WHEN THE THEATRE GOES DARK, IT’S NOIR

by Rob Lopresti

At the bottom of this column you will find the answers to the last half of my movie quotes page from two weeks ago, but as long as we’re discussing flicks, I thought I’d discuss a couple of good noir-ish movies I saw recently.

Frozen River (2009) stars Melissa Leo, who some of you may remember as the red-haired detective from the wonderful TV series Homicide. She plays Ray, an upstate New York woman who is not having a good year. Her gambler husband has just run off with the money she was saving to move her two kids into a double-wide mobile home.

While trying to track him down Ray meets Lila, a Mohawk Indian played by Misty Upham who needs money to get her newborn son back from her late husband’s mother. Lila has a proposition; they can make a lot of money using the trunk of Ray’s car to move people from one end of the Mohawk reservation to the other. Why would that be worth money? Well, you see, the U.S.-Canadian border runs straight through the rez . . .

So they find themselves in the people-smuggling business and things get messier by the minute. You know this flick ain’t gonna end with them winning the lottery and moving to Malibu, but the ending is satisfactory, and the acting is powerful.

The Lookout (2007) is about Chris Pratt. In high school it looked like he had it made: a handsome hockey star with a rich father. Then he caused a stupid accident that killed two of his friends and left him with severe brain damage.

Four years later he is working as night janitor in a small-town bank, sharing an apartment with a blind man. One night in a bar he meets and makes friends with Gary. Turns out Gary is a bankrobber, and he has plans for Chris . . .

We watch Chris getting sucked into a plot that can only lead to disaster, and then watch him to try to dig his way out with no tools except the pocket notebook he uses to remember even the simplest things. Character-driven suspense.

And speaking of character, what I like best about this movie is that, except for a few of the bad guys, nobody in this movie is one-dimensional. A minor tyrant turns out to have a kind side. A total schmo is absolutely heroic when put to the test. People are complicated.

Joshua Gordon-Levitt (of Third Rock) plays Chris but I was more impressed by Matthew Goode as the Mephistophlean bank robber, and Jeff Daniels as the blind roommate who alternates between crazy schemes and dark cynicism.

My one complaint is the ending which I thought was too optimistic. Ray’s fate in Frozen River is easier to swallow.

And now the movie quotes . . .

26. There’s no retirement home for assassins is there? Archery at four. Riflery at five. –Julian Noble (Pierce Brosnan) The Matador

27. –Look in your heart! Look in your heart!
      –What heart? –Bernie (John Turturro)/Tom Reagan (Gabriel Byrne) Miller’s Crossing

28. –So Jimmy, when was the last time you saw Dave?

      –The last time I saw Dave . . .       –Yeah, Dave Boyle.
      –Dave Boyle . . .
      –Yeah Jimmy, Dave Boyle.
      –That was twenty-five years ago, going up this street, in the back of that car.-Sean Devine (Kevin Bacon) /Jimmy Markum (Sean Penn) Mystic River

29. –Oh dear
      –Why oh dear?
      –You ARE in love.
      –Is that bad?
      –For a monk, it does present certain problems.-William of Baskerville (Sean Connery)/Adso of Melk (Christian Slater) The Name of the Rose

30. You gentlemen aren’t REALLY trying to kill my son, are you? –Clara Thornhill (Jessie Royce Landis) North By Northwest

31. Is this your first time being robbed? You’re doing great. –Jack Foley (George Clooney) Out of Sight

32. –I can’t get over it. What kinda creep wouldn’t catch a baby? If it was real it coulda been crippled for life.
      –He wasn’t paid to bodyguard the baby.–Irene Walker (Kathleen Turner)/Charley Partanna (Jack Nicholson) Prizzi’s Honor

33. We find the defendants incredibly guilty. – Jury foreman (Bill Macy) The Producers

34. –I love you, Pumpkin.
      –I love you, Honey Bunny. All right, everybody be cool, this is a robbery! –Honey Bunny (Amanda Plummer)/Pumpkin (Tim Roth) Pulp Fiction

35. –He killed a dog last night because the dog was scratching around in the garden. You know why? Because he had something buried in that garden that the dog scented.
      –Like an old hambone?
      –I don’t know what pet names Thorwald had for his wife.– Jeff (James Stewart)/Lt. Doyle (Wendell Corey)Rear Window

36.–You’re an animal!
      –No, worse! Human. Human! –Sara (Rebecca De Mornay)/Manny (Jon Voight) Runaway Train

37. Do I understand this correctly? I’m being marked down? I’ve been kidnapped by K-Mart! – Barbara (Bette Midler) Ruthless People

38. I won’t let you be happy, why should I? –Don (Ben Kingsley) Sexy Beast

39. We begin by coveting what we see every day. –Hannibal Lector (Anthony Hopkins) The Silence of the Lambs

40. I love hitmen. No matter what you do to them, you don’t feel bad. –Marv (Mickey Rourke) Sin City

41. –Remember my nickname in the joint?
      –The Brain?
      –The Brain. That’s what the guys used to call me right?
      –But, Ray, that was sarcastic! –Ray (Woody Allen)/Benny (Jon Lovitz) Small Time Criminals

42. We must never forget that we are human, and as humans we dream, and when we dream we dream of money. –George Land (Ricky Jay) The Spanish Prisoner

43. Buckle up for safety! –Jerry Blake (Terry O’Quinn) The Stepfather

44. What was I supposed to do—call him for cheating better than me? –Doyle Lonigan (Robert Shaw) The Sting

45. Don’t worry, I’m not going to shoot you, Mr. Haines. It might disturb Mother.–Bruno Anthony (Robert Walker) Strangers on a Train

46. Don’t Worry. I know how to handle a gub. – Virgil Starkwell (Woody Allen) Take The Money and Run

47. “What’s this? I don’t see many O-Levels there, Earl old chap . . .” –Ronnie (Robert Buchanan) That Sinking Feeling

48. I also remember a movie your husband made. He shot 12 guys with a 6-shot revolver. I ain’t gonna argue with that kind of marksmanship.–Harry Ames (Paul Newman) Twilight

49. I don’t think Mozart’s going to help at all. –Midge (Barbara Bel Geddes) Vertigo

50. –Do you think you were framed, like Dreyfus?
      –Dreyfus was guilty! –Journalist (Jacques Perrin)/General (Pierre Dux) Z