Crime

  • Yôichi Sai – Tomo yo shizukani nemure AKA Let Him Rest in Peace (1985)

    1981-1990AsianCrimeJapanYôichi Sai

    Tsuyoshi Shindo came to the town of Tamari to prove the innocence of his friend, Sakaguchi. Sakaguchi was accused of attacking the president of Shimoyama Kensetsu, a local construction company, with a knife. Shindo knew Sakaguchi was not capable of committing such a crime. During his investigation, Shindo discovered the town and its police force to be under the control of Shimoyama. That made Shindo a marked man, with Shimoyama’s henchmen attacking in an effort to force him to end his investigation and leave town.Read More »

  • Roberto Faenza – Copkiller AKA Corrupt Lieutenant (1983)

    1981-1990CrimeDramaItalyRoberto Faenza

    This gritty and powerful police thriller is a classic stand-alone independent film. With good performances from Harvey Keitel (Reservoir Dogs, Bad Lieutenant) and John Lydon (former Sex Pistols frontman), Corrupt really is a one-off. As the film progresses, Leo Smith (Lydon) and Lieutenant Fred O’Connor (Keitel) engage in a vicious and engrossing psychological battle of wills in a sadistic game where they are both dependent on each other. As for the Director, Faezna’s direction seems as good as any of the excellent Italian films of the day, effortlessly moving from smooth exterior compositions to the angular perfection of the prison-like apartment. BAFTA award winning Ennio Morricone reinforces this precision with an excellent score full of mechanical percussion mixed with a whispy guitar lead which underscores the foreign presence of Lydon. Music plays a very important role in Corrupt, especially the strange country music track “Tchaikovsky’s Destruction” which is played throughout the entire film to emphasise the changes occurring to the characters.Read More »

  • Lars von Trier – Dogville (2003) (HD)

    2001-2010ArthouseCrimeDenmarkLars Von Trier

    Quote:
    The underlying vision of the production has the audacity we expect from Von Trier, a daring and inventive filmmaker. He sets his story in a Rocky Mountains town during the Great Depression, but doesn’t provide a real town (or a real mountain). The first shot looks straight down on the floor of a large sound stage, where the houses of the residents are marked out with chalk outlines, and there are only a few props — some doors, desks, chairs, beds. We will never leave this set, and never see beyond it; on all sides in the background there is only
    blankness.Read More »

  • Claude Sautet – Max et les ferrailleurs AKA Max and the Junkmen (1971)

    1971-1980Claude SautetCrimeFranceThriller

    From slantmagazine

    In a 1994 interview, director Claude Sautet, who had a particular fondness for his Max et les Ferrailleurs, expressed directly and unequivocally his disdain for its protagonist, the police detective Max (Michel Piccoli), an efficient, dedicated policeman with no home life and a hard-won icy exterior. Cops like Max weren’t new in 1971—not in French movies, not in the American thrillers and noirs that inspired the French film industry, not even in Sautet’s work. But like a lady once said about a reporter, you may have met hard-boiled before, but Max, he’s 10 minutes. He’s also independently wealthy. Read More »

  • John Guillermin – Death on the Nile (1978)

    1971-1980CrimeJohn GuillerminMysteryUnited Kingdom

    As Hercule Poirot enjoys a luxurious cruise down the Nile, a newlywed heiress is found murdered on board. Can Poirot identify the killer before the ship reaches the end of its journey?Read More »

  • Stanley Logan – The Falcon’s Brother (1942)

    1941-1950CrimeDramaStanley LoganUSA

    Quote:
    Gay Lawrence, amateur detective known as The Falcon, learns that his brother Tom has been reported murdered on a ship arriving from South America. Gay pursues the murderers, despite the fact that he knows his brother is still alive. When he is disabled, his brother Tom takes over the case, investigating a fashion magazine involved in secret activities with German infiltrators.Read More »

  • Jesús Franco – Downtown – Die nackten Puppen der Unterwelt AKA Downtown [uncut] (1975)

    1971-1980CrimeEroticaGermanyJesus Franco

    Synopsis:
    Somewhere in sunny Puerto Rico: private detective Al Pereira has seen far better days in his professional life. He would need more jobs, because his cash is almost empty. One day he meets the obscure, mysterious Cynthia, who promises a lucrative job. Pereira is supposed to oversee a notorious businessman and politician named Ramos, as Cynthia assumes that he is cheating on her, and Pereira is said to shoot proof-footage of strangers. An easy job, as Pereira seems, and he gets to work. But the lady who gave him the job seems to play a double game and pulls him into a murderous affair. In any case, Pereira one day finds Ramos dead and now has the police on his neck, which suspected him of killing the politician.Read More »

  • José Giovanni – Deux hommes dans la ville AKA Two Men in Town (1973)

    Drama1971-1980CrimeFranceJosé Giovanni

    Synopsis:
    Thanks to the support and influence of a kindly parole officer, Gino Strabliggi is released from prison and has a chance to start a new life. However, things soon begin to go wrong for him. First his wife is killed in a car accident and then a ruthless police commissioner, Goitreau, begins to taunt him. In spite of his parole officer’s continued presence in his life, Gino soon finds himself on the wrong side of the law – and this time he is unlikely to be given another chance…Read More »

  • Tod Browning – The Unholy Three (1925)

    1921-1930CrimeSilentTod BrowningUSA

    Lon Chaney — the Man of a Thousand Faces — used his makeup skills, astonishing physicality and profound empathy to create Quasimodo, the Phantom of the Opera and more of the Silent Era’s greatest horror roles. In this hypnotic mix of creepiness and crime, he plays a ventriloquist who dons a granny disguise to team with a strongman and a little person in a bizarre robbery scheme that ends in murder. The film marks an even more fateful alliance than that of the Unholy Three: the collaboration between Chaney and director Tod Browning, who would helm seven more Chaney movies before making Sound Era horror history with Dracula and Freaks.Read More »

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