Directed by Lewis Allen • 1947 • United States
Starring John Hodiak, Lizabeth Scott, Burt Lancaster
Lurid Technicolor, deep-dish melodrama, and gay subtext abound in this pulpy noir firecracker. In the desert town of Chuckawalla, Nevada, tempers flare, passions spark, and violence erupts when Paula (Lizabeth Scott), the defiant daughter of a hard-boiled casino owner (Mary Astor) falls for no-good gangster Eddie Bendix (John Hodiak)—igniting the jealousy of Bendix’s possessive partner (Wendell Corey, in his film debut). In one of his earliest film roles, Burt Lancaster costars as the local cop who finds himself embroiled in the deadly tangle.
Up Next in Noir
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Youth of the Beast
Directed by Seijun Suzuki • 1963 • Japan
Starring Joe Shishido, Misako Watanabe, Tamio KawajiWhen a mysterious stranger muscles into two rival yakuza gangs, Tokyo’s underworld explodes with violence. YOUTH OF THE BEAST (YAJU NO SEISHUN) was a breakthrough for director Seijun Suzuki, introducing...
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Odd Man Out
Directed by Carol Reed • 1947 • United Kingdom
Starring James Mason, Kathleen Ryan, Robert NewtonTaking place largely over the course of one tense night, Carol Reed’s psychological noir, set in an unnamed Belfast, stars James Mason as a revolutionary ex-con leading a robbery that goes horribly ...
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Coup de torchon
Directed by Bertrand Tavernier • 1981 • France
Starring Philippe Noiret, Isabelle Huppert, Jean-Pierre MarielleAn inspired rendering of Jim Thompson’s pulp novel POP. 1280, Bertrand Tavernier’s COUP DE TORCHON deftly transplants the story of an inept police chief turned heartless killer and his...
