RARA-AVIS: Ellroy's "Contino," another Leonard film
Levin, Doug (DLEVIN@DIRECTIMPACT.COM)
Tue, 5 May 1998 10:51:00 -0400
I'm closer to Bill Hagen on "Dick Contino's Blues," but I have
not yet
read the rest of the collection. Rather than being jazzy and
hip and
experimental, the prose strikes me as a little thin. True,
there are
good moments, and I'm glad to see Ellroy (or any writer for
that matter)
fooling around, trying to do something different, etc. The
ending goes
by fast too, as James noted. I remember reading (on this list?)
that
Ellroy had a two-hundred page outline for one of his long
novels. "Dick
Contino" almost reads like an outline--action brushed in, with
some
plans to expand. I also think Ellroy makes the mistake of
substituting
fast prose for fast action. The hyped-up prose for hyped-up
scenes
seems right, but it's draining to read constantly--I'd prefer a
greater
variation in modes.
On another note, I just saw an ad for the summer film _Out of
Sight_
based on the Elmore Leonard novel. Stars George Clooney and
Jennifer
Lopez. Supporting cast: Ving Rhames, Don Cheadle, Dennis
Farina, and
Albert Brooks. It's directed by Steven Soderbergh--the _Sex,
Lies,
Videotape_ guy (and director of the underrated _Kafka_). What
do people
know about this film? What's the story on the Leonard
book?
Doug
>
#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to
majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.