■ FRIDAY NIGHT NEO-NOIR

TCM,

beginning at 8 p.m.

Catch a Classic! When people think of the film noir genre, they might recall classics from its heyday in the 1940s and ’50s. But in the decades after the form became popular and, for a while, dominant, filmmakers have revisited film noir in their storytelling, incorporating the elements that make it so compelling — a dark ambience with lots of shadow in its cinematography; a generally bleak worldview set amid a dark underbelly of criminal activity; a frequently brutal realism; and a central character who is often a world-weary/ sardonic private eye investigating a case so convoluted that in the end it may not even be fully understood or resolved, and if it is, not always with what would be considered a “happy” ending. Some of these films are set in the period during which they were made; others take place in the ’30s or ’40s, offering both an homage and a reimagining of original film noir classics. Each Friday night this month, Turner Classic Movies will air a lineup of some of the best of these “neo-noir” movies that have been made in roughly the past 50 years that are every bit the equals of their predecessors from decades earlier. The initial lineup begins with “Harper” (1966), starring Paul Newman as the titular detective who sets out to find a rich woman’s missing husband. As an homage to Humphrey Bogart’s vintage portrayals of private eyes Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe in classic films noir like “The Maltese Falcon” and “The Big Sleep,” “Harper” features Lauren Bacall, Bogie’s widow, as the woman who hires Newman’s character. Next, Lee Marvin stars in “Point Blank” (1967) as a gangster who is out for revenge on the partner and others who doublecrossed him after they robbed a major crime operation. Finally, “Warning Shot” (1967) stars David Janssen as a police sergeant who kills a man while on a stakeout, then must prove it was in self-defense.