ChicRawIdol
A brilliant film that helped define a genre
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Dirtylogy
It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.
sffs-34868
This movie will want to make you throw pomade in your hair, light up a camel cigarette, and talk extra fast.
Black and white, backdoor trickery, and clean suits is definitely why I chose this movie over any modern Judd Apatow film.
Robert Mitchum who is pure outlaw versus Kirk Douglas who is hard fisted gangster.
With guns, whitewalls, and femme fatales you'll definitely want to go back in time with Out of the Past
trinkschiz
I first saw Out of the Past in a screening in Austin at UT. It looks so unbelievably good projected. I've since watched it every few years on TCM or DVD, and just watched it again after listening to the Out of the Past Podcast's episode on the film, and got even more out of it this time. That's what makes it a classic and a pleasure. My favorite Mitchum movie and maybe Kirk Douglas as well. My favorite noir.
inemjaso
Out of the Past is one of the most intricately constructed noir films ever. It opens in an uncharacteristic rural setting, with bright cinematography and upbeat score. We are led into this world so that we see our estranged protagonist, Jeff Markham/Bailey, as a content man living a simple life on the California frontier. Quickly however, Jeff's past with Whit Sterling is revealed and the cinematography gets dramatically darker from that point on. Like The Maltese Falcon, this film centers around private investigators and stolen items of great value. It also uses the flashback in a conventional manner, providing the necessary background to Jeff and Whit's past. Another noir aspect of this film is the constant presence of crime and immorality. Whit initially hired Jeff for $5,000 to track down his wife, Kathie, who shot Whit in the stomach and stole $40,000 from him. Kathie is the literal definition of femme fatale. This is a major spoiler, but literally every man in the film who crosses Kathie's past ends up dead by the end of the film with the exception of the deaf kid. The deaf kid is the final catalyst making this movie near perfect. He represents induction, loyalty, and the ability to communicate what he really believes, an irony as these are traits which almost every other character lacks. Overall, this is a finely written and acted film which all fans of the noir genre should see.
Coventry
The first thought that spontaneously comes to mind when you hear or read about "Out of the Past" is likely to be: why isn't Humphrey Bogart starring in this? After all, Bogart was the indisputable king of the film-noir genre during the '40s and '50s and – solely based on the plot synopsis and seedy movie poster – this already looks like a genuine landmark of the genre. But alas, RKO purchased the rights instead of Warner Bros. and thus Humphrey was out of the picture. The film is often (righteously) labeled as one of the greatest classics in cinematic history, but mainly just by critics, and surely it would have been a much bigger commercial success in case it really had starred Bogart. Personally, I don't really mind … As much as I love Humphrey Bogart, I'm also a gigantic fan of the terrific Robert Mitchum and think he was one of the most sadly underrated actors of all times. Even though Mitchum wasn't the first choice to play the lead role in this movie (or even second or third, for that matter), he does a terrific job and certainly contributes a great deal to the powerful impact of the overall film. "Out of the Past" is the epitome of film-noir cinema and features all the great ingredients of the genre in exactly the right proportions. The story takes place in a thoroughly depressingly bleak and corrupt world, full of deviant and unreliable individuals that only care about money and themselves. Robert Mitchum, as Jeff, is the ideal anti- hero for a gloomy tale like this. He runs a small gas station in a godforsaken little town and is engaged to a beautiful local girl, but his life certainly wasn't always as inconspicuous as this. Jeff's secretive past as borderline private detective catches up with him when a henchman of the fearsome gambling tycoon Whit recognizes him whilst driving by the town. Jeff used to work for Whit and was assigned to track down his girlfriend Kathie as well as the stolen sum of $40.000. Jeff found Kathie in Mexico, but naturally fell for the charms of this ultimate femme fatale, and together they decided to run off. Kathie didn't turn out to be the faithful lover that Jeff hoped for and she ran off again. This already sounds like a full and weighty plot description on itself, doesn't it? And yet, these events are only just narrated by Jeff through an atmospheric flashback. Now that he has been exposed, Jeff has to confront both Whit and Kathie again, and what ensues is a tangled but compelling web full of mystery, intrigue and deceit. Every tiniest detail in "Out of the Past" is impeccable. Jacques Tourneur demonstrates that he can do more than just direct atmospheric low-budget horror (he previously directed the stupendous "Cat People" and "I Walked with a Zombie"), Daniel Mainwaring's screenplay (adapted from his own novel "Build my Gallows High") is waterproof to the smallest detail, cinematographer Nicholas Musuraca hits exactly the right film-noir tone with his excessive use of shadows and lighting and Robert Mitchum is surrounded by a phenomenal supportive cast. Judy Greer is the perfect femme fatale, Rhonda Fleming is a woman that I would instantly marry and living legend Kirk Douglas deeply impressive as the nefarious bastard Whit. "The Maltese Falcon" may forever remain the quintessential film- noir, but as far as I'm concerned, "Out of the Past" is a really close second.
