RARA-AVIS: Re: Thompson Movies

sandra hess (shess@sirius.com)
Fri, 3 Jul 1998 19:26:44 -0700 (PDT) >I just had the extreme displeasure of seeing THIS WORLD, THEN THE FIREWORKS
>the other night. It was the antithesis of everything that makes great Jim
>Thompson. Badly acted (Billy Zane may make millions off the same character in
>several flicks), horribly scored (the "composer" veers from Peter Gunn rip-
>offs to variations on Ricky Ricardo's Baba-Loo tunes), and worst of all,
>condescending. The best thing about Thompson is that he makes the assumption
>that his readers CAN read and think at the same time. Not so the writer and
>director of the film. Thompson's novella left things up in the air at the
>climax. The movie not only spells it out, but rubs your face in it. I had high
>hopes for this one, but I can see that any future Jim Thompson novels will
>probably suffer from the Quentus Tarantitis syndrome.
>
>Peter Enfantino
>bare*bones/deadline press

I saw this movie when it was first released. Both my companion and I found
the movie memorable and not for any of the reasons stated above. Wasn't it a
Pete Rugalo (sp?) score? I loved the style including the titles. I thought
of it just this morning watching I WANT TO LIVE featuring music by Shelly
Mann and others. It's been many months since I saw TWTTF, but I recall much
of the tone, look and content. Favorably. It's almost campy but takes itself
too seriously to make that fit. It's almost a loving parody. It rather
bothered me too in its overblown style...still...I liked it.

I loved I WANT TO LIVE. Is it considered film noir? Regardless, Susan
Hayward gave a great performance. Well deserving of tbe Best Actress Oscar
and Golden Globe awards she received.

Sandra

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