***Official 1st Annual HTF January Winter Crime Challenge***

Tim Tucker · 01-01-2008, 10:48 AM

Sick of dancing sugarplums? Tired of interminable cheery music? Ready to start throwing nutcrackers on to the fire? Are you starting to think Scrooge was right after all? Is Pottersville starting to look like a lot more fun than Bedford Falls? Then get that saccharine taste out of your mouth with the 1st Annual (hopefully) HTF Winter Crime Challenge, and put some murder and mayhem back into your life!

Though the original scope for this challenge was to be classic film noir and gangster films (and I hope that those genres will still be strongly represented), all types of crime films are eligible: film noir, proto noir, neo noir, gangster films, detective films, caper films, police procedurals… if you can make a case for it, it’s in.

And now the rules (which should be familiar to participants of the HTF Scary Movie Challenge):

1. Watch 13 crime films before midnight on January 31, 2008 (use your own time zone to set the ending time).

2. Two of the above must be new discoveries, movies you’ve never seen before. The point of this is to see those few movies you’ve always meant to see, but never got around to. I recommend more than two, but two is the minimum to pat yourself on the head and say you completed the challenge. Please specify new discoveries in your film list by making them bold, adding asterisks, different colors, etc.

3. Come here and discuss them.

To make the Challenge a bit easier, here is a link to some extensive lists of film noir and related movies to choose from:

Film Noir: They Shot Dark Pictures, Didn’t They?

And by coincidence, TCM’s Star of the Month is James Cagney, so here’s a list of all his gangster/crime movies playing in January. All times EST.

January 2

8:00 PM Sinner’s Holiday (1930)
9:15 PM The Public Enemy (1931)
10:45 PM White Heat (1949)
1:45 AM The Roaring Twenties (1939)
3:45 AM Smart Money (1931)
5:15 AM The Doorway to Hell (1930)

January 3

9:15 AM City for Conquest (1940)

January 9

8:00 PM The Mayor of Hell (1933)
9:45 PM Each Dawn I Die (1939)
11:30 PM Angels With Dirty Faces (1938)
1:15 AM G-Men (1935)
2:45 AM Blonde Crazy (1931)
4:15 AM He Was Her Man (1934)

January 16

2:00 AM Love Me or Leave Me (1955)
4:15 AM Taxi! (1932)

January 17

6:45 AM Picture Snatcher (1933)

January 30

8:00 PM Lady Killer (1933)

Tim Tucker · 01-01-2008, 10:51 AM

First time viewing in RED.

1. The Violent Years (1956) (MST3K version)
2. Behind That Curtain (1929)
3. The Sinister Urge (1960) (MST3K version)
4. Born Reckless (1930)
5. Up the River (1930)
6. Little Caesar (1931)
7. The Public Enemy (1931)
8. M (1931)
9. The Maltese Falcon (1931)
10. The Black Camel (1931)
11. Kitten with a Whip (1964) (MST3K version)
12. Eran Trece (Charlie Chan Carries On) (1931)
13. Charlie Chan's Chance (1932) (recreation)
14. Scarface (1932)
15. I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)

Malcolm R · 01-01-2008, 11:53 AM

First time viewings are BOLD.

I think I'll use letter grades this time.

Heist B
Bullets or Ballots B+
A Slight Case of Murder A-
Murder, My Sweet C+
Reservoir Dogs C-
Double Indemnity B+
Rush Hour 3 B
Shoot 'Em Up B-
War C+
Shooter A-
The Public Enemy (1931) B
The Thin Man A
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938) A
The Petrified Forest (1936) C+

TravisR · 01-01-2008, 01:24 PM

Considering I've never gotten around to watching the bulk of the Fox film noir series (yet I've owned them for years), I guess it would be a good time to get watching them.

And while I wouldn't count it as part of this challenge, Turner Classic Movies also has the Martin Scorsese-produced documentary on Val Lewton on January 14 at 8 PM.

Michael Elliott · 01-01-2008, 01:32 PM

It's funny but I've never really understood the term "film noir" but if you look at those Val Lewton films then everything that is considered "noir" can be found in them.

I got started around 1am last night and watched a "B" noir from Columbia called THE KILLER THAT STALKED NEW YORK and was really disappointed in this one. I'll post my review later though.

**HTF Ads**

SteveGon · 01-01-2008, 02:06 PM

My list:

An Obsession ***
Attack the Gas Station **
Autumn ***
Big Bang Love, Juvenile A ***
Cause for Alarm **
Convoy Busters ***
The Depression of Detective Downs ***
Eastern Promises ***
Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai ***
The Limey ***
Mario's Story ***
The Marquise of O ***
Miami Blues ***
Out of the Past ****
Rats: A Sin City Yarn ***
Sonatine ***
The State Witness ***
Stray Dog ****
Superfly ***
Suture ***
Thief ***
The Thin Man ****
The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse ***
3:10 to Yuma *
To Rob a Thief ***
Wiseguys Vs. Zombies **
Yo-Yo Girl Cop ***

Chucky P · 01-01-2008, 03:07 PM

First Time Viewings In BOLD

January 4
1. Zodiac (2007) (4.5/5)
January 5
2. Skidoo (1968) (2.5/5)
3. Goodfellas (1990) (5/5)
January 6
4. The Petrified Forest (1936) (4.5/5)
January 9
5. L.A. Confidential (1997) (5/5)
Janaury 17
6. The Night of the Hunter (1955)
January 19
7. The Ladykillers (2004) (3/5)
January 29
8. The Lady Vanishes (1938) (5/5)
9. Crook's Tour (1941) (3.5/5)
January 30
10. Little Caesar (1931) (4/5)
January 31
11. The Public Enemy (1931) (5/5)
12. Die 3groschenoper (AKA The Threepenny Opera) (1931) (5/5)
13. Scarface (1932) (5/5)

Greg Layton · 01-01-2008, 03:21 PM

I'm in... and coincidentally enough, we watched our first film after the ball dropped last night. I introduced Reservoir Dogs (1992) to my wife, who had seen all of the QT movies except for that one. While looking at the IMDB entry for the movie, it saddened me to realize that Mr. Blue (Eddie Bunker), Nice Guy Eddie (Chris Penn), and Joe (Lawrence Tierney) are no longer with us.

Winter Crime Challenge 2008
First-Time Viewings are in Bold

001) 01/01/2008 - Reservoir Dogs (1992)

002) 01/02/2008 - Dark Passage (1947)

003) 01/04/2008 - White Heat (1949)

004) 01/06/2008 - The Thin Man (1934)

005) 01/13/2008 - Key Largo (1948)

006) 01/15/2008 - The Bank Dick (1940)

007) 01/17/2008 - His Girl Friday (1940)

008) 01/26/2008 - Taxi (1932)

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Viewing Method
DVD: 6
TV: 2
HD DVD: