-----Original Message-----
>From: William Ahearn <
williamahearn@yahoo.com>
>Sent: Oct 4, 2007 6:41 PM
>To:
rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com
>Subject: Re: RARA-AVIS: The Conversation
>
>
>--- Terrill Lankford <
lankford2000@earthlink.net>
>wrote:
>
>>
>> Well, at the end of the flick Hackman is not
dead,
>> in jail, or insane. Justifiably paranoid,
yes.
>> Insane? No. Still noir? Mmmm. Okay
then.
>
>That's not what I said. I didn't say it was noir.
I
>said it was one of many films that followed the
noir
>era that was influenced by true noir. Look, you
want
>to believe something, go ahead. I don't
care.
I'm not sure what it is you think I believe. But I'm glad you
don't care. (About whatever it is that it may be.)
>But don't try and twist what I said to fit whatever
point
>you didn't articulate very well.
>
>William
I'm not twisting anything. Just continuing to read your
various posts and looking for some consistency. And I have no
idea what point you are talking about that I didn't
articulate very well. (It could be any of them!) If you are
going to be insulting it would be nice if you were specific
in your insults so we know what you are talking about.
I suppose I should have been more specific yesterday in my
complaint that "dead, in jail, or insane" seems too limited
as a qualification for the protagonists' fate at the end of a
story to qualify it as noir. I think there are probably as
many noir stories (and certainly films) that end with the
protagonist paying a severe price through the loss of a loved
one or someone he hoped to protect or some other
psychological price (far short of insanity) as there are
stories that end with the aforementioned "big three." Much of
Thompson would fit here. Goodis, Woolrich. Willeford. Ellroy.
Most films noir of the forties and fifties. Chinatown. Night
Moves. Blow Up. Blow Out. And yes, even THE CONVERSATION. I
basically agree with your post on THE CONVERSATION. I just
wanted to point out that the "big three" don't always apply
to the climax or a noir or neo-noir or post-noir or whatever
hair needs to be split.
Didn't mean to get you riled up again. But it doesn't seem to
take much.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 04 Oct 2007 EDT