Inherent Blog

Inherent Vice is the name of Thomas Pynchon's latest novel. And according to the reviewers (and the publisher Penguin Press), it is a noir novel. Pynchon (72) does the voice over for a promotional video. Check it out here. What's that, you say? You've never read a Pynchon novel, or you've tried, but you couldn't (or wouldn't) finish it? That may not be a problem. According to Joseph Bottum (no, I didn't make up that name), in his Wall Street Journal column: "'Inherent Vice' is the closest to beach reading that Thomas Pynchon has ever produced." And, for Pynchon, the novel weighs in at a very svelte 369 pages.

The story takes place in 1970s Los Angeles and tells the story of Doc Sportello, a hippy PI. Oh, and his business is called LSD Investigations (supposed to stand for Location, Surveillance, Detection -- yeah right). Sounds interesting to me. And, for what it's worth, according to the Wikipedia entry, "inherent vice" is: "a legal tenet referring to a "hidden defect (or the very nature) of a good or property which of itself is the cause of (or contributes to) its deterioration, damage, or wastage." The cover price is $27.95, but you can find it for less on Amazon. At the moment, Amazon appears to be selling it for $16.77 plus shipping.

In other noir news, thank you Mr. Johnson for reminding me of the Pacific Film Archive noir showings in Berkeley. Having a problem understanding their website? Stephen Johnson to the rescue (but God help you find parking).

According to Mr. Johnson: This Friday August 14 they are showing Anthony Mann's "Raw Deal" and also "No Man of Her Own" with Barbara Stanwyck in the great but little shown Cornell Woolrich movie based on his I Married a Dead Man novel. Saturday the 15th they show the Italian noir political thriller "Investigation of a Citizen above Suspicion" (1970) about a super arrogant, authoritarian top police investigator who happens to be also a psycho murderer in the paranoiac days of the Red Brigades. On Sunday August 30, they show "Point of Order," the documentary about McCarthy, and also the noir drama "The Prowler" directed by Joseph Losey who was soon afterward driven out of Hollywood by McCarthyism. In September/October they will show the early noir movies of Otto Preminger including "Laura", "Fallen Angel", "Whirlpool", "Where the Sidewalk Ends", and "Angel Face" Wow! what a slambang series!

And as a brief follow-up, yes, GI Joe was a box office hit. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, there were no critics screening for GI Joe because ... well, it sucked. But Paramount figured the summer crowd wouldn't care, and they were right. Some critics, nonetheless, did what critics do. Geoff Berkshire of the Chicago Tribune wrote: "That G.I. Joe is completely ridiculous should come as a surprise to no one. That it's not an outright disaster might be a different story." My work is done here.

More Hammett Please

[I'd like to thank Joseph Lim of the SF Academy of Arts Film club and a previous speaker at the Danger & Despair Knitting Circle for contributing the following piece on Dashiell Hammett's Murphy bed. Stay tuned for news regarding the latest Thomas Pynchon novel, and the Pacific Film Archive series. - Robert]

Saving Dashiell Hammett's San Francisco apartment, no doubt, would be a worthy cause - a treasured artifact in this city's literary history. But how to do it? Immediately, declaration of the residence as a historical monument of historical and monumental proportions would be a start.

This, and what I hope to call a "burgeoning noir history city tour" - might also help. It can't hurt. There ought to be film noir guides, dressed in period attire, who show visitors many key and interesting film noir, crime (true crime or fictional), pertinent locations - where noir was shot or a dark story took place. Perhaps there may be stops at a "speak" - short for speakeasy - so to speak (and easy for you to say?). Even after Prohibition, a place where one speaks easily on covert locations - existed into the noir epoch and to this day. Fictional and sometimes occasionally nonfiction gangsters frequented these gin joints. And of all of them, she had to walk into mine. She could have, just as easily, walked into yours. She was easy that way. But surely, I digress.

One such noir city tour stop must be Samuel Dashiell Hammett's former apartment. Photos must be snapped - with maybe a shot of someone's girlfriend briefly reclined on his murphy bed? Proceeds go to preservation of this and/or other hardboiled literary historical sites (and other murphy beds). Paid for by the committee to save Hammett's murphy bed.

Perhaps an idea or dream only. But it came to me, as I tapped away on my updated typewriter (called a computer), my cigarette dangling devilishly out of a mouth corner, the ashes piling up on my cheap hotel carpet. I poured another gin into a glass, then coughed - due to tuberculosis - while my hardboiled detective (based on my life's experiences as an ex-Pinkerton detective) was being born. This isn't my life, but Dashiell Hammett's, and in that apartment, during business hours, before using that murphy bed.

