Hardboiled Icons

Dick Powell as Marlowe

Rod Taylor as McGee

          It would be interesting to hear what opinion everyone has on the rumours about the new big-screen portrayals of the iconic figures of Phillip Marlowe, Travis McGee and Parker in comparison to those attempted in the past.

            The actors lined up for the roles are said to be Di Caprio for McGee, Clive Allen for Marlowe and Jason Statham for Paker.
                                                                                            
                                                    Marvin as Parker

Roy DeCarava

          In the old days we used to like blues. And i still do. But now the kids don't lean on the piano no more unless the piano is playing off-time.

The Sweet Flypaper

Langston Hughes   Roy DeCarava

1955

Heart of Saturday Night

                                            Well these diamonds on my windshield
                                            And these tears from heaven
                                            Well i'm pulling into town on the interstate
                                            Got a steel train in the rain                                               
                                            And the wind bites thru the wing
                                            And it's these late nights and this freeway flying
                                            It always makes me sing

                                           And the radio's gone off the air 
                                           Gives you time to think
                                           And you hear the rumble
                                           As you fumble for a cigarette
                                           And blazing thru this midnight jungle
                                           Remember someone that you met

Tom Waits
Diamonds on my Windshield
1974

Matthew Scudder

          I don't know about the rest of the country but in New York more people have achieved anonymity from rent control than ever discovered it in a twelve -step program.

Lawrence Block

https://thrillingdetective.wordpress.com/2019/01/14/matt-scudder/

The Hustler

         ..................... when the overhead fans were turned on and when Gordon the manager would play music on his radio, then the room would adopt the quality that is peculiar to the daytime life of those places which are only genuinely alive at night - the mid-morning quality of nightclubs or bars and of poolrooms everywhere- the big nearly empty room echoing the shuffling of a few feet, the occassional clinking of glass or of metal, the sounds of brooms, of wet rags, of pieces of furniture being moved around and the half-real music that comes from radios.

The Hustler
Walter Tevis  1959

Strangers on a Night Train

      The train, abandoned railroad station and long isolated tracks became distinctly American symbols used in the classic Film Noir as well as in Hardboiled fiction and gritty Noirish movies in general.
                                                    Strangers on a Train

Taking of Pelham 123

Narrow Margin

L'Homme du Train

Sleeping Car Murders

House of Bamboo

The Getaway

Get Carter

      The train tore along with angry irregular rhythm. It was having to stop at smaller and more frequent stations where it would wait impatiently for a moment , then attack the prairie again. But progress was imperceptible. The prairie only undulated like a vast pink-tan blanket being casually shaken.

Strangers on a Train

Patricia Highsmith

1950 

Le Cercle Rouge

Berlin Express

Charlotte Gray

Compartment C- Edward Hopper

Secrets in their Eyes

Brief Encounter

Bad Day at Black Rock

Double Indemnity

Vanishing Point

Night train

Bete Humaine

The Conformist

It Always Rains on Sunday