Ed Gorman's Blog, page 261

The Night of The Hunter

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Cinema Retro linked to a fine Roger Ebert tribute to Charles Laughton's The Night of The Hunter. Here's the opening:

It's a thin line between LOVE and HATE.
The Night of the Hunter (1955)
by Roger Ebert / November 24, 1996
cast & credits
Rev. Harry Powell: Robert Mitchum
Willa Harper: Shelley Winters
Rachel: Lillian Gish
John: Billy Chapin
Pearl: Sally Jane Bruce
Birdie: James Gleason
Icey: Evelyn Varden
Ben Harper: Peter Graves
Walt: Don Beddoe

Directed by Charles Laughton and produced by Paul Gregory...

Bloom County

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I was a loyal reader of Bloom County for a long time but somehow I lost touch with Breathed and what he was doing. Turns out he was doing quite a lot. Here's an excerpt from Hero Complex, LA Times.s



Berkeley Breathed, drawn back to 'Bloom County' but looking forward
October 3, 2009 | 8:38 am
TODAY: Berkeley Breathed is appearing at the Long Beach Comic Con.

Berkeley Breathed, the creator of the comic strips "Bloom County," "Outland" and "Opus," lives on a high hilltop in Santa Barbara — yes, the...

Scandals

Polanski seems to be fighting Letterman for newspaper space this morning.

We know everything about the Polanski story but not very much about the Letterman. I have a feeling much more is to come. I also have a feeling that somewhere there's one of Letterman's old lovers who's been contacted by a lawyer (or who has contacted a lawyer) and is thinking of both payback and payday. I wouldn't be surprised (seriously) if she's already called Gloria Allred.

Then there's the question of the public's...

Forgotten writers

I was glad to see that two of Patti Abbott's Forgotten Books today were John D. MacDonalds. Bill Cameron reviewed The Last One Left while Randy Johnson discussed Wine of The Dreamers.

We've been talking about how quickly writers fade after their deaths. I still can't believe how John D. went from best seller and exemplar of the commercial American story to near obscurity (not to mention ignominy) in just a few years. As Bill Crider noted yesterday the same thing seems to be happening to Evan ...

Which is better?; The Ugly File

From my buddy Dave Zeltserman-

Ed, here's a question regarding your post today, especially about your comments about George Higgins. What's better as a writer—to writer 4-5 books that are considered great, and 20 books that are mediocre, or 25 books all of which are highly entertaining but none of them considered great? And then you had Hammett, who wrote 5 great books, but then the well ran dry.

Of course, with Stout, I'd argue that he wrote 5-6 great books, with the rest being mostly highly ...

Mysteries versus crime novels

Following up on last night's post Jeff Pierce wrote:

I guess I don't understand the difference between crime fiction and mysteries. Are mysteries defined by the fact that the reader doesn't know who did it, while readers of crime fiction do?

Just wondering.

Jeff P.

Ed here: I guess my so-called friend had two parts to his agenda. One was to tell me without telling me that he thought that I wrote trash. And two that he felt that crime novels were superior because they were "serious." He mentioned...

Cinema Retro; Mystery Reader

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One of the finest movie genre magazines being published. The cover tells you just HOW good it really is. ON SALE NOW.


-----------------------Mystery Reader

A while back I heard from a guy I knew at college. He wrote to tell me that he thought crime novels were great but that mystery novels were trash. I'm not exaggerating when I say that he was always a snob. His taste in cars/suits/girls/pubs/music etc. were always indisputably the best and if you disagreed he would go a long way at hinting y...

Forgotten Books: Danger Is My Business by Lee Server

I'm feeling a little better so I thought I'd start inflicting myself on you folks again. But first I want to get a plug in for my old buddy John McCarty novelist and writer extraordinary on genre movies of all kinds. Friday night Turner will be running a documentary called Thrillers and John will be one of the people interviewed. Should be great.


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DANGER IS MY BUSINESS by Lee Server

Before he became known for his excellent biographies of Robert Mitchum, Ava Gardner and Samuel Fuller, Server wro...

Cachoo

I've somehow managed to get pneumonia.

A very weird day yesterday. I woke up with 101 fever. Even before I called my own doc another doc called me and basically apologized for jumping to the wrong conclusion on a heart scan he gave me, one I was worried about because he'd raised the possibility of surgery because of the way my right ventricle worked. So then I went to see my doc and she checked me out and then sent me to the hospital for blood tests and x rays. I spent four hours there duri...

The Godfather: 'Nobody enjoyed one day of it'

I was talking about mob fiction the other night and, as a few readers pointed out, forgot to comment on The Godfather. What can I say? One and three are masterpieces. There's an excellent article about it in the London Telegraph this morning:



The Godfather: 'Nobody enjoyed one day of it'
Just like the film, the making of 'The Godfather' was an ugly story of fear and dysfunction.

By Philip Horne
Published: 4:29PM BST 22 Sep 2009

At war: fallouts during filming almost ruined 'The Godfather'
'Make h...