View Full Version : Southern Noir
Moose-Knuckle
03-26-15, 04:10
As one of M4C's resident cinephiles I decided to create a thread dedicated to one of my favorite genres. I am beyond sick of the crap coming out of Hollywood, the big budget blockbusters, CGI bukkake fests, etc. it is rewarding to find films/shows that are independent, low-budget, chocked full of character development, and outstanding dialogue (aka writing).
Off the hip here is a list of films and or TV shows that hit it out of the park.
Feature Films:
Texas Killing Fields (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1389127/)
Cold in July (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1179031/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Bad Country (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2350892/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
A Single Shot (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1540741/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Mud (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1935179/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Killer Joe (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1726669/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Joe (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2382396/?ref_=nm_flmg_act_14)
The Paperboy (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1496422/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Blue Ruin (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2359024/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
In the Electric Mist (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0910905/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Winter's Bone (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1399683/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
No Country for Old Men (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/)
(not Southern Noir but "Rural Rust-Belt Noir")
Out of the Furnace (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1206543/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Television Shows:
True Detective (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2356777/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Justified (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1489428/?ref_=nv_sr_1)
Mauser KAR98K
03-26-15, 04:36
What about "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid"?
Whiskey_Bravo
03-26-15, 07:49
Mud was a surprisingly good movie. The wife and I wanted something we had never heard of and picked that one out of the blue and it ended up being way better than we thought it would be.
I'll have to check out Bad Country, you seem to have good taste plus it has Amy Smart.
And yeah, Justified is one of if not is our favorite tv show. We have watched every episode on Amazon prime. I also tell my wife that the only way for me to really immerse myself is to be drinking a good bourbon when I watch.
Crow Hunter
03-26-15, 08:34
Mud was a surprisingly good movie. The wife and I wanted something we had never heard of and picked that one out of the blue and it ended up being way better than we thought it would be.
I'll have to check out Bad Country, you seem to have good taste plus it has Amy Smart.
And yeah, Justified is one of if not is our favorite tv show. We have watched every episode on Amazon prime. I also tell my wife that the only way for me to really immerse myself is to be drinking a good bourbon when I watch.
My wife and I actually enjoyed Mud quite a bit.
Being Southern myself, I can usually tell if someone is faking an accent or not and it is one of my pet peeves in movies. (As an aside, I have noticed that British people can fake a Southern accent better than Yankee Americans. :D)
Mud was filmed very close to where I live now (albeit across the Big Muddy) and I was greatly amazed by how close one of the accents of one of the young men was to our local "twang".
Surprisingly the young man was actually from the town in which the movie was filmed and it was really his first acting performance. I was really impressed.
Averageman
03-26-15, 10:53
Deliverance not on the list?
Not exactly southern but.
A History of Violence (2005)
And not exactly "noir" but.
Southern Comfort (1981)
Moose-Knuckle
03-26-15, 17:21
What about "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid"?
Haven't heard of that one, one of the reasons I started this thread is to help me get my fix and watch shows/movies I haven't seen before.
Haven't heard of that one, one of the reasons I started this thread is to help me get my fix and watch shows/movies I haven't seen before.
You will need to watch it in your pajamas.
Moose-Knuckle
03-26-15, 17:32
Mud was a surprisingly good movie. The wife and I wanted something we had never heard of and picked that one out of the blue and it ended up being way better than we thought it would be.
Mud was a pleasant surprise for sure. Matthew McConaughey is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors. We watch everything he is in and I haven't been disappointed yet.
I'll have to check out Bad Country, you seem to have good taste plus it has Amy Smart.
The cast of that film sold me when I was looking over the cover at the video store, we are also huge fans of Willem Dafoe.
And yeah, Justified is one of if not is our favorite tv show. We have watched every episode on Amazon prime. I also tell my wife that the only way for me to really immerse myself is to be drinking a good bourbon when I watch.
What really sold me on that series is the writing, when I discovered that the show was based upon Elmore Leonard's novella "Fire in the Hole" I was hooked. Prior to his death Elmore Leonard wrote the screenplays for the show and produced it.
Moose-Knuckle
03-26-15, 17:40
My wife and I actually enjoyed Mud quite a bit.
