Jump to content

Pulp Film Recommendations


Steve Long

Recommended Posts

  • Replies 148
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

I just got back from watching Sin City. I believe that everybody reading this forum should go and see it, it is fabulous! The closest a movie has yet come to a graphic novel.

 

Having said that, it is quite definitely Film Noir not pulp.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bblackmoor

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

Having said that' date=' it is quite definitely [b']Film Noir[/b] not pulp.

 

They are not mutually exclusive. Pulp encompasses sub-genres like "true crime" and detective fiction. Sin City is both pulp and film noir (or a parody of film noir).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

Here's some goodies for the film section:

 

James Cagney films...

 

Public Enemy

Jimmy the Gent

"G"Men

Angels with Dirty Faces

White Heat

 

Edward G. Robinson films...

Little Caesar

Bullets or Ballots

Kid Galahad

The Sea Wolf

 

A lot of Humphrey Bogart movies have been named earlier including ones above, but here's some more...

Dark Passage

The African Queen

Deadline--USA

 

Bette Davis, Lauren Bacall, and Kathryn Hepburn appear in a lot of these films as well.

 

So, this should be a good start.

Gee, I should have posted above, but I thought it was too obivious for everyone, CSgeekHero great job.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bblackmoor

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

No' date=' Dark City is not very Noir to me. Noir should have complicated (or at least morally grey) characters and betrayal.[/quote']

 

Dark City had several morally ambiguous characters.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bblackmoor

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

But too much gimmicky action' date=' which made it more Pulp to me.[/quote']

 

Pulp and film noir are not on the same axis. That's like saying something is science fiction rather than drama. It makes no sense.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

City Heat with Burt Reynolds, Clint Eastwood, and Madelaine Kahn.

 

I never could understand why that film bombed. I think perhaps the audiences were not prepared to see the number one and number two box office attractions of the time lampooning the types they were cast in.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

If you include "Tailspin' date='" you can't leave out Miyazaki's [i']Porco Rosso[/i].

 

The similarities are too good to ignore.

Tale Spin and Porco Rosso and both great choices. Laputa: Castle in the Sky is another, a spectacular aerial adventure film set in a pseudo-'30s time period.

 

The steampunk genre has many things in common with pulp, so films like Steamboy and series like Sakura Wars would be good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Worldmaker

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

Um...not a hack' date=' mind you, but how'd this wind up in your list?[/quote']

 

There's also the fact that the movie is set in 1905. :) The "cowboy era" ended a lot later than anyone suspects, Dave.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Worldmaker

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

I can't' date=' and don't want to, produce an exhaustive filmography of the genre, and won't recommend films I don't think are worth watching -- which is why [i']Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow[/i] isn't on the list.

 

 

I think you need to swallow your personal dislike of the film and put it on the list anyway. Not only do more people like the film than not (myself included), but its a great example of the pulp genre. Even if you thought it was crap, all the elements of pulp are in the film, and thus it is a great resource.

 

As for some great films to include:

 

The Thirty-Nine Steps. Alfred Hitchcock's tale of just pre-World War I espionage.

 

The Lost Jungle: "The greatest animal trainer in the world", Clyde Beatty, crashes his dirigible onto a wild jungle island. Adventure ensues.

 

Any of the Fu Manchu movies of the 30's and 40s.

 

Jungle Girl, which I've always found more fun than the Tarzan serials.

 

And lastly, Radar Men From The Moon. One of the last of the old Republic serials, and the best of the Commando Cody, Sky Marshall of the Universe stories.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

FYI, the local Sam's Club just got in a bunch of boxed sets of new (old) movies.

 

One set was of three Bogie and Bacall movies, including To Have And Have Not (the other two titles escape me at the moment).

I was gonna get that one, but went with the set of The Thing, Them, and Forbidden Planet (I've wanted Forbidden Planet for years).

 

There was also a set of WWII movies, with They Were Expendable (John Wayne) and two other classics (the names just left me again).

 

What I love most about DVDs is all these old movies coming back that you haven't been able to get in any format for years.

 

Steve, if they're here in Charlotte they're bound to have them there in Greensboro too.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bblackmoor

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

I've wanted Forbidden Planet for years.

 

The local art theatre showed Forbidden Planet a couple of weeks ago, as part of an ongoing series in honor of late-night movie host Dr. Madblood. It's surprising how well it has held up. I have seen much worse SF movies in the last ten years -- in the last year, even.

 

(This Friday is the next installment of the film series: the original Japanese Godzilla. I'm really looking forward to that.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

Hmmm' date=' I dunno. After all, you guys got a professional basketball team, and we didn't. ::looks down, scuffs foot:: :D[/quote']

The Bobcats are about five years away from being a professional basketball team.

 

Want the Blazers? We'll glady give them to you if you take Paul Allen as part of the package.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

The local art theatre showed Forbidden Planet a couple of weeks ago, as part of an ongoing series in honor of late-night movie host Dr. Madblood. It's surprising how well it has held up. I have seen much worse SF movies in the last ten years -- in the last year, even.

 

(This Friday is the next installment of the film series: the original Japanese Godzilla. I'm really looking forward to that.)

Forbidden Planet is one of the best SF films ever made, in part because it was so pioneering (it showed a sci=fi film can be about something signficant). You can see its influence on people liike Gene Roddenberry (it's hard not to see Commander J.J. Adams as a sort of proto-Kirk given what would come later). And it was one of the frist sci-fi films in which the morality of the characters was more in shades of grey than in black-and-white.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest bblackmoor

Re: Pulp Film Recommendations

 

You can see [Forbidden Planet's] influence on people liike Gene Roddenberry (it's hard not to see Commander J.J. Adams as a sort of proto-Kirk given what would come later).

 

Oh, absolutely. The captain is a horndog, they carry phasers, the three people who go on the "away mission" are the captain, the doctor, and the second in command, and even the uniforms are vaguely Trek-like. The similarities are pretty striking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Unfortunately, your content contains terms that we do not allow. Please edit your content to remove the highlighted words below.
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...