A Question of Noir

The question of noir was brought up in one of the groups I'm in which for some reason brought me to two Westerns that are, in my opinion noir. Both were directed by Sam Peckinpah and show, for me the two sides of noir.

The first was "Ride the High Country". A film that deals with darkness but keeps most of the violence off screen. The second, as you might guess, is "The Wild Bunch" where all the violence is right there in your face.

I prefer the quiet darkness of "Ride the High Country" to the violence in "The Wild Bunch", though I enjoyed both films. And my reading and writing preference of noir tend in the same direction. I like the darkness that pulls you in and slowly spins you down into the depths of despair until you can barely breathe.

While reading the Wikipedia entry on Sam Peckinpah I came across this paragraph that pretty much sums up what noir is. Violent or not, this is the bottom line of noir.

"Peckinpah's films generally deal with the conflict between values and ideals and the corruption and violence of human society. His characters are often loners or losers who harbor the desire to be honorable and idealistic but are forced to compromise themselves in order to survive in a world of nihilism and brutality."