Down the Stretch We Come

Some housekeeping up top. I return to CrimeReads with a feature story reviewing the directorial career of beloved actor Danny DeVito. The survey was prompted by the arrival in theaters of The Roses, an adaptation of the Warren Adler novel The War of the Roses which DeVito made into a memorable black comedy in 1989. The main takeaway: watch Death to Smoochy (2002).

Next, a recap of the middle third of the year at my newsletter Cocktails and Crime:

Trying to regain my fiction writing mojo by serving as an Edgars judge and reading a trio of novels that spawned some classic movie thrillers

Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF), part one: documentaries on food, drink, and film

SIFF, part two: vintage 3D noir and crime films

I run a 5K, see some big-screen Kurosawa, and report on recent reading

Class as treated in a pair of current crime novels, and French mushroom noir

A pair of baseball books

The Facebook memoir Careless People prompts a social media report card

I make my documentary debut, and see even more big-screen Kurosawa

A quartet of new crime movies

Background on my DeVito article for CrimeReads 

One-Third of the Year Down, Two-Thirds to Go

First and foremost, I’m back at CrimeReads with another feature story, this time a look at what may be the most snakebit project in Hollywood history. The caper comedy The Comeback Trail has been made twice, almost fifty years apart, most recently with a cast brimming with Academy Award winners. But neither version received a proper release. I dig into the backstories of both movies and explain why.

Next up, a recap of the first third of 2025 at my Substack outpost Cocktails and Crime.

I take in a trio of Nicholas Hoult movies, including my pick for the best crime film of 2024, and recommend Alex Segura’s Alter Ego.

L.A. crime fiction from Nick Kolakowski and Scott Phillips.

New biographies of Johnny Carson and Dorothy Parker, plus the best movie night I’ve had in a while.

A rundown of my then-upcoming, now-recent appearances, and the movies Presence and Soundtrack to a Coup d’État.

A recap of Noir City Seattle, cohosted by yours truly.

I’m blown away by The Penguin, plus new books by Sara Gran and Bruce Vilanch.

Nothing but love for Christa Faust’s The Get Off, plus Laura Lippman’s latest sends me in search of more maritime mayhem.

Recent releases: September 5, Black Bag, and my favorite film of 2025 so far, Eephus.

I revisit David Lynch’s Dune on the big screen for the first time in forty years.

Background on my CrimeReads article about The Comeback Trail that focuses on the astonishing career of filmmaker Harry Hurwitz, which runs the gamut from Charlie Chaplin to disco vampires.
 

Year-End Closeout

I’ll open this recap of what I’ve written over the last third of 2024 with a link to my CrimeReads feature on Mike’s Murder (1984). The film, marking its fortieth anniversary, has haunted me since I first saw it, and I delve into its true-crime origins—it’s inspired by the real-life murder of the former lover of an Academy Award-nominated actor, who was essentially cast as himself—as well as its famously tortured postproduction. The movie, which disappeared for decades, is again available, and even in compromised form deserves an audience.

Meanwhile, a rundown of what you may have missed at Cocktails & Crime.

A new history of Malört, plus thoughts on one of the year’s better TV offerings, Bad Monkey.

My year in 4K restorations, with big-screen rewatches of Le Samouraï, The Conversation, and The Shining.

Against my better judgment, I wrote about Megalopolis.

A report from my all-too-brief trip home to New York City, with multiple jazz shows.

How I spent Election Night with Joel and Ethan Coen, plus book and movie recommendations.

New books on science fiction movies and American horror.

Background on my Mike’s Murder article, plus movie recommendations.

A review of my favorite novel of 2024 and a neo-noir that slipped under the radar.

I may post a similar recap at Substack before 2024 is out, but otherwise that’s it for a year I’m happy to see the back of for a host of reasons. Spare yourself an extra resolution and subscribe to Cocktails & Crime now.
 

Summer Summary

I’m popping in again to remind you that the action these days is at Cocktails and Crime, my Substack newsletter. A recap of the last few months of entries—

The Netflix documentary How to Rob a Bank, and how I was hired to tell the same story decades ago.

Reviews of two new jazz histories.

I marked the one-year anniversary of C&C by going to a book signing for Baseball: The Movie.

I try to figure out why everyone keeps asking me if I’m retired, and why that means staying connected. Also, a related few words on one of the year’s best films, the documentary Flipside.

A pair of books on vintage spirits puts me on a birthday quest to drink Howard Hughes’s whiskey.

A memoir and a raucous comedy set in the ancestral homeland of the Keenans, plus Martin Scorsese’s heartfelt tribute to Powell & Pressburger.

You should subscribe now. I’m always yammering about something.

Elaine May into June

The main news in this post: my new story at CrimeReads on the crime films of Elaine May went live late last month. Swing on over and check it out.

