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The 1990s saw some great neo-noir films, but many of them never got the recognition they deserved. Although classics such as The Usual Suspects (1995) or LA Confidential (1997) are still rightfully considered some of the best offerings the genre has ever seen, many had no success at the box office and struggled to find an audience on home video.
Some of them took familiar crime stories in unexpected directions, while others created the kind of edgy atmosphere and deeply flawed characters that make neo-noir so appealing. Such a concept can be traced back to the early days of cinema, and during the Golden Age of Hollywood there were a plethora of such films, some widely known and some that are still being discovered and restored. When it comes to the 90s, it was a great decade for neo-noir films, and in this list we’re going to take a look at ten of the most underrated of them all.
1. After Dark, My Sweet (1990)
Starring Jason Patrick, Rachel Ward and Bruce Dern, following the James Foley film, My Sweet is a lean and unsettling slice of neo-noir that gets under your skin perfectly without ever approaching anything particularly difficult. Patrick’s ex-boxer Collie heads into the desert until he crosses paths with Faye Anderson (Ward), a lonely widow, and Uncle Bud (Dern), a man who plans to make money through kidnapping. Collie is drawn into the scheme, but what initially looks like an easy job soon becomes anything but, and we witness the familiar genre tropes of manipulation, mistrust and bad decisions.
But while it may sound all too familiar, what makes the film work is the trio of characters at its center. The three leads are excellent, drawing you into their desperation and paranoia, the Arizona setting plays a role in itself, creating a magnificent backdrop and giving the film real atmosphere.
The film is a thought-provoking, psychological piece and unfortunately never lived up to the lasting reputation of some of its more famous peers. Foley’s film is a far better piece of work than it’s given credit for, and the real draw is the three performances that anchor it.
2. The Grifters (1990)
Stephen Frears’ The Grifters will be one of the more famous films on this list, but that doesn’t mean it’s underrated. John Cusack plays a small-time con artist who makes a living out of the limelight by defrauding victims. His life becomes somewhat complicated when his mother (Anjelica Huston) and his girlfriend (Annette Bening) become involved in his affairs.
Indeed, there are many parallels that can be drawn with After Dark, My Sweet, Frears’ film is also very three-handed. The Grifters is an excellent adaptation of Jim Thompson’s novel, and once again the film is anchored by its three central performances. Their conflicting approaches to the film’s central themes are what drive the story, but it’s also a film about the fascinating relationship between mother and son, which Cusack and Huston do quite brilliantly. It builds and builds until it’s fully revealed on you, and it’s worth every minute Frears gives you on screen.
Although it received four Oscar nominations, The Grifters has somewhat faded into the shadows over the decades and is well overdue for some reevaluation. This is great.
3. Grace State (1990)
Released only a few months after Goodfellas, Phil Joanu’s film never stood a chance commercially or critically. Despite an excellent cast including Sean Penn, Gary Oldman, Robin Wright, Ed Harris, John C. Reilly and John Turturro, Grace are very much seen as poor man’s good friends, which is a deeply unfair description.
Penny’s Terry Noonan returns to New York’s Hell’s Kitchen after years away, reconnecting with his childhood friend Jack (Oldman) and Jack’s sister Kathleen (Wright), with whom he once had a relationship. What they don’t know is that Terry is an undercover cop tasked with infiltrating the Flannery family’s Irish-American crime syndicate, led by Jack’s older brother Frank (Harris).
While the undercover/gangster plot may seem familiar, State of Grace captures a neighborhood where family loyalties and criminal ambitions go hand in hand, not to mention old friendships that are tightly knit. Penny and Oldman are superb – Oldman is particularly explosive as the headstrong criminal. While comparisons to Scorsese’s Goodfellas may be fair in terms of thematic structure and plot, The State of Joanou’s Grace remains one of the most underrated films of the decade, and if you haven’t forgotten about it, now’s the time to fix it.
4. Illegal Entry (1992)
This is one of those hugely enjoyable forgotten nineties thrillers that are often forgotten. Michael (Kurt Russell) and his wife Karen (Madeleine Stowe) have their home broken into and the assailant threatens Karen with a knife before fleeing. The attack is investigated by Ray Liotta’s officer Pete Davis and his partner, and at first Pete is very helpful to the couple in setting up the security system and slowly becomes a good friend of the couple, even taking Michael on patrol and appearing as a guest at Karen’s elementary school.
Unsurprisingly, Patty slowly becomes obsessed with Karen and takes it upon herself to try to remove Michael from the equation. It’s a great performance from Liotta, one of the dead man’s best, and the way he, Russell and Stowe play off each other is very effective.
The idea that authority figures to be trusted aren’t always what they seem is far from the original idea, but looking back at Intrusion now makes for an even more interesting film. It might not be the slickest movie ever made, but director Jonathan Kaplan delivers a twisted sense of fun that always stays on the right side of silly.
5. Romeo Is Bloody (1993)
Another film on this list, driven by Gary Oldman’s performance, Peter Medak’s noir thriller is raucous, gritty and purposefully over-the-top. Oldman stars as corrupt New York cop Jack Grimaldi, who supplements his standard income by selling information on protected witnesses for the mafia, along with his wife and mistress. But his life falls apart when he’s ordered to deal with a ruthless Russian female assassin, and his world comes crashing down.
Oldman makes Jack compulsively rotten; He is selfish, disloyal and utterly corrupt, and the character reminds me of Harvey Keitel’s character in Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant (1992). It’s a film that embraces its excess, and it’s often brutal, but always watchable. Best of all, watching Oldman and Lena Olin as the Russian hitmaker Mona; When they are together on screen, you just can’t take your eyes off.
Ultimately, Romeo Bleeds is an awkward but darkly comic take on the femme fatale tradition, and while it can be uncomfortable at times, it’s a work of noir that’s often overlooked.
