This refers only to films I have watched. Some films will appear in more than one category.
Widmark started his movie career at a time when film noir was at its height. The reason may have been very prosaic; post War austerity - even in the US - meant little money for expensive sets, so run-down, even derelict areas were used; there was perhaps a general air of pessimism which permeated the scriptwriting and plots and the whole effect was heightened by black and white photography, harsh lighting, steeply raked camera angles and of course, clouds of incessant cigarette smoke. It's interesting that Jules Dassin who made Night and the City remarked in an interview afterwards that he didn't know about film noir at the time he was making it. And Night and the City is the only film noir made in Britain in a run-down bomb-blasted city that Jack the Ripper might have felt at home in. It's also one of the best, if most depressing. So here's the list of a few that Widmark was in:
Kiss of Death (1947) - Widmark's debut film, and if you know anything about it you'll know that one scene in particular haunted his career and came up in nearly every interview and news column about him ever after. As this was his first outing he only had a fairly minor part but stole the film with his depiction of the murdering gangster Tommy Udo and that chilling laugh, often described as a giggle that also became something of a trademark. He said after that he laughed because (a) he'd always had a 'goofy laugh', (b) because he found Udo quite ridiculous and (c) it was his first film and he was very nervous. Whatever the reason, it certainly worked and got Widmark his only Oscar nomination.
The Street with no Name (1948) - Again technically a supporting role, but what a good role as Alec Stiles, the clever and ruthless crime boss of an inner-city gang, cautious to the point of paranoia and extremely dangerous. This film is suitably gritty and grimy with sleazy hotels, crime-infested gyms and dodgy dives being the natural habitats for these characters. The drama is excellent and Widmark is ice-cold brilliant, but it's a deeply odd film. Half of it is drama and the other half is a CSI-style documentary about how the FBI infiltrates this gang and goes about the scientific background work of getting them booked. I could do without the pedantic and laborious voiceover but once you know which bits to skip over, it's fine. Barbara Lawrence is great as the only female character, Stiles' badly-treated wife. As a point of interest, it's the only film in which I've seen Widmark playing the piano, and he does it rather well.
Roadhouse (1948) - Widmark plays a rich young man, owner of the said roadhouse and bowling alley, Jefferson T Robbins (Jefty) who discovers a new attraction for his bar; a singer called Lily (played by Ida Lupino). Jefty is a serial womaniser and his friend and manager Pete (Cornel Wilde) is getting tired of having to dump his girlfriends for him. Unfortunately he can't dump Lily as both he and Jefty fall in love with her - with deadly consequences. Widmark's chilling laugh gets another outing here; this time from a man who has quite lost his mind and who unfortunately carries a gun.
Yellow Sky (1948) - his first Western - see Westerns.
Slattery's Hurricane (1949) - See Drama, but if you think it deserves to be rated as noir, see this excellent link http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2010/01/slatterys-hurricane-1949.html
Night and the City (1950) - This film really is like watching a car crash in slow motion. From the opening scenes where you see Harry Fabian running, it seems for his life; from the moment his girlfriend catches him going through her handbag, from the moment he tries to explain his grand schemes for a life of ease and plenty, you just know this isn't going to end well. Unfortunately it doesn't end well for anyone else either. Filmed on location in London and full of atmospheric foggy shots of the seedier side of town. This film is now considered to be an archetypal noir and one of Widmark's best films. It's particularly notable for the long shot of Fabian running across the bridge over the Thames and down the Embankment; all done as one continuous camera shot with lots of cameras in strategic places, an amazing feat for its time.
No Way Out (1950) - probably one of Widmark's best performances, which isn't bad as he really didn't want to play white racist thug Ray Biddle. Who would? He apologised constantly to Sidney Poitier (in his debut as the black Dr Brooks who treats Biddle) even though Poitier fully accepted Widmark was just acting and no apology was needed. But you can understand Widmark not wanting to become the poster boy for white racism, even though in this film it clearly doesn't get Biddle anywhere. Biddle is violent, nasty, racist and won't change; he's in the gutter and determined to stay there. But it's a brilliant performance, particularly when Widmark plays the vulnerability and fear of Biddle in hospital. The film didn't do well as it couldn't play in the southern states of the US, but the screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and probably should have got Widmark one as well (not that that was ever going to happen for this film!)
