Scanialara
You won't be disappointed!
Unlimitedia
Sick Product of a Sick System
TaryBiggBall
It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.
Portia Hilton
Blistering performances.
daleholmgren
In no particular order, the 4 greatest noirs are: Out of the Past, The Clock, Double Indemnity and Kiss Me Deadly. I know, I know, I'm skipping over Casablanca and some others, but these 4 are great because they are still rare enough they haven't been burned into our memory bank to risk boredom or parody. Each scene in OOTP is worth savoring, like a memory of a favorite vacation with your wife or girlfriend when you were young.Take the scene where Jeff (an odd name for Mitchum, but ok) is packing to leave, and is going to meet Kathy, when Whit (Kirk D.) shows up with his goons. Even though you know it's a movie, you are scared to death of Kathy knocking on the door and Whit realizing Jeff has lied to him about finding Kathy. The tension is agonizing, and yet it doesn't come from violence, it comes from our own fear of circumstances beyond our control revealing to others that we have lied about something. Powerful, powerful stuff.The movie has a little bit of corny dialogue, and there is some storyline confusion, but really, not much. Just lie back, eat your popcorn, and realize this movie is going to take you on the ride of your life.
DonAlberto
Starting off a review by admitting having no idea who the director of the film you're about to write a review of is certainly far from ideal. Yet it hardly matters if Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas are the actors. The film was adapted by Daniel Mainwaring (under a pen name) from his novel Build my Gallows High (also written under a pen name).A retired private eye runs a gas station in a small town, where he leads a quiet life under the phoney name of Jeff Bailey. He spends his leisure time fishing and whit a young girl he wants to marry. Unexpectedly, he receives the visit of and old friend who told him that Whit Sterling, a boss in the mob, wants to see him. Bailey is forced to explain to his soon-to-be-wife his shady past in a very long flashback: he was hired by Sterling to look for his lover, Kathie Moffet, who had run away with a considerable sum of money, 40.000 dollars, managed to find her in Acapulco but as he fell in love with her, they decided to flee from Sterling and go to live in San Francisco. However, the woman fled again leaving him alone after the dearth of the former Bailey¡s mate in business, who had discovered his whereabouts. When the flash-back finishes Bailey is drawn back to Sterling and starts to suspect that he longs to take revenge on him over what happened.Thus the two plotlines are merged into one. Bailey, back to his usual business, is pulled back into a world he knows as well as the back of his hand. As in any good Noir picture, there are twists and turns where they are needed, sometimes in the shape of a gun coming out of a raincoat pocket, sometimes it's just betraying and stabbing in the back. All that would account to almost nothing if the movie hadn't had Robert Mitchum in in. Hi is Noir. His height lends him the ability to scan a murder scene as if he were a owl up on a tree branch; his eyes are the eyes of a marble statue.
sffs-34868
This movie will want to make you throw pomade in your hair, light up a camel cigarette, and talk extra fast.
Black and white, backdoor trickery, and clean suits is definitely why I chose this movie over any modern Judd Apatow film.
Robert Mitchum who is pure outlaw versus Kirk Douglas who is hard fisted gangster.
With guns, whitewalls, and femme fatales you'll definitely want to go back in time with Out of the Past
Scott LeBrun
Quintessential 1940s film noir stars Robert Mitchum as Jeff, eking out a living running a service station in a small town. He's also dating local girl Ann (Virginia Huston), and he's forced to fess up to his past life when old associates come calling. He'd been hired by a mobster named Whit (Kirk Douglas) to find Kathie (Jane Greer), who'd shot at Whit and supposedly made off with $40,000. When Jeff finds Kathie, he finds himself taken with her, quite fatefully."Out of the Past" was scripted by Daniel Mainwaring (using the pseudonym Geoffrey Homes), based on his novel. It's a well paced, thoughtful, consistently entertaining story that keeps the viewer on their toes with its various developments. One has to wonder if Jeff will be able to extricate himself from this untenable situation. Certainly he seems doomed from the moment he meets Kathie, played by the lovely Greer as one of the most alluring femme fatales to be found in this genre. The theme of a flawed protagonist potentially coming to ruin as the result of infatuation with a deadly dame is certainly classic noir stuff.It's all directed efficiently by Jacques Tourneur, who'd previously made his name guiding other low budget films for RKO, for producer Val Lewton. He proves to be very good at setting a sombre mood right from the start. Everything is attractively shot in a high contrast manner by Nicholas Musuraca, and use of Roy Webbs' music score is sparing.Mitchum was born to play roles like Jeff. He has a real presence playing a man with a rather unflappable nature; not once does he lose his cool. Greer is wonderfully sexy, and Douglas delivers a charming, amiable performance. Top notch supporting players include Rhonda Fleming, Richard Webb, Steve Brodie, Paul Valentine, Dickie Moore, Ken Niles, Theresa Harris, John Kellogg, and Wallace Scott.Memorable dialogue and a feeling of inevitability also help to make this a particular favorite for film buffs.Eight out of 10.
