I'll second the endorsement of both Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter,
and further reccomdend Life of the Beast, another or Suzuki's films.
On Wed, Apr 8, 2009 at 12:10 AM, Mark Sullivan <DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net> wrote:
>
> Can't really help you with the book about the contract killer with the
> samurai code, but it sounds like something I'd like to read.
> As for the others, Ross Thomas rules.
> As for Melville, be sure to check out Le Doulous.
> If you like Ghost Dog, check out Seijun Suzuki's Branded to Kill, one of the
> influences on it (you'll recognize a scene Jarmusch cribs). His Tokyo
> Drifter ain't bad either.
> Mark
>
>> To: rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
>> From: zoebleck@gmail.com
>> Date: Wed, 8 Apr 2009 01:05:29 +0000
>> Subject: RARA-AVIS: an intro and a question
>
>>
>> I've been lurking for a few weeks--joined because I was looking around for
>> information and got a hit from a post here about Ross Thomas --whom I'm
>> presently obsessed with...I don't know how I've missed him for all these
>> years--have gone through John D. MacDonald periods, and Ross MacDonald
>> periods--for some reason I thought he wrote police procedurals in the McBain
>> vein and didn't bother with him. (nothing against McBain, I just am not that
>> into procedurals)
>>
>> I picked up Briarpatch in the paperback exchange section of the library
>> and was blown away.
>>
>> As for me--I've always loved detective novels--from Nancy Drew on--and
>> read both old ones and new.
>>
>> I'm devoted to Film Noir also--Kiss Me Deadly, Detour--you name it, I'll
>> watch it.
>>
>> I'm currently working my way through the films of Jean-Pierre
>> Melville--started with Army of Shadows, have seen Le Deuxième Souffle,Bob
>> le flambeur, and just watched Le Samourai last night--what an incredible
>> filmmaker--his control and style is pretty astounding--I'm theorizing
>> without enough evidence probably, but it occurred to me this morning that
>> his subject is death--and death looked at squarely in a way that is pretty
>> rare.
>>
>> But, this is my question for you all--in the Jim Jarmusch film, Ghost Dog:
>> The Way of the Samurai, Forrest Whitaker plays a killer, a kind of holy man
>> who kills, and of course follows the way of the Samurai. I could swear i
>> read a mystery about a very similar character--a loner who did contract
>> killing and lived by the Samurai code. He lived in a van. I can't remember
>> the title of the book, or who wrote it--and there are no credits in IMDB for
>> Jarmusch's film that mention it being based on a novel.
>>
>> Does anyone remember this book? I read it not long before the movie came
>> out--some time in the '90s--and it was new when I read it.
>>
>> I associate it with Thomas Perry for some reason--i know Perry didn't
>> write it, but I might have just started reading him at the same time.
>>
>> It's great to be here--Zoe
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> ------------------------------------
>>
>> RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
>> Yahoo! Groups Links
>>
>>
>>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
>
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