
Internet Movie Database Movie Reviews
From the novel of the same name by Joe Gores
Mystery writer Dashiell Hammett gets involved with a mystery…
And, well, that’s about all there is to say.
It was Saturday Zoom movie night with Mr. Otter and CoyoteRambles. CR loves noir films and had picked this one.
It was pretty good, for something as self-indulgent as making up a story with a real author as main character (I know, people do it all the time, just not one of my favorite themes). The mystery was fine, as were the actors…the acting and tone of the movie was kind of uneven, and it just didn’t grab me…although I didn’t figure out the ending way ahead of time, which was a nice surprise. Evidently the production was fraught, and a lot of film ended up on the cutting room floor.
Bonus points: in this story, Hammett is helped by his neighbor, a LIBRARIAN.