A deep dive into classic noir films and how filmmakers today are refreshing and updating the genre for new generations. Publishers Weekly praises the book, noting, "Cinephiles will be enthralled” and Library Journal says it's a "well-written introduction to noir films and how the genre has continued to thrive as times changed.” Booklist calls it a "riveting history of the film noir genre" in a starred review, saying, "This is one of the best, best written, most insightful analyses of film noir, and it demands to be read by fans of film history.” In American Noir Film , M. Keith Booker introduces readers to the cult-favorite genre of film noir and discusses the ongoing power and popularity of the genre’s key elements and themes in modern films, often considered neo-noir, well into the twenty-first century. Booker covers a wide range of noir favorites, from the early classics The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep , to late twentieth-century neo-noir such as Chinatown ,and ultimately newer iterations of the genre as seen in such films as Inherent Vice , Promising Young Woman , and Uncut Gems . American Noir Film contains three separate parts, each exploring crucial categories of noir: the detective film, the lost man film, and femme fatale films. Within each section, Booker discusses the essential classic noir films that embody these themes as well as neo-noir films that invite viewers to analyze how the traditional components of noir have evolved with filmmaking. Finally, each section concludes with twenty-first-century films that evoke noir elements while refreshing the genre and enhancing viewers’ appreciation of the originals that inspired them―what Booker terms “revisionary noir.” Whether new to noir films, students of the genre, or long-time fans, readers will be sure to learn what makes this genre so special, discover why filmmakers keep coming back to it, and find a new favorite movie to add to their shelves. “From the author of The Historical Dictionary of Science Fiction Cinema and Postmodern Hollywood (2020), comes this riveting history of the film noir genre. The first wave of the noir film genre began with 1941’s The Maltese Falcon and ended with 1958’s Touch of Evil; but, as Booker argues persuasively, this was only the beginning of film noir. Later came the neo-noir films (eg., Chinatown, 1974) and the revisionary noirs (Basic Instinct, 1992), which incorporated key elements of the noir tradition but took the themes in new directions. Noir came about in part because some German filmmakers―Fritz Lang, Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger, and others―fled Hitler’s Germany and came to the United States; the genre got its name from French film critics, who were searching for something that unified the various films coming out of the U.S. that tackled subjects forbidden by the Production Code through the use of shadow and subtext. The book contains plot summaries, but this is not merely a book full of plot summaries. This is one of the best, best written, most insightful analyses of film noir, and it demands to be read by fans of film history.” ― Booklist, Starred Review “This perceptive history from Booker traces film noir’s enduring influence on American cinema from its 1940s origins through the present. According to Booker, the genre drew from German expressionism’s 'inventive use of light and shadows' to express wartime malaise and disillusionment with the American Dream. Tracing noir’s evolution through exegesis of Double Indemnity, Blue Velvet, Inherent Vice, and other films, Booker argues that 1941’s The Maltese Falcon aimed to rebut 'saccharine' standard Hollywood fare by depicting life as a 'ruthless dog-eat-dog pursuit of wealth.' The fall of the Motion Picture Production Code in the late ’60s produced a wave of 'neo-noir' films ( Chinatown and Body Heat principally among them) freed from restrictions on ridiculing the law or showing sympathy with criminals, allowing filmmakers to portray the world as even bleaker and more corrupt than the original noirs had. More recent films create meaning by toying with noir conventions, Booker contends, suggesting that by focusing Gone Girl on a femme fatale who ultimately prevails, director David Fincher implicitly indicts early noirs for their inability to envision a female character’s successful challenge to patriarchy. By putting noirs from across film history in conversation, Booker’s smart commentary sheds light on how the genre has been retooled and repurposed according to changing attitudes. Cinephiles will be enthralled.” ― Publishers Weekly “This is a neatly structured and superbly argued study of film noir from the 1940s to the present day. Booker develops a trajectory that leads from classic noir films like The Maltese Falcon to neo-noir efforts like Chinatown to what he calls “revisionary noir,” movies (like Inherent Vice and Uncut Gems ) that push the genre’s tropes to their limits in critical and transformati