A Law Unto Themselves

Born out of the horrors of World War II, famed British filmmakers Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger released A Matter of Life or Death one year after the conclusion of the hostilities. Cleverly evoking the complexities of the era, the writer/director team fuse together multiple themes that, in some way, make sense of love, life, death, Heaven and the wounds that soldiers suffered during the traumatic affair. Beginning on a grand celestial scale, we are brought forth to an intimate, heartbreaking moment when British Royal Air Force Squadron Leader Peter Carter (David Niven), after ordering his crew to bail out (letting them know that he will soon follow), reveals to an American radio operator, June (Kim Hunter), that his plane is crashing and he has no parachute. His smooth vocals, grievous situation and stiff upper lip attitude leave the woman distraught, and the two fall in love by way of the irregular circumstance. Leaving his dead friend Bob (Robert Coote) on the plane, Carter leaps into the pea soup thick fog just off the English coastline.

Perhaps one of the most iconic introductions to a character finds Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name riding into a dry, vile town, wearing the now legendary garb – dust covered poncho, brown gaucho-style hat, black jeans, spurs, and a Colt in his trusty holster (the stubby cigars will come a little later). Stopping for a drink of water, he takes in the violent, melancholic locale, where people gaze at him in a distrusting and ominous way through their wooden shutters, and children are shot at in the street by thuggish individuals. The first of what would become the "Dollars Trilogy" (or "The Man with No Name Trilogy"), A Fistful of Dollars, despite its now celebrated status, was poorly received by most North American and British critics when originally released. Once again showing how time is a fickle thing, the term Spaghetti Western (this type of motion picture), was first coined as a negative, disparaging term (ridiculing the European product for being of poorer quality to their American counterparts) – though today, it is generally thought of as an endearing and highly positive term. Directed by Sergio Leone, its unique visual style (beautifully framed close-ups that differ from the typical Hollywood use of the technique, as well as his then unorthodox use of viewpoint that places us in the moment over Eastwood’s gun), and attempt to move away from the traditional American tropes of the western, is now viewed as the beginning of the rejuvenation of the historic genre.

Perhaps one of the best descriptive titles to ever come out of Hollywood is The Asphalt Jungle (even though it is the title of the book the film is based on). Directed by John Huston, the 1950 title vividly exemplifies film noir: a dark, gritty, dog-eat-dog world – its only difference from the animalistic wilderness is the stark stone and cement infrastructure that frames the vice-filled world. Oh, and are there vices! Each character has his or her own cross to bear – dragging them down into a world of sin and sorrow. As Doctor Erwin Riedenschneider (Sam Jaffe), the mastermind of the heist, puts it: "One way or another, we all work for our vice". Youthful gals, wealth and extravagance, liquor, gambling on the horses, and an infatuation for a specific man are just some of the misdeeds you’ll find in this movie. The above mentioned Doctor, recently released from prison, has devised an intricate heist – the take, at least one million dollars. Reaching out to a name he heard bandied about on the inside, he visits a bookie by the name of Cobby (Marc Lawrence). Needing the proper backing, a meeting is set between the man with the plan and a prominent, albeit shady lawyer, Alonzo Emmerich (Louis Calhern).