noir about a paranoid man haunted by his past". Critic Jay Seaver wrote, "Nightfall isn't worried about purity of genre; it occasionally threatens to become an almost light-hearted caper movie..,” which he regarded as falling somewhere between mediocrity and Tourneur’s very best. Film critic Alain Silver argues that despite being made near the end of the cycle, and that even though the film's locations include bright snow-covered landscapes, the dilemma of Nightfall's protagonist is typically noir. Although he is a victim of several mischances, Vanning struggles to “comprehend how violent but basically simple past occurrences have put him in such a dangerous and complicated present." Legacy The film was influential in Quentin Tarantino creating the Bruce Willis character in Pulp Fiction. Tarantino said, Willis "reminded me of a 50s leading man... a Ralph Meeker, Aldo Ray and Brian Keith kind of man. I went to his house and we did actually watch one print of an Aldo Ray movie, we watched Nightfall [1956]... [Ray and Brian Keith] have fantastic banter. And Brian Keith is excellent." See also List of American films of 1956 References External links Nightfall at TV Guide (a slightly revised version of 1987 write-up originally published in The Motion Picture Guide) Review of film at Noir of the Week Nightfall at Letterbox DVD 1956 films 1950s crime thriller films American crime thriller films American black-and-white films Columbia Pictures films 1950s English-language films Film noir Films scored by George Duning Films based on American novels Films directed by Jacques Tourneur Films set in Los Angeles Films set in Wyoming Films with screenplays by Stirling Silliphant 1950s American films