RARA-AVIS: Re: Jazz and Noir

Dave (birdlives@earthlink.net)
Thu, 20 May 1999 10:24:08 -0700 There are points where these roads converge ...

"Phantom Lady" -- the nightclub scene with Elisha Cook Jr. as the
frenzied drummer, musically making love to Ella Raines. Truly a classic!

"DOA." The great "S.S. Jive" nightclub scene when Edmund O'brien gets
slipped the Mickey while Big Jay McNeely writhes on the ground with his
tenor. Best scene of the pic ...

"Man With The Golden Arm." I would say this pic is pretty noir, as
Sinatra plays a junked-out loser who deals blackjack, and is also a
failed wannabe drummer. He blows it at the audition for a big band.

"Detour." Tom Neal's a two-bit piano man, in search of his singer
girlfriend, who's gone to Hollywood to "make it." Unfortunately, he runs
into Ann Savage along the way.

"Kiss Me Deadly." The awesome reverse title credit sequence with Nat
King Cole singing underneath.

"Sweet Smell of Success." Marty Milner is the jazz guitarist leader of
the Chico Hamilton quintette, who's dating Burt Lancaster's sister.
Weasel Tony Curtis is recruited to break up the romance.

"The Conversation." (neo-noir) Hackman's character plays saxaphone.

And of course, all truly "pure" Noir ('45-'50) is littered with numerous
"girl singers," smoky cocktail lounges, and exotic mambo groups ...

Dave

--

"Fate, or some mysterious force, can put the finger on you or me for no good reason at all."
-- Tom Neal, "Detour"

# # 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/.