Blues Out

Blues Out
(Pepper)
Art Pepper

Strange Friends

        Jake is isolated, and as such has the power to root out causes and see things as they are, but it limits his power. Only an organized force like the police could take apart Cross's empire, but of course that force is constructed to defend Cross and others like him - to protect property. The small everyday justices are undermined by their selective worldview. Jake and Lou Escobar are set up as doubles and opposites. They worked together in Chinatown, are almost strange friends, but are vitally divergent.

RD Heath (on Chinatown)
New York Times
2002

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Daniel Baxter

And Hoping

          So you take the job and you settle down in the town. And, of course, neither one of 'em is right. They're just like all the others. The job stinks. You stink. And there's not a goddamned thing you can do about it. All you can do is go on like this. Other guys go on. The guy giving haircuts to dogs, and the guy sweeping up horse manure. Hating it. Hating yourself. And hoping.

Jim Thompson
A Hell of a Woman
1954