Out of the Past
1947 Directed by Jacques Tourneur
Synopsis
A MAN - Trying to run away from his past... A WOMAN - Trying to escape her future...
Jeff Bailey seems to be a mundane gas station owner in remote Bridgeport, CA. He is dating local girl Ann Miller and lives a quiet life. Town lawman Jim is in love with Ann and unsure about Jeff, who is secretive about his past.
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The noiriest noir? Give Robert Mitchum a hat and a cigarette, and he can turn the lyrics to "Yankee Doodle Dandy" into hard boiled dialogue. Give Tourneur a title and a movie camera, and he'll make poetry. The final scene is a real gut punch.
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How big a chump can you get to be? I was finding out.
-Jeff BaileyJacques Tourneur made his Hollywood feature film debut under contract with MGM Studios but was released after a few unsuccessful films. He went to work for RKO Pictures, but was relegated to the B-list. It's here that his career dramatically turned around as Tourneur was able to make a few true classics under the B-movie structure (Cat People, I Walked with a Zombie) which caused him to soon be promoted to the A-List and on track to direct the greatest film of his career.
While Daniel Mainwaring (working under the pseudonym Geoffrey Homes) is credited with adapting his own novel, Build My Gallows High, it's…
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One of the very best most quintessential film noirs out there. A bit underseen, but one of the very best examples of film noir ever made. Everytime I think film noir, one of the first films that come to mind is Out of the Past. Robert Mitchum gives one of his best performances and Kirk Douglas shows a lot of potential and talent in one of his very first roles. The story is so well constructed and even better orchestrated in the essense of what you expect from a film noir.
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One of the best of the Film Noir. Robert Mitchum plays Jeff Bailey a private eye who gets mixed up with (actually between) gangster Whit Sterling (Kirk Douglas) and his girl Kathie Moffat (Jane Greer). Bailey is sent to find the Sterling’s girl who has shot the gangster and run off. Not sure if Sterling wants the girl back to kill her or to make-up, Bailey finds her. But, Bailey decides he loves her and he runs off with her. After realizing just what deep trouble he is in, he tries to leave that life behind and live a quiet, simple life with a nice girl.
However, his past finds him out and he is sent on one more job…
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There is little better in this world that a good film noir.
Mitchum plays a man with a checkered and mysterious past. When a man shows up in the small town that Mitchum is holed up in, his brings with him that murky past. The audience is caught up to speed by flashback being told to his new special lady friend.
I won't get into the plot because is has so many twists and turns and crosses and double crosses. The film has everything. The vamp, the femme fatale, the streetwise gumshoe, the private dick that is one step ahead of everyone, nameless thugs, the charismatic yet ruthless boss who's only weakness is the dame with a heart of coal,…
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There's a lot one could say about this, and much of it has already been said, but one thing I really, really love that our introduction and our farewell to Jeff both come from his deaf and mute teenage assistant.
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One of the best films of its type ever.
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The noiriest noir? Give Robert Mitchum a hat and a cigarette, and he can turn the lyrics to "Yankee Doodle Dandy" into hard boiled dialogue. Give Tourneur a title and a movie camera, and he'll make poetry. The final scene is a real gut punch.
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There's a lot one could say about this, and much of it has already been said, but one thing I really, really love that our introduction and our farewell to Jeff both come from his deaf and mute teenage assistant.
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Lots to love about this one. I have a feeling the Coen Bros. had to have seen this before making MILLER'S CROSSING.
The one major takeaway I had from tonight's double feature w/DOUBLE INDEMNITY: never trust women.
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i wasn't 100% sure of what was going on by the end. lots of twists and turns in the plot. great acting. amazing photography. on a re-watch, i may pick up on the plot a bit more which would improve the rating.
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Robert Mitchum is amazing.
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Robert Mitchum. Nuff said.
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Mitchum, Greer and Douglas are in top of their game on this classic noir.
This one hits all the "tropes" but with such confidence that it dares to play with a very loose structure that leads to a brilliant tragic ending.
Will be watching again soon because it really has a lot of hidden innuendos and subtle foreshadowing with camera positions.
Also, the poster does not lie: there is a LOT of smoking...and the funny part, it is filled with symbolism too...
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Mitchum has never been better. Another RKO classic.