toulouse’s agents, Perrin has no other choice. Indeed, he seems to relish the prospect of becoming a real-life James Bond…Read More »

  • Arturo Ripstein – La perdición de los hombres AKA The Ruination of Men (2000)

    1991-2000Arturo RipsteinComedyCrimeMexico

    Quote:
    In “La perdición de los hombres”, Ripstein once again enters the world of misery, though his characters are not precisely outcasts as the fat nurse and her gigolo lover. This time he returns to his early free-style -it’s even in black and white-, as he tells the stories of normal people, who choose weird solutions to their predicaments and whose dreams occupy the same space and tone as their daily actions on the screen. Garciadiego rarely paints a “nice” male character. So here there are not only one but three machos, who play baseball and believe that man’s downfall is personified in women (in fact, the movie’s title is a verse from a popular ranchera that goes “Man’s downfall / Is the damned woman”). Garciadiego built her story a la “Pulp Fiction”, with the first act told after the resolution, so one has to wait quite a bit to know why two of the guys kill their pal, known as the “King of the Baseball Diamond”, while his widow fights for his corpse with his younger and prettier lover.Read More »

  • Henry Hathaway – Kiss of Death (1947)

    1941-1950250 Quintessential Film NoirsCrimeFilm NoirHenry HathawayUSA

    Quote:
    Small-time crook Nick Bianco gets caught in a jewel heist and despite urgings from well-meaning district attorney D’Angelo, refuses to rat on his partners and goes to jail, assured that his wife and children will be taken care of. Learning that his depressed wife has killed herself, Nick informs on his ex-pals and is paroled. Nick remarries, gets a job and begins leading a happy life when he learns one of the men he informed on, psychopathic killer Tommy Udo, has been released from custody and is out for revenge against Nick and his family.Read More »

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