One comment Brett made before he died was that among many
actors the role
of Holmes is especially draining because, to quote Brett,
"the man is
hollow at the core." Unlike most hard-boiled protagonists who
operate
according to a very personal set of values, Holmes is
essentially an empty
shell an actor puts on like an overcoat.
I haven't seen Ronin yet, but I enjoyed Payback as a Mel
Gibson movie. I
love the Parker stories, and i just ignored the fact that
"Porter' was
supposed to be "Parker." He wasn't. He was Mel Gibson. It was
a popcorn
movie. It was cartoonish, almost like Wile E.
Coyote-Roadrunner.
I find the POV of rara-avians (i.e., Payback is not
hard-boiled) vs. the
POV of the American public (i.e., Payback is too hard-boiled)
amusing.
It's like John Steinbeck. Some think he's too grim and
unrelenting, while
others find him too treacly sentimental. And when Of Mice and
Men came
out, the New York Times called it "a great thriller." And
when he started
the book, Steinbeck thought it was a children's story!
Frederick Zackel
Bowling Green, Ohio
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