Category: Crime

Big News for Frank Miller’s Sin City

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We have some news, some big news, for fans of Frank Miller’s Sin City.

On July 8, 2014, Dark Horse will release Frank Miller’s Big Damn Sin City.  This baby will come as a hardcover edition and clock in with over 1300 pages — and contain every one of Miller’s seven Sin City yarns!

On July 8, 2014, fans will also be able to pick up Frank Miller: The Art of Sin City  which will appear for the first time in a trade paperback edition.  I have a copy of the hardback edition, and give Frank Miller: The Art of Sin City  my highest recommendation.

To round out the trifecta, on July 8, 2014, Dark Horse will re-release in hardcover, Frank Miller’s Sin City: A Dame to Kill For.

These books will be a great lead-in for the movie adaptation of A Dame to Kill For which will be released on August 22, 2014.

“The Big Heat” directed by Fritz Lang, starring Glenn Ford, Gloria Graham & Lee Marvin / Z-View

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The Pitch: ”Hey, We could make a new kind of movie.  It’ll be about an honest cop who refuses to back off his investigation of a homicide.  He’ll go up against crooked cops, mobsters and refuse to quit no matter the cost.  This movie will influence everything from ‘Dirty Harry’  to Frank Miller’s Sin City.  What do you say?”

“Let’s do it!”

The Tagline:  “A hard cop and a soft dame!.”

The Overview:  Glenn Ford is Detective Sgt. Dave Bannion, a rare honest cop in a town run by a mobster named Mike Lagana.  Bannion is sent in to investigate the suicide of a fellow cop.  It should be an open-and-shut-case, but when a prostitute provides evidence that there’s more to the case, Bannion begins to dig deeper.

Then the prostitute turns up dead — the result of a torture murder — and Bannion is ordered to stand down.  He refuses.  How can one honest cop bring down a powerful mobster and a police force full of cops on the take?  Dave Bannion is going to find out… or die trying,

*** Beware – minor spoilers can be found below ***

The Good:

  • The direction by Fritz Lang.
  • The cast: Glenn Ford, Gloria Graham, Jocelyn Brando, Alexander Scourby, and Lee Marvin!  They are excellent.
  • There is an undercurrent that runs through this movie that what you’re seeing on the surface is just a hint of what is really going on.
  • The movie is perfectly cast from the main stars to the smallest roles.  Carolyn Jones [best known as Morticia on The Adams Family] has a small, but important role.
  • Bannion’s confrontation of Lagana in his mansion.
  • The interplay between Bannion and his wife.
  • Bannion in the bar [all of the scenes – with the prostitute, later with the bartender, and again when he backs down Lee Marvin].
  • Bannion’s scenes in the hotel with Debby Marsh.  Will he cross the line?  Will they?
  • The guy’s who get the drop on Bannion… and what happens next.  [It is not what you’d expect.]
  • Bannion and Mrs. Duncan.  Will he cross the line [and not like he might have with Debby Marsh]?

The Bad:

  • Lee Marvin as Vince Stone.  He’s a mobster on the rise and he’ll do or have done whatever Lagana orders.
  • Hot coffee near Vince Stone when he’s mad.
  • What happens to people who cross Mike Lagana.
  • What happens to people around Dave Bannion when he won’t back down.
  • What happens to lawbreakers when Dave Bannion is on the case.

The Ugly:

  • Getting a face full of hot coffee.
  • Dave Bannion’s last line of the movie.  ; )

Rating: 5 out of 5

Z-View: Chambers by Locher & Rossi

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Chambers is a graphic novel published by Arcana

Writer/Creator: Wes Locher

Artist: Kristian Rossi

Narcotics Officer Denis Chambers comes from a family of law enforcers. Now, someone is picking them off one by one, and she’ll have to figure out who’s taking an axe to her family tree before it’s too late.

Denis Chambers is a cop marked for execution by the same powerful men who killed her father [who was also a cop].  Normally killing a cop brings the entire police force into play to find the killer(s)… but what happens when the killers are cops?

