RARA-AVIS: Re: Hardboiled Hollywood

From: JIM DOHERTY ( jimdohertyjr@yahoo.com)
Date: 14 Jul 2007


Mark,

Re the list of movies covered by Decharne's book below:

Little Caesar The Big Sleep In a Lonely Place Kiss Me, Deadly Hell is a City Psycho Point Blank Bonnie and Clyde Get Carter Dillinger LA Confidential

Since the list seems to be in chronological order, I assume the version of DILLINGER being covered is the onw ith Warren Oates as Dillinger and Ben Johnson as FBI Agent Melvin Purvis, not the 1945 noir with Lawrence Tierney? I've always liked the Oates/Johnson version. It led to two made-for-TV sequels (or, perhaps more correctly, prequels, or even more correctly, "in-between-quels") with Dale Robertson taking over the Purvis role from Johnson, MELVIN PURVIS - G-MAN and THE KANSAS CITY MASSACRE

Let me add my own kudos for that lesser-known-but-deserves-to-be-far-better-known Brit cop-noir, HELL IS A CITY. THE best, bar none, THE best British cop movie ever, and a very faithful adaptation of Maurice Procter's novel, published in the US as SOMEWHERE IN THIS CITY, the first in his Harry Martineau series.

One change from book to film, and a rather interesting one. The book was set in "Granchester," which is to Manchester roughly what Ed McBain's "Isola" is to Manhattan, Ross Macdonald's and Sue Grafton's "Santa Teresa" is to Santa Barbara, etc. Th movie was filmed on location in Manchester, and, at the behest of the city fathers, the script simply called Martineau's city Manchester instead of using the fictionalized name.

Has there ever been an 87th Precinct adaptation in which they just called the "Imaginary City" New York?

JIM DOHERTY

       
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