Noir, etc.

[Vinnie]

Living across the street from Kayo is tight. I try to pop in at least once a weekend (they're only open Th-Sa 11-6)

[Jared]

Living across the street from Kayo is tight. I try to pop in at least once a weekend (they're only open Th-Sa 11-6)

Was pretty bummed that I missed them last time I was in SF.  Stayed around the corner, but we only tried while they were closed.

[I Am Not Marty Feldman]

I refuse to watch that film adaptation of The Killer Inside Me. 

Kayo's smut section is tops.  Wish I'd purchased more.

James M. Cain is underrated.  Currently.   

[ItchyEyeBall]

My three favorite" etc". - Gun Crazy (dir by Lewis), Detour (Ulmer), They Drive By Night (Ray).

I love that quote from Lewis about his direction for Gun Crazy:

I told John, "Your cock's never been so hard," and I told Peggy, "You're a female dog in heat, and you want him. But don't let him have it in a hurry. Keep him waiting." That's exactly how I talked to them and I turned them loose. I didn't have to give them more directions.

[ItchyEyeBall]

On the detective novel side of things, anyone else a big fan of the Hard Case Crime line of books? Some of them suck, like Stephen King's Colorado Kid, but I loved Little Girl Lost by Aleas, Fade to Blonde by Max Phillips, and then all of the reissues of Westlake, Lawrence Block, and that new Ariel S Winter sounds pretty great.

[Richie]

On the detective novel side of things, anyone else a big fan of the Hard Case Crime line of books? Some of them suck, like Stephen King's Colorado Kid, but I loved Little Girl Lost by Aleas, Fade to Blonde by Max Phillips, and then all of the reissues of Westlake, Lawrence Block, and that new Ariel S Winter sounds pretty great.

I subscribed for the first few years. Then bailed when only one of three books was readable. They did a lot of good ones though. A hard-to-find Goodis (Wouned and the Slain), Richard Prather's The Peddler, Wade Miller's Branded Woman (the guy who wrote Touch of Evil), both of the John Lange books and David Dodge too. Little Girl Lost was a good read, I agree. I wasn't a real big fan of the Quarry series which they kept putting out, and some of the modern stuff was too corny (Ken Bruen, the mentioned S. King book or two) but there's a lot of good stuff under the umbrella. I still want to read the "lost" James M. Cain novel.

[Vinnie]

Going to see Gun Crazy on Friday at the Castro. Have only seen it once late at night a couple years ago. Very stoked to see it on the big screen not stoked for Eddie Mueller, the self proclaimed CZAR OF NOIR to introduce it however.

[meshkalina]

Most of the Hard Case I've read is more noir-ish than detective. Overall they have better covers and hype than content. Sometimes there is a good reason even good writers like Block and Westlake have unpublished manuscripts. 

Anyone seen the Stacy Keach "Killer..." from mid-70s. An entertaining mess. Setting changed to Montana.

[Jared]

Only Hard Case I've read was Songs of Innocence, the sequel to Little Girl Lost, and it was excellent.  Came across that Ariel S. Winter book (and the new "lost" James M. Cain) at work recently, and am really intrigued.  Pretty audacious, but the idea of attempting to replicate / pay homage / imitate the styles of three distinct writers / periods* over the course of one story is pretty interesting.


*Simenon / 30s; Chandler / 40s; Thompson / 50s

[meshkalina]

I have the Winter book. Three sections(styles) are very loosely connected. Pretty good.

[NATE K]

My three favorite" etc". - Gun Crazy (dir by Lewis), Detour (Ulmer), They Drive By Night (Ray).

Nicholas Ray made two outstanding noirs in They Live by Night and In a Lonely Place. I saw They Live by Night and On Dangerous Ground several years ago as a double-feature when the Museum of the Moving Image was in exile in Manhattan. This woman got so pissed at me for eating a bag of chips.

[NATE K]

(Also in the same collection: They Shoot Horses, Don't They? and Nightmare Alley, both essential reads.)

Two of my favorites.


I thought the recent film version of Killer Inside Me was visually / aesthetically great, but overall pretty meh.

It was terrible.

[hillside wrangler]

I've never read Simenon. Where should I start? Dirty Snow's been recommended. How about the Maigret books? There's so many of 'em!

[Jared]

I've never read Simenon. Where should I start? Dirty Snow's been recommended. How about the Maigret books? There's so many of 'em!

There's two shelves' worth of Simenon at work.  I'm in the same boat as you, but Dirty Snow and The Man Who Watched Trains Go By seem to be calling my name the loudest.  I don't hear/read many people talking up the Maigret books for some reason.

[I Am Not Marty Feldman]

The Man Who Watched the Trains Go By is good.  I'm reading Red Lights right now.  Also good. 

I own some Maigret volumes, but I've never read 'em -- the concept of a recurring detective seems too cute for me.  His "hard novels" are somewhat unforgiving, in the best sense of the word.  Stark but aloof, as only a Euro could manage.

Hit the bookstore this evening in search of some Alfred Bester and Sebastien Japrisot.  Some guy was blocking my way as I tried to nose through the shelves.  I crane the neck, nope.  He's talking to two folks who'd apparently just attended a reading of some sort.  I focus my eyes and listen to him talk for a moment.  It's Handsome Dick Manitoba.