Out of the Past (1947)

That was an excellent one.

Let's be realistic.

Good start, but then it gets ruined

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This movie will want to make you throw pomade in your hair, light up a camel cigarette, and talk extra fast. Black and white, backdoor trickery, and clean suits is definitely why I chose this movie over any modern Judd Apatow film. Robert Mitchum who is pure outlaw versus Kirk Douglas who is hard fisted gangster. With guns, whitewalls, and femme fatales you'll definitely want to go back in time with Out of the Past

Before I started watching this film I didn't expect to care about what was happening in the film until half way through when I realized I was hooked on the film. This films story was truly excellent and the dialogue was also superb. The high point of this film is really the story it tells like every good film should but it does have its downside. The acting as a whole is simply OK and the camera angles and lighting are more on the downside. Overall this film had excellent storytelling which I believe is the most important aspect of films and is a good film.

"Out of the Past" maintains a sterling reputation, and I'm well aware how sacrilegious the following sentence is: I think I actually prefer the remake. It's partly because Jeff Bridges can do no wrong, but "Against All Odds" also reaches a level of absorption that you wouldn't expect. Maybe it just fits well with the '80s.But what this movie does have is star power all its own. Robert Mitchum has the ideal face; indifferent one minute, and world-weary the next. And he's matched on the screen by Kirk Douglas' good-natured villainy. And even I didn't see that ending coming. It's as fatalistic as noir gets. 7/10

The first thought that spontaneously comes to mind when you hear or read about "Out of the Past" is likely to be: why isn't Humphrey Bogart starring in this? After all, Bogart was the indisputable king of the film-noir genre during the '40s and '50s and – solely based on the plot synopsis and seedy movie poster – this already looks like a genuine landmark of the genre. But alas, RKO purchased the rights instead of Warner Bros. and thus Humphrey was out of the picture. The film is often (righteously) labeled as one of the greatest classics in cinematic history, but mainly just by critics, and surely it would have been a much bigger commercial success in case it really had starred Bogart. Personally, I don't really mind … As much as I love Humphrey Bogart, I'm also a gigantic fan of the terrific Robert Mitchum and think he was one of the most sadly underrated actors of all times. Even though Mitchum wasn't the first choice to play the lead role in this movie (or even second or third, for that matter), he does a terrific job and certainly contributes a great deal to the powerful impact of the overall film. "Out of the Past" is the epitome of film-noir cinema and features all the great ingredients of the genre in exactly the right proportions. The story takes place in a thoroughly depressingly bleak and corrupt world, full of deviant and unreliable individuals that only care about money and themselves. Robert Mitchum, as Jeff, is the ideal anti- hero for a gloomy tale like this. He runs a small gas station in a godforsaken little town and is engaged to a beautiful local girl, but his life certainly wasn't always as inconspicuous as this. Jeff's secretive past as borderline private detective catches up with him when a henchman of the fearsome gambling tycoon Whit recognizes him whilst driving by the town. Jeff used to work for Whit and was assigned to track down his girlfriend Kathie as well as the stolen sum of $40.000. Jeff found Kathie in Mexico, but naturally fell for the charms of this ultimate femme fatale, and together they decided to run off. Kathie didn't turn out to be the faithful lover that Jeff hoped for and she ran off again. This already sounds like a full and weighty plot description on itself, doesn't it? And yet, these events are only just narrated by Jeff through an atmospheric flashback. Now that he has been exposed, Jeff has to confront both Whit and Kathie again, and what ensues is a tangled but compelling web full of mystery, intrigue and deceit. Every tiniest detail in "Out of the Past" is impeccable. Jacques Tourneur demonstrates that he can do more than just direct atmospheric low-budget horror (he previously directed the stupendous "Cat People" and "I Walked with a Zombie"), Daniel Mainwaring's screenplay (adapted from his own novel "Build my Gallows High") is waterproof to the smallest detail, cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca hits exactly the right film-noir tone with his excessive use of shadows and lighting and Robert Mitchum is surrounded by a phenomenal supportive cast. Judy Greer is the perfect femme fatale, Rhonda Fleming is a woman that I would instantly marry and living legend Kirk Douglas deeply impressive as the nefarious bastard Whit. "The Maltese Falcon" may forever remain the quintessential film- noir, but as far as I'm concerned, "Out of the Past" is a really close second.