A Discussion of Film Noir, Out of the Past, and Rick Altman

Although a significant amount of ambiguity has developed around the term “film noir,” this film genre primarily encompasses crime dramas seeping in darkness and pessimism (after all, its emergence followed The Great Depression). Film noir concentrates largely on plays of light and shadows to communicate an emotional realism that is absent in the average crime story. Other common elements of film noir include the use of voiceover and flashback, a sexually independent female character, and a psychological turning over of characters.

Out of the Past is a classic example of film noir (even the title is suggestive of its genre). In particular, its characters are excellent examples of the typical roles in a film noir. First we have Jeff (Robert Mitchum), the existential protagonist who restrains himself from showing any sign of emotion (one of the few times he does is when he knocks over a glass of water at the table, but he is only pretending to be upset to act as a distraction). His restraint and joylessness exemplify the “classy cool” figures prevalent in film noir. Next we have Kathie (Jane Greer), the lethal female lead who commands all eyes on her when she walks into the room. Her eroticism and confidence demonstrate the chief female character in a film noir.

The interplay between Jeff and Kathie evokes a subject central to the film noir genre, which is a corrupt woman’s destruction of a basically good man through his love for her. In Out of the Past, Kathie wavers between Jeff and Whit, which in the end leads to the finishing of all three characters. The flashback device shows exactly what leads up to the protagonist’s fall, which starts off when Jeff encounters Kathie in the Mexican café. I thought the use of the flashback in this film was of particular interest because Jeff knows before the flashback is over that Kathie is destroying him. By laying out for the audience what happened, Jeff comes to accept this fate and even embraces it. Many other films in the film noir genre (Chinatown, for example) exhibit the tendency for the male protagonist to become suspicious of the betrayal of the female lead but is found to be wrong. However, in Out of the Past, this speculation turns out to be a truth that comes to threaten Jeff’s life much more forcefully than in any of these other film noir films. The end of the movie leaves viewers with the realization of Jeff’s grand error in his misguided and ultimately fatal love for Kathie.

Although it is demonstrative of many aspects of film noir, I would argue that Out of the Past also displays elements characteristic of other genres as well. This supports Rick Altman’s argument in “A Semantic/Syntactic Approach to Film Genre” in which he argues that genres survive by borrowing from other types of genres. It is this cross-fertilization of genres that keeps audiences from getting bored. Looking at Out of the Past, consider once again the flashback sequence. Between Jeff’s longing gaze as he is sitting in the Mexican café watching Kathie walk out of the sunlight, the romantic interlude on the abandoned boats on the beach, and their desperate escape from Whit and his crew, it seems as much a romance as a film noir. Also, the general fast pace of the film and the many guns and shootings that takes place evoke characteristics of an action film. Overall, I really enjoyed the film because it had so many different elements incorporated into it that made it interesting and fun to watch.