In a Lonely Place
"I was born when she kissed me. I died when she left me. I lived a few weeks while she loved me."
Bogart's best ever performance. It doesn't matter how many noirs you've seen in your time, this film always hits you like a load of bricks. It's quite possibly the most romantic film ever made and absolute agony to sit through. Beautiful agony. What makes it all the more interesting is that the script goes way off the source novel and becomes instead a partial criticism of the entire Hollywood/L.A. machine. Then there are numerous parallels between the volatile bitter Dixon Steele and Bogie himself. Nicholas Ray knew exactly how to make audiences squirm but in a good way. Gloria Grahame is stunning despite knowing what happened off-set during the making of the film.
A true classic, a great film for all times complete with one of those gut punching endings. Ultimate balls.
The Enforcer
An oddly constructed little movie in Bogie's later career that is little more than a B picture procedural. Bogie is the DA trying to nail a gang leader whose racket is the performance of murder by commission. The film becomes several long extended flashbacks after the opening where the sole witness is terrorized and accidentally dies. We see how the case is pieced together and that's about it. It's a surprisingly good little movie for what it is and some scenes were supposedly directed by Raoul Walsh. The current transfer is from VHS/LD with tons of video noise. Olive Films are prepping a BD for the near future.
2.5 balls out of 4.