Jinx

Great noir comic book by Brian Michael Bendis about bounty hunter Jinx and her encounter with petty criminal and his pal. She believes that he killed a cop but it was instead his girlfriend, and, confiding in one another, she tells him her own little secret, how she killed her childhood friend while he was attempting to pull a robbery in drugstore. By chance this criminal and his pal crash into automobile and dying man tells them about hidden stash of money if they help him to get to an ambulance. And when they finally arrive at car dump site and find the money they are ambushed by criminal ex-girlfriend with her goons, kill his partner and leave some cash to him and Jinx. Story is very good and dialogue feels natural and very much alive, and artwork is great with those almost photographic images of city streets, buildings, coupled with striking black and white close ups of faces and people.

Laura, Shadows Of A Summer (1979)

Very romantic and cool movie by famous photographer David Hamilton. Sculptor falls in love with daughter of her former girlfriend, ballet dancer as he sees her coming out of the seaside. Her mother takes nude photos of her for the sculptor but in the exhibition fire emerges and sculptor loses his eyesight. But nevertheless he manages to make love to her and finish her statue. There is perfect black and white sequence while ballet dancer dreams about him (great performance by Dawn Dunlop). Movie is full of great music and whatever can be said of David Hamilton, he was good artist and shouldn't be judged by his private affairs.

L'immoralità (1978)

Weird movie about sadistic child killer who finds sanctuary in house occupied by paraplegic husband, his adulterous wife and their daughter. Strange family, and as he hides in barn, police around the countryside are looking for him, but he soon befriends kids mother and beds her, thus gaining trust in her to not give him away. In the meantime killer on the run and frustrated wife contrive to kill her husband and take his money. Little daughter, perhaps only one innocent of them all, who helped the killer to hide, overheard that all and going to town to buy bullets for her father steals revolver from the gun shop. As the police grow more impatient with every minute, chief detective comes into the house and fucks with the adulterous mother while her husband dies of heart attack. Little kid, seeing them through the keyhole, opens up the door, kill the cop and then her mother. Finally she goes away from the house with the criminal and while he enters big bird cage in the open, shuts him up and kills him too. Beautifully shot movie with excellent score by Ennio Morricone. 

Death Occurred Last Night (1970)

Interesting spaghetti crime movie about killing of a prostitute and investigation by misogynistic police detectives who track down pimps, junkies and prostitutes. However, incompetent as they are, it took dead girl's father to find the killer who was living in the same house he was living in.

The Day Of The Owl (1968)

Adaptation of Leonardo Scascia novel, The Day Of The Owl takes place in Sicillian town where some truck driver is killed by the mafia. Local carabinieri is set to investigate the matter, but finds himself in tough spot when no one is revealing any information to him, and across his office in broad daylight group of gangsters are smiling at his perilous efforts. After awhile he is discarded from the investigation and replaced by more tolerant carabinieri. Damiano Damiani made a good movie from source material, and performance by Claudia Cardinale is very good. Maybe Scascia was right about mafia as anomie, when people are not even interested who's in power and what their ideals are.

Peter Rabe - Anatomy Of A Killer

Above average crime novel about unstable hitman working for the organization. When he goes to town on a job to kill retired gangster, he encounters waitress in a diner and falls in love with her and casing the place finds where target lives together with his bodyguard. Hitman pretends to be travelling salesman, but bodyguard see through him and attempt to kill him, but he get killed instead. Unfortunately, he fucks up the job with the gangster, believing he killed him, only later to find out that he's still alive, although in a coma, as he is informed at the meeting of the organization. His colleague Sandy and boss Meyer tells him that waitress is potential risk, and in his split personality decides to cling to poor girl, killing Sandy and giving his blood money to waitress to get out of town. Unfortunately, that is the end for him, as soon three killers closes on him and kill him. Very cold novel, with almost no human emotion in all characters, but at the same time somehow poetic.

Lionel White - Grave Undertaking

Lionel White was famous for his heist crime novels and their formula is always the same, just the details are different. Crooks plan to rob a bank, devise an elaborate plan for it, but something goes wrong and in in the end they kill each other because of the money, before police catch up with them. So it is with this novel where desperate undertaker teams up with two criminals, one of them a maniac, and a slut. They use dead alcoholic for their plan but his daughter turns up to find him so they abduct her. Two important movies were made based upon White's novels, The Killing (1956) and Night Of The Following Day (1969).

