Film noir movies from anything earlier than the 80s really don’t seem like they had as much edge, but even back in the 60s they seemed a lot more cerebral than anything else. Apart from spy and espionage movies these kind of pictures were those that left you feeling almost devoid of hope and utterly depressed at some point in the movie as they tried to box the viewer in and deny any chance that the story might have anything other than the most tragic of endings. These are the kinds of films that leave a person wondering if the world really is as scary and unpredictable of a place as it seems, though once you leave the theater you remind yourself that it was just a movie and that the world isn’t really that depressing. Usually you go to the movies to be entertained, and while these movies do that they also make you wonder about the human condition and just what it is that makes us love misery as well as triumph.
Here are a few of the best film noir movies from the 60s.
5. Alphaville
What you need to know about this movie is that it’s basically like Invasion of the Body Snatchers but with a computer acting out the part of the aliens and taking control of an entire city as it dictates what they can say, think, or feel. A lone man is set on a mission to destroy Alphaville and bring down the entire mess. Imagine not being able to think or feel what you want and you might get an idea of what real fascism is like since this was a period of time in which such a thing was a true threat to people in how it was applied. Plus, the whole idea of changing a dictionary when a word is found that elicits emotions seems like it might reduce any dictionary to a pamphlet.
4. Blast of Silence
There’s something unsettling about the fact that this movie features a mentally disturbed hitman as its main character. Not only that, but his story is one that gets more and more depressing as the movie goes on since he meets an old friend, then an old girlfriend, and then he tries to sexually assault her before being forgiven and allowed to leave without any trouble. After that he goes on to kill an old associate that threatens to blackmail him and then kills his assigned target before trying to make his getaway. But wouldn’t you know it, the hit was a setup and he gets ambushed at the end and dies on the cold, muddy riverbank where he’s shot full of holes.
3. The Manchurian Candidate
The idea of sleeper agents and brainwashing is horrifying to many Americans since they tend to believe it’s true that a person can be programmed to do or say anything that a handler wants them to. This movie plays on that fear by taking a rather pathetic excuse of a soldier and building him for all to see so that he might be beyond reproach. But when he goes off the rails and kills the wrong people you get the idea that the programming wasn’t perfect and that he eventually found a way around it, something that wasn’t perfect but at least gave him something akin to a choice. It’s a scary thought though.
2. Underworld U.S.A
The old adage that states that when hunting for monsters one should take care not to become one definitely applies here since Tolly let go of his humanity in almost every possible way when it came to avenging his father. At some point a person needs to remind themselves that those they’re trying to avenge likely wouldn’t want them to go to such extremes since it would only end in heartache and loneliness on a scale that many people wouldn’t be able to stomach. But at the same time you’ve got to admire the determination that some people have when it comes to taking things to a level that no one ever considered.
1. Shoot the Piano Player
There was a definite change between the novel and the movie, but the main point is that the main character is trying to put a troubled life behind him and thereby enjoy his life as it stands without having to worry about looking over his shoulder constantly to regret the past. But then of course such movies like this don’t allow that kind of luxury and he’s eventually dragged back into the life he was trying to get away from, another victim of a past that couldn’t be left alone and couldn’t just up and forget who he was. These kinds of stories are unbearably tragic and yet they also seem like they have several solid solutions that the author studiously ignores.
That’s what makes film noir what it is though.
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