Taking a Drive on the Film Noir Highway

January's Home Fry-ed Movie is Detour (1945), and even though it's a low budget film with some actors you've probably never heard of and some continuity problems, it's still considered one of the best examples of that style of Hollywood movies from the 1940s and 50s known as film noir. Film noir is distinguished by its use of low-key lighting, shadowy backgrounds, and distorted angles. The movies are dark in appearance (as implied by the word "noir," French for black), as are the stories. The characters are often morally compromised, with a male lead that's right on the edge of doing something wrong, and a female character (the "femme fatale") who's there to push him over the edge.

To understand what film noir is, you just need to watch a few. In addition to Detour, there's also D.O.A. (1950), another Home Fry-ed Movie. This one is about a man that's been poisoned. He has only a few hours to live and spends the time trying find out who his murderer is.

Here's some required viewing when it comes to film noirs (or is it films noir?):

Double Indemnity (1944) - Insurance salesman Walter Neff (Fred MacMurray) plans to murder the husband of his lover Phyllis (Barbara Stanwyck) and collect the insurance money, but can he really trust her?

Laura (1944) - A police detective investigating the murder of a beautiful actress falls in love with her portrait.

The Big Sleep (1946) - Detective Phillip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart) finds himself pulled deeper and deeper into a complex scandal. At least Vivian (Lauren Bacall) is there to make it seem worthwhile.

Out of the Past (1947) - Unable to escape his past, a former private detective must face the rich man who hired him to find his runaway girl years earlier.

Sunset Blvd. (1950) - On the run from creditors, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter takes refuge in the mansion of a washed-up silent movie star, who wants him all to herself.

There are dozens more but those are just some of my favorites.