Re: RARA-AVIS: the city and the country

Robert E. Skinner (rskinner@mail.xula.edu)
Mon, 30 Nov 1998 08:49:41 -0600 > "Out of the Past," the Mitchum movie, provides perhaps the
> prototypical example of the tension between myth-city and myth-country life. >

This talk of "Out of the Past" reminds me of another noir-country
motion picture from that era. Can't remember the name, but the
protagonist, Robert Ryan, is a big-city detective, very up-tight, whose
hatred of street criminals is so vast that he's becoming as brutal as
they are. After an incident in which he nearly beats a criminal to
death with his gun butt, he's sent by his commanding officer out to the
country to help the county law track down a killer. He later meets the
killer's sister--a blind woman--with whom he falls in love. It's
typical Hollywood love fare from the late '40s, early '50s, but the noir
elements are teriffic. The country is turned into nightmare city.

-- 
**************************************
Robert E. Skinner, Director
Xavier University of Louisiana Library
7325 Palmetto Street
New Orleans, LA 70125
(504) 483-7303 (voice)
(504) 485-7917 (FAX)
e-mail: rskinner@mail.xula.edu
**************************************
#
# To unsubscribe, say "unsubscribe rara-avis" to majordomo@icomm.ca.
# The web pages for the list are at http://www.vex.net/~buff/rara-avis/.