Joseph Lewis. New York born Lewis made over 40 features, all of them B-movies, but many were destroyed or are permanently lost so there aren’t a ton available today. He ended his career in the mid-1960’s making television shows but around that time he was discovered by the New Wave critics—Gun Crazy a bellwether film, and clearly Lewis’ crowning achievement—but The Big Combo proves he’s no one-hit wonder.

Best film: Gun Crazy. There is not a lot separating Lewis’ Gun Crazy and Penn’s Bonnie and Clyde in quality. The 1967 masterpiece has the bravura montage finale but Lewis’ work shows off Lewis’ penchant for oblique angles and of course has one of the great oner long-take tracking shots- certainly among the best in the era before Welles’ Touch of Evil.

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Gun Crazy – one of the great oner long-take tracking shots- certainly among the best in the era before Welles’ Touch of Evil.

total archiveable films: 4

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from So Dark the Night– Lewis’ masterful lighting on display

top 100 films:  0

top 500 films:  1 (Gun Crazy)

top 100 films of the decade:   1 (Gun Crazy)

Lewis’ penchant for oblique angles

most overrated: None. Lewis’ Gun Crazy is the only film that finds its way on the TSPDT consensus top 2000 and it sits right now at #668—so it is underrated.

most underrated The Big Combo should be around 1000-1200 and can’t find a spot in the TSPDT top 2000 sadly- it’s a bit surprising as there are so many noir genre enthusiasts. You would have figured this one would’ve been rediscovered by now.

from The Big Combo– a strong noir entry that proves Lewis is no one-hit wonder
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thankfully the New Wave critics discovered Lewis or we may not have the few films left of his we do

gem I want to spotlight : The Big Combo– expressive lighting is a trademark of the genre—but few did it better than Lewis in The Big Combo

a jaw-dropper from The Big Combo

stylistic innovations/traits:

  • Gun Crazy’s oner long-take tracking shot is a famous one for good reason, it had to wow the New Wave how he would pick up and move the camera
  • Creativity in the angles, he clearly made his films with little to no studio supervision (these were ultra-inexpensive B-films)
  • Pervading nihilism, violence
  • It is mentioned above but The Big Combo specifically is a modest triumph of cinematic illumination
perhaps it was Lewis’ lack of budget that gave him the freedom to pick up the camera and move it and put it in the back seat of the car here in Gun Crazy

top 10

  1. Gun Crazy
  2. The Big Combo
  3. So Dark the Night
  4. The Cry of the Hunted

By year and grades

1946- So Dark the Night
1950- Gun Crazy MS
1953- The Cry of the Hunted
1955- The Big Combo HR

*MP is Masterpiece- top 1-3 quality of the year film

MS is Must-see- top 5-6 quality of the year film

HR is Highly Recommend- top 10 quality of the year film

R is Recommend- outside the top 10 of the year quality film but still in the archives