Many All-American values--nuclear family, traditional notions of heroism, and the work ethic--are shown to be eroding or completely destroyed in noir films. Cynical world-weary anti-heroes breed a reactionary streak in films as well -— one can't trust anybody but oneself. While the moral ambiguity of these figures makes the genre more complex than one suspects at first glance, the heroes are usually too damaged emotionally and spiritually to do much about their suspicions that the city is a corrupt stinkhole. Instead, they try to find a way to live outside or regardless of the systemic putrefaction that surrounds them, almost inevitably with disastrous results. The films, like their protagonists, may not challenge the status quo, but they certainly question it.

Is noir, as Paul Schrader argues in his essay, Notes on Film Noir, a passing cinematic fad that enjoyed its hey day between 1941 (Maltese Falcon) and 1958 (Touch of Evil), but has no place in contemporary film? Or is cinematographer/writer John Briley right when he says, “[Film noir] experiences periodic rebirth and rediscovery. Whenever we have any moment of deep societal rift or disruption in America, one of the ways we can express it is through the ideas and behavior in film noir.”(1994 New York Times, (February 6, 1994)?

Christopher sides with Briley, suggesting that the time is ripe for a resurgence of noir. "In late twentieth-century America, when several decades can feel like an age, it's not only that we can look back to the forties and fifties and appreciate the cutting-edge significance and power of the noir vision, but also that we can gaze into our national mirror today and discern all around us the dark tones and shock-waves of noir's resurgence."

Christopher points to several recent examples of noir-like films of varying quality, including Body Heat, Angel Heart, The Grifters and Se7en. He saves his most lavish praise (and about 15 pages of text) for what he calls the best noir film of the '90s, The Usual Suspects. While this seems like excessive praise for what on the surface is a taut but unexceptional crime drama, Christopher makes a strong case for his apparent hyperbole. Fans of the film will relish his detailed and intelligent noir-based analysis of The Usual Suspects.

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