Follow this link for a really great review of this film - http://garbolaughs.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/no-way-out-1950/
Panic in the Streets (1950) - I disagree with this being classified as film noir but you'll often find it referred to as such: see Drama - other.
Pickup on South Street (1953) - Widmark is light-fingered pickpocket Skip McCoy who, when he steals a purse out of a woman's handbag on the subway also - unintentionally - steals a stolen classified Government microfilm . The courier victim is forced by her ex-boyfriend to find that microfilm which she does with the help of a stoolie, an old street lady called Moe. McCoy is tough-talking - and pretty handy with his fists too when he has to be - but there are some nice tender moments in this as well. Moe is a good tragic figure. This film didn't go down well with the McCarthy government of the day which is always a recommendation, I think... The more I see this film - well over a dozen times now - the more I like it and I'm not alone - just look at the sheer number of reviews it still gets. It's tense, well paced, gritty and very dramatic.
Backlash (1956) - probably worth a mention here as Western film noir even though it's shot in colour; as you watch you can trace the mood getting darker and darker to a bitter and bloody end. My favourite of Widmark's films. See Westerns.
The Secret Ways (1961) - Cold War drama with Widmark as a spy or bounty hunter set to track down Jansci, a Hungarian freedom-fighter, and bring him out of Soviet-controlled Budapest before he's killed. Two problems; tracking down Jansci's daughter Julia and persuading her to help and then persuading Jansci to go. It's very violent. I guess we're so used to seeing Widmark's characters in other films wining fights and getting away from trouble it comes as a real shock when he doesn't. And Budapest looks suitably grim, the security forces suitably tough and the red tape suitably onerous. Good film though sadly doesn't do justice to the (now out of print) book by Alistair McLean.
Death of a Gunfighter (1969) - again, properly classed as a Western and lacking a lot of film noir elements but it has all the elements of Greek tragedy, the ending a foregone conclusion from the start with all the characters trapped in attitudes from which they can't escape to make any difference. The purpose of tragedy was to excite pity and horror and this film does both.
Widmark started his movie career at a time when film noir was at its height. The reason may have been very prosaic; post War austerity - even in the US - meant little money for expensive sets, so run-down, even derelict areas were used; there was perhaps a general air of pessimism which permeated the scriptwriting and plots and the whole effect was heightened by black and white photography, harsh lighting, steeply raked camera angles and of course, clouds of incessant cigarette smoke. It's interesting that Jules Dassin who made Night and the City remarked in an interview afterwards that he didn't know about film noir at the time he was making it. And Night and the City is the only film noir made in Britain in a run-down bomb-blasted city that Jack the Ripper might have felt at home in. It's also one of the best, if most depressing. So here's the list of a few that Widmark was in:
Kiss of Death (1947) - Widmark's debut film, and if you know anything about it you'll know that one scene in particular haunted his career and came up in nearly every interview and news column about him ever after. As this was his first outing he only had a fairly minor part but stole the film with his depiction of the murdering gangster Tommy Udo and that chilling laugh, often described as a giggle that also became something of a trademark. He said after that he laughed because (a) he'd always had a 'goofy laugh', (b) because he found Udo quite ridiculous and (c) it was his first film and he was very nervous. Whatever the reason, it certainly worked and got Widmark his only Oscar nomination.
The Street with no Name (1948) - Again technically a supporting role, but what a good role as Alec Stiles, the clever and ruthless crime boss of an inner-city gang, cautious to the point of paranoia and extremely dangerous. This film is suitably gritty and grimy with sleazy hotels, crime-infested gyms and dodgy dives being the natural habitats for these characters. The drama is excellent and Widmark is ice-cold brilliant, but it's a deeply odd film. Half of it is drama and the other half is a CSI-style documentary about how the FBI infiltrates this gang and goes about the scientific background work of getting them booked. I could do without the pedantic and laborious voiceover but once you know which bits to skip over, it's fine. Barbara Lawrence is great as the only female character, Stiles' badly-treated wife. As a point of interest, it's the only film in which I've seen Widmark playing the piano, and he does it rather well.
