I know that I'm running late for this one, but I had this film on my shelf while my computer was in the shop, so I had no means to watch it. I finally caught up with it yesterday.
The Lineup
A drug ring is using tourists on a ship from Hong Kong to smuggle drugs into the US by placing them into souvenir statues. We go back and forth between the police tracking down the criminals, and the criminals gathering the drugs, leaving bodies behind them.
The police procedural is pretty dull, frankly. The Lineup is based on a television show of the same name, which seems to have a Dragnet-like pace and tone. What really shines in this film is when we focus on the criminals. An older criminal is training a younger man to be a suave assassin, but the younger man's anger gets in the way. There is a lot of character development for them, even the hired driver gets to shine. Which is odd, because the police are flat as cardboard.
I chose this one because it is in Martin's top ten noirs. I can certainly see what he loves about it. And if the whole film had been about the criminals, I think I would have enjoyed it more. Still, a great time. 4/5