I find myself making common cause with Mr. Ahearn here,
despite our disagreements on other matters and in other
forums. I will say, though, that I like Murder My Sweet a
good deal.
Best, Mark
On 12/6/07, William Ahearn <
williamahearn@yahoo.com> wrote:
>
>
> --- Jack Bludis <
buildsnburns@yahoo.com
<buildsnburns%40yahoo.com>> wrote:
>
> > Yep, it was pretty bad.
> >
> Well, that's what makes horse racing. Whether or
not
> you're a purist who can't see an idol in a
different
> way or not, the fact remains that The Long Goodbye
is
> good cinema. And Altman is not one of my
favorite
> directors. How well it did at the box office is
a
> bogus argument about value as numerous classics
have
> bombed when they were released. As someone who
tends
> to be irritated by filmmakers who gut
novels
> (Hitchcock being a major offender), I didn't expect
to
> like The Long Goodbye. As far as I'm
concerned,
> Murder, My Sweet is closer to a parody of
Chandler
> than The Long Goodbye and The Lady In The Lake is
one
> long bad joke wrapped up in a truly bad
film.
>
> What I'm finding in this conversation (and very
little
> of this is directed to Jack whose post I'm
responding
> to) is a hint of reactionary fervor in defense of
a
> genre. To Altman's (and Polanski's) credit,
they
> didn't set out to capture elements of a
long-gone
> sensibility in The Long Goodbye and Chinatown.
They
> took stories and told them in a style that broke
with
> the fashion of fedora and guns and
hard-boiled
> detectives. As films, they have legitimate lives
of
> their own. The same is true of Kiss Me, Deadly
where
> Spillane's central premise was scrapped and the
story
> retold as a nihilistic detective story. That's
what
> film should do and it's rare when it
happens.
>
> The Long Goodbye may not be a great film but it's
in
> my top five PI films. Quibble with this, quibble
with
> that yet it remains a fine piece of
cinema.
>
> William
>
> Essays and Ramblings
> <http://www.williamahearn.com>
>
>
__________________________________________________________
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> http://www.yahoo.com/r/hs
>
>
-- Mark R. Harris 2122 W. Russet Court #8 Appleton WI 54914 (920) 470-9855 brokerharris@gmail.com
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