GUNMAN IN THE STREETS TCM WED.Night 8:00 P.M. ET

GUNMAN IN THE STREETS

Frank Tuttle’s GUNMAN IN THE STREETS is scheduled to air on TCM Wednesday night, 8 p.m. Eastern Time.  Here’s what I wrote about this relatively obscure 1950 crime noir a few years ago in MYSTERY SCENE:

“Filmed by U.S. and British producers in France, the movie begins impressively with a gritty shootout and an almost documentary-style chase through the streets of Paris as racketeer Eddy Robeck (Dane Clark) escapes police custody and enlists the help of his girlfriend Denise (Simone Signoret) to reach the Belgian border.

“The film breaks no new noir ground, playing a bit like Tuttle’s better-known THIS GUN FOR HIRE, minus Alan Ladd and with Clark and Signoret delivering Bogie- and Bacall-style performances, but the direction is crisp, the black-and-white photography handsomely moody.  Fans of ’50 pulp magazines may be tickled to see MANHUNT magazine regular Henry Kane credited as one of the writers who provided ‘additional dialogue’ for the film.”

The occasion of the MYSTERY SCENE review was the release of GUNMAN IN THE STREETS on DVD, in a sharp, restored print, by David Kalat’s All Day Entertainment label.  The DVD is out of print, but copies are available from Amazon and other online sources.  I have a hunch that TCM will air the All Day Entertainment print.

Some related trivia:

I had forgotten (or maybe never knew) that Dane Clark had a long career into the 1980s, including guest roles on series like THE NEW MIKE HAMMER, SIMON & SIMON, and MATT HOUSTON.

Clark and Kane also collaborated on the 1954 radio series, CRIME AND PETER CHAMBERS, based on Kane’s character from the magazines and paperbacks.  The 21 episodes from the series are posted on the web at https://archive.org/details/OTRR_Crime_and_Peter_Chambers_Singles .

Tuttle’s other great classic film noir was the 1935 version of THE GLASS KEY, starring George Raft and Edward Arnold.  Tuttle’s version has been overshadowed by the 1942 remake directed by Stuart Heisler, even to the point that the Heisler version is available on commercial DVD, while Tuttle’s is not, although you can find DVD-R copies on the gray market with a quick Google search.  Tuttle’s version has its own charms, particularly for Raft fans.  Neither film fully captures the bleak, brittle tone of the Hammett novel, each movie offering its own happy ending for protagonist Ned Beaumont.

The great Ken Levine remembers the old days - this one is for duffers

Y, JANUARY 02, 2014

Jobs I Wish I Had

Starting a new feature I’ll do from time to time. “Jobs I Wish I Had.” We all have them. We grow out of most of them, but not all. Secretly, don’t you still wish you could be a ballerina or Navy Seal?

And then there are the jobs you’d love to have but no longer exist. Big band crooner, flapper, Czar of Russia.

Lately the GSN has been showing old black-and-white episodes of I’VE GOT A SECRET and WHAT’S MY LINE? in the middle of the night. (I think contractually they have to play them for so many days a year.) These were old musty game shows from the ‘50s and ‘60s. By today’s standard they are positively archaic. A panel of four personalities must guess the contestants’ job or secret.  That's it.  There was zero production value and if a contestant stumped the panel they won the whopping sum of $50. The shows were aired live (for the east coast anyway). Today they're great fun to watch.

WHAT’S MY LINE? was originally on CBS at (I believe) 10:30 p.m. The panelists all wore tuxedos and formal gowns. The host, John Daly was the most erudite emcee in the history of television. If there are 500,000 words in the English language, he knew and used 469,000 of them – each week. Everyone was very formal. Ms. Francis. Mr. Cerf. Ms. Kilgallen.

When little kids are asked what they want to be when they grow up they’ll often say fireman, or actress, or cowboy, or fashion model. I wanted to be a panelist. And you know what? I still do. Too bad those gigs have gone the way of the 8-Track tape.

