RARA-AVIS: Chinatown/Falcon define noir & hardboiled
BaxDeal@aol.com
Fri, 16 Apr 1999 13:29:25 EDT
Forget it, Jake. It's Chinatown.
for me, this ending is the epitome of noir, on paper or
celluloid. in other
words, there ain't shit you can do about it. so pick up what's
left of your
shattered body and/or psyche and just try to live the rest of
your life... if
you're so fortunate to have any left.
Sam Spade turns Brigid O'Shaughnessy over to the authorities
and when
confronted with the fact that he may be in love with her says
"What of it?
Maybe next month I won't." This ending defines
hardboiled.
Less eloquently but even more to the point, Mike Hammer shoots
the girl in
the stomach at the end of I, THE JURY and when asked "How could
you?" replies
"It was easy."
my updated definitions:
noir- a world or situation in which there is no hope.
hardboiled- the attitude with which one deals with it.
BD/jl
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