By 1928, Hammett (Frederic Forrest) is a retired Pinkerton agent, aridly glossing the exploits of his old sidekick Jimmy Ryan as raw material for his magazine stories. But when the real Jimmy Ryan (Peter Boyle) turns up in San Francisco to plunge Hammett into a Chinatown cunundrum of underage hookers, gunsel punk, stag movies, blackmail, murders , he uncovers at first hand outlandish events. As Ryan shows up at Hammett's San Francisco digs searching for a mysterious Chinese girl, Crystal Ling (Lydia Lei) . And Sam ends up enlisting the help of his neighbor, librarian Kit Conger (Marilu Henner), though things go wrong. The mystery writer who lived his own stories ! He Created 'The Maltese Falcon," "Sam Spade" and "The Thin Man". But He Didn't Write This Mystery-Thriller...He Lived It. He Not Only Wrote the Greatest Detective Stories he lived them!
It's 1928 San Francisco, a fictional story centered around real life Dashiell Hammett, here as a Pinkerton agent turned famed noir fiction writer, being mediocrely told in fits and starts. Here Hammett delves into the underworld of San Francisco, as he uncovers the canvas and roles for such subsequent triumphs as The Maltese Falcon, and discovers within himself the seeds of Sam Spade. After many directors and script rewrites, Wenders was assigned by Francis Ford Coppola to this arch neo-noir with atmospheric scenario. Depicting Dashiell solving a complex criminal himself, an experience he uses in his novels. Interesting, but ultimately botched studio exercice, like many others from executive producer Coppola, who is said to have reshot much of the movie. Recently deceased Frederic Forrest incarnates the writer as a rumpled but uncreased Bogart, Boyle is the archetypal Archer-type loser, while the whole cast plays just one beat away from the genre staples their roles would become in print and the films. Big cast with iconic actors and veterans, such as: Elisha Cook, Jr. Roy Kinnear, R. G. Armstrong, Richard Bradford, Sylvia Sidney, David Patrick Kelly, Jack Nance, Royal Dano, Hank Worden and Samuel Fuller.
Adding colorful cinematography by Joseph Biroc, almost entirely studio-shot with evocative production design by Dean Tavoularis and hauntingly scored by John Barry. The motion picture was professional but unevenly directed by Wim Wenders . This great German director Wim Wenders has made thoughtful and thought-provoking films , and he has a peculiar fascination with rare and outlandish roles . He has made various prestigious documentaries , and notorious fiction movies and he even worked in Hollywood . As Francis Ford Coppola, as producer , gave Wenders the chance to direct in America : Hammett (1982) that was a critical and commercial failure . However , his American-made Paris, Texas (1984) (1984) received critical hosannas, wining three awards at Cannes, including the Palme d'Or, and Wenders won a BAFTA for best director. "Paris, Texas" was a prelude to his greatest success , "Wings of Desire"(1987) , which he made back in Germany . The film brought him the best director award at Cannes and was a solid hit, even spawning an egregious Hollywood remake and later on , Wenders himself directed a second part : ¨Faraway, So Close!¨(1993) that won the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes . Wenders followed it up with a critical and commercial flop "Until the End of the World"(1991) . Since the mid-1990s, Wenders has distinguished himself as a non-fiction filmmaker, directing several highly acclaimed documentaries , most notably ¨Buena Vista Social Club¨ (1999) and ¨Pina¨ (2011), both of which brought him Oscar nominations , as well as this The Salt of the Earth (2014). Rating : 6/10 , decent and agreeable film, though slow-moving at times. The flick will appeal to Wim Wenders followers and completists.
It's 1928 San Francisco, a fictional story centered around real life Dashiell Hammett, here as a Pinkerton agent turned famed noir fiction writer, being mediocrely told in fits and starts. Here Hammett delves into the underworld of San Francisco, as he uncovers the canvas and roles for such subsequent triumphs as The Maltese Falcon, and discovers within himself the seeds of Sam Spade. After many directors and script rewrites, Wenders was assigned by Francis Ford Coppola to this arch neo-noir with atmospheric scenario. Depicting Dashiell solving a complex criminal himself, an experience he uses in his novels. Interesting, but ultimately botched studio exercice, like many others from executive producer Coppola, who is said to have reshot much of the movie. Recently deceased Frederic Forrest incarnates the writer as a rumpled but uncreased Bogart, Boyle is the archetypal Archer-type loser, while the whole cast plays just one beat away from the genre staples their roles would become in print and the films. Big cast with iconic actors and veterans, such as: Elisha Cook, Jr. Roy Kinnear, R. G. Armstrong, Richard Bradford, Sylvia Sidney, David Patrick Kelly, Jack Nance, Royal Dano, Hank Worden and Samuel Fuller.
Adding colorful cinematography by Joseph Biroc, almost entirely studio-shot with evocative production design by Dean Tavoularis and hauntingly scored by John Barry. The motion picture was professional but unevenly directed by Wim Wenders . This great German director Wim Wenders has made thoughtful and thought-provoking films , and he has a peculiar fascination with rare and outlandish roles . He has made various prestigious documentaries , and notorious fiction movies and he even worked in Hollywood . As Francis Ford Coppola, as producer , gave Wenders the chance to direct in America : Hammett (1982) that was a critical and commercial failure . However , his American-made Paris, Texas (1984) (1984) received critical hosannas, wining three awards at Cannes, including the Palme d'Or, and Wenders won a BAFTA for best director. "Paris, Texas" was a prelude to his greatest success , "Wings of Desire"(1987) , which he made back in Germany . The film brought him the best director award at Cannes and was a solid hit, even spawning an egregious Hollywood remake and later on , Wenders himself directed a second part : ¨Faraway, So Close!¨(1993) that won the Grand Prize of the Jury at Cannes . Wenders followed it up with a critical and commercial flop "Until the End of the World"(1991) . Since the mid-1990s, Wenders has distinguished himself as a non-fiction filmmaker, directing several highly acclaimed documentaries , most notably ¨Buena Vista Social Club¨ (1999) and ¨Pina¨ (2011), both of which brought him Oscar nominations , as well as this The Salt of the Earth (2014). Rating : 6/10 , decent and agreeable film, though slow-moving at times. The flick will appeal to Wim Wenders followers and completists.