Nightfall (1957)

Back in the day Hollywood just regularly pumped out great movies seemingly without even trying. I suppose you could say that this Jacques Tourneur-directed noir is "slight" or "minor" but is there actually anything wrong with it? Aldo Ray is a big, beautiful rock of a man.

Will Sloan

"Nice place. I'll try not to bleed over everything." Magnificently staged crime thriller about raspy, un-mannered Aldo Ray as a man on the run from a pair of bank robbers (one of them, naturally, a psycho killer) and the cops. Everyone in the core cast is great,…

Joe

There's an uneasy feeling that pervades Nightfall, from Vanning's (Aldo Ray) instinctive move to hide his face from the light, to the way every person on the bus taking Vanning and Marie (Anne Bancroft) north could be an enemy. No one can afford to be comfortable because no…

sakana1

Can’t prove it (yet!), but no way this wasn’t an enormous influence on Fargo. Nightfall’s flawless noir far as I’m concerned. Foolproof. Perfect duration, fiery chemistry, impeccable flashback usage, which is saying something. Not normally a fan of fill-in-the-blank plot…

Amy Hensarling

somehow anne bancroft says “you’re the most wanted man i know” without making 😏 face right after. aldo ray’s acting style is so modern that it’s almost jarring - ultimately i liked the strangeness. tbh wanted more nighttime scenes cuz the opening was so breathtaking.

KYK

One of the best films I've seen from Tourneur so far, Nightfall is a late-period noir which distills the genre's usual tropes and motifs down to their essence. This is as economical as filmmaking gets. Thus it's easy to mistake it for something else. The comparisons with…

mike_sabathia

When all the world seems dying to crush you with its oppressive, machinistic tools: oil-rigs, buses, snowplows, the leers of strange men at a fashion show. I love how as soon as a type is established among the protagonists (Anne Bancroft, Aldo Ray, James Gregory), the film…

Carlos Valladares

I first watched Jacques Tourneur’s Nightfall with great anticipation because of Tarantino’s fondness for it and was somewhat disappointed. On this second viewing, I was even more disappointed. It’s an OK minor noir, nothing more. Two hunters, James Vanning (Aldo Ray)…

noir1946

“It’s gonna be pretty cold where we’re going.” Never drink martinis on an empty purse. A LA-based, winter camping in Jackson Hole flashback noir from Jacques Tourneur feauting a memorable everyman performance by Aldo Ray, a fantastic fashion show set piece with Anne…

Gentry Austin