Denis Chambers finds herself in a race against time to discover who is trying to kill her and her brother.  Who can she trust?  How deep does the corruption run?  Is her partner in danger or part of the conspiracy to kill her?

 Wes Locher hits all the right marks as he moves us through Denis Chambers’ story.  She’s tough, and despite being outmanned and outgunned she keeps plowing forward.  This is classic noir with a great ending.

Kristian Rossi’s art does a serviceable job of telling the story.  I’d have liked to have seen Rossi’s art without the color.  At times Rossi’s art has a glimmer of an Eduardo Risso [and we all know what a Risso fan I am], influence.

Chambers  is a comic for mature audiences and not kids.  If you’re a fan of crime comics, pulp fiction, and noir, then Chambers  is worth a look.

Rating: 3 out of 5

“Farewell, My Lovely” – Pulp Writer, Jim Thompson’s Only Acting Role

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I’m sure you’re aware that this version of Raymond Chandler’s classic  Farewell, My Lovely  has an all-star cast that includes Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland, Sylvia Miles, Anthony Zerbe, Harry Dean Stanton. Jack O’Halloran, Joe Spinell, and Sylvester Stallone. Did you know that it also features pulp writer Jim Thompson in his first and last acting role!

Z-View: “The Mechanic” (2011)

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The Pitch: “Hey, We could remake “The Mechanic”  with Jason Statham in the Charles Bronson role and Ben Foster in the Jan-Michael Vincent role.”

“Let’s do it!”

The Tagline:  “Someone has to fix the problems.” [Where was this person when this remake was made?]

The Overview:  Jason Statham is Author Bishop aka The Mechanic.  Bishop is a hit man — the best in the business and able to kill without leaving a clue.  Often his hits look like fatal accidents.  Bishop works alone, is precise, methodical and logical.  When Bishop’s mentor is killed, Bishop takes on the mentor’s son as an apprentice.  This will lead to the death of many including one or both of them.

*** Beware – minor spoilers can be found below ***

The Good:

  • The original Charles Bronson version.
  • Ben Foster’s fight scene with a huge guy.

The Bad:

  • Statham and Foster lacked chemistry.
  • It seemed out-of-place that Statham would take on a partner.
  • You know you’re in trouble when the best fight in the movie doesn’t involve the star [who is known for fighting].
  • A black water swimming pool?  Swimming underwater below the guy you just killed, moving his arms to make it appear he is alive and swimming?

The Ugly:

  • Remaking a classic and falling this short.

Rating: 2 out of 5

“Homefront” / Z-View

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The Pitch: “Hey, Sly has a great action screenplay that he was gonna use for Rambo available.  It’s based on a book by Chuck Hogan.  Sly says Jason Statham is up for the lead.”

“Let’s do it!”

The Tagline:  “How far would you go to protect your home?”

The Overview:  Jason Statham plays Phil Broker, a retired under-cover DEA agent who moved to rural Louisiana to raise his 9 year old daughter after the death of his wife.  When his daughter bloodies the nose of a class bully (who happens the be the child of the local meth dealer) things quickly escalate and Statham’s past as a DEA agent becomes known. Soon an outlaw motorcycle gang and local thugs are both looking for revenge.

*** Beware – minor spoilers can be found below ***

The Good:

  • The cast.  Kate Bosworth kills in her role as, Cassie Bodine Klum, a redneck, methhead who is used to getting her way thanks to her brother being the local “Walter White.”  James Franco as “Gator” Bodine is surprisingly effective in a role that wouldn’t at first seem to fit him.  Winona Ryder, Clancy Brown and Chuck Zito all make welcome appearances.  Jason Statham is of course Jason Statham (that’s good).
  • Broker does his best to avoid trouble, but there is a line he won’t cross and God help you if you cross it!
  • The fight scenes and the fact that they avoided Statham giving “wise-cracks.”
  • Broker mistakenly thinks that Jimmy Klum is behind the threats to him.

