1950 Directed by Nicholas Ray
Dixon 'Dix' Steele, a down-on-his-luck screenwriter, needs to adapt a trashy novel. At a nightclub, the hatcheck girl, Mildred Atkinson, is engrossed reading it. Too tired to read the novel, he asks Mildred to go home with him, to explain the plot. Later that night, Mildred is murdered and Steele is a prime suspect. His record of violence when angry goes against him.
5 Reasons why this film is a masterpiece:
1. It's the best film Nicholas Ray ever made; a noir-tinged drama rendered in dark visuals of exhilarating beauty.
2. It showcases probably the greatest performance of Bogie's career as the short-fused screenwriter Dix Steele, a character he imbues with a neurotic edge that is frightening in its intensity.
3. This dialogue: 'I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me'.
4. Gloria Grahame is in it.
5. It just 'is', OK?!
"I was born when she kissed me, I died when she left me, I lived a few weeks while she loved me."
of course, but so many other immortal lines here. one of the rawest films the studio system ever produced.
Scenes from a Noir Marriage
or as Netflix might categorize it: "existential romance"
this is what we talk about when we talk about Bogart.
poor Ray & Grahame... i thought those crazy kids were gonna make it.
A paranoid phantasmagoria of broken people, shattered Hollywood dreams, violent American character, Bogart and Grahame personals, New Deal and shifting political space of the era, romantic longing cut short. One of the most perfect bad trip movies, probably because it is also one of the most romantic.
Dear In a Lonely Place,
Now that we've known each other for quite a while, I would like to ask you: Do you want to marry me? Because you're beautiful, brilliant, funny, mysterious, soulful, emotional and sexy—everything I like in a film, and I fear I cannot live without you anymore, nor do I want to.
Until death do us part?
Anna
"Yesterday, this would've meant so much to us. Now it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter at all."
Bogart's wry charm is transformed into something much more toxic here, a supposed carelessness born from such deep-rooted insecurity that his character's toxic, repressed rage almost becomes a character in and of itself. This performance is somehow matched by Grahame's, who's expert navigation of the film's central arc turns what in anyone else's hands might be turgid melodrama into operatic tragedy.
Ray continually singles in on the melancholy, the sadness and the raw sense of longing which seems to permeate every fleeting glimpse of human connection we see on screen. When these small moments of hope eventually sour, it feels like the cinematic…
I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me.
-Dixon Steele
It's not Nicholas Ray's most famous film, but it's his best. He directed it from a great script by Andrew Solt which is a loose adaptation of the novel by Dorothy B. Hughes and it features Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame at their very best. Ray directed it while going through personal problems of his own and ended up creating a dark masterpiece.
Bogart purchased the story to produce through his own company, Santana Productions. As the main character, Dixon Steele, is a screenwriter, I can't help but think this was one of the reasons that…
Bogart really knocks it out of the park with his dry, sarcastic phrasing and timing, I can see why he was such a revered actor in his day. The acting is quite top notch overall.
The pacing was great, which is usually a problem I have with older films and the meta "love" scene in the kitchen was brilliant. The ending was quite good as well.
Perfect romantic noir that gives us possibly Humphrey Bogarts best performance.
i watched this movie after reading bogey's interview where he said this was the character to whom he related most, and it fucking terrified me. a great treatise on how awful men can be
Bogart draws you into his sympathetic, yet flawed, protagonist. The complicated romance is especially moving, peaking in the tremendous final ten minutes.
(Side note: I promise I'm a mature filmgoer, but Bogart's character name is Dix Steele, so every time someone said "I love Dix!" or "I can handle Dix!" I guffawed like a twelve-year-old.)
So we watch In a Lonely Place with a mixture of anticipation and dread. It's a rather complex descent into the psychological struggles we face within a world of possibilities both joyous and heartbreaking.
I can't think of a drama with so many perfectly crafted one-liners... except for Casablanca, of course. And such a great Bogart performance-- the weathered hard-ass with a history of violence and a need to be loved; he knows as well as we do that he'll blow it eventually. There's not a wasted word or image here, and it all leads to a devastating final scene.
An excellent noir from master Nicholas Ray who was one of the most prolific Hollywood directors of the 1950s. Bogart and Grahame also give their best performances on film in my opinion. Grahame who oozes star power heavily utilizes both her eyebrows and eyes, she apprehends both Bogart and the audience with her seductive expressions and delivery. If the audience is going to be able to relate to Bogart's character in anyway it'll be the undercurrent of lust that is mutually felt for Grahame. But Grahame is in no way a one trick pony here, she is easily the most interesting character as the film progresses and Bogart's Dixon Steele recesses into paranoia and outbursts of violence. From early on…
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