Editing Out of the Past (section)

==Reception==
The film made a profit of $90,000.<ref name="uni"/>

''Out of the Past'' is considered one of the greatest of all films noir.<ref name="Grdn">{{cite news |title=Top 10 film noir |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2013/nov/29/top-10-film-noir |access-date=24 November 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=29 November 2013}}</ref><ref name=ballingray/><ref name=schatzofalltime/><ref name=ebert/> Robert Ottoson hailed the film as "the ''[[ne plus ultra]]'' of forties film noir".<ref name=ottoson/> [[Bosley Crowther]], the film critic for ''[[The New York Times]]'' in 1947, complimented the crime drama's direction and performances, although he did find the latter portion of the screenplay hard to follow:

{{blockquote|...it's very snappy and quite intriguingly played by a cast that has been well and smartly directed by Jacques Tourneur. Robert Mitchum is magnificently cheeky and self-assured as the tangled 'private eye,' consuming an astronomical number of cigarettes in displaying his nonchalance. And Jane Greer is very sleek as his [[Delilah]], Kirk Douglas is crisp as a big crook and Richard Webb, Virginia Huston, Rhonda Fleming and Dickie Moore are picturesque in other roles. If only we had some way of knowing what's going on in the last half of this film, we might get more pleasure from it. As it is, the challenge is worth a try.<ref name=crowther/>}}

Shortly after the film's release, the staff of the widely read [[trade publication]] ''[[Variety (magazine)|Variety]]'' also gave it a positive review:

{{blockquote|''Out of the Past'' is a [[hardboiled]] [[melodrama]] [from the novel by Geoffrey Homes] strong on characterization. Direction by Jacques Tourneur pays close attention to mood development, achieving realistic flavor that is further emphasized by real life settings and topnotch lensing by Nicholas Musuraca...Mitchum gives a very strong account of himself. Jane Greer as the baby-faced, charming killer is another lending potent interest. Kirk Douglas, the [[gangster]], is believable and Paul Valentine makes his role of henchman stand out. Rhonda Fleming is in briefly but effectively."<ref>[https://variety.com/1946/film/reviews/out-of-the-past-1200415026/ ''Out of the Past'' review], ''Variety'', December 31, 1946. Last retrieved June 5, 2022.</ref>}}
In ''[[The Nation (magazine)| The Nation]]'' in 1948, [[James Agee]] wrote, "''Out of the Past'' is a medium-grade thriller{{nbsp}}... Fairly well played, and very well photographed{{nbsp}}... the action develops a routine kind of pseudo-tension{{nbsp}}... Robert Mitchum is so very sleepily self-confident with the women that when he slopes into clinches you expect him to snore in their faces."<ref>Agee, James - ''Agee on Film Vol. 1'' © 1958 by The James Agee Trust.</ref>

Decades later, in his 2004 assessment of the film for the ''[[Chicago Sun-Times]]'', critic [[Roger Ebert]] noted:

{{blockquote|''Out of the Past'' is one of the greatest of all film noirs, the story of a man who tries to break with his past and his weakness and start over again in a town, with a new job and a new girl. The film stars Robert Mitchum, whose weary eyes and laconic voice, whose very presence as a violent man wrapped in indifference, made him an archetypal noir actor. The story opens before we've even seen him, as trouble comes to town looking for him. A man from his past has seen him pumping gas, and now his old life reaches out and pulls him back.<ref name=ebert/>}}

With regard to the production's stylish and moody cinematography, Ebert also dubbed the film "The greatest cigarette-smoking movie of all time":<ref name="ebert200">{{cite news|first=Roger|last=Ebert|authorlink=Roger Ebert|url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/200-cigarettes-1999|title=200 Cigarettes|newspaper=[[Chicago Sun-Times]]|date=February 26, 1999|via=[[RogerEbert.com]]}}</ref>

{{blockquote|...The trick, as demonstrated by Jacques Tourneur and his cameraman, [[Nicholas Musuraca]], is to throw a lot of light into the empty space where the characters are going to exhale. When they do, they produce great white clouds of smoke, which express their moods, their personalities and their energy levels. There were guns in ''Out of the Past,'' but the real hostility came when Robert Mitchum and Kirk Douglas smoked at each other.<ref name="ebert200" />}}
[[Pauline Kael]] wrote, "A thin but well-shot suspense melodrama{{nbsp}}... It's empty trash, but you do keep watching it."<ref>Kael, Pauline - ''5001 Nights at the Movies'' 1991 ISBN 0-8050-1366-0</ref> [[Leslie Halliwell]] gave it two of four stars, stating: "Moody ''film noir'' with Hollywood imitating French models; plenty of snarling and a death-strewn climax.<ref>Halliwell's Film Guide, 7th Edition 1987 ISBN 0-06-016322-4</ref>

The film holds a score of 93% on review aggregation website [[Rotten Tomatoes]], with an average rating of 9/10, based on 40 reviews.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/out_of_the_past |title=Out of the Past  |website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]] |access-date= August 18, 2022 }}</ref>