Think about it. Sunday night. You go out and have a nice dinner in Manhattan. Roll into CBS at 10:00. Don your tuxedo and get made up. There’s nothing to prepare. You’re not supposed to know what will be on the show. You do the show live at 10:30. You play this parlor game and (in my case) say a few witty lines and get a couple of laughs. At 11:00 you’re done. No pick ups. No alternate takes.   By 11:15 you’re in a bar. For this you are handsomely paid, you’re famous, and these shows lasted upwards of fifteen years. You have job security.

You parlay this into appearing on other panels. Ka-ching!! You trade on your fame and write books (or have others ghost write them for you), speak at events for absurd fees, score lucrative commercial endorsements (“Hi, this is Ken Levine for Studerbaker!”), and be invited to all the A-list society parties. Judy Garland could pass out in my lap. 

I was always amused when one of these panelists missed a show because he was on vacation. Vacation from WHAT? A half-hour a week?

There are very few panelist opportunities today. The Red Eye overnight show on FOX NEWS and I’d love to do that program. Bill Maher’s HBO show, Chelsea Handler’s E! show – these are two others. But slim pickings for sure. What few celebrity game shows there are require you must be a has-been from some ‘70s sitcom. Rarely does the casting call go out for never-beens. So I’m at a distinct disadvantage there.

But that’s one of the jobs I wish I had had. What about you? What’s Your Fantasy Line?

p.s.

Another perk of being a panelist is you can plug your book. Available on Kindle for $2.99. Without that forum how will I ever plug mine?

On The Loose by Andrew Coburn

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2005

ON THE LOOSE

Andrew Coburn



I've been saying for years that the single most neglected major crime fiction writer in the United States is Andrew Coburn. And here he is with a new novel to prove me right again.

I've spent two days trying to think of a tidy way to describe On The Loose (Leisure,$6.99) and thus far my best shot is to imagine a collaboration between John D. MacDonald Ruth Rendell. MacDonald for the page-turning excitement of following the most unique serial killer since The Bad Seed and Rendell for some of the quirkiest characters outside several of her own masterpieces.

Coburn is a profoundly American writer as he demonstrates in this novel that spans slightly more than a decade in the life of a small New England town. The storyline never lets you go. The murders are committed by one of the mostly stunningly enigmatic killers in mystery fiction. He is barely ten the first time he strikes. He is not much older the second time. The killings are what propel the storyline.

But Coburn's sense of the town and the lives of his people are what give the book the depth and range of a true novel. He does what Hitchcock did in Shadow of a Doubt--takes a story that has a death-grip on its readers and then walk thems around the lives and town that surround the killer. The fading beauty lost to excess weight and clinical depression; the police chief who believes he is beyond passion only to find it again and risk being crushed by it; the man dying of AIDs and the woman who befriends him; the divide between rich and poor that belittles both sides.

And the writing itself. Coburn plays all the instruments in the orchestra for this book which is, by turns, lyrical, funny, solemn, sarcastic, violent, terrifying and human in a way page-turners rarely are.

It's time for Andrew Coburn to be recognized for the master stylist and storyteller extraordinaire he has been for more than two decades now. On The Run--and everybody in the book really is running from something--proves that he gets better with each new novel.

NEW FROM HAFFNER PRESS: CAPTAIN FUTURE, EDMOND HAMILTON

    

The Collected Captain Future, Volume Three

Edmond Hamilton

Edited by Stephen Haffner
Introduction by Chuck Juzek
Cover Art by Earle K. Bergey
Illustrated by H.W. "Wesso" Wessolowski

ISBN-13 978-1-893887-74-9
600+ page Hardcover

$40.00

Jumpin’ Jungle Cat of Jupiter! It’s another mega-collection of four complete novels of the “Man of Tomorrow,” the “Wizard of Science,” the protector of the Solar System and a menace to evil-doers throughout the universe: CAPTAIN FUTURE!

