A handful of offbeat thrillers

I haven’t written about films in 2025, although I’m putting together a couple of ambitious lists that should come out later in the year… In the meantime, if, like me, you feel the current offer of crime movies, no matter how slick, has been generally bland and predictable, why not have some fun with this potpourri of slightly odd – if not downright idiosyncratic – and captivatingly unbalanced thrillers from the past?

COPLAN SAVES HIS SKIN (1968)

I’m a sucker for films that take you on a ride where, even if you can sort of guess where you’re heading, you keep getting surprised by what you find along the way. It’s the case with this strange revenge yarn about a French spy in Turkey, which somehow moves from international intrigue into a gothic horror piece with a brutal showdown, yet it pulls this off through a quasi-oneiric atmosphere that shamelessly trumps logic (in part achieved through fluid camera movements, rich location shooting, and a protagonist with a constant no-nonsense expression). Among France’s various attempts to emulate James Bond, the eclectic movies about the ruthless agent Francis Coplan came increasingly close to 007’s fantastic adventure vibe, but this last installment pushed things so far that it transcended the series’ inspiration (perhaps because it wasn’t originally intended as a Coplan picture at all!), culminating in a truly eerie – and even lyrical – place.

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED (1998)

What if you took a violent Hong Kong crime thriller about a police unit hunting down some fugitives and fused it not only with pitch-black humor, but also with a romcom subplot? Expect the Unexpected damn well lives up to its title: one moment your heart is pounding with adrenaline, then you find yourself laughing at the kookiest characters, then all of sudden it cuts to the most horrific thing you’ve ever seen onscreen, and before you know it you get a nihilistic ending that comes straight out of left field. Needless to say, the genre hybridity and uneven tone are part of what makes this film so great, as it restlessly refuses to let itself be pinned down.

FORTY EIGHT HOURS TO ACAPULCO (1967)

A businessman sends a young guy to Rome to buy some secret documents regarding an industrial deal with Romania, but as soon as he hits the road the guy – steered by his sexy lover – starts reconsidering the plan. This was the first film by German indie director Klaus Lemke, who basically put together a couple of bucks and managed to shoot something that works both as a stylish neo-noir *and* as a New Wave tribute to American cinema, music, and comics (there is even a millionaire called Wayne!). A youthful, moody, and spellbinding treat.

KISS KISS BANG BANG (2005)

Robert Downey Jr. plays a smartass, fast-talking petty thief who unexpectedly lands an acting gig playing a detective and, even more unexpectedly, finds himself embroiled in an actual (violent and labyrinthic) detective story in LA while getting lessons from an actual (gay and sarcastic) private investigator. After years of scripting buddy action comedies such as Lethal Weapon, The Last Boy Scout, and Last Action Hero, Shane Black finally got to direct his own movie and thus bring to the screen a more unfiltered version of his madcap sensibility, with the result rivaling Expect the Unexpected when it comes to frantic tonal shifts. On top of the pulpy mystery intrigue and of the quippy screwball black comedy laden with sex and gay jokes, we get layers of metafiction, not only within the story (Hollywood satire, a pulpy mystery series inspiring the actual crimes…), but also in its very presentation (Chandleresque chapter titles, a self-reflexive voice-over mocking clichés and pointing out plot devices…). Val Kilmer’s deadpan performance as the PI goes a long way in terms of counterbalancing the protagonist’s homophobia, although Michelle Monaghan ultimately steals the show by committedly embracing all of the shifting tones: funny, sexy, tragic, clever, romantic, and even somewhat of an action hero, when the film calls for it.

THE NARCO MEN (1968)

In The Narco Men, a drug lord hires ex-con Harry Bell to investigate the hijacking of a heroin shipment, which takes him around the Mediterranean while lurid colors fill the screen and kickass beats pound in the soundtrack. Despite being made in Francoist Spain, this cool, gritty, action-packed crime yarn is surprisingly countercultural: not only is Bell a nasty anti-hero working outside the law, but his love interest is a hippie whose youthful flower power exuberance stands in stark contrast to all the surrounding violence and downbeat cynicism.

VIRTUE (1932)

A mouthy, take-no-shit New York streetwalker (played by the awesome Carole Lombard) tries to move on from sex work and to build a new life despite her lover’s prejudices, but damn fate keeps conspiring against her. Made during those wild years before the rise of Hollywood’s censors, the picture is set in a seedy underworld of pimping, prostitution, and small-time cons, shown with a relatively frank and non-judgmental attitude even as it reflects the era’s values in various ways. On the surface, Virtue is a brisky romantic melodrama with dynamic camerawork and snappy dialogue, yet there are so many twists, crimes, and hardboiled lines along the way (especially in the final stretch) that it should also appeal to anyone interested in the precursors of film noir.

This entry was posted in HARDBOILED CRIME and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *