Goodis was more than capable of inserting his own funny
lines. My favourite, possibly, from SOMEBODY'S DONE FOR,
where a guy, drowning, with no hope of rescue, says to
himself: "I don't think you want oblivion. It's very restful,
of course, but there's no future in it."
And Morris and Feather in DOWN THERE are practically noir's
Laurel and Hardy. " 'The melons?' Morris was playing STRAIGHT
MAN [my caps]. 'Who grows them?' " That whole watermelon
exchange is highly reminiscent of some of the
Jackson/Travolta exchanges in PULP FICTION. The dialogue
takes place in a moving car, with the protagonist (Eddie)
held at gunpoint, and at one point Feather says to Morris, "
'Put that thing [the gun] away. We hit a bump it might go
off.' "
Granted, for the most part Goodis is very serious, but on the
odd occasion he reads like Elmore Leonard's older
brother.
Al
----- Original Message ----- From: "Jacques Debierue" <
matrxtech@yahoo.com> To: <
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com> Sent: Friday, October 22,
2004 3:43 PM Subject: RARA-AVIS: Re: Humor and irony in
noir
>
>
> Chandler was a hardboiled writer, not a noir writer.
Put some of
> those funny lines into a typical David Goodis downer
and see
> where it gets you...
>
> Best,
>
> MrT
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