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ElCid

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Posts posted by ElCid

  1. Just finished Turn on the Heat (1940) by Erle Stanley Gardner.  One of his Cool and Lam detective series.  Much more entertaining than his Perry Mason books, but then for me that is probably because I prefer the Raymond Burr TV series.

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  2. 23 hours ago, LawrenceA said:

     

    Netflix has entered into a production deal with Lee Child to make a TV series of Jack Reacher. Child will have more control over the series, and one of his chief stipulations was final approval on the casting of Reacher.

    Ooops, just realized this is a Netflix production, so 99.9% chance I'll never see it.

  3. I exchanged a few emails with an author re: a TV series made based on his book series.  Apparently some "studios" or producers get a lot more leeway in changing characters, plots and just about everything.  Drastically different than the books - and not in a positive way in my opinion.

  4. 3 minutes ago, Thenryb said:

    I know that Cruise does not match the character as described in the book (not even close), but I watched two of the movies and thought they were quite good. With a character like Reacher or Dave Robicheaux from the James Lee Burke novels, or Travis McGee from the McDonald novels, there are probably no current or recent actors that match their physical description. I have read that Lee Child was perfectly fine with Tom Cruise being cast as Reacher.

    Money talks.

  5. 3 hours ago, LornaHansonForbes said:

    every now and then TCM shows that weirdassed movie SPILLANE made in the 50's for Warner Bros where he plays HIMSELF solving a murder mystery set, as I recall, in the Barnum and Bailey Circus.

    it's worth checking out for its ahead of its time meta-concept; and i kind of bemoan the fact that it did not start a trend where 20th Century American authors played themselves solving or fighting crimes in film or television series.

    (Oh to live in a world where THE TRUMAN CAPOTE MYSTERIES was real.)

    One of the things that I find disconcerting is to read a book and visualize the characters and then see a movie based on the book and the actors are totally wrong from my perception.  Sometimes it is not a problem as in One for The Money with Katherine Heigl, whereas I refuse to watch any of the Jack Reacher movies with Tom Cruise as he does not match the character at all.

    How many authors actually describe their main characters in their images?

    • Thanks 1
  6. I actually grew up in same county where Mickey Spillane lived.  All I remember is that he and his wife were judges at a beauty contest one year while I was in high school early 60's).  As I remember he was short and unimpressive, but she was very attractive (maybe more but memory is dull).  He really did not get a lot of local publicity for an area with a very small population.

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  7. 28 minutes ago, allthumbs said:

    well, In a Lonely Place came up a little in my book, but it still is kind of flat in my mind. gets a 7/10 from me. i still don't get why Muller has so much love for this film.

    and SpeedRacer, regarding your Success/Face inquiry, give Kiss Me Deadly (1955) a look, if you haven't already. all the amps are turned up, way up for this one. Spillane's Mike Hammer didn't operate with same set of rules as most.

    I read I The Jury about 40 years ago.  Just recently picked up a set of three of Spillane's books.  Boring.  He goes on and on pontificating and endlessly setting the scenes and characters.  I don't remember that from Jury. The movies and TV shows were much better.  One of them is Kiss Me Deadly, but I haven't got to it yet - may never.

    Have seen the movie, but was not all that impressed.

    As for In a Lonely Place, have seen it a couple of times, but here again not really impressed.  I like Bogart, Gloria Graham, Frank Lovejoy and Jeff (Jean Marie) Donald (Lovejoy's wife).  Would like to have heard Eddie's commentary on both movies, but not enough to record them.  Watched Shameless also.

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  8. I just watched A walk Among the Tombstones  (2014) with Liam Neeson.  I postponed watching it until after I read the book by Lawrence Block.  As normal, the book was much better than the movie and has received some above average ratings.

    If I had not read the book I would have found it hard to follow.  Some characters/scenes from the book were briefly introduced for sensationalism whereas in the book they were integral to how the mystery was solved.  Also as usual there were changes made for no apparent reason and lessened the story in the book.

    I give it a 2/4 - at best.

     

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  9. I don't dress for it and avoid alcohol in the mornings.  However, I am in my study and my wife has a collection of stuffed bears on top of a bookshelf.  One of them wears one of my father's ties that was probably purchased in the 30's.  Hand painted, very wide at the bottom and has horses in green, white and red on a blue background.  Also has colored areas in a mix of green, white and red.

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  10. 53 minutes ago, MovieCollectorOH said:

    And coming in third place, I was searching a bit last night (I'm not really a very good car guy, though I love seeing antiques like this at car shows) and it looked like it had some similarities to some versions of the 1930 Cadillac v16 452.  In particular, going by the lines along the front and rear wheel wells, but it looks like that car in the pic has no running boards, and I don't think I even see a windshield.  :D  So there might have been any number of different brands that could have looked like this, maybe some with a little more "motivation" than others.  IIRC, "outy" hubcaps shaped like that do seem to appear on some pictures of the Auburn though.

    One of the problems with trying to identify cars from this period is how they were actually made.  The customer would select the chassis, drive train, etc. from a company such as Cadillac, Dusenberg, etc.  Then select a body to be installed by the selling company.  There were usually catalogs of different style bodies and possible alterations/additions.  Also, the customer may even want a unique design and work with the seller on that.  So the final car would be totally different from the cars coming from the car companies themselves.  Even Dusenberg offered different body styles and treatments.

