Films/DVD Asylum

Robert Wise's, "Born to Kill" stars the truly terrifying

76.1.163.157

tinear

Lawrence Tierney (you may know him as Joe, the mastermind in Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs") who, it seems, was extremely violent and unpredictable in "real" life.
Tow people brutally are killed in a rooming home and the woman that found the bodies decides that, since she has no evidence, she'll just move on.
Soon, however, the killer seeks her out and falls prey to her beauty but, as he warns her, only as long as she doesn't disappoint him. Did I mention the lady's sister falls for him, too?
This film cleverly leaves many questions unanswered, allowing the viewer to try and figure out who knows what and when they may have found it out.
Elisha Cook Jr., Walter Slezak both have wonderful roles playing up to their strengths.
The best reason to see the film is Tierney's performance: truly scary, as very few actors can be.

Follow Ups:

You seem to be in the midst of a noir revival... - Harmonia 21:56:47 02/19/08 (1)
...which is a pretty good thing, no? Tierney is freakey in this role.

Robert Wise isa bit underrated these days. Respected, but not hip. Yet the man who made The Sound Of Music also made this tense thriller plus another fine noir, The Set Up, starring Robert Ryan in one of the best boxing pictures ever. The House On Telegraph Hill is another good one from this era, often classified as a noir, although it seems more a mystery/thriller to me.

Wise made movies in almost every genre: sci-fi, thrillers, war movies, dramas, noirs, musicals. He edited The Hunchback of Notre Dame and Citizen Kane, and he did his best to salvage the trainwreck that became The Magnificent Ambersons. He was always very much a Hollywood director but he madew many intelleigent, finely crafted films.

Credits include The Day The Earth Stood Still, The Andromeda Strain, The Sand Pebbles, West Side Story, The Haunting (one of the best ghost movies ever), Somebody Up There Likes Me (starring a young, vibrant Paul newman), Executive Suite and others I can't quite recall.

I don't hold Julie Andrew's haircut in Sound of Music against him.

BTW, have you delved into the Fox boxed noirs yet? TCM has a bunch of noirs coming up for broadcast in March and April. I think.
- Yeah, unlike my personal, recent Russian "festival," this one kind of - tinear 00:59:00 02/20/08 (0)
  creeped up on me.
  I'll keep a look out for the Fox stuff; any favorites?
  Thanks for the Wise info: there are several Hollywood directors (Anthony Mann springs first to mind) like him that aren't as widely known as they should be; their films, however, are.

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