The early-to-mid 1970s was a time when Americans’ distrust in our politicians was at a peak. The country still had not gotten over the 1960s assassinations of beloved young leaders John F. and Bobby Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. Many still wondered whether the individuals held responsible for their killings acted alone, or were…
To play a convincing Sherlock Holmes you need to be long and lean. To play a convincing Poirot you need to be… well… David Suchet. To play Georges Simenon’s great detective Jules Maigret, the requirements aren’t as specific. That’s one of the great things about Maigret. We know he’s a gent who enjoys a pipe…
In thinking about Jules Dassin’s 1950 work of film noir Night and the City in relation to the same-named 1938 novel by Gerald Kersh, one striking thing to consider is the fact that Dassin said he never read the book. He apparently fully relied on the screenplay of Jo Eisinger, and his own cinematic vision,…
When a fierce storm all but dooms a manned mission to Mars, Astronaut Mark Watney is presumed dead and left behind. But Watney isn't dead, and when he wakes up, not only does he have supplies only meant to last one month, he also has no way of contacting NASA back on Earth to let…
When his wife is killed and his daughter left in a vegetative state after a brutal assault, a staunch liberal seeks comfort in vigilante justice, gunning down the monsters who stalk the savage street of 1970s New York City. And in the end, he finds himself deeply conflicted over his descent into violence. Sounds a…
It’s easy to imagine Game of Thrones as a sprawling game of chess, and “The House of Black and White” moved some major pieces around, but we’re still left trying to figure out who’s on whose team. Arya Stark (Maise Williams) has finally landed in Braavos, but she’s not welcomed in the fashion she assumed.…
I’ve been a fan of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 suspense film High and Low since I saw it years ago. I just watched it again after my first read of the 87th Precinct novel it’s based on: Ed McBain’s 1959 procedural King’s Ransom – the 10th installment of the highly-celebrated series penned by Evan Hunter under…
I first saw Fritz Lang’s 1953 film noir The Big Heat decades ago, and I just viewed it again this week. This time I watched it immediately after reading William P. McGivern’s novel of the same title. This is the latest in my series of posts where I rave about an underappreciated noir novel while…
The 2015 Academy Award nominees have been announced, and in a two-way tie for the lead with nine nominations are Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) and The Grand Budapest Hotel. It's not surprising to see Birdman clean up with nominations, as the Academy loves to honor films about the film industry, but Wes…
So this is the next in my line of posts where I’m going to write about an underappreciated vintage noir novel, and in so doing, discuss a movie that was made from its story (sometimes it’s the other way around, but you get the idea). Robert Siodmak’s 1948 (referenced as ’49 in some places) film…