My Substack experiment continues, and is looking more and more like a success. Exhibit A: Cocktails and Crime was singled out in a Drawing Media interview at Kottke.org with polymath Michael Sharp, the man behind Rex Parker Does the NYT Crossword Puzzle, the pulp fiction blog Pop Sensation, and the Twitter account The Lamps of Film Noir. Drawing Media’s Edith Zimmerman even transformed the C&C welcome screen into a gorgeous illustration. If you’re at all interested in my ramblings, subscribing to C&C is your best bet. I give you my solemn oath that I won’t spam you. You’ll receive a newsletter approximately every seven to ten days, with rare exceptions like my coverage of the Seattle International Film Festival. A look at those stories and what else you may have missed—

On murder clubs, death cleaning, and reaching the age of not bouncing back.

I finally read Steven Bach’s Final Cut, which meant finally watching Heaven’s Gate.

I rant about baseball, but actually about something even larger that has nothing to do with sports.

A history of Blaxploitation, Michael Keaton’s second hit-man movie, and more recommendations.

SIFF crime films, including an early look at Thelma, a terrific heist movie, and a questionable Hitchcock doc.

SIFF serves up food and drink fare, like documentaries on Spanish wine and Seattle beer.

Background on the Elaine May piece for CrimeReads, including the story of how I didn’t meet her.

Another round-up of recs, among them a history of the Village Voice.

The infamous Tinseltown P.I. Fred Otash in a biography, a novel, and his own words.

Cocktails and Crime Catch-Up

A summary of what I covered in February and March at Cocktails & Crime.

A recap of this year’s Noir City Seattle, four nights of which I hosted solo.

Revisiting Elmore Leonard’s Get Shorty, both book and film, prompts me to revisit Be Cool, both book and film, which doesn’t prove as good an idea. Also, I matriculate at Rum University.

Reviews of the sublime Perfect Days and the underrated Dumb Money.

Two new books on show business: Edward Zwick’s surprising memoir and an appraisal of every iteration of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

Almost four decades later, I finally watch the sequel to Jean de Florette, paired with a suitable cocktail.

Love Lies Bleeding, Drive-Away Dolls, and how my first car made me like the second movie.

2024 So Far at Cocktails and Crime

The main thing you need to know: Noir City Seattle is coming back from February 16—22, and I’ll be serving as your host for the final four nights. Meanwhile, here’s what I’ve written about so far this year at Cocktails & Crime.

Amazon made a show starring an Academy Award winner and didn’t tell anyone, but I watched it anyway. Also, multiple movie recommendations.

Good stuff from people I know: books by Duane Swierczynski and Kate Alice Marshall, and music by Ethan Iverson.

More details on Noir City, a report from the celebration of life held for Murray Stenson, and killer cats.

September Cocktails and Crime Round-Up

Another month, another series of posts you can have delivered straight to your inbox for free. Here’s a recap of what appeared in my Substack newsletter Cocktails and Crime.

I resurrected and updated my post on Rabbit Hole, my favorite new TV show of 2023, and touted my low-octane libation of choice.

An overview of the 2022 Noir City Annual, which I edited, plus a rewatch of my childhood favorite Colossus: The Forbin Project and a review of Laura Lippman’s Prom Mom.

A tribute to Murray Stenson, an extraordinary bartender and my friend.

Walking That Line

I’m on strike at the moment, and that moment may last a while. Might as well keep limber by making a few recommendations.

What I’m Watching

Rabbit Hole (Paramount+). I waited until all eight episodes of the first (only?) season of this show dropped to make sure it stuck the landing. It did, so now I can say this Kiefer Sutherland series is the best thing I’ve seen on TV in a while, and stronger than any thriller novel I’ve read recently. And I won’t tell you why.

Doing so would spoil the fun. More than one episode of Rabbit Hole ended with a reveal that had me saying “What the fuck?” aloud to my TV. But every twist feels organic, thanks to the show’s devilishly intricate structure and to its premise. Sutherland’s John Weir specializes in shaping perceptions to aid his corporate clients, his tactics and slippery morals perfectly illustrated in the extended sequence that opens the premiere episode; right off the bat, you’re advised not to trust what you see. An old friend hires Weir and his team for a job that ends with Weir framed for murder. Where the show goes from there is … well, you’ll have to watch for yourself.

Rabbit Hole is consistently funny, which shouldn’t have surprised me considering it’s the brainchild of Glen Ficarra and John Requa (Bad Santa). They write beautifully for Sutherland, wringing laughs out of his gruff persona. The show’s sensibility and Weir’s character are established in this early exchange between Weir and the FBI agent determined to take him down.

FBI Agent: Corporate espionage is a dirty way to get rich.
Weir: Espionage? What are you talking about? I’m not a spy.
FBI Agent: Manipulating people and situations to influence markets for client advantage is … what, then?
Weir: Consulting.

A sequence when Weir, the target of a city-wide manhunt, strolls into a New York police station to see the “evidence” against him is a marvel of low-tech deception and social engineering. And a running gag involving Kiefer and hammers got me every time.

But the show also succeeds as a thriller, tackling thorny topical subject matter in a manner that consistently raises the stakes. The supporting cast is richly idiosyncratic, and when the actor playing the show’s Big Bad finally showed their face, I was ecstatic. (And even that reveal has a reveal.) If the show doesn’t return, its sole season goes into the books a winner, ending on a perfect note of 1970s-style paranoia.

