I agree. I watched this last summer and see I gave it a 9 rating at that time.

I enjoyed this movie. It has a strange feel to it, but it hearkens back to the art of pure storytelling, akin to the experience of reading a novel and being drawn into a story that isn't a blockbuster, isn't trying to be the greatest movie of all time, isn't full of gimmickry, special effects, explosions and chases...

It's just a story, capturing pathos as it explores internal struggle, the human condition.

I have to agree with all of the above. A cracking movie that hasn't aged a day.

My favorite Bogart performance. He's not a villain. He's not a hero. He's just a very flawed human who is in a lonely place because of his violent control freak tendencies. Or is it the other way around? Is he violent because he is insecure and lonely?

It feels like it probably borders on semi-autobiographical.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

I enjoyed this movie. It has a strange feel to it, but it hearkens back to the art of pure storytelling, akin to the experience of reading a novel and being drawn into a story that isn't a blockbuster, isn't trying to be the greatest movie of all time, isn't full of gimmickry, special effects, explosions and chases...

It's just a story, capturing pathos as it explores internal struggle, the human condition.

I agree. I saw it and liked it more than a lot of film noir I've taken in in my life. Hell, this one could stand to get another viewing from me pretty soon!

@Fergoose said:

I have to agree with all of the above. A cracking movie that hasn't aged a day.

Gotta disagree on this one. seem very dated.

Maltese Falcon >

@FrankSmith said:

Maltese Falcon >

Meh. I tried real hard to follow Maltese Falcon - to me, it was a convoluted mess that had me asking, several times, "What is going on here? What am I watching?" Perhaps I'm slow, but I just didn't get it. One day, maybe, I may try again.

Meanwhile, IALP had me from opening scene to close. On that basis alone, IALP is, far and away, a better movie, to me right now.

Both are great movies. There is no need to compare the two by downgrading one of them.

The Maltese Falcon is about Humphrey Bogart and some of Warner Brothers' best character actors scheming and lying to each other in pursuit of something that isn't even real. Great stuff.

Love "In a Lonely Place". Haven't watched it for some years though. Ripe for a rewatch, surely.

Fantastic movie, ahead of its time in terms of delving into the ugly side of the “hero”. I thought Sinatra may have been one of the earliest examples in Man with the Golden Arm but Bogie’s performance beat him by 5 years. You never feel like Bogie is acting which makes this an unsettling film from the opening scene til the end.

But apparently the most autobiographical elements came from director Nick Ray, by many accounts the volatile artist in real life. It’s bizarre how Ray’s marriage to the leading lady Gloria Grahame fell apart during filming, supposedly for very similar reasons as in the movie.

Art imitating life or the other way around? Who knows, but the result is a powerful movie.

@rooprect said:

Fantastic movie, ahead of its time in terms of delving into the ugly side of the “hero”. I thought Sinatra may have been one of the earliest examples in Man with the Golden Arm but Bogie’s performance beat him by 5 years. You never feel like Bogie is acting which makes this an unsettling film from the opening scene til the end.

But apparently the most autobiographical elements came from director Nick Ray, by many accounts the volatile artist in real life. It’s bizarre how Ray’s marriage to the leading lady Gloria Grahame fell apart during filming, supposedly for very similar reasons as in the movie.

Art imitating life or the other way around? Who knows, but the result is a powerful movie.

Did you know that Ms. Grahame married Ray's eldest son Tony (She was 37 & Tony was 23)?

@bratface said:

@rooprect said:

Fantastic movie, ahead of its time in terms of delving into the ugly side of the “hero”. I thought Sinatra may have been one of the earliest examples in Man with the Golden Arm but Bogie’s performance beat him by 5 years. You never feel like Bogie is acting which makes this an unsettling film from the opening scene til the end.

But apparently the most autobiographical elements came from director Nick Ray, by many accounts the volatile artist in real life. It’s bizarre how Ray’s marriage to the leading lady Gloria Grahame fell apart during filming, supposedly for very similar reasons as in the movie.

Art imitating life or the other way around? Who knows, but the result is a powerful movie.

Did you know that Ms. Grahame married Ray's eldest son Tony (She was 37 & Tony was 23)?

yeeech I just found out while watching a mini documentary. Apparently she began her affair with Tony while he was still a minor. They (Gloria, Tony & Nicholas Ray) managed to keep it hushed up because it surely would’ve destroyed her career & her life if it had leaked out.

Apparently Gloria led a very troubled life, made many mistakes and never found happiness for long. It makes this movie even more powerful, as her character is just as haunted as Bogie’s.

@DRDMovieMusings said:

@FrankSmith said:

Maltese Falcon >

Meh. I tried real hard to follow Maltese Falcon - to me, it was a convoluted mess that had me asking, several times, "What is going on here? What am I watching?" Perhaps I'm slow, but I just didn't get it. One day, maybe, I may try again.

Meanwhile, IALP had me from opening scene to close. On that basis alone, IALP is, far and away, a better movie, to me right now.

^{^} This.

Merry Christmas, Kwanzaa, etc.

@Rocky_Sullivan said:

IS a strange-feeling film. And it's pretty much unmemorable; the main part I remember is Bogie wrecking his car in it. Why? Was he emotionally distraught or somethign because I don't remember?

I think that strange feeling is the memorable part. If you think about it, not much happens aside from the murder (handled off screen), but that weird feeling of tension keeps you riveted til the end. I think that's the power of great casting and direction.

The character Bogie plays, on paper, is disgusting. He beats women, beats up strangers for no reason except to release his own aggression, and his callousness toward others comes across as downright sociopathic. But somehow he draws us into his suffering in a sympathetic way, as we hope he can pull himself together and see that Laurel is his last chance at salvation. We spend the entire movie hoping he doesn't flip out and ruin everything. That's the source of all the suspense, not whether the murder will be solved but whether he can keep from self destructing.

PS Yeah his car wreck (and subsequent pummeling of the other driver) was purely an emotional flipout. Just before, he learned that Laurel had talked to the police chief, basically a non-event, but it was enough to send him down a paranoid spiral that almost got them all killed.