BruceH

Hot. Well, in the city it's cold, of course, but in the 'burbs it's hot.

This looks really interesting. Thanks for the post.

I checked around the internet the other night to try to find a copy of "Plectrist." I couldn't find anything under $40. Then I recalled this post from back in April and surfed on over to Walmart.com. Lo and behold, there it was for $14.88. I pulled the trigger, then thought I'd try to order an extra one, but they wouldn't let me. I received a shipment confirmation this morning. I surfed back to the site and they're now listing the disc as "Out of Stock." So it looks as though I got the last one! God, that fucking figures. Hey, I got the last copy of "Plectrist" from Walmart. You have a great wife and two kids (Not to mention a great book/LP/CD/DVD collection). Would you trade? No, but I still wouldn't mind having Plectrist too. (And I'll defend to the death my right to whine like a baby.)

Nothing wrong with the ending of Gun Crazy! Agreed!!! However, there is that strange scene where he asks Peggy Cummins why she has to kill people, "...Why can't you let them live?" Several commentaters have maintained that this odd, flat, frankly nonsensical little scene must have been imposed by the studio ex post facto, and I'm inclined to agree.

I'd say it's a noir. A real firecracker of the film, and one that definitively puts the lie to the canard that Elia Kazan was a stagy director. Great villains, too, in Jack Palance (in his film debut) and... wait for it... Zero Mostel! Also features a nice early turn by Barbara Bel Geddes as Widmark's wife. The studio seems to think it's noir, too, since it's been released in the "Fox-Noir" DVD series. While not all of this series are really noir, I'd say this one is, and a good one too. It should be noted that the "film noir" designation is one of the most amorphous in common use. It's more of a very vague stylistic moniker than an actual genre, as it can and does include all sorts of crime movies, police procedurals, mysteries, thrillers, suspensers, exploitation flicks, and just somewhat downbeat movies. Also, though some of the most famous noirs are detective flicks(The Big Sleep, The Maltese Falcon, Out of the Past), if you tote up a lengthy list of films that most people would agree are noir you'd find that less than a third of them are detective stories.

Since props have already been given to Roberts Mitchum and Ryan, lets all take a moment to doff our hats to good old John Garfield. He Ran All the Way, Body and Soul, The Postman Always Rings Twice, and above all Force Of Evil, one of my all-time favorite noirs.

There's something about Finger Poppin'... It may be my favorite Silver album.

And here I thought it was based on her recollection of seeing Raymond Scott and his quintet perform.

Not yours alone, indeed. ( ) But how about the ending of House of Bamboo, a shootout in a mini-amusement park on the roof of a skyscraper. I get the impression that Fuller saw that amusement park and said to himself, "Got to use this." Plus the film's got DeForest ("Bones") Kelley! There's another noir favorite I'd like to mention: The Narrow Margin, a riveting little thriller that takes place largely on a train, with Charles McGraw and Marie Windsor. Some say it's Richard Fleischer's best movie, and I'm not inclined to argue.

I remember Gun Crazy being kind of "rediscovered" back in 1990. The buzz on it was "Hey, here's a small, low-budget film that was actually very good in many ways!" Actually, I've got to agree with Kalo that there's no longer any such thing as an "underrated" noir; they've all been discovered and rediscovered over and over. What keeps me interested are the modest but strangely satisfying pleasures to be had from the less-renowned B-movie programmers. They were often saddled with lousy endings, or corny narration or other blemishes, but often delivered the goods in some scenes. I'm thinking of T-Men, or Armored Car Robbery, or Woman On the Run, or, yes, Gun Crazy (though Gun Crazy is pretty famous now.)

The 16th already?? Gee...

Nazz albums were very uneven. You may be better off with a "Best of." My thought exactly.

I remember those articles you wrote for AMC Magazine, Kalo, back when AMC still didn't have commercial interruptions and showed old movies. I think you sent me copies, but I'm not sure I still have 'em. Any posting you can do would be appreciated! I remember the following line in particular: In fact, it's popped into my mind, unbidden, on several occasions.

WTF??? Who the Hell is that, Paul Whiteman? Not Whiteman. It's Johnny Richards! Did they mix up their Johnnys? What's with the bathrobe, I wonder. the remarkable photograph draws the attention first... but: (Question to the native English speakers) Does the album title make any sense? Seems that they dropped a "the."

And they say he spent time in a mental institution.

Happy Birthday Kevin.

Didn't you like one of the movies, though?

Though I see your point, I never really thought of The Third Man as film noir (too much irony and humor, perhaps) though it's one of my favorite films of all time. One of the truly great late noirs! Geat location shooting by the terrific James Wong Howe, crackling performances (was Curtis ever better? or as good?) and wonderful overheated blank-verse dialog. AND a jazzy score by Elmer Bernstein and an appearance by Chico Hamilton! I hear you, though it's The Maltese Falcon that comes close to my idea of the perfect film.

In a word: Yikes!

There can really be no excuse for this abomination. Ugly, incongruous... and back to front! This is a pet peeve of mine. I mean, WTF, it isn't as if the album in question was obscure!! You could make a good case for this being the most famous jazz album of all time, and they can't be bothered to dig up the original cover? The corporate love for jazz boggles the mind.

That's just so...inappropriate!

Used to be into Wizard, Something/Anything, and Hermit back when Reagan was first runing for president. Much more recently, I've gotten into a few Nazz songs, and wondered if it would be worth it to get one of the CD reprints of one of their albums, but haven't taken the plunge.

I think I have a Charlie comp of Joe Lutcher singles.

WTF??? Who the Hell is that, Paul Whiteman? Not Whiteman. It's Johnny Richards! Did they mix up their Johnnys? What's with the bathrobe, I wonder.

Love "Grisbi," love Rififi almost as much, and Bob le Flambeur has been a cinematic touchstone of mine for (gulp!) over 20 years. Don't know Classe Tout Risque; will have to check that out sometime.