Now that Captain Future (aka Dr. Curtis Newton) and the Futuremen (Grag the robot; Otho the Android; and Simon Wright, the Living Brain) have traveled through time in the final story of Volume Two (See “The Lost World of Time”), can an adventure beyond the Solar System be far behind?  Most assuredly not! The Futuremen board their trusty space-vessel, The Comet, and blast-off for adventure in QUEST BEYOND THE STARS! But that’s not all the dangers our intrepid defenders will face in VOLUME THREE. Up next is OUTLAWS ON THE MOON! When the peoples of the Solar System believe the Futuremen to be dead, what better time for the emissaries of villainy to attempt to break in to Captain Future’s Secret Moon Base.  Following that nail-biting saga, is arguably the finest of the CAPTAIN FUTURE novels: THE COMET KINGS. Here, author Hamilton pulls out all the stops as the Futuremen combat forces from within Halley’s Comet!  In the final story of this volume, PLANETS IN PERIL, the Futuremen face forces from another dimension that threaten to enslave our entire universe!

As with the previous two volumes of THE COLLECTED CAPTAIN FUTURE, “Under Observation,” the CAPTAIN FUTURE letters column is reprinted, and the original pulp covers and interior illustrations are reproduced in a generous appendix.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction by Chuck Juzek 
"Under Observation" - The Captain Future Letters Column 
Quest Beyond the Stars  (Captain Future, Win ’42) 
Outlaws on the Moon  (Captain Future, Spr ’42) 
The Comet Kings  (Captain Future, Sum ’42) 
Planets in Peril  (Captain Future, Fll ’42) 
"The Future of Captain Future" Appendix of original interior artwork - See more at: http://www.haffnerpress.com/book/the-collected-captain-future-volume-three/#sthash.6JlqZYZK.dpuf

    

The Reign of the Robots, The Collected Edmond Hamilton, Volume Four

Edmond Hamilton

Introduction by Mike Ashley
Cover Art by Frank R. Paul
Illustrated by Frank R. Paul, H.W. "Wesso" Wessolowski, Hugh Rankin, Joseph Doolin, Leo Morey

ISBN-13 978-1-893887-65-7
600+ page Hardcover

$40.00

Following 2011′s THE UNIVERSE WRECKERS, THE COLLECTED EDMOND HAMILTON, VOLUME THREE, Haffner Press keeps pouring gasoline on the fire as we announce the next volume(s) of collected stories from one of the godfathers of Space Opera.

THE REIGN OF THE ROBOTS, THE COLLECTED EDMOND HAMILTON, VOLUME FOUR is certainly worth your coppers as herewith are contained no fewer than 10 unreprinted stories from WEIRD TALES and/or WONDER STORIES. Alongside these soon-to-be-presented wonders, you’ll find some of Hamilton’s classic works such as “The Man Who Evolved” and “A Conquest of Two Worlds”

Noted scholar and editor, Mike Ashley handles the introduction for this mighty tome.

As with previous volumes in this series, an appendix showcasing the original pulp magazine illustrations also bulks large with obscura including reader’s letters from the vintage magazines commenting on these stories, along with editorial correspondence between Hamilton and his editors.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