Paramount+ may be primarily known for Yellowstone and Star Trek spinoffs, but it’s also the home of The Offer (my favorite show of 2022) as well as the bonkers Catholic X-Files, better known as Evil. That’s a solid batting average for a streaming service.

Transatlantic (Netflix). I wrote about it in my guise as Renee Patrick, but nowhere near enough people are paying attention to this lush limited series, so I’ll also laud it here. It’s about the ragtag efforts of the Emergency Rescue Committee to transport artists from Europe to the United States in 1940. Like Rabbit Hole, it employs a tone you don’t expect; it’s light and even fizzy, which only lends the dark moments more impact. Watch it for Justine Seymour’s costumes, each and every one a knockout, and the haunting score by Mike Ladd & David Sztanke.

What I’m Reading

The Pitfall, by Jay Dratler (1947). The 1948 film noir Pitfall has been rediscovered, due in part to the efforts of my friend and colleague Eddie Muller. It also stands out by having a femme fatale who’s no seductress, but a woman simply trying to do her best. It’s not the fault of Mona, played by Lizabeth Scott, that men are drawn to her, like bored suburban family man/insurance investigator Forbes (Dick Powell) and sleazy stalker shamus Mac (Raymond Burr). The source novel is by Jay Dratler, who didn’t work on the film but whose own impressive string of noir credits includes the Hitchcock knockoff Fly-by-Night (1942) and Laura (1944). Dratler’s book is back in print, part of Stark House Press’s Film Noir Classics line. (Hat tip to Saturday Evening Post columnist Bob Sassone for reminding me about this series.) Reading it is an object lesson in adapting material, particularly under the strictures of the Production Code.

Which is ironic, given that in the novel, Forbes is no insurance man but a screenwriter. Mac isn’t a private eye but a Beverly Hills cop. He had a hand in arresting Mona’s purse-snatcher husband and wants to make a move on her, but knows he doesn’t stand a chance … unless his buddy Forbes, whose wife is currently very pregnant, sleeps with her first, then vouches for good ol’ Mac. Nothing that sleazy or disturbing occurs in the film version; in the 1940s, it never could. Mona remains the same, a goodhearted woman powerless before her power over men.

The book is packed with vintage Hollywood detail. Forbes says of Schwab’s: “It’s movie-town’s drugstore, and better stories are enacted at its counters and in the rear of the prescription counter than many a studio shapes into its best product.” Toiling on assignment at Fox while he agonizes over Mona, he thinks, “I knew I’d lick the story. I never met one that couldn’t be pounded into shape if you beat your head against it long enough and if you made real people live in it.” Dratler certainly did that here. The Pitfall is a close-quarters study of obsession, as short and sharp as a kidney punch. And it features an extended metaphor involving a centipede that’s still wriggling away in my brain.

What I’m Drinking

I discovered this Martinez riff courtesy of Cocktails with Suderman and was sold on it before sip #1 because:

a) it’s concocted by genius bartender Phil Ward, whom I’ve had the pleasure of seeing in action at the New York bars Death & Co. and Mayahuel and who has gifted us with modern classics like the Oaxaca Old Fashioned and the Final Ward;
b) it features the artichoke-heavy amaro Cynar, a personal favorite;
c) it’s named after a modern noir classic. Forget it, reader, it’s …

Cynartown

2 oz. London dry gin
¾ oz. sweet vermouth (Ward recommends Carpano Antica)
½ oz. Cynar

Stir. Strain. Garnish with a Luxardo maraschino cherry.

One Last Round for April

What I’m Reading

The Autobiography of Matthew Scudder, by Lawrence Block (2023). I’m faced with a tricky proposition in recommending this book, which I am absolutely doing. For one thing, it doesn’t come out until June 24, which also happens to be the author’s eighty-fifth birthday. (Preorders, as always, are welcome.) For another, I’m urging it on a very specific audience, namely people who have already made Matt Scudder’s acquaintance—and have ideally read most if not all of the books and short stories in which the character appears. Luckily, I fit both bills.

Scudder first appeared in The Sins of the Fathers (1976), and the alcoholic ex-NYPD cop turned quasi-private eye has walked the streets of the Big Apple ever since, aging in something close to real time. Larry Block, meanwhile, has embraced the changes in the publishing business to release adventurous books like Dead Girl Blues (2020), among the darkest work of his career (and is that saying something), and last year’s The Burglar Who Met Fredric Brown, in which he addresses the many challenges facing his long-running character Bernie Rhodenbarr by saying, “Fuck it, PARALLEL UNIVERSE!”

This latest book is even more inventive, in that it is exactly what the title promises: a fictional character telling you his life story, or at least all the bits that Block chose not to include elsewhere. Scudder purports to be a real person in these pages, one whose exploits have been turned into fiction by a novelist—and Scudder isn’t entirely happy with some of the changes that scribe has wrought. (We even hear from Block occasionally if indirectly in his instructions to his subject.) It’s evident from his handling of this meta approach that Block hasn’t lost much speed off his fastball. But for devoted readers (like me), there’s an element of pure wish fulfillment at play. The book is essentially a chance to tug the sleeve of a character we’ve gotten to know quite well and offer to buy him another cup of coffee before he heads out, to hear an additional story or two and ask questions long wondered about. It’s an impressive trick that requires decades of work on the part of both writer and reader to carry off. You need to know Matt Scudder in order to appreciate this book, and if you know Matt Scudder you’ve already ordered it.

