Naked City - Criterion Collection | Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff

Naked City - Criterion Collection | Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff | The architype of police procedurals - and, film noir to boot

DVDs:

Naked City - Crite...

	Naked City - Criterion Collection Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff Criterion, 2007 average customer review:based on 28 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

"There are eight million stories in the Naked City" as the narrator immortally states at the close of this breathtakingly vivid film-and this is one of them. Master noir craftsman Jules Dassin and newspaperman-cum-producer Mark Hellinger's dazzling police procedural was shot entirely on location in New York City as influenced by Italian neorealism as American crime fiction. A double Academy Award-winner The Naked City remains a benchmark for naturalism in noir living and breathing in the promises and perils of the Big Apple from its lowest depths to its highest skyscrapers. System Requirements:Running Time: 96 Mins.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: NR UPC: 715515022927 Manufacturer No: CC1687DDVD

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no truer depiction of new york was ever caught on screen

just an all-around great movie! jules dassin directed this groundbreaking film, shot in and around late 1940s new york city: a decade too early for me to remember its reality, but still close enuf in time for me to sense just how accurately it was caught. any fan of procedural television cop shows of today (the "law & order" or "csi" franchises most prominent among them) should go take a look at this to understand where they came from; tho the immature eye might view this earlier version as "primitive" in some senses, that would be akin to a fan of adam sandler disparaging chaplin. barry fitzgerald is wonderfully schlumpfy as the long-time detective working his way thru a homicide investigation, even making a misstep or two along the way. great supporting cast, great editing, great writing, great cinematography, &c. -- and neat extras on the dvd, highlighted by a long interview with the still going strong dassin, whos a hoot! this is a must see.

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The architype of police procedurals - and, film noir to boot

A murder.
The evidence.
The investigation.
Red herrings.
Resolution.

This film's DNA runs through all that followed - from Dragnet to Law & Order.
Buy this film if you love 1948 NYC and Irish detectives - a great film!

The Naked City

Shot entirely on location in 1940s Manhattan, this semi-documentary police procedural offers a day-to-day look at the life of the Big Apple, its varied denizens, and the routine of two cops--old hand Fitzgerald (who quietly steals the film) and the dutiful but still green Taylor--out to catch a killer. Dassin handles the action with matter-of-fact directness, and soon fast-talking Frank Niles (Howard Duff) has raised their interest. But the great achievement of "City" is its verisimilitude of character and place, and a final chase scene on the Williamsburg Bridge that will steal your breath away. There might be "8 million stories in the naked city," but this sinister crime drama was the first--and still the best. Trivia note:this film was said to have inspired "Dragnet".

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One of Eight Million Stories

This landmark film, energetically directed by Jules Dassin not long before the McCarthy witch-hunts forced him out of the U.S., deserves the typically classy Criterion treatment. As we have now come to expect of all Criterion versions, the print has been beautifully restored and meticulously annotated. Movies of any decade do not hold up equally well; "Naked City" is flawed by producer Mark Hellinger's narration--often hammy and too much "on-the-nose"--and some dated performances. On the other hand, the police procedural still draws you in, the music score is superb, and the noirish yet documentary-quality of post-war New York City makes for a wondrous time-capsule. (Thank God the move was shot in black and white. Color would have ruined it.) Like the place and people it captures, ""The Naked City" is an imperfect but very good movie.

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reviews: page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

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