Image Credit: Pam Roth.

This is the fourth article in our examination of the AFI’s Ten Top Tens. You can read the introduction here, the first article in the series on animation here, the second article in the series on romantic comedies here, and the third article on sports movies here.

A good mystery is difficult to pull off. Part of it has to do with the balance between the distribution of information, the weight of those clues, the audience’s understanding, and the need for an obvious, but not at all expected ending. On the other hand, it can’t cheat, either, and bring in something completely off the wall.

In this way, the strength of mysteries is in their frailty. By finding out more and more, the audience is on the edge of knowing it all. By giving up more and more, the film is on the verge of giving it all away. If it goes too far, well, that’s about the worst crime a mystery could commit.

The best mysteries find that balance remarkably well. The worst of them tip their hats too far in one or the other ways. In other words, mysteries a little like women. For most guys out there, we know that it’s not a stretch to say that women are a mystery. And you women, too, know what I’m talking about. You know where your unique power is and what men want from you. You also know that there are some women who use that mystery judiciously and some who are as clueless in its use as men are. (And, of course, some women are an open and shut case.)

Men want women to dangle the carrot a little–it’s fun. Hold on too long, though, and we get angry, irritated and move on. Mysteries can make this same mistake. They can hold too much back and cause the audience to be lost in the circumstances, wondering what the hell is going on. Or worse, the lack of information provides an unfair ending, one that couldn’t possibly be guessed. We like to guess the ending, and we love to be wrong–as long as the set up was fair. At the very least, we have to believe the ending could have been guessed. Like women. We think we understand where the whole game is going, then they pull the rug out and we are better for it. More importantly, it’s satisfying. All great movies have that similar sense of satisfaction. Whether or not it ends in the way we want it to, we’re still happy when it ends the way it’s supposed to.

The other mistake the mystery can make, other than holding back, is giving too much up. If the movie gives up before the curtain draws, it’s not much of a mystery, is it? Like that one girl we all know, to extend the metaphor. I’ll say little more about this for the sake of decency, but if she gives it up too quickly, we don’t take her seriously. It’s certainly better than being pissed off and confused at the mixed signals received from the teaser, but that’s not something to aspire to. Likewise, a mystery that allows the audience seeming omniscience won’t be taken seriously.

The balance here is as difficult to achieve as a quality relationship. However, the suspense, the surprise, and the satisfaction of a great mystery will never be forgotten. We can revisit it time and time again, and though it obviously doesn’t have the same impact it had on first viewing, it still astonishes us in many different ways.

Here is the AFI list for the ten best mysteries (a movie that revolves around the resolution of a crime) of all time:

Rank	Film	Year
1	Vertigo	1958
2	Chinatown	1974
3	Rear Window	1954
4	Laura	1944
5	The Third Man	1949
6	The Maltese Falcon	1941
7	North by Northwest	1959
8	Blue Velvet	1986
9	Dial M For Murder	1954
10	The Usual Suspects	1995

(list courtesy of Wikipedia)

It may come as a surprise, but I haven’t seen all of these movies.  With the first few genres, I had, but with this one, and most of the rest to come, I actually haven’t seen every single one.  With this in mind, I will simply abstain from comment on those.  I may not explicitly mention what I have or have not viewed, but assume that if I mention it, I’ve seen it.  If you don’t think is fair, or if it makes you sick, tell me off in the comments.  I’ll probably try to make you look stupid for doing so, but that’s sort of the fun of it, isn’t it?

When I talked earlier about the need in a mystery to have an obvious but completely unexpected ending, it’s important to remember that this is true of every movie.  In Sports, it makes sense that Rocky loses to Apollo Creed.  We wanted him to win, but he needed to go the distance, to prove he’s not just “another bum from the neighborhood.”

In Animation, we know that Shrek and Fiona must get together at the end, what’s unexpected, yet completely satisfying, is that she stays the ogre.  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and all that.  They flipped the convention on its head and it worked splendidly.  And it can’t ever be done again.  Fantastic.

In the Romantic Comedy, we know that Joe Fox is Kathleen Kelly’s mystery man in You’ve Got Mail.  What we don’t know, and what Joe doesn’t know, is whether she will accept him and his deception.  Nora Ephron does a wonderful job of building this tension in us.  It is obvious to us that they will end up together.  It is too happy and cheery a movie until that point to end otherwise.  What we didn’t expect was that Kathleen was hoping it was Joe all along.  We, or I at least, expected there to be more surprise.  Instead, what we got was relief.  Relief that it was Joe.

This Aha! moment for us in endings is necessary for all movies.  But it is absolutely crucial in mysteries.  I really don’t need to give the perfect example in this genre here.  You already thought about it when I started this whole spiel.  The Usual Suspects.

Everyone knows that the title was  borrowed from the great Casablanca.  I imagine Bryan Singer didn’t believe one of his movies would reside in the same hallowed grounds of film history as Rick’s Place, but The Usual Suspects has clearly earned its spot.

Do I even need to recount this?  No.  I most certainly do not.  I will note however, that the famous “cork board reveal” is not as impressive as the entire set-up by Verbal Kint.  He dishes out all the necessary information, but without the last few bits, it’s rather meaningless.  Amazing.  Just amazing.  There’s so much depth beyond the twist ending that makes it even more impressive.

Memento is another that truly belongs in this list.  For one thing, it is one of the few movies that can claim to innovate on actual filmic or narrative techniques.  This movie trumps even Pulp Fiction in the non-linear narrative category.  For one, it is a truthful point-of-view style that cannot be duplicated.

For those who say noir is dead, think again.  Brick lets us know that the sub-genre is far from deceased.  It has the pace, the vernacular, and the rhythm of all the greats.  It might me the smartest film of this century as it accomplishes so much and it is still merely a high school movie.

Another great mystery that is long gone, relegated to the unconscious minds of the film gods is Jake Kasdan’s Zero Effect.  Bill Pullman stars as the ridiculously eccentric private detective who’s more smooth, more suave when on the job than any other, but too scared to leave his bedroom at any other time.  A fantastically entertaining film, it’s one of those rare gems you find in the most unlikely of places.  A genuine surprise.

The very nature of the mystery is curious and exploratory.  They can be a little awkward at first, making us anxious, but are amazingly rich and titillating when you’re more experienced.  The excitement of discovery in a mystery is unparalleled anywhere else in film. And it lingers long after you’re done.