What I’m Watching

No Bears (2022). The Criterion Channel is the exclusive streaming home for this remarkable film, which is yet another reason to sign up for the service. (Who else would bring you, in the same month, this movie and a lineup of erotic thrillers including 1994’s Dream Lover, featured in my survey of Hitchcock movies not directed by Alfred Hitchcock?) Jafar Panahi plays himself, an Iranian filmmaker barred from leaving his homeland because of his political beliefs. Undaunted, he journeys to the Turkish border so he can direct a docudrama remotely. As that project takes unexpected and disturbing turns, Panahi finds his presence—and his images—drawn into village life in ways that illuminate his own standing in Iran. A powerful work of art. (And on the day that I’m composing this come reports that Panahi has been allowed to leave Iran for the first time in fourteen years.)

What I’m Drinking

Time to sing the praises of another book at which I got a sneak peek. Eddie Muller’s Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir, available May 23, is a gorgeous volume, and I’d say that even if my name didn’t appear in it several times. Eddie—my friend, colleague, Turner Classic Movies host, founder of the Film Noir Foundation, and imbiber extraordinaire—spotlights fifty cocktails, some classic, some original, each one linked to a classic film noir. It’s written with Eddie’s usual erudition and verve and it’s beautifully laid out, making it a cocktail book you can actually read from cover to cover. I christened it with one of Eddie’s creations, the Sailor Beware, crafted to commemorate Orson Welles’s The Lady from Shanghai (1948). As Eddie writes: “I felt it needed to be done in the true Wellesian spirit: something brash and startling, using ingredients rarely if ever combined, assembled in a totally unexpected way—and then I’d walk away before I finished making it.” (Time now for a gratuitous reminder that Orson is a recurring character in the novels of Renee Patrick.)

Sailor Beware

1 ¼ oz. Irish whiskey
¾ oz. brandy
½ oz. green chartreuse
½ oz. Domaine de Canton ginger liqueur
absinthe rinse
lemon peel twist

Stir the first four ingredients, then let them rest in the mixing glass. Rinse a Nick and Nora glass with absinthe. Strain. Express the oil from a lemon peel over the surface, rub the peel on the rim of the glass, then place in the drink.

It’s a fine concoction. Raise one in honor of the Czar of Noir, who has not only joined the exalted ranks of Cecil B. DeMille, Tyler Perry, and Guy Ritchie in getting his name in the title with this book, but who will also be receiving a Raven award from the Mystery Writers of America tonight in recognition of his film preservation work.

The Format Is the Formula

It took me long enough, but I finally figured out that social media, particularly Twitter, has become what the Krell overlooked in Forbidden Planet (1956): the monsters from the id. Subconscious desires given raging, destructive form, with the occasional Simpsons reference. Arguably, that has always been the case, but as Twitter continues to spiral down the feeling has only intensified.

Given that, I thought a format change might spur me to post here more consistently. Let’s see if it sticks.

What I’m Watching

All My Sons (1948). Noir City Seattle has come and gone. Packed houses throughout the festival—including Valentine’s Day—and I had fun dispatching my hosting duties. It’s always interesting to see which movies really land with audiences. This year’s winner was So Evil My Love (1948), a noir-tinged Gothic with the blackest of hearts. The title I was most eager to see was Sons, the adaptation of Arthur Miller’s play which has inexplicably fallen out of circulation, resulting in what Noir City master of ceremonies Eddie Muller has called “the great lost Edward G. Robinson performance.” Robinson plays a self-made businessman who has rebounded from charges of selling defective airplane parts to the Army during WWII—a scandal resulting in multiple pilot deaths and the incarceration of his former partner—to participate in the nation’s postwar prosperity. Then his son (Burt Lancaster) announces plans to wed the ex-partner’s daughter, and Robinson’s self-deception collapses around him, jeopardizing all he’s created. Sons isn’t a true film noir. It has abundant noirish elements—how could it not, with that plot—which Miller and screenwriter Chester Erskine assembled into a family drama. A few of Miller’s gambits remain resolutely theatrical and I never bought Robinson and Lancaster as father and son, but it’s a compelling film that proved a great way to close out this year’s festival.

What I’m Reading

A Death in Tokyo, by Keigo Higashino (2022). A Higashino novel was on my best-of-2022 list, and his latest, published in December, may well appear on this year’s roster. Of course, there’s a murder—a businessman dies of a brutal stab wound on a bridge miles from his regular haunts—that serves as a vehicle for Higashino to explore aspects of Japanese culture. Here, it’s the fascinating, time-honored practice of worshipping at various shrines that provides essential clues. As usual, Higashino channels intense emotion with an exquisitely calibrated touch; Newcomer (2018), the previous entry in his Detective Kaga series in which Kaga unravels multiple neighborhood mysteries while investigating a woman’s death, has stayed with me as an example of his command of structure and his masterly control.

