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SMB Film Thread 2025

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Doogie Hauser said:
Where the Sidewalk Ends (1950)

Dana Andrews is a cop who is on his last warning for duffing up hoods. Meanwhile, a gambling-based scuffle leaves a bloke dead, and Andrews is determined to nail a villain whom he believes used the knife. His enquiries take him to an apartment where one of the scufflers lives. Andrews is attacked, so he retaliates and inadvertently kills the man. He decides to create an alibi and then dispose of the body. He plans to pin the killing he committed on the sleazy gang boss he believes committed the other murder.

Great film. It’s classic noir, with a leading character who uses violence to solve problems, but hates himself. He is constantly having to make choices that test his ability to continue to live that existence. He starts to fall for the widow of the bloke he killed, and her father is the number one suspect, so Andrews’ sense of right and wrong leads him to intervene on behalf of a man he knows is innocent. He makes several questionable decisions about the body, and trying to pin it upon his arch-nemesis. There a great fight scene attached to this.

The character work is a superior example in this genre. Smaller roles are allowed to breathe. The Inspector is equally annoying and impressive. He fettles one red herring quickly. Andrews’ partner has a great scene after they part acrimoniously, but then Andrews asks him for cash to help Gene Tierney’s father. The dialogue is driven and sometimes amusing - the coffee shop owner is a treat, and the repartee between her and Andrews is great. The cinematography is marvellous, where even the simplest scene (a telephone call with a lamp swinging above) looks moody and engaging.

Definitely a higher tier noir in my estimation.

8/10
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It’s a very good film.
Problem for me with it and all his others is Dana himself. He always looks too bland to be doing the stuff he’s doing in every film. Stick Bogart or Mitchum in any of his roles and the films immediately move up a few notches.
 
riffraff said:
It’s a very good film.
Problem for me with it and all his others is Dana himself. He always looks too bland to be doing the stuff he’s doing in every film. Stick Bogart or Mitchum in any of his roles and the films immediately move up a few notches.
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Funny you thinking that, i reckon his everyman persona is his strength, you expect Bogart, Mitchum or Glenn Ford to kick some butt.
 
Monty Pigeon said:
JSA (Joint Security Area) (2000) 8/10
An incident at the DMZ between North and South Korea leaves two North Korean soldiers dead and a South Korean soldier injured. Neutral Swiss officers are sent in to investigate. None of the explanations add up. Decent thriller let down a bit by some wooden acting in the English dialogue sequences.
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A really great movie, great plot. Always baffled why it didn't get a remake in the US
 
Shack said:
Ballad Of Wallis Island (2025) - 7/10 - Enjoyed it. Quirky little British movie with a nice vibe (imagine The Dectectorists). The Tim Key character maybe a bit too annoying but it balanced out with the plot I guess. Sort of predictable but had a nice charm about it. Looked up the short it was based on and interesting to see how it was developed with the extra characters.
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Just watched this tonight. Absolutely wonderful film.
 
riffraff said:
It’s a very good film.
Problem for me with it and all his others is Dana himself. He always looks too bland to be doing the stuff he’s doing in every film. Stick Bogart or Mitchum in any of his roles and the films immediately move up a few notches.
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Interesting point of view! I found him to be occasionally manic and full of simmering anger, and quite realistic rather than a caricature. I was taken aback by how much I liked his turn.

Harry Gates said:
Funny you thinking that, i reckon his everyman persona is his strength, you expect Bogart, Mitchum or Glenn Ford to kick some butt.
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Yeah. Andrews grounded the film for me. I’ve liked his performances since I saw Night of the Demon as a kid.
 
Harry Gates said:
Funny you thinking that, i reckon his everyman persona is his strength, you expect Bogart, Mitchum or Glenn Ford to kick some butt.
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Plus he always looks too young to be a detective. The lieutenant, Captain, DA, beat cops, desk sarj, lawyers etc wad eat him alive nivver mind the villains. If Bogie, Mitch, Clint etc tell a villain to sit down and stfu he does it if he’s got any sense at all. Dana? naaaah, the villains gonna try for the last word.
Danas more the naive young cop that Mitch or Bogie gets tasked with bringing up to speed who has a “rabbi” somewhere high up in the DAs or Mayors or Governers office. They’ll be reluctant to do so and suspicious of him but he’ll come through in the end.
To give him his due he got some good roles in good films but back then even the big stars couldn’t pick n choose their films they just did what they were told.
 