This was also visualised in the 1982 Francis Coppola produced film, Hammett, based on the novel of the same title. However, in my film critic's opinion, while the movie was occasionally noirish in quality, and Frederic Forrest's portrayal was fantastic, the rest of the picture could have been better. It theorises scenes and characters from The Maltese Falcon inspired by Hammett's detective work (i.e., this one last job, just when he thought he was out of it for good).

Another interesting portrayal of Hammett was performed by Jason Robards in the 1977 film, "Julia" - a supporting role as Hammett the writer who was having an affair with the playwright Lillian Hellman. Multi-layered and complex, this was the portrayal which showed all the experience, ruggedness, and "hardboiled-ness" of the man in a few scenes. This I recommend.

Until the next blog entry, this is Joseph Lim, of the Academy of Art Film Club - blog correspondent - signing off - for now. - Jospeph Lim

Roxie Redux, Brit Noir, the First Doctor, Summer Blockbusters and the Demise of the Critics

The first noir screenings were so popular (i.e., an actual audience showed up), that the Roxie has, wisely, decided on running a second show in September. Elliot Lavine will once again be hosting. From the Roxie webpage: "Now, in answer to the huge demand from noir enthusiasts all over the Bay Area, Elliot Lavine has programmed a stupendous ten day fest of noir classics and curios from the famed vaults of Columbia Pictures. A total of twenty great films - all presented in beautiful 35mm studio vault prints---and none currently available on DVD." For more info, see: http://roxie.com/events/details.cfm?eventid=80E856EB-ACC8-FC5D-A2373DFE6FB28ADB

Thanks to Ned D. for informing me of the NYC Brit Noir showings. Yes, that's William Hartnell with Richard Attenborough in the photo in the 1947 film "Brighton Rock". Extra points if you know what television show for which Hartnell is most famous. Hartnell also appeared in one of the popular "Carry On" episodes. Here's a hint: Hartnell is instantly recognizable by leagues of Brit Sci Fi fans. "Brighton Rock" was based on the Graham Greene novel of the same title (published in 1938). Greene, of course, also wrote the screenplay for that most famous of all Brit noirs: "The Third Man" (the novella was published afterwards). See http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/07/30/arts/20090802_NOIR_index.html?emc=eta3 for more info.

Speaking of the Brits, Cahiers du Cinéma has changed hands. And, yes, it was purchased by a British publisher -- Phaidon. Phaidon is "the world's leading publisher of books on the visual arts" (if they don't mind saying so themselves). Cahiers du Cinéma was founded in 1951 and has become an icon of the cinephile world. You can blame Cahiers for lionizing Jerry Lewis, but you can credit them for recognizing the artistry of Hollywood noir (when we thought those films were just "crime dramas"). Editors and writers included: Andre Bazin, François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard. After Cahiers published a list of the 100 most important movies, according to their readers, oddly enough (wink) not a single one of those movies were from across the channel. Well, now's a chance to even the score.

Speaking of critics, has this summer's wide-appeal movies been less than appealing? Consider the fact that Harry Potter has lost a bit of his magic (at the box office, but not with the critics) and that the Transformers sequel has shown just how unimportant film criticism is with respect to the summer box office. The critics hated it. Audiences flocked to the film. Next up is the G.I. Joe film, which appears to have nothing at all to do with the G.I. Joe of our youth (assuming it was part of your youth at all). G.I. Joe, like Transformers, is based on the action figure toys. Then came the comic book series. Inevitably, the mass-market movies followed. Paramount figures why risk the bad reviews. Audiences will flock to the movie anyways.

There were some good movies this summer. Public Enemies (with Johnny Depp) was better than expected and really enjoyable (is it noir?). Soul Power, which appeared on very few screens, was interesting. It was really less of a documentary as opposed to concert footage of the 1974 concert in Zaire (now the Republic of Congo). A great opportunity to see B.B. King, Mohamed Ali, James Brown and many others. Getting back to movies based on comic books, the star of the summer was The Watchmen. The Watchmen was penned by British comic book writer Alan Moore over 20 years ago. And no one, especially Moore, thought it could be turned into a decent movie. But it was. Another comic book inspired movie, Wolverine, was a dud, according to the critics (this time, the fans seemed to agree). Star Trek returned to the big screen and this time it was done right. Moon was the small distribution hit of the summer, and if it is still lingering in some theaters, I suggest seeing it.