What I’m Drinking

Neal Bodenheimer’s Old Hickory. If Rosemarie and I were on a game show and one of us was asked, “What’s something that’s always in your refrigerator?” the other would say, “Vermouth.” I’ve always got a few bottles open, and one that has belatedly joined the ranks is blanc vermouth. This variation, walking the tightrope between its dry and sweet brethren—more floral than the former, robust enough to smooth out edges like the latter—has become my new favorite cocktail ingredient to play with. But it’s no mere featured player, as its star turn in this lower ABV charmer demonstrates. Note the different approach to mixing.

1 ½ oz. blanc vermouth
1 ½ oz. sweet vermouth
2 dashes Peychaud’s bitters
1 dash orange bitters

Combine ingredients in a mixing glass without ice. Stir. Pour into a rocks glass over a single large ice cube. Express the oils in a lemon peel, then use it as a garnish if you so choose.

Noir City Seattle Schedule

It’s hard to believe that the dark carnival that is the Noir City Film Festival first pitched its tents twenty years ago. Eddie Muller and the Film Noir Foundation just finished feting the fest at its new home at the Grand Lake Theatre in Oakland. Seattle’s turn is next; Eddie has been bringing Noir City to SIFF theaters for fifteen years, with your humble correspondent in attendance at all of them.

Eddie programmed this year’s lineup with the occasion in mind. Every film hit the screen seventy-five years ago in 1948, so it’s diamond anniversaries up and down the bill.

Eddie will be hosting the screenings all opening weekend. After that, Renee Patrick—aka Rosemarie and me—takes over those duties, with me working solo a few evenings. The fun kicks off next Friday, February 10, with us as your emcees from February 13—16. If you’re anywhere near the Emerald City, come out for one of these can’t-miss shows.

Friday, February 10
6:30pm - Key Largo*
9:00pm - The Lady from Shanghai

Saturday, February 11
1:00pm - Larceny*
3:15pm - The Spiritualist*
6:00pm - The Big Clock
8:30pm - Unfaithfully Yours

Sunday, February 12
1:00pm - They Live by Night*
3:30pm - Raw Deal
6:00pm - Hollow Triumph*
8:15pm - Kiss the Blood Off My Hands*

Monday, February 13
6:00pm - The Hunted*
8:30pm - Call Northside 777

Tuesday, February 14
6:00pm - So Evil My Love*
8:45pm - Sleep, My Love*

Wednesday, February 15
6:00pm - The Naked City
8:30pm - Cry of the City*

Thursday, February 16
6:00pm - Night Has a Thousand Eyes*
8:15pm - All My Sons*

* screening in 35mm

Noir City We’ll Meet Again Edition

Issue 36 of the Film Noir Foundation’s magazine Noir City is now out in both digital and print editions, and it marks a bittersweet moment for yours truly. It’s my final issue as editor-in-chief. After fourteen years on the editorial staff, the last three-plus in the top job, I’m hanging up my spurs. 

But I’m leaving on a high note. Check out that cover image, for starters. We celebrate 100 years of film noir icon Veronica Lake with Lynsey Ford’s story looking at Lake’s career and her private life, “as tragic and convoluted as any film noir plot.” Also in the issue—

A brilliant feature by Farran Smith Nehme, aka the Self-Styled Siren, on the neo-noir world of “the French Hitchcock,” Claude Chabrol;

Brent Calderwood surveys the slippery history of masseurs and masseuses in film noir;

Noir City’s own Steve Kronenberg hears the siren song of Gale Sondergaard;

Jim Thomsen profiles “Driver’s Seat” singer and noir-inspired artist Paul Roberts;

Bob Sassone unwraps the singular charms of the classic yuletide-set noir Cover Up;

Eddie Muller offers a heartfelt memorial to his friend and colleague, novelist Jim Nisbet;

The Nitrate Diva Nora Fiore compares the book and film versions of Out of the Past.

Plus book reviews, film reviews, and more—including the farewell edition of my Cocktails & Crime column, with one last libation for the road.

It’s been an honor to work alongside publisher/FNF honcho Eddie Muller and ace designer Michael Kronenberg on every issue of this magazine, and I’m particularly proud of helping to launch the print edition of Noir City. I’ll still write for the magazine on occasion—look for a story from me later this year—and I’ll remain on the FNF’s advisory board. If you want to know which incredibly capable people will be taking the Noir City reins, why not get yourself a subscription by donating to the FNF, with your contribution going to support the Foundation’s film restoration efforts? If you prefer the hard stuff, you can order a print edition exclusively from Amazon. Either way, you won’t regret it.

Noir City Two Directors for the Price of One Edition

Is it unseemly for me to say that this is best issue of Noir City yet?
Very well then I am unseemly.
(I am the editor, I contain multitudes.)
(Also, sorry, Uncle Walt.)

The latest edition of the magazine published by the Film Noir Foundation is now available in your choice of digital or print—or what the hell, why not both? I guarantee you’re going to want in on this.

