Where discussion of Woody Allen does belong on this list is
where his work crosses with hard-boiled and noir
fiction.
Like his short stories "Mr. Big" or "The Whore of Mensa,"
both featuring his P.I. Kaiser Lupowitz. Sure, they're
parodies, but his riffs on the genre are dead on. And those
are both literary, printed on paper and everything, so
they're safe to discuss.
But even in his cinematic forays, like his 2001 film, "The
Curse of the Jade Scorpion," Allen still displays a pretty
developed and nuanced understanding of the hard-boiled and
noir genres -- even if he is playing it for laughs. My guess
is he's a long time fan of the genre, and is confident enough
of its tropes to have some fun with them.
In fact, I'd go as far as to say that there's something sorta
nebbishly hard-boiled and almost Chandleresque about the
nature of much of Allen's work; a sort of brooding
intellectual cynicism wrapped around a heart of mush. Sound
familiar?
But then again, I've always sorta thought Chandler would have
made a great stand-up comedian, as smart but uncomfortable in
his own skin as Allen in his stand-up days. It's easy enough
to picture Chandler's similes being delivered as
one-liners.
"I tell ya, this dame, well, I'm not saying she was hot, but
she could make a bishop kick a hole in a stained glass
window."
"This guy was so ugly, man, he had a face like a collapsed
lung."
The act practically writes itself.
Thank you, I'll be here all week....
Kevin
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