Roadhouse (1948) - Widmark plays a rich young man, owner of the said roadhouse and bowling alley, Jefferson T Robbins (Jefty) who discovers a new attraction for his bar; a singer called Lily (played by Ida Lupino). Jefty is a serial womaniser and his friend and manager Pete (Cornel Wilde) is getting tired of having to dump his girlfriends for him. Unfortunately he can't dump Lily as both he and Jefty fall in love with her - with deadly consequences. Widmark's chilling laugh gets another outing here; this time from a man who has quite lost his mind and who unfortunately carries a gun.
Yellow Sky (1948) - his first Western - see Westerns.
Slattery's Hurricane (1949) - See Drama, but if you think it deserves to be rated as noir, see this excellent link http://www.noiroftheweek.com/2010/01/slatterys-hurricane-1949.html
Night and the City (1950) - This film really is like watching a car crash in slow motion. From the opening scenes where you see Harry Fabian running, it seems for his life; from the moment his girlfriend catches him going through her handbag, from the moment he tries to explain his grand schemes for a life of ease and plenty, you just know this isn't going to end well. Unfortunately it doesn't end well for anyone else either. Filmed on location in London and full of atmospheric foggy shots of the seedier side of town. This film is now considered to be an archetypal noir and one of Widmark's best films. It's particularly notable for the long shot of Fabian running across the bridge over the Thames and down the Embankment; all done as one continuous camera shot with lots of cameras in strategic places, an amazing feat for its time.
No Way Out (1950) - probably one of Widmark's best performances, which isn't bad as he really didn't want to play white racist thug Ray Biddle. Who would? He apologised constantly to Sidney Poitier (in his debut as the black Dr Brooks who treats Biddle) even though Poitier fully accepted Widmark was just acting and no apology was needed. But you can understand Widmark not wanting to become the poster boy for white racism, even though in this film it clearly doesn't get Biddle anywhere. Biddle is violent, nasty, racist and won't change; he's in the gutter and determined to stay there. But it's a brilliant performance, particularly when Widmark plays the vulnerability and fear of Biddle in hospital. The film didn't do well as it couldn't play in the southern states of the US, but the screenplay was nominated for an Oscar and probably should have got Widmark one as well (not that that was ever going to happen for this film!)
Follow this link for a really great review of this film - http://garbolaughs.wordpress.com/2011/02/21/no-way-out-1950/
Panic in the Streets (1950) - I disagree with this being classified as film noir but you'll often find it referred to as such: see Drama - other.
Pickup on South Street (1953) - Widmark is light-fingered pickpocket Skip McCoy who, when he steals a purse out of a woman's handbag on the subway also - unintentionally - steals a stolen classified Government microfilm . The courier victim is forced by her ex-boyfriend to find that microfilm which she does with the help of a stoolie, an old street lady called Moe. McCoy is tough-talking - and pretty handy with his fists too when he has to be - but there are some nice tender moments in this as well. Moe is a good tragic figure. This film didn't go down well with the McCarthy government of the day which is always a recommendation, I think... The more I see this film - well over a dozen times now - the more I like it and I'm not alone - just look at the sheer number of reviews it still gets. It's tense, well paced, gritty and very dramatic.
Backlash (1956) - probably worth a mention here as Western film noir even though it's shot in colour; as you watch you can trace the mood getting darker and darker to a bitter and bloody end. My favourite of Widmark's films. See Westerns.
The Secret Ways (1961) - Cold War drama with Widmark as a spy or bounty hunter set to track down Jansci, a Hungarian freedom-fighter, and bring him out of Soviet-controlled Budapest before he's killed. Two problems; tracking down Jansci's daughter Julia and persuading her to help and then persuading Jansci to go. It's very violent. I guess we're so used to seeing Widmark's characters in other films wining fights and getting away from trouble it comes as a real shock when he doesn't. And Budapest looks suitably grim, the security forces suitably tough and the red tape suitably onerous. Good film though sadly doesn't do justice to the (now out of print) book by Alistair McLean.
Death of a Gunfighter (1969) - again, properly classed as a Western and lacking a lot of film noir elements but it has all the elements of Greek tragedy, the ending a foregone conclusion from the start with all the characters trapped in attitudes from which they can't escape to make any difference. The purpose of tragedy was to excite pity and horror and this film does both.
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