Paul Duncan (paul.duncan@asml.nl)
Tue, 16 Nov 1999 09:26:47 +0100
Crime Wave, a collection of Ellroy fiction and non-fiction
reprinted from GQ magazine, has just appeared here in the UK.
Yesterday, I sent my reveiw of it to Crime Time
magazine.
I was told by Random House UK, that Ellroy's next novel The
Cool Six Thousand will be published January 2001, which is
when I intend my short book on him (in the Pocket Essentials
series) to be published.
*
Many of the French New Wave films are real tough to get hold
of here in the UK. (BTW Truffaut did an adaption of
Woolrich's Waltz Into Darknes as Mississippi Mermaid.)
Melville's films in particular are tough to find. Le Samourai
is definitely NOT dated, and has served as influence for John
Woo's The Killer (as mentioned) and the Coen Brother's hat
fetish in Miller's Crossing.
Can someone please tell me more about Cavalier?
*
Back to Ellroy. Ellroy talks about Dick Contino and meeting
him in Out Of The Past, and short fiction featuring Dick
include Dick Contino's Blues and Hollywood Shakedown.
Johnny Stompanato, real guy, appears in the ss Hollywood
Shakedown and Hush-Hush as well as in LA Confidential and
elsewhere. He was killed by Lana Turner's daughter, because
he habitually beat up Lana. Johnny was one of Mickey Cohen's
henchmen. (Bizarrely, I have just written a short book on
Woody Allen and suddenly realised that his film September
uses the same set-up - the child murders wife-beating
gangster to save mother.)
Remember Danny Gretchell, from Hush-Hush magazine? There was
a real magazine called Hush-Hush. Also Detective Freddie
Otash of the LAPD, who supplied Hush-Hush, and later became a
private eye? Real guy - Ellroy knew him.
So, not only are the stars real people, but some of the
lowlifes and bottom-feeders turn out to be real as
well.
- paul
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