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Any "Film Noir" experts here?

unrepentant

Sergeant
Full Member
Minuteman
Apr 7, 2008
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When I was about 6-8 years old, my mother took me to a theater and we saw some film noir sometime between 1956-1960.

The movie ended when a big man "stalked" and choked a smaller man (to death?) after the smaller man emptied his handgun into the big man. The scene unraveled as a revenge/justice killing--the big man didn't run, he walked down some concrete stairs arms out (like you'd envision Frankenstein walking) as he was hit repeatedly by the small man's gunfire. The smaller man backed down the stairs face contorted in fear while the big man just kept on coming on. I can't remember if the scene ended in both their deaths. The big man was large and overweight, built like Orson Welles or Rod Steiger or Raymond Burr and the little man was built like Humphrey Bogart or Elisha Cook, Jr.

The big man was the "hero" and the little man was the "villain". The concrete stairs were like a set of stairs to a New York flat below street level, but I think I remember the stairs being wider--enough for 5-8 people to walk down side-by-side. It wasn't a narrow staircase, and the stairs led to a door (or pair of doors) not to another level of something. That's all I can remember about the movie. It's just one of those childhood memories that I may never recover. When I asked my mother she couldn't remember it.

I've searched IMDB (and the IMDB list of "25 Best Film Noir Movies of All Time) for the lists of movies done by Welles, Steiger, Burr, Bogart, and Cook, Jr., and as far as I can tell from the descriptions (and the rest of the male casts) I haven't found anything that resembles the movie title I seek.

If you think you know the name of any of the actors or even a partial title, I'd appreciate it if you'd gimme a clue. Thank you, All !
 
Sorry I can't help with the title to this movie you describe. I can tell you that YouTube has a ton of Film Noir titles that you can watch for free. Maybe you will find it there. Just search "Film Noir" and a bunch of titles will show up. I spend a couple nights a week watching for a few hours. Good stuff!
 
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