I took Mark's advice and read Thompson's Pop 1280 within a
couple of days of seeing the film version, Coup de
Torchon.
Although the film was very good and quite faithful to the
novel, there were some differences. The main thing was since
Nick Corey, the sheriff, is the narrator, you get a deeper
look at his character as he talks to the reader and relays
his thinking.
In discussing Coup de Torchon, I said I didn't quite buy the
sheriff's overnight conversion from doormat to killer. In the
book it's more convincing. As Mark said, it's clear that he's
not nearly as dumb as he plays (also true of the Philippe
Noiret character), but there are more indications of his
intelligence in the book. More indications of his
vindictiveness, too.
A while back, Rob Elkin said that "the narrators of
Thompson's 'Hell of a Woman,'
'Killer Inside Me,' 'Savage Night,' 'Pop. 1280,' and 'After
Dark My Sweet' are some of THE most unreliable in the
business." I don't know about the others, but Nick seemed to
be fairly straightforward. Hints of his delusion are
scattered all the way through.
Rose (played by a young Isabelle Huppert) was not nearly as
unlikeable in the movie as in the book. The "true love"
interest was an old flame in the book and a new woman in town
in the movie.
**SPOILER**
As to the ending, I would be interested in knowing what other
people think. It seems to me that in the book it's fairly
clear that Nick is about to be arrested. In the film, he
appears to have gotten away with his crimes, but to be
running out of steam.
Karin
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