The Bad:

  • What happens when you don’t let Broker finish filling his tank.
  • When you are a friend of Broker’s and go to pick up his horses.
  • If you’re the class bully and you decide to pick on Broker’s daughter.
  • Being married to Cassie Bodine Klum.

The Ugly:

  • One of Gator Bodine’s thugs ankles after Broker has had enough.
  • When you raise your gun towards dozens of cops who are armed, hyped up and have warned you to drop it.
  • That Homefront is doing better at the box office.

Rating: 4 out of 5

(Re)Discovering Hitchcock’s Rope

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When movie fans talk about the films of Alfred Hitchock the first ones mentioned are usually, Vertigo, Psycho, North by Northwest, and Rear Window.  Often the list goes on a bit more before Rope is mentioned.  And that’s too bad because many folks never get around to seeing it.

Rope stars Jimmy Stewart in Hitchock’s adaptation of a play based on the infamous Leopold-Loeb murder case.  (Another excellent movie based on the Leopold-Loeb murder case is Compulsion starring Orson Welles, Dean Stockwell and Bradford Dillman.)  It’s interesting to note that Hitchcock filmed Rope as if it was done with one continuous shot to keep the feel of a stage play!

Justin Jordan Seeks Revenge in DEAD BODY ROAD

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Dead Body Road by Justin Jordan and Matteo Scalera is a six issue mini-series that tells the story of an ex-cop named Gage who is killing those he feels are responsible for his wife’s death.  According to Jordan it’s amodern-day western, crime thriller, with noir sensibilities.

You can see more of the art and read an interview with Justin Jordan over at Newsarama.

Z-View: “Rififi”… Means Trouble

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The Pitch: “Hey, Jules Dassin the director behind American films such as “Brute Force” and “The Naked City” has been blacklisted in America.  I bet we could get him on the cheap to make a low-budget heist film!”

“Let’s do it!”

 

The Tagline:  “Rififi …means Trouble!”

The Overview:  After returning home after a five-year stint in prison for a jewelry heist, Tony le Stéphanois is recruited by his old crime partners for a hit and run heist on a jewelry store.  Tony declines, but later counters with a bigger plan… against all odds they’ll pull a robbery that will get them millions if they’re successful and dead if they’re not.  Before it is over one of the crew will betray them.  A child will be kidnapped and both the cops and gangsters will be after them.

 

The Good:

  • The planning for the heist.  It’s interesting how the characters work out their elaborate plan where any mistake – any sound – could cause it to go sideways.
  • The heist itself – around 30 minutes without dialogue.  It’s tense, brilliant film-making.
  • The fact that the robbery isn’t at the climax of the film.  It would be the endgame in a normal film.  In “Rififi” it is the catalyst for a bigger story.
  • The characters in this film are perfectly cast.
  • The director’s stylistic choices.  I love this movie! “Rififi” is a classic!

 

The Bad:

  • What happens when Tony finds out his girl has taken up with a mobster.
  • How a foolish mistake [to impress a dame!] causes everything to unravel.
  • What happens [even when you are sincerely sorry] for breaking “the rules.”

 

The Ugly:

  • Even the best laid plans…

Rating: 5 out of 5

All Time Top Ten Best Film Noir

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Recently The Guardian posted their choices for the Top Ten Film Noir.

Their list is a good one and included:

10.  They Live by Night
09.  Kiss Me Deadly
08.  Blood Simple
07.  Lift to the Scaffold
06.  The Third Man
05.  Out of the Past
04.  Double Indemnity
03.  Touch of Evil
02.  Chinatown
01.  The Big Sleep

Yeah, that’s a nice list.  I’ve seen 8 of the 10 [missing out on They Live by Night  and Lift to the Scaffold].

If I were to quibble, I’d move Double Indemnity  to the #1 spot and move something out to bring in The Postman Always Rings Twice  [original version, thank you].