He Walked by Night and "police noir"
Posted: October 3rd, 2008, 4:39 pm
I forgot that "He Walked By Night" was on TCM last night and came into it about 10 minutes late. I watched it for about 40 minutes. I thought the scene in which Basehart did surgery on himself was very intense but while it was fun to see Basehart and Whit Bissell, this movie reminded me of what Sheldon Wigod, who used to run the New Mayfield Repertory Cinema back in Cleveland said back in the 80s.
He hated to run movies like "Kiss of Death" or any kind of realistic film noir because he said that viewers could watch that any night of the week on TV in color.
And as I watched "He Walked by Night," I kept thinking that this could be the first half of a "Law and Order" episode.
I like "The Naked City" and "Call Northside 777" (which isn't exactly about police) but I know that some people are bored stiff by them. Where do you come down on the issue of "police noir" or semi-documentary noir?
He hated to run movies like "Kiss of Death" or any kind of realistic film noir because he said that viewers could watch that any night of the week on TV in color.
And as I watched "He Walked by Night," I kept thinking that this could be the first half of a "Law and Order" episode.
I like "The Naked City" and "Call Northside 777" (which isn't exactly about police) but I know that some people are bored stiff by them. Where do you come down on the issue of "police noir" or semi-documentary noir?