Being Southern myself, I can usually tell if someone is faking an accent or not and it is one of my pet peeves in movies. (As an aside, I have noticed that British people can fake a Southern accent better than Yankee Americans. :D)
Mud was filmed very close to where I live now (albeit across the Big Muddy) and I was greatly amazed by how close one of the accents of one of the young men was to our local "twang".
Surprisingly the young man was actually from the town in which the movie was filmed and it was really his first acting performance. I was really impressed.
Matthew McConaughey is from Texas so his accent is genuine. As for the boys, Tye Sheridan also stars in Joe from my list above and is another native Texan so his accent is really his own. Jacob Lofland also starred in season five of Justified.
Moose-Knuckle
03-26-15, 17:52
Deliverance not on the list?
Well it is now, as stated in my OP I was shooting from the hip with the list so I forgot it. Old Ned Beatty will never be able to live down that scene!
Not exactly southern but.
A History of Violence (2005)
Love this film, Maria Bello has always been one of my favorite actresses and her um love scenes in this film remind me of why. I first got turned on to her in another noir film Payback. The American censors were going to give it an MPAA rating of NC-17, not for the sex mind you but when the goons come to his house and he kills the one in the yard by smashing his face in with the heel of his palm. In the international version the dude falls to his knees and has an arterial blood spray. Funny what get's the American censors' panties in a wad. This film also led to Eastern Promises, another favorite of mine.
And not exactly "noir" but.
Southern Comfort (1981)
Meh it fits, love the cast; Keith Carradine, Powers Boothe, and Fred Ward. I was glad that Keith Carradine and Powers Boothe "teamed up" again for the Western series Deadwood.
Whiskey_Bravo
03-26-15, 18:49
What really sold me on that series is the writing, when I discovered that the show was based upon Elmore Leonard's novella "Fire in the Hole" I was hooked. Prior to his death Elmore Leonard wrote the screenplays for the show and produced it.
Yeah the writing is spectacular.
Cool thread Moose. I love Southern based films. Agree on Mud and Joe was a very pleasant - Cage actually was excellent.
Try The Dynamiter - I really enjoyed it...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDB__uz7ZOk
Whiskey_Bravo
03-27-15, 09:50
Watched Bad Country last night. Pretty good film, but not on the same level as Mud. Willem Dafoe was great as usual.
Some pretty epic mustaches though.
brickboy240
03-27-15, 11:09
Would Sling Blade make that category?
Excellent acting by both Billy Bob Thornton and Dwight Yoakham.
Doc Safari
03-27-15, 11:45
Being from the Southwest as opposed to the South, I'm not following the gist of this thread 100%, but I'll take a stab at it and say, "How about O Brother Where Art Thou?"
Crow Hunter
03-27-15, 12:29
Would Sling Blade make that category?
Excellent acting by both Billy Bob Thornton and Dwight Yoakham.
I think so.
One of the things that I really liked about that movie was the dialect that Billy Bob used. Not how he talked, the words he used. It was extremely authentic. It sounded very much like the way my Grandmother and the old men that used to sit around at the gun store/coffee shop used to talk.
You don't hear people talk in that dialect much anymore. Even those of us in the South, while we still have a twang, usually speak in the "standard" Midwestern American English that is so prevalent on TV.
There are some really unique and authentic terms and turns of phrases that you just don't actually hear anymore in normal day to day conversations.
Most people just remember the way he talked but note the dialect that he used.
Crow Hunter
03-27-15, 12:38
Being from the Southwest as opposed to the South, I'm not following the gist of this thread 100%, but I'll take a stab at it and say, "How about O Brother Where Art Thou?"
Sort of.
However, my wife is actually from the Tishomingo area and it doesn't look like the Delta like they portray in the movie.
I enjoyed the movie, but most of it was really kind of stereotypical and forced. Most of the actors were not authentic and really didn't give me personally the "feel" of a good Southern film.
Although, IIRC, it was mostly filmed in Mississippi. Just not the side of Mississippi they were referring to. The side of Mississippi that really did have flooding and had the dams installed was the western part and it looked like, and was filmed in the eastern part.
As an aside, it is actually pretty interesting how you can tell when something looks "close to home" on film.
My wife and I were watching a horror movie and I kept saying that it looked like it was filmed in the area. Turned out I was right. It was almost an imperceptible "feel" to the movie. It was probably the mixture of the types of trees and the way the dirt looked but it felt like kind of strange to actually look at the movie and feel like you were actually "in the woods" instead of being on a movie set because things don't look "natural" to you.
