SECRET OF MUSIC: Noir Mugs . . .

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Noir Mugs . . .

A few great shots of some Noir "Mugs" . . . are they good or bad? Not always easy to tell, other times it's real easy!

Alan Ladd as hired killer "Raven" in "This Gun for Hire". What a great film and what a great still!

Victor Mature, someone who i didnt used to like too much but have a newfound appreciation for these days. His performance in "Kiss of Death" is very effective!

An absolutely awesome shot of Richard Widmark, to me a very underappreciated actor, I mean, who can play a giggling psychopath better, you tell me! He is completely unforgettable in "Kiss of Death", "Roadhouse" and "Pickup on South Street" (to name just a few) but was also excellent in several enjoyable westerns and war films as well.

Speaking of a guy who was adept at playing a psychopath, here's Lawrence Tierney! I've had a special admiration for this guy ever since i saw his great performance as "Joe" in Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs", so after that i had to go and discover his early films like "Dillinger", "Devil Thumbs a Ride" and Robert Wise's ultra-hard-boiled Noir "Born to Kill". Tierney convincingly plays a psycho killer in all 3 of those!

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Mugs, Thugs, Drifters and Psychotic killers... Molls, Dolls, Floozies and Feme Fatales... dimly lit smoke-filled rooms, cheap gin joints, graft, corruption, theft...and murder!

Good times, good times!

John Garfield, Lana Turner and Cecil Kellaway in "The Postman Always Rings Twice"

Jane Greer and Robert Mitchum in "The Big Steal"

Richard Widmark and Jean Peters in Sam Fuller's Noir masterpiece "Pickup on South Street"

Kirk Douglas in Billy Wilder's "Ace in the Hole" aka "The Big Carnival"

====================================The last 10 days or so i've been on a big Film Noir jag and figured i'd post some stuff in tribute to this great movie genre. I've still been working on my art almost constantly in my off-work hours but now i'm in the midst of rearranging and cleaning up my little studio room which has been sorely needing it for far too long! Anyway i got my little Tee-Vee hooked back up and "D.O.A" is just starting, woo hoo!!! Here's a few images from "Out of the Past", "Force of Evil", "The Big Heat" and "The Dark Corner", all stellar examples of the Noir style and simply just damn good films! More to follow soon!