E.X. Ferrars - Murder Among Friends

Coldest crime novel that I read so far, and in all those disgusting things people do to each other, my faith in humanity have become shattered, and I sincerely believe that this woman hated people. Sucessfull author of plays got killed in at party of his friends, and every one of them had some motive for killing him, because he was in no means innocent soul, driving his wife to suicide, and as it turns out, for everyone involved he had some intimate relationships. I can't stop thinking of myself as some poor wretched old lady who is deeply interested in despicable things people do to each other. Why was he killed by poker? From the beggining she is sentenced to death, and by sheer force Alice, an outsider to their affairs, is driven by some curiosity to find the culprit. And she finds her, a neurotic old lady who was jealous of accused girlfriend and in her twisted sick mind manages to kill poor man and put the blame on her, but her guilty conscience overwhelms her and eventually she kills herself by drinking a full bottle of barbiturates.

Backfire (1950)

Curious little B-film noir about patient in hospital who is recovering from back injury until some strange woman comes into his bedroom into hospital, rambling some nonsense. Soon after he is released police track him down about dissapearence of his friend who is accused of murder. After some investigations ex-patient is increasingly taken into twilight world where he can't dinstinguish reality from dreams, and in febrile atmosphere sense of unreality overwhelms him. Truck load of flash backs and fast forwards run through this odd piece of movie making, and there are some profoundly melancholy images that all good film noirs are well known for. But as it always happen, some very trivial things underlines all that, and that is pathological jealousy.

One Way Street (1950)

Another B-film noir which doesn't have much sense to it, but then again, which one have? Doctor (good role by James Mason) suddenly got involved with a band of thugs and stealing their money goes to Mexico with his girlfriend. Mean the while, Mobster (good role by Dan Dureya) and his cronies are pacing up and down in a hotel room, finding a way to track Doctor down while he is hiding in some god-forsaken village deep down in Mexico. Eventually after joyfull experience in mexican village, curing all those degenerate Mexicans, he decides to return to his hometown and set things straight. In a shootout everyone is killed, but Doctor remains alive, just to be killed by oncoming automobile. Nobody in this movie is innocent about anything, and some cynic would say they're bunch of people cut out from the rest of humanity, in other words, human garbage.

Jonny Stool Pidgeon (1949)

Minor B film noir about narcotics agent trying to expose drug smuggling ring with the help of convict (good role by Dan Dureya). Of course, by the very title of the movie, we can assume that Jonny Stool Pidgeon is in for a bad threat, from the moment he encounters narcotics agent in prison, and in brilliant scene where he enters into mortuary to find his son dead from a drug overdose. From that point things go downhill for Jonny, as the drug peddlers are closing in on them, sending cold-blooded killer to kill them. However, in some desperate attempt to save his soul Jonny Stool Pidgeon kills the hitman to save narcotics agent, but in the end he got killed instead. There is one particular memorable set piece when mobsters are digging a grave for Jonny only to realize it was their own hitman who must be burried. Someone may think if you watched a couple of these kind of movies you've seen them all, but it is in detail and and craftmanship that they never got old.

Albino Alligator (1996)

Famous boy lover, Kevin Spacey, apart from being a good actor, made one good movie. It revolves around group of thugs who, trying to steal money from some place, chased by the police, seek hideout in bar and eventually take siege of it. But they are also very quickly surrounded by the police. Then trouble begins. Matt Dillon, in his usual role, act crazy, but so are all the others. And after long night strange thing happens : one of the prisoners in the bar, taken as a hostage, knows something about one criminal. And he knows something about her too. So they make a deal. And when they all come out, news reporter asks thug, Matt Dillon, how it feels to be a hero? 

