Category: Crime

The Underappreciated Genius of “Justified”

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Justified is perhaps my all-time favorite television drama.  It was extremely well- cast, acted, written and directed.  Justified fans will enjoy the article I’m about to recommend.  If you’ve never watched the series, you may enjoy the article even more.  So please consider checking out The Underappreciated Genius of Justified by Lisa Levy at CrimeReads.com.

Donald Westlake’s Ventures in Movies and TV

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The Mind of Donald E. Westlake by Levi Stahl takes a look at Westlake’s ventures into screenwriting and the adaptations of his work for movies and television. It’s worth a look.

Did you know Westlake wrote a screenplay adapting Hammet’s Red Harvest? Sadly it was never made.  Neither was Westlake’s James Bond screenplay.  It’s no secret that Lee Marvin played Westlake’s most popular character Parker on the big screen, but did you know…

 

…that Between Point Blank, in 1967, and Parker, in 2013, Parker (usually under other names) was played by Lee Marvin, Robert Duvall, Jim Brown, Mel Gibson, Jason Statham, and, strangest of all, Anna Karina…

I didn’t.

10 Shocking Facts About The Black Dahlia, Hollywood’s Most Famous Unsolved Murder

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Kristin Hunt and Mental Floss present 10 Shocking Facts About The Black Dahlia, Hollywood’s Most Famous Unsolved Murder.  Here are the three I found most disturbing…

THERE WAS NO BLOOD FOUND AT THE SCENE.
The naked body Bersinger discovered was in horrifying condition. In addition to being cut completely in half at the waist, and having her intestines removed, Short’s mouth had been slashed from ear-to-ear, giving her face a ghastly, semi-smiling appearance known as a Glasgow Smile. Her body had also been washed clean before it was left to be found. Despite the severe mutilation, there was no blood at the scene, leading police to conclude that the young woman had been murdered somewhere else, drained of blood, then cleaned before the killer dumped her body.

SOME LINKED THE CASE TO THE CLEVELAND TORSO MURDERS.
When Short’s death became national news, police officers in Cleveland felt an awful sense of déjà vu. Between 1934 and 1938, a serial killer had terrorized their city, claiming 12 victims—all of whom were grotesquely dismembered. Some theorized that the Ohio serial killer and Short’s murderer could be the same person, especially since—like Short’s killer—the perpetrator of what came to be known as the Cleveland Torso Murders was never caught.

GEORGE HODEL IS ONE OF THE MOST NOTORIOUS SUSPECTS.
One of those names is George Hodel, a physician who ran a venereal disease clinic in Los Angeles in the 1940s. According to The Guardian, Hodel was on a list of six primary suspects in the Black Dahlia case, and the LAPD even bugged his home during the investigation. But Hodel—who died in 1999—gained more recent notoriety when his son, Steve Hodel, accused him of killing Short in the 2003 bestselling book Black Dahlia Avenger: The True Story.

Steve claims his father’s handwriting matches strange letters the police received, supposedly from the killer. He also uncovered photos of a woman who resembles Short in his father’s personal photo album, and believes Hodel’s medical background would explain the precise, clinical cuts on the body. But some have discounted Steve’s claims since he started linking his father to other infamous unsolved murders, including the Zodiac killings.

The “Donnybrook” Poster and Trailer are Here!

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Donnybrook wasn’t even on my radar until a couple of days ago.  You can believe it is now.  I read the novel Donnybrook by Bill Frank when it was first released and really enjoyed it.

The Donnybrook is a three-day bare-knuckle tournament held on a thousand-acre plot out in the sticks of southern Indiana. Twenty fighters. One wire-fence ring. Fight until only one man is left standing while a rowdy festival of onlookers―drunk and high on whatever’s on offer―bet on the fighters.
Jarhead is a desperate man who’d do just about anything to feed his children. He’s also the toughest fighter in southeastern Kentucky, and he’s convinced that his ticket to a better life is one last fight with a cash prize so big it’ll solve all his problems.
Meanwhile, there’s Chainsaw Angus―an undefeated master fighter who isn’t too keen on getting his face punched anymore, so he and his sister, Liz, have started cooking meth. And they get in deep. So deep that Liz wants it all for herself, and she might just be ready to kill her brother for it. One more showdown to take place at the Donnybrook.
As we travel through the backwoods to get to the Donnybrook, we meet a cast of nasty, ruined characters driven to all sorts of evil, all in the name of getting their fix―drugs, violence, sex, money, honor. Donnybrook is exactly the fearless, explosive, amphetamine-fueled journey you’d expect from Frank Bill’s first novel . . . and then some.

Here’s the trailer!

Sean Phillips’ Jimmy Cagney!

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Sean Phillips is an amazing artist as you can see from his James Cagney piece above.  The art appears with an article on Angels with Dirty Faces by Kim Morgan that will appear in Criminal #2 dropping on February 12th.

The great thing about the Criminal comic series by Ed Brubaker and Sean Phillips is that each issue is packed with a great comic story PLUS bonus features and art.

Source: Kim Morgan.

“No Country for Old Men” Gets the Cinephilia & Beyond Treatment!

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No Country for Old Men is a modern classic.  If you agree, then you’re going to want to check out No Country for Old Men: The Coen Brothers and Cormac McCarthy’s Ruthless Examination of Life.

Click on the link and you’ll find…

  • Joel Coen & Ethan Coen’s screenplay for No Country for Old Men
  • Lessons from the Screenplay: No Country for Old Men—Don’t Underestimate the Audience.
  • Joel and Ethan Coen, Josh Brolin, and Javier Bardem discuss the making of No Country for Old Men.
  • “Just a cameraman”: an interview with Roger Deakins by Lynnea Chapman King
  • Storyboards
  • The making of No Country for Old Men
  • No Country for Old Men: Josh Brolin’s Unauthorized Behind the Scenes
  • The Coen Brothers interview on No Country for Old Men (2007)
  • Rare behind-the-scenes photos
  • and much more!

Eric Beetner Talks All the Way Down and More!

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Eric Beetner’s new novel, All the Way Down, comes out tomorrow.  I pre-ordered it and can’t wait.  Beetner has never disappointed me and All the Way Down sounds like a cross between Game of Death, Die Hard and The Raid: Redemption.  Here’s the Amazon description:

Dale is a crooked cop. It started slow, but grew like a cancer and now he can’t get out from under the thumb of Tat, a would-be kingpin in every vice he can turn a profit with.

And now Dale’s number is up – the top brass knows. But instead of getting busted, Dale gets an offer. The mayor’s daughter is being held by Tat in his fortress built from an abandoned office tower. They want her back but if they storm the gates, Lauren is as good as dead. So they’re sending Dale on what could very likely be a suicide mission: infiltrate Tat’s fortress and bring her out alive.

If the Mayor even really wants her alive…

Floor by floor Dale and Lauren have to fight off an increasingly difficult and dangerous set of obstacles.

Meanwhile, Dale’s wife has her own troubles and some of the drug kingpin’s goons are only adding to an already rough day.

The clock is ticking down along with the floors of the building and escape is looking less and less likely. But to save her, and to save himself, he must make it all the way down.

Beetner recently was interviewed by P. J. Bodnar at the Big Thrill.  Beetner spoke about All the Way Down, writing advice, his next novel and more.

Oh, and if All the Way Down sounds like something you’d like then you can be dealt in by clicking on this link and ordering from Amazon.