Doc Savage, now 80yo I presume, and Joy have lamented the disappearance of the private-eye and detective film.
I suppose that many of us here lament that, but I think most of us realize that we who like the old style hard oiled are a declining breed. Those who like the new hard boiled are generally younger, and similar in many ways in their preferences to the splatter punk of science fiction as well as the graphic crime novel.
That does not mean that old-hands and old preferences aren't there, it's just that there are not a lot of us to make it profitable.
How many writers here on rara-avis have had to temper, or at least adjust, our writing in hopes of gathering enough audience to make our time writing be worth at least a minimum wage.
I sense that with many, but I can only speak for myself. Not much of what I like is out there now. I suppose that is why the old stand-by Robert B. Parker is around, but you don't see much of him on the best-seller list anymore.
The movies? which is what this thread started about. It's almost like pouring money down a rat hole to make a PI film. Would be nice if Joe Gores SPADE AND ARCHER was made into a movie and started a new trend. But it's highly unlikely.
Jack Bludis
"A novel can, and should, do many things, but a thriller need do only one. If it thrills, it succeeds, and if it does not, no matter how well it does everything else, it fails."
--Richard Lourie, NYTIMES book review.
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