Averageman
03-27-15, 12:47
To Kill A Mockingbird.
Good Movie, better Book.
Here's some Southern noir for you.
Legend of Boggy Creek
The Legend of Boggy Creek is a 1972 horror docudrama about the "Fouke Monster," a Bigfoot-type creature that has been seen in and around Fouke, Arkansas since the 1950s. The film mixes staged interviews with some local residents who claim to have encountered the creature, along with fictitious reenactments of said encounters. Charles B. Pierce, an advertising salesman from Texarkana on the Arkansas/Texas border, borrowed over $100,000 from a local trucking company, used an old 35mm movie camera and hired locals (mainly high school students) to help make the 90-minute film. The film has generated approximately $20 million in box office revenue and is available on DVD.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Legend_of_Boggy_Creek
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InjbeYh9NL0
Doc Safari
03-27-15, 13:06
As an aside, it is actually pretty interesting how you can tell when something looks "close to home" on film.
LOL. I've got the ultimate example of that. The opening sequence of the Clint Eastwood movie "Hang 'Em High" was literally filmed about a mile from where I grew up. Those mountains in the background are MY mountains.
brickboy240
03-27-15, 14:18
How about the movie "Fandango?"
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089126/
Ok so it is set in Central to Far West Texas but when people say "the South" this encompasses a wide area and differing vegetation.
Starring Kevin Costner and Judd Nelson...the scenery going out to the Big Bend area of Texas is amazing. A quirky and funky film...no doubt.
I have always liked this film and I am not sure why.
Moose-Knuckle
03-27-15, 14:22
Cool thread Moose. I love Southern based films. Agree on Mud and Joe was a very pleasant - Cage actually was excellent.
Try The Dynamiter - I really enjoyed it...
Awesome, thanks for the heads up. Hadn't heard of it before.
Moose-Knuckle
03-27-15, 14:27
Would Sling Blade make that category?
Excellent acting by both Billy Bob Thornton and Dwight Yoakham.
Good call, I'd say it fits due to the subject matter. Subsequently Dwight Yoakham happens to be one of my favorite singers of all time.
brickboy240
03-27-15, 14:30
Another might be "Lone Star"
Starring Kris Kristopherson, Chris Cooper and a very young Matthew McConaughey.
Set in a South Texas border town....murder mystery with a definite Texas bordertown feel to it.
Moose-Knuckle
03-27-15, 14:32
Being from the Southwest as opposed to the South, I'm not following the gist of this thread 100%, but I'll take a stab at it and say, "How about O Brother Where Art Thou?"
Well that is the interesting thing about Texas, we have piney woods, swamps, bayous, coast line, and deserts lol. I'd say the Cohen brother's epic O Brother Where Art Thou is not a noir film as it is a genre about crime and macabre subject matter. That film did however bring about a mini-resurgence in Blue Grass music, one of my favorites.
Moose-Knuckle
03-27-15, 14:35
One of the things that I really liked about that movie was the dialect that Billy Bob used. Not how he talked, the words he used. It was extremely authentic. It sounded very much like the way my Grandmother and the old men that used to sit around at the gun store/coffee shop used to talk.
Yup, Billy Bob Thorton is from Arkansas so I'm sure he grew up around folks who talked just like that.
Moose-Knuckle
03-27-15, 14:39
LOL. I've got the ultimate example of that. The opening sequence of the Clint Eastwood movie "Hang 'Em High" was literally filmed about a mile from where I grew up. Those mountains in the background are MY mountains.
My favorite John Wayne Western is The Searchers, the story is set in West Texas after the Civil War . . . it was shot on location in Monument Valley lol. No way in hell that is West Texas but it made for a great back drop just not authentic. Hang 'Em High was Eastwoods first US feature length Western. To this day he is still my favorite Western actor though I admit this had a lot to do with the time of his films as the Hays Code faded away in '68, the same year Hang 'Em High was released.
Moose-Knuckle
03-27-15, 14:41
Another might be "Lone Star"
Starring Kris Kristopherson, Chris Cooper and a very young Matthew McConaughey.
Set in a South Texas border town....murder mystery with a definite Texas bordertown feel to it.
This is one that I have heard about but had forgotten, it is now on the short list. Thanks for the reminder!
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