What I've learned from Film Noir

I have seen 12 film noir movies over the past two weekends so I thought that I make a list of what I've learned from those movies (and well as the many many other film noir movies I've seen in the past):

• If you have to see a psychologist or psychoanalyst because you may have murdered someone, makes sure the person is of the opposite sex.  He or she will be more invested in your recovery because there is a 80% chance she/he will fall in love with you and help you clear your name. 
• Do not let yourself get locked in a house (yours or someone else) or a building. More than likely the person who is holding you hostage will be in the process of convincing anyone that could help you that you are crazy.  
• Do not install frosted glass in your house.  In the case of the above situtaion, it makes it that much more difficult to get someone's attention.  Plus your hostage takes could sneak up on you (I'm looking at you Ida Lupino in Beware My Lovely).  
• If you husband is trying to run you down on the street, make sure that someone else is dressed very similarly (and hopefully in cahoots with your murdering husband). 
• Do not work in a bank.  At some point someone is going to either force you to rob the bank or rob the bank and make you the fall guy. 
• If you are a twin accused of murder and your psychologist is doing a word association exercise with you, it does not bode well for your twin if you answer to "mirror" is "death".  And don't dress alike, especially if you are not under 5.  It's just creepy.  
• If you are dealing with twins and one might be evil, only talk to the twins in person not on the phone. 
• Cats can either help you or draw unwanted attention to you.  It's really a toss up.  But trust dogs, they are always in the right.  
• If you have escaped from prison with a group of men and you've decided that you are going after a stash of money, things are not going to end well for almost your entire group.  Best to escape with only one other person (and don't get attached then either).  
• Do not marry, work for, or live with a person that is very attached to the parent of the opposite sex.  And for goodness sake, don't stay in his or her motel!
• It is probably a good idea not to get in a car that you are not driving. 
• Don't be friends with a gossip columnist.  
• Sometimes the police a helpful and other times the police are completely useless.  So sort of like cats.  The FBI is usually helpful (like dogs). 
• If you are involved with a married man, he is never going to leave his wife.  If he has a first wife, more than likely he did not divorce her, he killed her.  
• And most importantly, do not be a push-over.  Be proactive, be aggressive, and be willing to trick your adversary in any way that you gives you an advantage, gives you extra time, or shows that you are willing to fight back. 

Tales from AFI

On Sunday, I watched 3 Film Noir movies: Laura, They Won't Believe Me, and High Wall.  I'll skip over Laura since it is probably one of the better known films.  They Won't Believe Me opens with the main character on trial for the murder of his wife/mistress (it isn't clear which murder he is being charged with, point is both are dead).  I have to say I enjoyed this movie because for once, it is not a bad woman leading a good man astray.  The ending was a little bit of a surprise mostly due to the change required under the Hayes Code.  The last movie from Sunday was High Wall.  The plot of the movie is the main character thinks that he strangled his wife but his a suffering from blackout due to a blood clot in his brain (which gets fixed by surgery).  Because of the black out condition, he is sent to a psychiatric hospital for evaluation by Dr. Ann Laurson.  She believes that he didn't kill his wife and tries to help him prove it.   I liked High Wall even though on the most basic level it is a less good version of Spellbound (with a less good cast). 

One other weird story from being that AFI for most of the afternoon: I went the bathroom before seeing High Wall and there was a man using one of the stalls in the women's restroom (and I only knew it was a man because he didn't close the door).  I am not 100% sure that he was drunk, but he did do a very theatrical burp that was reminiscent of Barney Gumble (from the Simpsons) (alcohol is served at the theater but you can only buy one at a time so the guy either went back multiple times or is a lightweight). 

One more thing, I am pretty sure that the AFI Silver was only theater in the DC metro area that was showing Margin Call because the line was huge for every showing (and it was showing in the biggest of the 3 theaters).

