The Naked City (1948)

March 3, 2024 7:16 AM

The Naked City portrays the police investigation that follows the murder of a young model. A veteran cop is placed in charge of the case and he sets about, with the help of other beat cops and detectives, finding the girl's killer. If you like a good murder show/podcast, this is the granddaddy of them all.

Fun fact: The voice of the narrator is that of the movie's producer, Mark Hellinger. Hellinger died of a heart attack after reviewing the final cut of the film. He was 44. The film would win two Academy awards, for editing and cinematography.

posted by Stanczyk (3 comments total)

Such a gorgeous film, and it shares a similarity to Michael Mann's "Heat": Both are classic crime thrillers that are shot nearly entirely on location. It's a cliche to say so, but 1940's NYC is as much a character in this film as the lead detectives.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 4:52 PM on March 3 [1 favorite]

Basically all of Law and Order stems from this. It's a beautiful document of a lost age.
posted by rikschell at 5:45 PM on March 3

Jules Dassin had quite a run starting with Brute Force through Rififi. Night and the City gets the edge from me on this one, but that's no patch.
posted by rhizome at 1:32 PM on March 9