"I made a mistake once."
— Ole "The Swede" Anderson, The Killers
"The Nine O'Clock Show with the Glass of Cheap Bourbon. And the Red Gown...with the Silent Music. Every day...the same."
"You need cops, venetian blinds, lots of smoking, hats, sweat, dead-end streets, guys who know all the angles except for the one that ends up sticking out of their backs. Sirens of the automotive and female kind."
— James Lileks, The Bleat, "Think You Oughta Drink That"
"Once you have long shadows, dark alleyways, and people with confused purposes, you're in the territory of noir."
— Michael Tolkin, "Unpunished Evil: When Neo-Noirs Took Over the '90s," The Ringer
," The Ringer "I'm going to listen to you spin the Cloverleaf scenario. It's a story of greed, sex and murder. And the parts that I don't like, I'm going to edit out."
— Eddie Valiant, Who Framed Roger Rabbit
"It's just a very cinematic form of storytelling. The conflicts are clear, they're interesting. They inevitably lead to some burst of violence, either physical or emotional, because the pressure builds up in the clash between people's dreams and desires, and reality, and shifting loyalties, mistrust, all of these things. It's a very sexy genre to work in as a director."
"A noir story is about people who know what they're doing is wrong, and they do it anyway. And, typically, there's hell to pay."
— Eddie Muller
