RARA-AVIS: Re: Goodis

MARK SULLIVAN (ANONYMEINC@webtv.net)
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 22:19:15 -0400 (EDT) Shoot the Piano Player is a good one. It seems the best of Goodis's
books are the ones with the least plot. When he gets heavily into
plotting he just gets ridiculous. Look at Dark Passage, where the
convict on the run gets into a cab in the middle of the night. The cab
driver recognizes him. Is he afraid of this escaped killer? No. Does
he turn him in to the cops? No. He says, Hey I know you. I never
believed you were guilty. And I just happen to know a plastic surgeon
who can turn you into Bogart. And is Nightfall the one with the
amnesiac artist?

No, his best are the ones like Shoot the Piano Player, which is
basically just about being on the run, Cassidy's Girl and the recently
reissued Blonde on the Street Corner which are just about down-and-out
guys being torn between two women, and my favorite, Street of No Return.
This last is just about one day in the life of a drunk who happens to
spot a woman from his past and follows her. But skip the movie. I had
to see it, based on my favorite Goodis novel and it was one of Samuel
Fuller's last films (possibly the very last), but it is just awful.

Mark

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