Fragments of Noir

Monday, 27 January 2020

Like Anything Else

Grift's like anything else Roy. You don't stand still, you either go up or down. Usually down, sooner or later.

Lilly Dillon

The Grifters

1990

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The Grifters
Stephen Frears

I'll Get a Hand

Don't look for me

I'll get a hand

Remember darlin

Don't smoke in bed

Don't Smoke in Bed

(Willard Robison)

Nina Simone

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Ellen Von Unwerth
Dita Von Teese

Sunday, 26 January 2020

The clothes had a timeless look, indifferent to the calendar and the mens fashion columns. The man's full name was Edward Webster Lynn and his sole occupation was here at the Hut where he played the piano six nights a week between nine and two. His salary was thirty dollars, and with tips his weekly income was anywhere from thirty-five to forty. It more than paid for his requirements. He was unmarried, he didn't own a car, and he had no debts or obligations.

David Goodis
Shoot the Piano Player
1956
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQcz9ImsTgU

Breakdown Noir

Shock Corridor

Memento

Crack Up

Angel Heart

Lost Weekend

Shutter Island

Mulholland Drive

Jacob's Ladder

Sopranos

Vertigo

Under the Sand

Fear in the Night

Dark City

Ralph Crane

Saturday, 25 January 2020

Little Girl Blue

Little Girl Blue
(Rodgers/Hart)
Chet Baker

End of His Rope

Eddie Coyle is a small-time loser at the end of his rope, but the marvelous thing about Mitchum is that he doesn't play him as a groveling, uncourageous man. He imparts to the role a quiet dignity the character in the book lacked. I think Mitchum radiates a genuine presence. Above all, you can say about Mitchum that he is.

excerpt from
Robert Mitchum : The Last Celluloid Desperado
Grover Lewis
Rolling Stone
1973

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on set of
Friends of Eddie Coyle

https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-news/robert-mitchum-the-last-celluloid-desperado-2-226829/

A Friday Night

It was a Friday night. I was tooling home from the Mexican border in a light blue convertible and a dark blue mood.

Ross MacDonald

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Ernst Haas