Crime

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When Brubaker (Robert Redford) comes to a small state prison to be its new warden, he’s horrified by what he sees. Prisoners are sold as slaves, and even decent food can’t be obtained without cold, hard cash. So the enraged warden tries to set matters right…but the more he reforms, the more enemies he makes with the townspeople who have benefitted from the corruption. Soon Brubaker’s in big trouble–and it looks as if no one is powerful enough to help. This powerful drama received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Screenplay.Read More »

Synopsis:
Mrs. Cummings, a free-lance magazine photographer and a recent widow after her husband committed suicide, and her model, Susan, are on an assignment to cover resorts California and Nevada. Driving west from Las Vegas they pick up Jim Henry, a recently-discharged Marine, who is hitchhiking to the home of a friend near the Salton Sea. Meanwhile, back in Las Vegas, a blonde known casually by Jim, is found murdered. Jim becomes the object of a manhunt directed by Police-Lieut. White Eagle of the Las Vegas police.Read More »

From IMDB:
A highly styled ‘genre’ film which can perhaps be seen as a pastiche of all gangster movies. Tom Reagan is the laconic anti-hero of this amoral tale which is also, paradoxically, a look at morals within the criminal underworld of the 1930s. Two rival gangs vie for control of a city where the police are pawns, and the periodic busts of illicit drinking establishments are no more than a way for one gang to get back at the other. Black humour and shocking violence compete for screen time as we question whether or not Tom, right-hand man of the Irish mob leader, really has a heart.Read More »

This 1947 semi-documentary style featurette shot around the news of the world press, is a
story of grisly murders by a cinema organist. A fascinating film produced by Five Star Films
using the mediums of the Press and the cinema. Good historic scenes of the News of the
World Printing Plant and Victoria Station.Read More »

Quote:
A governor planning to run for U.S. Senate has a secret past that could prove damaging to his political aspirations: he’s a convicted murderer, and that will come to light if the FBI does an investigative check on him. He goes to a local crime boss for help. The racketeer arranges for a low-level FBI employee to take the incriminating file from FBI headquarters, but then she is conveniently murdered. Two FBI agents investigating her murder begin to think that something isn’t quite kosher.Read More »

Synopsis by Eleanor Mannikka
Based on an actual bank heist (and even using the St. Louis policemen who took part in thwarting the original robbery), this fairly ho-hum caper film stars Steve McQueen as the driver of the getaway car for the four bank robbers. The four men go over their plan several times, including dry runs to cover every possible contingent. These preparations take up most of the film, so that by the time the thieves are ready to do it, the audience has been ready forever. The actual scenario when the thieves walk into the bank is fast-paced, and as might be expected, even the best-laid plans cannot foresee everything.Read More »

The Debt is a gripping thriller about two entrepreneurs who become tangled in the web of a Russian thug. Two friends begin a business venture of importing Italian scooters into Poland. With no collateral, they turn to a Russian acquaintance that offers money and support in the beginning and then inexplicably turns violent and vicious. Tension mounts as the two friends begin to understand what must be done. Based on a true story, The Debt is a terrifying tale of ordinary men pushed to their limit.Read More »

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The film follows the exploits of two young BMX experts, P.J. (Angelo D’Angelo) and Goose (James Lugton), and their friend Judy (Nicole Kidman) after stumbling upon a box of police-band walkie talkies. A small group of incompetent bank robbers were hoping to use the walkie talkies to snoop on police traffic and they will now do anything to get them back.Read More »

A hard-line judge is tempted toward mercy-killing by his wife’s terminal cancer.

Quote:
I find it interesting that An Act of Murder, The Third Man (Carol Reed), Obsession (Edward Dmytryk), The Set-Up (Robert Wise), Act of Violence (Fred Zinneman), House of Strangers (Joseph Mankiewicz) and Without Honor (Irving Pichel) were all in the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1949 – about one quarter of the competition were films that show up these days on classic film noir lists.Read More »