Re: RARA-AVIS: Hardboiled Hollywood

From: Al Guthrie ( allanguthrie@ukonline.co.uk)
Date: 04 Mar 2003


----- Original Message ----- From: "Robison Michael R CNIN" < Robison_M@crane.navy.mil>

> When did the "Hollywood" subgenre of hardboiled or noir pop
> up, and what are some of the notable originating stories and
> novels?

Hollywood doesn't figure in the story at all, but it's influence is implicit in the title of Benjamin Appel's 1935 short story about the rise of gangsterism, MOVIE OF A BIG-SHOT.

I've just finished reading two of his collections, DOCK WALLOPER and HELL'S KITCHEN, and, boy, did he write stripped-to-the-bone prose:

"The crack of Gimloe's pistol seemed louder than the El had been. The bullet whistled by Corcoran's face as he lunged after the killer, squeezing the trigger at a target almost out of sight. Down the end of the hallway, young Gimloe. Again he shot and missed. The yard door opened, slammed. Corcoran added up the used bullets. Two of mine. One of his. Two of mine. He's no mother's son. I can't get him. I must get him. Must. Let him go."

Al

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