Film Noir 2023
Screening Dates
  • August 4, 2023 6:30
  • August 6, 2023 8:30
  • August 9, 2023 6:30
New Restoration

“A first-rate police thriller directed by Jules Dassin when he was still in his prime.”

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

American neorealist Jules Dassin, a champion of on-location shooting and social drama, brought new levels of naturalism to the seedy noir universe in The Naked City, his hard-hitting follow-up to Brute Force. The film, inspired by New York photojournalist Weegee’s landmark book Naked City, concerns the murder of a model and the police investigation that follows. Shot in the sweltering streets of New York with the cooperation of the NYC Homicide Squad, this gritty summer-nights procedural is a virtual walking map of the Big Apple circa 1947, with over a hundred real locations serving as backdrop to the action. The Naked City won two Oscars (B&W cinematography and editing) and spawned a successful ​’50s TV series; each episode signed off with the film’s iconic catchphrase: ​“There are eight million stories in the naked city. This has been one of them.” Producer Mark Hellinger, a former beat reporter, narrates.

“Both a landmark and some sort of masterpiece.”

Philip French, The Observer
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