Film Noir Quotes

• That was certainly true the first time, when I did Body Heat, the first movie that I directed. I was looking for a vessel to tell a certain kind of story, and I was a huge fan of Film Noir, and what I liked about it was that it was so extreme in style.

  Lawrence Kasdan

  Style, Fans, Stories

  Interview with Stax, www.ign.com. March 21, 2003.

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• There were some things that I found I really enjoyed singing about; like, on the title track, there's this film-noir character of a woman who's sort of losing it in a room.

  Diana Krall

  Character, Track, Singing

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• One difference between film noir and more straightforward crime pictures is that noir is more open to human flaws and likes to embed them in twisty plot lines.

  Roger Ebert

  Plot Lines, Differences, Noir

  Roger Ebert's review of "The Samaritan", www.rogerebert.com. May 16, 2012.

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• Film noir is not a genre. It is not defined, as are the western and gangster genres, by conventions of setting and conflict, but rather by the more subtle qualities of tone and mood. It is a film 'noir', as opposed to the possible variants of film gray or film off-white.

  Paul Schrader

  White, Quality, Noir

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• I don t mind a reasonable amount of trouble.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Mind, Trouble, Sam Spade

  Dashiell Hammett (2010). “The Maltese Falcon”, p.61, Vintage Crime/Black Lizard

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• Film noir has a mood that everyone can feel. It’s people in trouble, at night, with a little bit of wind and the right kind of music. It’s a beautiful thing.

  David Lynch

  Beautiful, Night, Wind

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• There is something missing in a lot of digital filmmaking, something I call "poetic reality." That's something you see played out in film noir, where the technique establishes the mood.

  Vilmos Zsigmond

  Reality, Missing, Technique

  Source: www.pbs.org

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• I always find myself gravitating to the analogy of a maze. Think of film noir and if you picture the story as a maze, you don't want to be hanging above the maze watching the characters make the wrong choices because it's frustrating. You actually want to be in the maze with them, making the turns at their side, that keeps it more exciting...I quite like to be in that maze.

  Christopher Nolan

  Motivational, Character, Thinking

  Biography/Personal Quotes, www.imdb.com.

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• There are specific times where film noir is a natural concomitant of the mood. When there's insecurity, collapse of financial systems - that's where film noir always hits fertile ground.

  Werner Herzog

  Insecurity, Noir, Financial

  "Courting Disaster: Werner Herzog". Interview with Darrell Hartman, www.interviewmagazine.com. October 28, 2009.

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• I don't care if it's a mystery story, a Western, or the story of Julius Caesar. To me it's the emotion, the lies, the double-cross, whether it's Brutus doing it to Caesar or Bob Stack doing it to Robert Ryan that defines what kind of drama it is.

  Samuel Fuller

  Drama, Lying, Deceit

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• Experience has taught me never to trust a policeman. Just when you think one's all right, he turns legit.

  Ben Maddow

  Trust, Thinking, Noir

  "Fictional character: Doc Riedenschneider". "The Asphalt Jungle", 1950.

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• The cheaper the crook, the gaudier the patter.

  Dashiell Hammett

  Crooks, Noir, Sam Spade

  Dashiell Hammett (2007). “Vintage Hammett”, p.151, Vintage

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• Robert Pattinson has the face of a film-noir dupe. It's a face that is searching and open and kind. It's a face that a certain type of woman might want to fool because, in its intensely old-fashioned kindness, the face says, I love you. Fool me.

  Wesley Morris

  I Love You, Kindness, Noir

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• I am grateful for what I call well-spent moments: Making a tuna fish sandwich with the works. Taking at least a half hour to eat it outside. Ironing my vintage tea towels while watching old black-and-white film noir movies and sipping one martini with extra olives - a quirky combination, but it works.

  Sarah Ban Breathnach

  Grateful, Black And White, Tuna Fish

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• I admire hard-bitten, wisecracking realism of Ida Lupino and the film noir heroines. I'm sick of simpering white girls with their princess fantasies.

  Camille Paglia

  Girl, Princess, White

  Camille Paglia (2011). “Vamps & Tramps: New Essays”, p.12, Vintage

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• (In) most cop shows, every cop in the squad speaks exactly the same and the same kind of short clipped film noir-ish talk.

  Rainn Wilson

  Squad, Noir, Kind

  Source: mynorthwest.com

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• I'm really a sucker for old, old movies. Like old film noir. I don't know. I also really enjoy independent movies.

  Boti Bliss

  Independent, Noir, Film

  Source: actionflickchick.com

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• I think the original Matrix was really incredible. It was so original and it did so many innovative things with film. It was a much bigger film. Bound was just a smaller film. It was kind of like an old noir film

  Gina Gershon

  Thinking, Noir, Kind

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• Is there something in druggy subjects that encourages directors to make imitation film noir? Film noir itself becomes an addiction.

  Pauline Kael

  Addiction, Directors, Noir

  Pauline Kael (1989). “Hooked”, E P Dutton

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• When I was making these damned pictures, I never knew about film noir. If you had asked me about it then, I probably would have pointed to something like Bill Wellman's The Ox Bow Incident, the best Western I ever saw and very much in the style of film noir  I don't care if it's a mystery story, a Western, or the story of Julius Caesar. To me it's the emotion, the lies, the double-cross that defines what kind of drama it is.

  Samuel Fuller

  Drama, Lying, Style

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• Yes, to me that's one of the most compelling fears in film noir and the psychological thriller genre - that fear of conspiracy. It's definitely something that I have a fear of - not being in control of your own life. I think that's something people can relate to, and those genres are most successful when they derive the material from genuine fears that people have.

  Christopher Nolan

  Successful, Thinking, People

  "Biography/Personal Quotes". www.imdb.com.

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• As the tall dark and handsome male star, Carey Grant always stands for male beauty and desirability, whether in a 30s screwball, a 40s film noir, or a 50s romantic comedy. He consequently turns around the orthodox gender between the one who looks and so desires, and the one who is looked at, and so is being desired.

  Steven A. Cohen

  Beauty, Stars, Dark

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