I'm afraid I can't defend my use of the word boring. Checking
the archives, I find I was rather vague when I first read it,
saying only that I preferred the Hoke Mosely books. In the
intervening five years I've also read The Burnt Orange Heresy
and The Cock Fighter on recommendations from here, and was
not disappointed. For some reason, The Woman Chaser did not
appeal to me at all. It's the only Willeford I would not
recommend. Obviously lots of other people thought it was very
good.
Karin
At 10:07 AM 10/08/2006 -0700, Channing wrote:
>I don't know how "Woman Chaser" can be
called
>'boring.' It's a quick, taut read. I guess
it's
>lacking in the crime and mystery department, but
it's
>100% noir.
>
>As a satire of Hollywood it's pretty telling. An
ace
>used car salesman, who specializes in
manipulating
>people and is a master of B.S. is chewed up and
spit
>out by the Hollywood system.
>
>It also features Willeford's hallmark
amoral
>protagonist who casually and indifferently
inflicts
>pain and suffering on those around him. And
it
>features Willeford's pitch black humor.
>
>I didn't like the movie as much as others have.
I
>feel that Patrick Warburton captures the humor in
the
>character, but the movie doesn't get the noir
aspects
>of the novel right. It's too light and frothy
and
>there's not enough of Willeford's grit.
>
>However, I agree it was a well-made film shot on
a
>shoestring budget, and I applaud director Devore
and
>everyone involved in the production for nearly
getting
>it right. Maybe I'll watch the movie again
with
>lowered expectations and see how I feel about it
now.
>
>Channing
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