Let’s start with the cover story. Back when FNF honcho Eddie Muller and I cooked up the Modern Noir Master award, we drafted a list of dream recipients. One of the first names we both mentioned was John Dahl, who merits a place in the neo-noir pantheon for two movies alone: Red Rock West (1993) and The Last Seduction (1994).

(Fun fact: I attended one of the earliest screenings of Seduction, at the Seattle International Film Festival. When the movie ended, I joined the silent, dumbstruck line for the restroom. Finally, the guy in front of me blurted out, “Men are so stupid!” We unanimously agreed with him.)

Sam Moore interviews Dahl at length, about those movies, other gems like Rounders (1998) and Joy Ride (2001), and his work on noir-inflected TV shows including Breaking Bad, Justified, and Ray Donovan.

But wait, there’s another director! Nick Kolakowski talks to Michael Mann and his Heat 2 coauthor Meg Gardiner about moving the world of his 1995 magnum opus to print, and pushing the story into both the past and the future. Also in this issue—

Nora Fiore, the Nitrate Diva, on the many uses of lipstick in film noir. I have to say this piece is among my favorites to appear in the magazine on my watch: a brilliant concept by Nora, written evocatively, and brought to vivid life on the page by ace designer Michael Kronenberg.

A one-of-a-kind memoir by Chris D., front man for the Flesh Eaters turned film scholar, on the surprising overlap between his two passions: punk rock and film noir.

A deep dive from John Wranovics on Harry Popkin, the onetime fight promoter who produced a series of noir titles that pulled no punches.

Noir City stalwart Jake Hinkson on noir’s dark vision of academia.

Joseph Moncure March’s epic poem The Set-Up already spawned the 1949 cinematic adaptation regarded as a classic of both noir and boxing films. Now it’s been turned into a graphic novel, and Nathalie Atkinson talks to artist Erik Kriek about it.

Plus more goodies, including my usual cocktail recipe.

Donate to the Film Noir Foundation, and in addition to supporting our restoration efforts you’ll receive a subscription to Noir City. You can also purchase the print edition exclusively at Amazon. Then settle in, because you’ll want to read this bad boy cover to cover.

Noir City “The Man That Got Away” Edition

Who’s the anguished cover boy on the latest edition of Noir City magazine, published by the Film Noir Foundation and edited by yours truly? None other than William Holden. Despite his presence in some landmark noir films, he’s not an actor synonymous with the form. I sometimes think of him as noir’s man that got away; James Ellroy once said that his dream cast for L.A. Confidential would have included “the craven, self-loathing, handsome William Holden of Sunset Boulevard” as Ed Exley, the Guy Pearce role. But as Rachel Walther points out in her terrific story, Holden brought a “brooding restlessness” to every role he played, carrying noir’s shadows forever with him. With a sidebar on Holden’s rivalry, on and offscreen, with Humphrey Bogart. Also in this issue—

Imogen Sara Smith surveys the dark world of film noir from Argentina;

Ray Banks on the heist films of Stanley Baker;

Bob Sassone considers the invaluable contributions the Saturday Evening Post made to noir;

Steve Kronenberg makes the case for character actor J.T. Walsh as neo-noir's best bad guy;

Sharon Knolle looks at horror films from noir directors;

And more.

I’ve got my column along with a review of a new book about Holden’s favorite director, Billy Wilder. My favorite contribution is a conversation with Tony Award-nominated actress and singer Melissa Errico about her new album Out of the Dark: The Film Noir Project. Melissa knows her noir, the album is a pleasure, and our chat was loads of fun.

You’re spoiled for choice when it comes to getting Noir City. You can make a contribution of twenty dollars or more to the FNF, the money going directly to our mission of preserving, restoring, and exhibiting classic noir films. That nets you a digital subscription to the magazine. Or you can purchase a print edition of our latest issue exclusively through Amazon, with our cut of the proceeds going to that same mission. Either way, pick up a copy.
 

Noir City On The Midway Edition

At the Film Noir Foundation, we couldn’t think of a better way to show 2021 the door—and welcome in 2022—than sending the latest digital issue of Noir City magazine to all FNF donors on New Year’s Eve. The print edition, available exclusively at Amazon, followed a week later. I’m only getting around to posting about it now. 2022 is already that kind of year, kids.

The centerpiece of the issue is an exclusive interview with Guillermo Del Toro and Kim Morgan about their bold new reimagining of Nightmare Alley, currently in theaters. FNF honcho, TCM host, and man about town Eddie Muller weighs in on the film. And we also have a feature on the long, twisted history of carnivals in film noir.

Next up, a dazzler of a conversation between Eddie and his favorite living author, Paul Auster. Pour yourself a drink and pull up a chair to listen in as they go long on noir, art, and life.

Also in this issue—

Imogen Sara Smith considers the doppelganger in film noir, with a special focus on Joseph Losey’s harrowing masterpiece Mr. Klein (1976).

Get behind the wheel with the cabdrivers of noir, courtesy of Jake Hinkson.

Danilo Castro sizes up the “frontier trilogy” of Taylor Sheridan—Sicario, Hell or High Water, Wind River—that maps the territory where noir meets the west.