     

    • Like 3
  11. 18 minutes ago, Marianne said:

    Must've been noir books I was thinking of (in addition to noir film based in Los Angeles). Here's a link to Akashic Books for anyone interested in books with a geographically noir focus: http://www.akashicbooks.com/subject/noir-series/

    I have read some of those books.  Not bad, but a mix of short stories in each volume so some are good and some are not so good.  The publishers do periodically change the mix in the books so you may find ones you have already read in a volume with a different title.

  12. 14 hours ago, cigarjoe said:

    I don't know why you wouldn't think so, it's quite highly regarded.

    Actually I do think of Body Heat as Noir, but a lot of people would not - at least on this site.

    As for Kathleen Turner, absoultely fantastic in Body Heat.  And then she could turn around and do Romancing the Stone and Crimes of Passion in the same year and do great jobs in both.  And a whole host of other movies very well done, not the least of which is where she takes on and equals Michael Douglas in War of the Roses.

    • Like 1
  13. 1 minute ago, misswonderly3 said:

    The second point I wanted to make was already made by you, quite well, I think. How come Eddie encourages conversation about Noir Alley on Twitter and Facebook, but doesn't even mention this here TCM discussion boards site? Honestly, it makes me feel like he's snubbing us message board people. And I bet the comments, insights, and exchange of information here on this Noir Alley thread on the TCM forum are more knowledgeable and detailed and even fun than most of the stuff being discussed on those social media sites.

    Come on, Eddie, don't snub us long-time faithful (not to mention noir-loving and brilliant *) posters here ! Throw us a few crumbs of attention too !

     

    Like you I find this interesting since Eddie Muller knows we are here.  However, do we really want to let the facebook and twitter people know about us?  Just saying.  

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  14. 18 minutes ago, LawrenceA said:

    That got a long overdue disc release recently. Maybe I'll finally get to see it.

    221043_large.jpg

    From what I recall, you will probably like it.  Darker than the TV series with George Kennedy.

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  15. More on Murder My Sweet vs. Farewell My Lovely.  Why did they change Jules Anthor to a madam running a bordello in FML?  Character and occupation were same in MMS and the book. Of course, Helen Grayle had a much darker secret in FML.

    Eddie referenced Lloyd Nolan and he played Michael Shayne in Time to Kill (1942), but it was based on a Phillip Marlowe novel.  Later remade as The Brasher Doubloon.

    Next Saturday, Noir Alley comes on at 8:00 PM for a double feature or at least two noirs hosted by Eddie Muller.  Act of Violence and In a Lonely Place.

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  16. I still prefer Robert Mitchum in 1975's Farewell My Lovely compared to Dick Powell in Murder My Sweet.  Even at 57, he could still handle the role very well.  Also, since PI's never made any money and never got married, what else would Phillip Marlowe have been doing at age 57?  Fred MacMurray was much better in Double Indemnity than Powell would have been.

    William Holden would have worked very well.  Haven't seen it in a long time, but I kind of picture his acting in The Blue Knight.  The others not so much.  Big fan of James Garner and have seen his Marlowe, but too much Maverick/Rockford.  In fact the pilot for Rockford Files sort of reminds me of his Marlowe.

    I found Anne Shirley to be interesting and wondered why I hadn't seen her in more movies - she retired after making MMS.  Never read the book, but did read the synopsis on Wikipedia.  Apparently the daughter role was written for the movie, but based on a character in the book. 

    Of course Claire Trevor's performance predicted her later success in similar roles.

    As for the movie, another very good choice.  Eddie Muller's intro and outro were not as interesting as some previous ones.  Most interesting comment was about how Mike Mazurki got his role.

    Why did they change the movie's name anyway?

     

     

     

    I do like Dick Powell in Cry Danger (1951). 

    • Like 1
  17. Speaking of nice cars, we have started watching the Dr. Blake Mysteries on PBS.  It is produced in Austrailia and is set in 1959 at the beginning.  Interesting old cars in it.  Occasionally will see an American car, but not often.

  18. 3 hours ago, Dargo said:

    Yep, it does, but the car Audrey is driving there is an even smaller vehicle than the American-made Nash Metropolitan. It's an Italian-made Autobianchi, the model being the Eden Roc, circa the mid-'60s.

    To be technical, the Metropolitan was actually made in England and imported by Nash, later AMC.  The engine was made by one company and then joined with the body by another company.  It was designed by an Italian firm, but very much reflected the design of the larger Nash cars.  When Nash and Hudson merged both sold it with different badges, but everything else was the same.  Later it just became a Metropolitan.

    I actually road in the "back seat" of one once when I was probably in jr. high.

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  19. I recorded something last night and it was followed by a TCM short on Edward Dmytryk.  I found it interesting that the short referred to The Falcon Strikes Back as a Noir film.  I don't think so.  I like this movie and watch it fairly often.  There may be a few brief moments of "darkness" in it, but overall it is a fairly light mystery like all the Falcon ones.

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