Film Noir Movie Recommendations

Jim Walczak · Oct 25, 2015

jaomul said:
I originally thought Blade Runner was rubbish because of the voice over, so much so I gave up on it after about 40 minutes. Later when the directors cut came out I gave it another go and loved it. I read afterwards that neither Ridley Scott or Harrison Ford wanted the narrative in, but that it was thought by the film company that the film needed extra explaining to the audience. As a result Harrison Ford apparently admitted years later that he did the narrative in as dreary and boring a voice as he could possibly do without making it to obvious, in the hope that they would not use it.

Yea, I'm just the opposite there. I -like- the voice over...always have. Again I feel it gives the film that noir feel that simply doesn't exist without it. That said, I have always been a great fan of both sci-fi AND noir, so to me it was a brilliant combination of the two. The narrative in Blade Runner could have started out with the classic "It was a dark and stormy night..." (as apposed to "Sushi...") which would have been equally appropriate, LOL! I also feel the narrative explains a few details that get left out of the visual telling of the story (which I suspect was the studio's view point as well). Yea, perhaps it's a tad cliche, however I personally feel it makes the film...it's what gives the film that "Philip Marlow" 30's/40's detective feel and I really don't think the film would have ever reached the cult classic status it has today had the narrative of been excluded originally.

Different strokes for different folks I guess.....

Jim Walczak · Oct 25, 2015

Oh...oh!!!!!! In terms of noir style narrations, when considering those contemporary "tips of the hat", lest we not forget Stanley Kubrick's cult classic, "A Clockwork Orange"!!! While this is perhaps a bit arguable, I feel that Kubrick is a freakin' genius and as with my comments about Blade Runner, the noir-like voice over in A Clockwork Orange, gives the film an added dimension, in this case as it applies to the concept of an anti-hero. A tad disturbing perhaps, it's really a brilliant piece of cinimatography. At the very least, for someone interested or studying film noir, A Clockwork Orange certainly gives one a degree of insight as to just how influential the noir genre was as a whole.

The_Traveler · Oct 25, 2015

Sunset Bld- one of the very few movies that were narrated by a corpse - American Beauty, Casino (the Joe Pesci parts), Lovely Bones, Wristcutters and Tupac Resurrection (I didn't see the latter three.)

Sunset Blvd and American Beauty are both great movies, imo. (Who can forget Gloria Swanson playing herself, Kevin Spacey playing every man in a bad marriage who falls in love with youth and beauty and Chris Cooper in his first big, great role.)
Casino = gets old on the 5th pr 6th viewing.