Actor Brent Spiner is best known for playing Lt. Commander Data on Star Trek: The Next Generation. His new book Fan Fiction is a wildly inventive “mem-noir” about his time on the show, blending autobiography with a crime plot. He kindly agreed to drop by and name his five favorite classic noir films.

I talk to writer/musician Willy Vlautin, whose The Night Always Comes is hands down my favorite novel of 2021. Compassionate and chilling, this noir odyssey is the book for our political moment. Read the interview, but more importantly read Willy’s book.

Plus my column, my review of what could easily end up my favorite book of 2022—Isaac Butler’s ambitious and compelling The Method: How the Twentieth Century Learned to Act—and so much more, all of it spectacularly laid out by ace designer Michael Kronenberg. I mean, just look at that cover.

You can buy the print edition at Amazon, or contribute at least twenty dollars to the FNF’s campaign to preserve and restore classic film noir to receive the bells-and-whistles digital version. You want my advice? Do both. You won’t regret it.
 

Noir City Fit to Print Edition

Things have been a mite hectic around here. So much so that I neglected to trumpet from the rooftops that the latest issue of Noir City, the magazine of the Film Noir Foundation, came out this month, and it’s a particularly special one. Our one-of-a-kind cover story is the reason why.

Gloria Grahame is perhaps the most popular actress in all of film noir. The details of her life have been well-documented. Offering a fascinating and fresh perspective on her legacy: Emmy Award winner Dana Delany, who candidly admits that Gloria has been her lifelong muse. Dana’s heartfelt, meticulously researched essay is a unique opportunity to venture inside the craft, “actor to actor.”

Working with Dana on this story was an absolute joy, and the result speaks for itself. I was remiss in not posting this update before Dana made her debut appearance on TCM’s Noir Alley alongside FNF honcho Eddie Muller introducing Gloria in Human Desire (1954), but if you hurry you can read Dana’s work before she returns to the show on Saturday, October 2 (with a repeat broadcast on Sunday, October 3) for more Gloria with The Glass Wall (1953).

Also in this issue—

Randy Dotinga on how classic film noir hid LGBTQ characters in plain sight;

Nora Fiore, Twitter’s Nitrate Diva, surveys astrology in crime films;

Nathalie Atkinson interviews Pornsak Pichetshote, writer of the new noir comic The Good Asian;

Eddie Muller tells the story behind the noir-stained paintings of the outsider artist known as Ely Legerdemain;

Novelist S.A. Cosby—you’ve read his books Blacktop Wasteland and Razorblade Tears, right?—explains why Point Blank (1967) is his favorite neo-noir;

And more.

I’ve got my usual column, a few book reviews, and a conversation with Silvia Moreno-Garcia, whose Velvet Was the Night is the noir novel of this summer.

The best way to get Noir City is to contribute twenty dollars or more to the FNF and its ongoing campaign to restore and preserve film noir. But now there’s a whole new wrinkle.

We’ve launched a print edition of Noir City, available via Amazon’s print on demand service. If you thought ace designer Michael Kronenberg’s graphics looked stunning in our digital mag, wait till you see his handiwork in hard copy.

While you’re at it, why not pick up our debut print edition, the Modern Noir Master issue from earlier in 2021 featuring m’colleague Ray Banks’s interview with filmmaker Mike Hodges—and exclusive testimonials from Hodges’s frequent collaborators Michael Caine (Get Carter, Pulp) and Clive Owen (Croupier, I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead)?

What the hell, I might as well beat all the drums and hip you to the latest edition of our Noir City Annual, featuring the best the magazine published in 2020. The year’s installment is a few months late—thanks, Covid—but the writing remains as fresh as ever. It’s the first book I’ve ever edited, and I’m proud of it. Stock up on your noir reading as shadows begin to lengthen.

Noir City “With Me, It’s A Full-Time Job” Edition

The latest issue of Noir City, the magazine of the Film Noir Foundation, reached subscribers this week. And even if I did edit it myself, I’ll say this for it: it’s pretty good.

Enough false modesty. Honestly, you need to check this installment out, with all credit going to our top-drawer contributors, the wizardry of ace designer Michael Kronenberg, and the guiding hand of our publisher Eddie Muller.

I will humbly admit to getting the ball rolling on the cover story. A while back, I came up with the idea of the FNF presenting an annual Modern Noir Master Award, an honor that has been bestowed on Stephen Frears, James Ellroy, and David Mamet. When I realized that 2021 marks the 50th anniversary of the landmark UK crime film Get Carter (1971), I suggested to Eddie who our next recipient should be.

Writer/director Mike Hodges also made Pulp (1972), Croupier (1998), I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead (2003), and other noir-adjacent films. In his 89th year, he has a new film in the works. All I had to do was put him together with our man on the Continent Ray Banks. The result is a free-wheeling, career-spanning interview that even covers Hodges’ own noir fiction.

I’ll also pat myself on the back for another contribution to this feature. We won’t be able to present the award live for obvious reasons, so I wanted to do something extra. Something special. Thus did I become fixated on the notion of having Sir Michael Caine and Clive Owen, the two actors who loom large in Hodges’ noir filmography, contribute to Noir City.

