--- Michael Robison <
miker_zspider@yahoo.com> wrote:
> If you've seen the movie, I wouldn't recommend
the
> book. Why do you see Little Caesar as not noir?
Is
> Edgar G. just too darn tough for noir? Lack of
a
> femme fatale? I'm genuinely interested, not
just
> looking to argue.
>
I'm really glad I joined this group because I don't think I
could have this conversation anywhere else and it's really
helping me focus. I don't see it as noir for the same reason
that I don't see Scarface as noir. Yes, the protagonist is
killed ("could this be the end of Rico," in Little Caesar)
and by his own devices. But if you look at the early noir --
both roman and cinema -- it's the screwing of the little guy.
In Woolrich and Cain, it's always some schmo who ends up
impaled on the sharp stick of life. Same is true in Detour,
Gun Crazy, Out of the Past, Sunset Blvd, whatever. In
hardboiled, it's the tough nobody who corrects the deviation
in the world. So, your basic crime boss story whether it's
The Godfather or Little Caesar or whoever just can't be
fashioned to the little guy. Granted, this is a feeling more
than a rule. Books and films are too fluid as they progress
along a stylistic line to have some Stalinistic or orthodox
interpretation but that's how I see it.
William
Essays and Ramblings
<http://www.williamahearn.com>
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