It's getting dark

It's the first weekend of the DC Noir Fest at AFI Silver so I spent most of my day in Silver Spring.  I saw 3 movies today so I thought that I would do a little write for all the movies that I am going to see over the next few weeks.
Experiment in Terror:  A bank teller gets grabbed in her garage and her attacker demands that she steal $100,000 for him or he will kill her and her sister (and he generously offers to give her 20%).  She calls the FBI and works with an agent (played by Glenn Ford!) to find the bank robber.  The movie was really enjoyable and it was interesting to see the what the idea of the FBI was in the 50s (because in the movie people called the operator and could speak to an agent).  The ending is really good and the climax takes place at Candlestick Park after a Giants-Dodgers game.
Crashout: Very rare movie, not available on DVD.  A gang of six men band together after a prison break (or crashout) with the plan of finding and splitting  a $180,000 one of them stole in a bank robbery.  And you can imagine how well this plan goes.  Someone in the row in front of me complained that the movie end very ambiguously without totally tying up the plot.  I kind of wanted to say both "Well, it is film noir" and "Um... try watching I Am a Fugitive From A Chain Gang, that might be most ambigous ending ever.  It just fades to black after Paul Muni's last line. " (and that movie made me love Paul Muni!)
Loophole: Another rare movie, not available on DVD.  A bank teller unknowingly gets almost $50,000 stolen from his drawer.  The FBI agents who work on the case believe he is innocent but the special investigator working for the bonding company representing the bank, does not believe him and start relentlessly pursuing the bank teller in an attempt to get him to reveal the location of the money.  After talking with the FBI agent, the teller (Donavon) remembers that there was a second bank examiner that counted the money in his drawer (and swiped the money).  Donavon crosses path with the actual robber a few times, which lead to someone in the audience yelling "Come On!" during the movie.  This is another interesting movie that is definitely of a very specific time.  It takes place during the height of McCarthy-based paranoia and the relentless pursuit of an innocent man is very reminiscent of that time. 

And once again it comes down the grammar

I don't know if anyone else is following this story (if you heard the Two-Way blog on NPR, you've seen the posts about it), but ESPN will no longer being playing a Hank Williams Jr. song to open Monday night football.  This is due to a Hank Williams Jr. comparing Obama to Hitler and then calling both Obama and Biden the enemy when talking about the golf game between Obama, Biden, Speaker of the House Baynor, and I think the fourth person was the Governor of Ohio (but I'm not sure).  So EPSN pulled the song and then Williams Jr. released these statements:

"Some of us have strong opinions and are often misunderstood. My analogy was extreme — but it was to make a point. I was simply trying to explain how stupid it seemed to me — how ludicrous that pairing was. They're polar opposites and it made no sense. They don't see eye-to-eye and never will. I have always respected the office of the President.
"Every time the media brings up the tea party it's painted as racist and extremists — but there's never a backlash — no outrage to those comparisons... Working class people are hurting — and it doesn't seem like anybody cares. When both sides are high-fiving it on the ninth hole when everybody else is without a job – it makes a whole lot of us angry. Something has to change. The policies have to change."

"I have always been very passionate about Politics and Sports and this time it got the Best or Worst of me. The thought of the Leaders of both Parties Jukin and High Fiven on a Golf course, while so many Families are Struggling to get by simply made me Boil over and make a Dumb statement and I am very Sorry if it Offended anyone. I would like to Thank all my supporters. This was Not written by some Publicist."

And this is my response: It is unnecessary to say that this was not written by "some Publicist" because I would hope that a publicist, who by the very nature of the job needs to be careful about what is being said, would know when to and when not to capitalize words.   And later he said this:

"After reading hundreds of e-mails, I have made MY decision. By pulling my opening Oct 3rd, You (ESPN) stepped on the Toes of The First Amendment, Freedom of Speech, so therefore Me, My Song, and All My Rowdy Friends are OUT OF HERE. It's been a great run."

Again, what is up with the crazy capitalization?  He is protected by the First Amendment (and all of it's toes), but there is no reason to not follow grammatical rules.