Hard Boiled (updated with new image)
There's something I like about private eyes. The standard images are powerful... the trenchcoat, the cigarette, the man in the shadows... but what gets to me is the emotion of it all. Look at Sam Spade in The Maltese Falcon... really, look at him... You can't imagine him without seeing Humphrey Bogart... What I love about the performance and the character in the film is that for half the movie you don't know whose side this guy's on. Then there's a moment after he meets The Fat Man when he throws a fit and trashes the hotel room, storming out to prove he means business and he wants in on the action. The camera follows Bogart into the hall and out to the elevator. He pushes the button and looks down to find his hand shaking and he laughs at himself, as if to say "Wow, I can't believe I pulled that off" and you realize he's playing every other character off against each other to solve the case, to learn the truth... And ultimately, that's ...
