Out of the Past (Jacques Tourneur, 1947)

Right before Shutter Island came out, I read an article that said Scorsese showed his cast and crew Jacques Tourneur's brilliant Out of the Past before they went into production. This makes sense: the two films have some thematic and stylistic common ground. They're also both awesome, but that might be more coincidental. Apparently, when the screening ended, Leo leaned back and said something to the effect of "That's the coolest movie ever!" to Marty.

Funny. I had pretty much the same reaction to the film the first time I saw it, last fall in my Intro to Film class. It's the same reaction I've had every time I've revisited it, including recently at the Wexner Center in a pretty awesome 35mm print. It really is one of my favorite films, and one of the best examples of the broad film noir genre I can think of.

Tourneur's film pairs two of the greatest cleft chins to ever grace the silver screen, Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas, as a former private detective and a shady gambler, respectively. That's a whole lot of badass for one movie, and some of the best scenes are the two of them bouncing zingers off one another. Douglas' character hires Mitchum's to track down his woman who shot him and made off with thirty thousand dollars. He takes the job and, naturally, falls for the dame (considering she's played by Jane Greer, it isn't much of a stretch to figure out why) and things get tricky.

Tourneur, who made a name for himself directing low-budget horror films, knocks this one out of the park. Taking noir out of the city (for the most part) and transplanting it in Mexico and rural Nevada allows for some really interesting takes on the oft-lampooned genre. Mitchum is as cool as ever, and Douglas chews on every scene. The script (based on a novel awesomely titled Build My Gallows High) is clever throughout. Overall, it's one of my favorite takes on the "guy quits the life but gets pulled back in" archetype. Having recently revisited Cronenberg's A History of Violence, I was reminded a little of Viggo Mortensen's arch and the similar small town setting. The two would make for a cool double feature. If nothing else, we'd get another great cleft chin in there. [A] 97min, 35mm