Mario wrote:
Miker, for me toughness has nothing to do with a propensity
to violence. For example, Mario Balzic is very hardboiled,
but he doesn't like to hit or shoot people. His temperament
is hardboiled. When he wants something, he goes and gets it
(or gets it done).
The guy in Dark Ride is simply out of control. He's
dangerous but he's not tough in the sense above. I cannot
imagine him getting away from Amos Walker, for example, to
mention a truly hardboiled private eye. Or from Parker,
should the latter have a score to settle or should the guy
get in his way.
******************* I agree that a merely violent nature
doesn't make one tough. I would modify only slightly your
definition: When he wants something, he goes after it and
tries very hard to get it done. Hardboiled characters do
occasionally fail.
In my way of thinking, the examples I mentioned demonstrate
his toughness through his concentrated effort to get
something done, even to the extent of putting himself in
harm's way.
Incidentally, something that you have touched on above brings
up another Paul Duncan distinction between a hardboiled
protagonist and a noir one. Duncan declares that ultimately
the hardboiled character is in control, while the poor noir
fellow loses control. Even if I'm not totally in agreement
with this, either, I still think it has a lot of merit.
respectfully, miker
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 23 Aug 2004 EDT