J.J. Hunsecker’s eyes watch New York night life like God. In fact, J.J is God for anyone who wants to make it big in show business. A name in his column can make a fledgling comedian into a headliner or…
The Film Canon: The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
AND WE’RE BACK! “Who will be his next victim you?” warns the lobby poster for Ida Lupino’s The Hitch-Hiker (1953). A killer is hitchhiking his way across the Southwest and leaving a trail of bodies. Two friends Ray Collins and…
Out of the Past: ‘Mona Lisa’ (1986)
George is the person that tries to make the right decisions, but always make the wrong ones. George has just been released from prison and is looking for a job and trying to reconnect with his daughter. He gets a…
Out of the Past: ‘Odd Man Out’ (1947)
Critics often refer to Odd Man Out as a political film, but its director Carol Reed believed his film was apolitical. I agree with the latter. Odd Man Out centers on the conflict in Belfast as the IRA (Irish Republican…
Out of the Past: “Blast of Silence” (1961)
Allen Baron, a former cartoonist, was hailed as the “new Orson Welles” after the release of his low budget urban noir Blast of Silence. Baron’s existential noir ran as a second feature and, despite glowing reviews from critics, the film…
Out of the Past: “Blood Simple” (1984)
Blood Simple is about murder and miscalculations. The Cohen Brother’s 1984 film debut is an emotionally brutal and wonderfully twisted noir. If it wasn’t for the Texas Chainsaw Massacre like nauseating and horror visceral quality of the film, much of…
Out of the Past: “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950)
The Asphalt Jungle is filled with clichés: a criminal with a moral code, a double crossing millionaire with a blonde bombshell mistress, a crooked cop, and a heist that goes wrong. In the hand’s of another director, all of this would…