The filmmaker Fritz Lang found his way to Hollywood in the mid-1930s, having just fled Nazi Germany. After helming a few crime movies and westerns for Fox and MGM, he struck back at the Nazis with "Man Hunt," a 1941 thriller/film noir that opens with Adolph Hitler in the crosshairs of a rifle. "Man Hunt" flirted with violations of the U.S. … [Read more...]
‘Body Heat’: The language of noir
"You're not too smart, are you?" the femme fatale of "Body Heat" says to the fall guy. "I like that in a man." Can't boil down film noir any better than that. The line comes from Lawrence Kasdan, circa 1980, who had bet big on the mostly forgotten genre for his first directing project. Kasdan was holding aces after writing "Raiders of the Lost … [Read more...]
