Re: RARA-AVIS: RIDE THE PINK HORSE by Hughes 1946

From: Rene Ribic ( rribic@optusnet.com.au)
Date: 06 Dec 2002


> Published in 1946, Dorothy Hughes's RIDE THE PINK HORSE is a true
hardboiled
> noir from back when you couldn't name a half-dozen women writing in
the
> genres. The mood is dark, the characters are tough, and the scenes
are
> memorable.
>
> The story opens with tough guy Sailor getting off the bus in a small
> Mexican-American bordertown. The town is having a multi-day fiesta,
and the
> town is flooded with people there for the celebration. It's apparent
from
> the beginning that Sailor is not there for fun. He's been cheated out
of
> money for some dirty work he did for his former boss, the Senator, and
now
> it's time to pay up. Sailor is helped by an Indian girl named Pila
and a
> Mexican carny he calls Pancho, but his efforts to get his money are
> complicated when a cop who suspects foul play enters the picture.
>
> A common plot in noir involves a protagonist making a mistake and then
doing
> whatever he can to protect himself from the dire consequences. Of
course,
> nothing he does saves him from doom. The first mistake seals his
fate.
> Charles Williams's RIVER GIRL and Geoffrey Homes's BUILD MY GALLOWS
HIGH are
> good examples.
>
> But there's a different noir flavor where it appears that the
protagonist
> could turn around and walk away any time, but instead he continuously
makes
> decisions that keep him on the road to perdition. William Lindsay
Gresham's
> NIGHTMARE ALLEY falls into this category, and so does RIDE THE PINK
HORSE.
> The cop pleads with him to make a clean break and free himself, but
Sailor
> is determined to blackmail the Senator.
>
> I like this moth-to-a-flame plot. There is a strong will to survive
built
> into people. It takes some powerful motivation to cause a person to
> self-destruct, and it takes a good author to explore these
motivations.
> Hughes has got what it takes.
>
> My only complaint is that Hughes developed dynamic and interesting
> relationships between Sailor, Pancho, and Pila, but their parting
seems to
> have no significance.
>
> Dorothy Hughes was born in Kansas City, Missouri, in 1904, and from an
early
> age she knew she wanted to be a writer. She graduated from the
University
> of Missouri with a journalism degree in 1924, did graduate work in New
> Mexico and New York, and worked as a journalist for several years.
Although
> she published a book of poems in 1931, her first novel, THE SO BLUE
MARBLE,
> did not come out until 1940. Aside from being a successful mystery
writer,
> her literary criticism garnered her a 1950 Edgar Award from the
Mystery
> Writers of America.
>
> Her two most notable novels are RIDE THE PINK HORSE, published in
1946, and
> IN A LONELY PLACE, published the following year. Both books were made
into
> successful Film Noirs. From 1940 to 1979 she reviewed mystery novels
for
> several newspapers and in 1978 she received the double honor of being
named
> a Grand Master by the Mystery Writers of America and, 28 years after
her
> first, winning her second Edgar for her critical biography of Erle
Stanley
> Gardner, author of the Perry Mason series. Hughes died in 1993.
>
> miker
> --
I haven't yet read any of her books but at least 2 excellent film versions have been based on them - RIDE THE PINK HORSE & IN A LONELY PLACE, both excellent films noirs.

Rene

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