A longshot, I figured. But I am as tenacious an optimist as you will find, so I started making inquiries. Turned out, it couldn’t have been simpler. Both gentlemen were eager to say a few words on behalf of a valued collaborator and colleague, and you can read those words in this issue. I’ll admit I was chuffed it came together, as they say across the pond.

But that’s just for openers. In this issue, we also have—

Imogen Sara Smith with a definitive look at the work of filmmaker Christian Petzold, from his early German films never screened in the US to masterful features like Phoenix (2014) and Transit (2018);

An appreciation of a longtime noir favorite, the hard-luck actress Virginia Grey, from the Self-Styled Siren Farran Smith Nehme;

The career of self-described “Hungarian-born one-eyed cowboy from Texas” André de Toth, whose directorial credits include Pitfall (1948) and Crime Wave (1954);

An interview with Eve Plumb—yes, that Eve Plumb—about her second act as a painter whose work is inspired by classic noir films, and her turn as a villain in the neo-noir Blue Ruin (2013);

The screenwriting career of sportswriter Art Cohn, best known for the quintessential boxing film The Set-Up (1949);

Jason A. Ney’s insightful look at amnesia noir, and how this plot gimmick has evolved along with our understanding of memory;

I raise the question “Charlie Chaplin … noir filmmaker?” with an appraisal of his most confounding role, as the serial murderer Monsieur Verdoux (1947). My first draft of this article was heavy on Chaplin and Orson Welles, who came up with the idea for Verdoux, trash-talking each other for decades. I still think I should mount this as a one-man show.

And there’s still more. Trust me, you want this issue. All you have to do to get it is make a modest contribution to the Film Noir Foundation and our efforts to restore classic film.

Noir City Noirvember Edition

Just in time for the closing days of Noirvember, the latest issue of Noir City hit inboxes as the Thanksgiving weekend approached. The magazine of the Film Noir Foundation, edited by yours truly, is the cornucopia we all could use right about now. Among this installment’s bounty—

Eddie Muller’s galvanizing letter from the publisher on the perils of cancel culture;

The return of Nora Fiore, Twitter’s inestimable Nitrate Diva, with a gem of a piece ranking noir’s best diners, beautifully laid out by ace designer Michael Kronenberg;

Michael dons his interviewer cap for a talk with comics writer of the moment Tom King;

My pal Christa Faust on noir’s ladies of a certain age;

Sharon Knolle’s timely reappraisal of crooked cops in noir—with an eye-opening sidebar by veteran law enforcement officer Peter Stipe;

Our man on the Continent Ray Banks considers the dark performances of beloved softie Richard Attenborough;

The troubled career of filmmaker Hubert Cornfield;

And more.

I’ve got some book reviews, my usual column complete with cocktail recipe, and a conversation with novelist Alaya Dawn Johnson (Trouble the Saints) prompted by her fascinating CrimeReads essay on racism in classic noir fiction.

Want a copy? Head over to the Film Noir Foundation website and make a modest contribution to the ongoing fight to preserve classic film noir. As accompaniment, you can listen to my colleagues hold forth on the Word Balloon podcast.

Noir City Coffee is for Closers Edition

The latest issue of Noir City, magazine of the Film Noir Foundation—published by TCM host Eddie Muller, designed by Michael Kronenberg, and edited by yours truly—is out now. It’s anchored by a special section dedicated to this year’s recipient of the FNF’s Modern Noir Master award, David Mamet. It includes a transcript of Eddie in conversation with the filmmaker, playwright, and novelist at an event held mere days before the coronavirus curtain dropped. We’ve also got tributes to Mamet’s noir career from Eddie, Ray Banks, Jake Hinkson, Wallace Stroby, and me. (It’s a good thing I wasn’t at the Mamet event in Santa Monica, because I would have insisted on telling him how I once recreated a scene from his film The Spanish Prisoner at the Central Park carousel. Probably better that I wrote about Prisoner instead.)

What else do you get for your donation to the FNF? How’s about Imogen Sara Smith, who helped program the fantastic Western Noir series currently lighting up the Criterion Channel, on Japanese noir, paired with a salute to Japanese noir mainstay Jô Shishido by Nick Feldman?

Plus: Elsa Lanchester; the pop noir landscapes of Walter Hill; Ethan Iverson on the noir soundtracks of the late Johnny Mandel (Harper and Point Blank); Christopher Chambers looking back at the pleasures of Tony Rome; Martyn Waites on the neglected UK noir The Small World of Sammy Lee; and, yes, even more.

One feature I’m particularly excited about: actor James Urbaniak, a familiar face (and voice if, like me, you’re a fan of The Venture Bros.) takes on our 5 Favorites feature, naming the quintet of films in his personal noir pantheon.

I interview S.A. Cosby, author of the crime novel of the summer Blacktop Wasteland, and I review a pair of non-fiction titles as well as penning my usual Cocktails & Crime column.

To receive Noir City, head to the Film Noir Foundation website, kick in a few bucks to the kitty, and sign on the line that is dotted. What are you waiting for?