Predator: Killer of Killers - 10/10
A really enjoyable edition to the franchise. Three short stories that link up at the end. Might be setting up another film.
It reminded me of a recent Marvel comics / 20th Century Studio collaboration “
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Transformers One - 7/10
Now I’ve avoided this one up to now, as a 1980s Transformers fanboy, I felt it probably didn’t have anything different, but I was quite surprised. Canny effort.

Captain America: New World Order - 8/10
I quite enjoyed this one. Good story, nice introduction of the Red Hulk. But I felt Harrison Ford couldn’t carry off the right tone for such a character like General/President Ross. But it was nice to see that the 2008 Hulk film finally get some love!
 
riffraff said:
Plus he always looks too young to be a detective. The lieutenant, Captain, DA, beat cops, desk sarj, lawyers etc wad eat him alive nivver mind the villains. If Bogie, Mitch, Clint etc tell a villain to sit down and stfu he does it if he’s got any sense at all. Dana? naaaah, the villains gonna try for the last word.
Danas more the naive young cop that Mitch or Bogie gets tasked with bringing up to speed who has a “rabbi” somewhere high up in the DAs or Mayors or Governers office. They’ll be reluctant to do so and suspicious of him but he’ll come through in the end.
To give him his due he got some good roles in good films but back then even the big stars couldn’t pick n choose their films they just did what they were told.
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:lol: :lol: :lol: Love it.

Hang on, though. He waded into those hoods in Scalise’s place like a man possessed. He was doing alright, too, until the numbers outweighed him. He ignored his superiors, ignored his partner and just went for it. He knew he’d have his arse nailed for it, and was in his last warning, but it didn’t matter.
 
Doogie Hauser said:
:lol: :lol: :lol: Love it.

Hang on, though. He waded into those hoods in Scalise’s place like a man possessed. He was doing alright, too, until the numbers outweighed him. He ignored his superiors, ignored his partner and just went for it. He knew he’d have his arse nailed for it, and was in his last warning, but it didn’t matter.
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Scaliesse hoods were like SAFC under Coleman and Moyes. Tough on paper but the mean streets ain’t paper sunshine. They were playing at it…….and badly.
 
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riffraff said:
Scaliesse hoods were like SAFC under Coleman and Moyes. Tough on paper but the mean streets ain’t paper sunshine. They were playing at it…….and badly.
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I hear you. And Gary Merrill ain’t no prime psycho Conte from Big Combo.

I will watch more noir Andrews to see if these comments hold water with me. If they don’t, then Van Cleef and Burr will be wanting to ask you a few questions.
 
Doogie Hauser said:
I hear you. And Gary Merrill ain’t no prime psycho Conte from Big Combo.

I will watch more noir Andrews to see if these comments hold water with me. If they don’t, then Van Cleef and Burr will be wanting to ask you a few questions.
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See a villain wad be worried about a visit from a badge wielding Van Cleef or Burr. Dana? Naaah.
 
Watched a mega cheapie crime noir effort.

The Fat Man (1951)

A dentist is hoyed out of his hotel window. His secretary asks a portly private detective to investigate.

It was alright. I was entertained enough. The real draw was Rock Hudson in a mid-level role. There’s a few decent characters peppered around the film, such as PI Fatty’s slightly neurotic assistant. It’s got an odd structure because vast amounts of the running time are played out in flashbacks.

Not bad. 5.5/10, maybe a 6 if I’m feeling generous.
 
Anyone mentioned films are terrible nowadays and only appear to be getting worse?

natinnam said:
Was alright, but really didn't get why everyone was raving on about it.
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I think given the current landscape, it was thoroughly watchable.

Oh, The Surfer.

Nic Cage being Nic Cage by the beach, 5.5/10.
 
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