The Big Picture · Review · Interview

'Nightmare Alley' and Our Favorite Films Noir, With Patton Oswalt!

April 29, 2022/ 67 min/ Sean Fennessey

Sean makes the case for Guillermo del Toro's overlooked 'Nightmare Alley,' then Patton Oswalt joins to dig into the film and to walk the history of noir decade by decade.

31 films across 2 segments.

AI-generated This episode was transcribed and analyzed with AI models. The matches aren't perfect — expect the occasional misheard title or a link to the wrong film.

'Nightmare Alley'Sean's case for the movie

Nightmare Alley 2021

Del Toro's 11th film and first since 'The Shape of Water,' co-written with Kim Morgan from William Lindsay Gresham's 1946 novel, ending and all. Bradley Cooper is Stanton Carlisle, a drifter who rises from carny to high-end mentalist, with Toni Collette, Rooney Mara, Cate Blanchett, Willem Dafoe, David Strathairn, Ron Perlman, Mary Steenburgen and Richard Jenkins. A box-office flop against 'No Way Home' that landed four Oscar nods; Sean cooled on it at first, watched it four times, and reads Carlisle as an avatar for the age of the grifter.

Patton Oswalt on film noirFavorites, decade by decade

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A Face in the Crowd 1957

Patton's pick for a 'Nightmare Alley' double feature: the other movie that nails what's wrong with us.

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T-Men 1947

John Alton's cinematography, Charles McGraw's face coming out of the shadows on the docks.

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Phantom Lady 1944

Ella Raines, whom Patton calls a 90s indie actress stranded in the 40s: a real-life femme fatale.

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Impact 1949

More Ella Raines; Sean clocks a Linda Fiorentino energy.

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The Killers 1946

Charles McGraw as Al, the face Patton thinks Frank Miller drew Marv from.

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The Prowler 1951

A corrupt, damaged cop: the 40s/50s anxiety that you can't trust your authority figures.

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I Wake Up Screaming 1941

Same fear: the cop is the most dangerous person in the room.

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On Dangerous Ground 1951

Nicholas Ray, Ida Lupino; Robert Ryan the hero cop who scares you every time he gets near anyone.

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Bad Day at Black Rock 1955

A Technicolor noir Patton reads as a proto-Trumper movie about resentment aimed at a Japanese American war veteran.

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Violent Saturday 1955

Another color noir shot on location in Bisbee, Arizona.

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Kiss Me Deadly 1955

Patton's favorite of all time.

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Blast of Silence 1961

Allen Baron's overexposed hitman film, shot in a real hurricane. Patton ranks it among his all-time favorite films, not just his favorite noirs.

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Brighton Rock 1948

The 40s noir sensibility migrating to a fallen-empire Britain.

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These Are the Damned 1962

Ostensibly sci-fi, really about juvenile delinquency, teddy boys and chaos: British noir by another name.

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The Long Goodbye 1973

Altman's self-aware, self-parodying noir: Philip Marlowe time-warped into 70s L.A. and unable to cope.

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Night Moves 1975

Gene Hackman in one of the cynical, weirdly funny 70s noirs.

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Chinatown 1974

So elegantly designed they couldn't help making the darkness look gorgeous.

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Hickey & Boggs 1972

Robert Culp and Bill Cosby; the 70s private eye hanging on by his fingernails while it all collapses.

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The Nickel Ride 1974

With Jason Miller. Patton first caught it two years ago and loved it.

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Save the Tiger 1973

A prestige film that's really a noir: the garment business, arson, a man wishing for a better world.

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The Late Show 1977

Art Carney and Lily Tomlin; Sam Spade with a hearing aid and a bus pass, one of the most underrated 70s movies.

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The Last Seduction 1994

The 90s femme-fatale-to-an-extreme, erotic-thriller strain of noir.

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Body Heat 1981

Same lineage: the erotic thriller as noir.

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Bound 1996

The Wachowskis' first film, LGBTQ noir stated flat out.

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The Big Combo 1955

Lee Van Cleef and his partner read as a gay couple: the story that was always there but couldn't be said out loud.

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Gilda 1946

A love story flickering between Glenn Ford and the main baddie.

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Crossfire 1947

Robert Ryan and Robert Mitchum; the source novel's gay GI became a Jewish GI to get it released.

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Under the Silver Lake 2018

The modern noir Patton keeps trying to rescue: a real idea about our condition using the old style.

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Crime Wave 1954

Sterling Hayden, André De Toth; shot handheld on location, an accidental documentary of 40s L.A.

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Pharos of Chaos 1983

The documentary on Sterling Hayden: his back taxes, his HUAC testimony, the agony of his life.

Also mentioned raised along the way

Del Toro's other films Nightmare Alley (1947)The Shape of Water Pan's Labyrinth The Devil's Backbone Hellboy Hellboy II: The Golden Army Cronos

In passing Goodfellas A Star Is Born Sorcerer Saturday Night Fever Star Wars Smokey and the Bandit Nutty Professor II: The Klumps Purple Rain Sign o' the Times Jaws All the President's Men The Tinder Swindler The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Doctor Dolittle

Not films filtered out: TV, games, ads

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