Last Picture Show

         The 1971 classic directed by Peter Bogdanovich shows various lives within the uncertain atmosphere of a fading small town in 50s Texas is not a Noir but might just qualify as a Film Gris. It's shot in superb black & white by Robert Surtees and has a sad and at the same time raunchy background. Many have noted the influence of the director's heroes Orson Welles and John Ford in his portrayal of the flat windswept landscapes and it's desolate appearance.

All Night Gas

       His introduction to Hattiesburg was an all night gas station on highway 49 where a lone teenager-slash-halfwit was capturing 'pinching' bugs attracted by the bright lights and coralling them in a bucket of sand he kept inside his little glass booth, a diversion he favored because, as he said, he liked to watch the bugs kill each other.

Double Down ; Reflections on Gambling and Loss
Frederick and Steve Barthelme
1999

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Peter Helck

New Releases

                 Early previews of these new releases indicate they may be worth looking out for.

                                               Gary Oldman as George Smiley