79. Klute (1971)

A detective thriller par excellence.

John Klute is a small town, Pennsylvania detective who decides to investigate his friend's disappearance after the police have failed to come up with anything. His first port of call is Bree Daniels, a prostitute who seemingly received explicit letters from the friend.

Klute enters into the seedy underbelly of New York to try and track down his friend with the help of Miss Daniels. She tries to tempt him into the temptations of the big city, but in turn he shows her another side of the male sex she has come to know and loathe.

Jane Fonda is just sublime in this film. Ignore the eponymous title. this is the story of Bree. She has survived the game and is desperate to get out. Her scenes with her analyst are great, juxtaposed with her scenes getting to know and falling for Klute.

The detective story does take a back seat to the development of their relationship, but not to the detriment of the thriller.

Thrill indeed this does. The actual perpetrator is revealed quite early, but it is well perceived. It becomes more of a case of "what will happen?" rather than a "whodunit?"

New York is shot to perfection. It is gloriously noir in its restricted pallet.

Sublimely shot. Excellent direction. Donald Sutherland is great as the eponymous lead, but this is Fonda's film and rightly so. Well deserved Oscar.

78. Point Blank (1967)

Lee Marvin plays Walker. A crook who is betrayed and left for dead by his best friend, gangster Mal Reese. Reese takes Walker's share of a robbery and his wife. Unfortunately for Reese, Walker isn't dead and does the impossible, swimming to the shore from Alcatraz. Once his wounds are healed, he begins a mission to retrieve his $93,000 share of the loot and exact vengeance on his wife, Reese and the rest of the accomplices.

This is a very stylised thriller. Marvin's Walker is a very unsympathetic anti-hero, though his seemingly unstoppable nature is to be admired. Someone just give him his money! The use of single names is used throughout and acts as a mystery to the identity of the mysterious head honchos. Who is Fairfax?

Boorman's use of flashback throughout is well motivated. From the opening scene where we see the apparent death of the main character to the repeated imagery in the frequent scenes of violence and death, each point is hammered home.

Angie Dickinson as Chris, Walker's sister-in-law, is on great form and the neo-noir genre does leave you guessing about her character's motivations. Is she a femme fatale? Is she Fairfax?

It is a great on the edge thriller and has many traits of a classic noir. Boorman's makes great use of wide screen and colour palate to make the most beautiful views look bleak.

77. The Awful Truth (1937)

Jerry and Lucy are a married couple who, after believing they have caught each other in indiscretions, decide to divorce. Before their divorce is finalized  each plots to ruin the others plans to remarry. Lucy to a rich Southern rancher (well observed by Ralph Bellamy) and Jerry to a madcap heiress.

This is truly one of the great screwball comedies. Perfectly observed subtle comedy combined with sharp witty dialogue and a showcase of slapstick and bedroom farce. Both Irene Dunne and Cary Grant are exceptional in the lead roles, but the film is fleshed out with a wealth of witty supporting roles. Allegedly, the comedy was greatly improvised from day to day making it even greater in my opinion.

Leo McCarey's direction has produced a masterpiece in comic timing. It's wonderfully paced. The comedy is both subtle sand broad and the tenderly sweet ending is very touching and rounds out a great ride.

76. Alphaville, Une étrange aventure de Lemmy Caution (1965)

Set in the future, Alphaville tells the story of Lemmy Caution, a secret agent who travels to Alphaville to seek out Professor Von Braun and possibly get rid of him.
I'm not a fan of French New Wave cinema, but you cant help but see the influences this film has had on modern sci-fi. Here Godard chooses to make a science fiction film with no special effects or elaborate sets. Almost as if it is a parody of sci-fi. Instead he tells the story as a noir detective tale and shoots it in futuristic looking buildings in Paris and has lingering shots on neon and mathematical diagrams. Caution is dressed in typical noir detective garb (trench coat and hat) as he makes his way through this disturbing Dystopian society where emotion has been outlawed through punishment of death by firing squad into swimming pool.

Never really clear on whether Alphaville is a city or planet, or whether Caution's Ford Galaxy is supposed to represent a spaceship. It really is all a bit too hipster for me, though its place in the list is deserved. The influence from the story and look is wide reaching. Fahrenheit 451 and Blade Runner scream loudest, but you will find hints in other gritty sci-fi.

I was still bored to nonplussedom, but the signposted influences made this more of a comfortable ride.

If the marksmen doesn't get you, the synchronized swimmers will finish you off!

75. The Bitter Tea of General Yen (1933)

A young missionary travels to Shanghai to marry her childhood sweetheart who is a missionary out there. She gets injured when rescuing a group of orphans during an uprising and is taken captive by a Chinese Warlord, General Yen. A spot of Stockholm syndrome later and she has fallen for him.

Quite a beautiful film visually and the story is much darker than the norm from this age. Stanwyck's Megan is a real powerhouse to start with, but slowly but surely becomes a sappy mess. Nils Astor is an odd choice. Another peg in Hollywood Asian racism? Possibly. The film has Asian actors in supporting roles (Toshia Mori as the double-crossing Mah-Li is particularly fine), so why cast a Dane as the General and cover him in distracting make-up that makes him look very creepy and monstrous?

It's an odd story with bizarre character arcs. I didn't find anyone particularly sympathetic and the plot was quite ancillary. Left me a touch bored.

74. Beat the Devil (1953)

A stellar cast and crew gather to make a great independent Hollywood movie.

A non-consequential story involving uranium and land rights in central Africa is quickly forgotten and the plot itself ends up being a plot device.

What is great about this film is the cutting, witty script penned by Truman Capote and John Huston (who also directed.) Often tongue in cheek, you can see the cast are having a blast with it. This is a fun frolic and never takes itself too seriously.

73. The Evil Dead (1982)

Five friends take a trip to stay in an old log cabin in the middle of some woods. Then they go down into the basement. Will these kids never learn?!

Archetypal cabin in the woods horror. Hoaky acting of an already clunky script. Effects that I remember looked dated when this originally came out especially the Claymation ending. Some of the gore is well done, though it borrows heavily from Dario Argento.

It was made on a shoestring budget and looks it, however the tight camera angles and extreme close ups not only help to disguise a cheap set, but also add menace, especially when you have the likes of Bruce Campbell mugging for you.

I remember this actually being quite terrifying back in the 80s. Now it looks really dated and it's hard to read anything but comedy here, especially when you bring to mind the sequels.

I watched this again to see if the 2013 remake is justified and it clearly is. This is now a tired old film, but it does show an emerging talent in Raimi.