"The Man Who Saved Science Fiction" by Mike Ashley "The Man Who Saw the Future"  (Amazing Stories, Oct ’30) "The Mind-Master"  (Weird Tales, Oct ’30) "The Horror City"  (Weird Tales, Feb/Mar ’31) "The Man Who Evolved"  (Wonder Stories, Apr ’31) "Monsters of Mars"  (Astounding Stories, Apr ’31 "Ten Million Years Ahead"  (Weird Tales, Apr/May ’31) "The Earth-Owners"  (Weird Tales, Aug ’31) "The Sargasso of Space"  (Astounding Stories, Sep ’31) "The Shot From Saturn"  (Weird Tales, Oct ’31) "Creatures of the Comet"  (Weird Tales, Dec ’31) "The Reign of the Robots"  (Wonder Stories, Dec ’31) "Dead Legs"  (Strange Tales of Mystery and Terror, Jan ’32) "A Conquest of Two Worlds" (Wonder Stories, Feb ’32) "The Earth-Brain"  (Weird Tales, Apr ’32) "The Terror Planet"  (Weird Tales, May ’32) "Space-Rocket Murders"  (Amazing Stories, Oct ’32) "Vampire Village"  (Weird Tales, Nov '32) "The Man Who Conquered Age"  (Weird Tales Dec ’32) Appendix - See more at: http://www.haffnerpress.com/book/the-reign-of-the-robots-the-collected-edmond-hamilton-volume-four/#sthash.KHWD3iqN.dpuf http://www.haffnerpress.com/book/the-reign-of-the-robots-the-collected-edmond-hamilton-volume-four/#sthash.lijj8Vuc.dpuf

32 Years Ago Today This Wonderful Woman Married Me

Western Noir: VENDETTA by Ed Gorman now available in e book only $2.99

Goodreads:

Best known for his novels of mystery and suspense, Ed Gorman is also a practiced Spur Award winning writer of westerns, in both novel and short story form. "Simply one of the best western writers of our time," said the ROCKY MOUNTAIN NEWS. "Gorman turns the western genre on its ear much like the western writing of Elmore Leonard," wrote BOOKGASM. "Ed Gorman's western stories are anything but ordinary. They often take place in lonely, tragic, mythical landscapes," noted GOODREADS. "Western noir...and Gorman's certainly the best at it," declared SOMEBODY DIES.

VENDETTA by Ed Gorman

from  Gravetapping

Ed Gorman wrote no fewer than 10 western novels for Berkley between 1999 and 2006.  The Berkley titles are among Mr Gorman’s best western novels, and, like all of his westerns, each is as much a mystery as a western.  I recently read his novelVendetta, which was originally published by Berkley in 2002 and recently released as an ebook by Rough Edges Press.

Vendetta is an off kilter revenge novel; off kilter because it moves in unusual and unexpected ways (i. e. it isn’t necessarily a gun down and it is character rather than action driven).  Joan Grieves’ father, Noah, is killed in a Dryden, Colorado bank by a man named Tom Rattigan.  Noah Grieves was a wash out; he failed at ranching and mining, and when Rattigan offered him a job he took it.  Unfortunately the paycheck came with a frame for embezzlement, and when Noah is released from prison he wants his pound of flesh.

Noah’s death is the beginning, but the story is more about Joan Grieves—her journey for revenge—her surrogate parent Father Pete Madsen (who is the closest thing to a protagonist the story has), Tom Rattigan, Dryden’s police chief Walter Petty and Walter’s wife Caroline.  In the end, the story is more about betrayal than revenge and it is difficult to separate the good from the bad.

Vendetta is a beautifully complicated novel hiding in the skin of simplicity.  The surface story—a father and then daughter seeking revenge—is simple, but the details, the unravelling of a town’s secrets and the exposure of the characters’ strengths and, more often, weaknesses is complicated and insightful.  None of the characters are wholly bad, and none are wholly good.  As an example one of the “bad” characters has a daughter with a port-wine stain birth mark on her face, and the love and sympathy he displays for his child is remarkable.

The fun of the story is the revelation of who actually is the antagonist; basically the most miserable deceitful bastard in town (and it is something of a surprise when he is revealed).  It is a race to the worst, but the characters’ motives are never dark and murky and are always explained and believable.  This isn’t to say it is a dark story, but instead it is a story about human weakness, and more importantly redemption.  

There is also an interesting piece of vintage slang in the novel.  A madam refers to an abortionist as a “female physician”—“She run up against a female physician who didn’t know what the hell she was doin’ is what’s wrong with her.”  I researched the term, and discovered it was widely used in the 19^th Century to describe female abortionists with no formal training.