Diego Gambetta - Codes Of The Underworld

Diego Gambetta, sociologist and one of the authority on the subject of Sicilian Mafia, who moved to United States to teach at Princeton University, since in his homeland he would probably get killed or fired, tells us in this great book how criminals, who by their very nature are accustomed to dumping and cheating each other, form trust in each other. Well, as he explains, they always find a way, or they get things done. Either by using violence as capital, or money, or dependence on others, or incompetence, this book covers numerous examples all around the globe, from American-Italian mafia, to Russian mafia, to Yakuzas, and even to some obscure places. One interesting thing he wrote appealed to me, when he wrote about Russian prisons and behaviour of inmates. One Russian prisoner said : We don't need to watch American gangster movies. We have that right here. And one other anecdote is very funny, even if it isn't true : some Italian mafiosi claimed they have nine bars of uranium and are willing to sell them. Of course, Italian police overheard this, and at the meeting place, when the exchange was about to happen, mafiosi didn't brought nothing. Then, one yakuza tells : if you have even half the brain, you wouldn't join yakuzas at all. Much of the book is centered about famous undercover agent, Joe Pistone, who infiltrated Boston mafia, and by researching this he developed theory of signalling. For example, someone could put a paper with skull before your door, and other examples. Then there is part about mimicry, how successful it is, and in what circumstances. One part is dedicated to life in prison, why inmates are forced to fight and is very insightful. Second part is about meaning of tattoos and scars on one's body, then there are insightful chapter about meaning of nicknames. Lastly there are chapters about how art imitates low life and vice versa how low life imitates art. One part that struck me is Gambetta claim that most, if not all mafiosi, or shall I put it, pentitos, meaning mafiosi who are in prisons, tell what they know to the police. Book is also chokeful of examples from crime fiction and therefore for lovers of crime fiction this should be an interesting read.

Salvatore Giuliano (1962)

 

In this movie shot in poor Neo-Realist style we can follow adventure of bandit and scum called Salvatore Giuliano, who worked with Sicilian Mafia and with the government, and his death and cover-up of it by corrupted Italian state. Movie is bit annoying with all those Italian peasants and their cows and mountains, but it has some charm to it.

John Dickie - Cosa Nostra - History Of The Sicilian Mafia

In this horrible book we can see hundred years of wretched Italian history, full of incompetence, corruption, corroboration with the Sicilian Mafia and many other insidious activities. Of course, it took English author to enlighten us about state and mafia relations in Italy, but whatever. Every chapter sounds like some murder mystery, but in the most darkest and funny way. Book is very rich with photographs of Italian mafiosi, and one can't help showering after reading it. Of course, if Judge Falcone didn't dig too much, he wouldn't be sent to pieces like that, but it is on his own conscience to ruminate about. And one thing comes to mind and that is, as Lucky Luciano once said : We Italians aren't human.

Nicolas Freeling - Gun Before Butter

Dutch detective Van Der Valk after brief encounter with young girl whose father had died in a car crash stumbles upon deserted white Mercedes with open door and a key in lock. Curious about that, he crosses the street and enters into house where he finds dead body. Nothing whatsoever points to dead man's identity, nor there are any clues in the house. After some investigation he finds that house was rented from some baron. Then he find dead man's name and also that he was spending time in some cottage up the hills. But again no clue comes to what this man was or who killed him. So he decides to cross the border to Germany where he find that he was a smuggler. He was smuggling butter. And he was living in Belgium under another name. So, Van Der Valk thinks, this man had two identities, one in Holland and another in Belgium. He finds his wife who runs a hotel in Brussels but she proves too hard nut to crack. Eventually it comes to light that this man assumed identity of a dead man, who died in Germany during the war, and therefore he was free of his Belgium identity, free to smuggle butter in Holland. He was a criminal. But his mistake was falling in love with a silly girl, girl who worked as a mechanic in an automobile repair shop. The same girl Van Der Valk encountered when her father died in a car crash. She found about his wife, and madly jealous, went to the house in Mercedes and knifed him, as she later told to Van Der Valk. He tried to confort her, telling her he was a criminal, and let her go free. Very good crime novel, and somewhat exotic, being set in Holland and Belgium.

Colin Watson - Bump In The Night

Some may argue if women or men are better crime writers, but it sure is true that England had made killing a sport of their own. Which is certainly true in this off-beat, humoresque and almost parodic crime novel set in some village full of creeps and freaks, in which explosion after explosion happens, often on some public monument and nobody knows who done it or why. But however misanthropic and funny this novel seems to be, in the end, where criminal is found, true tragedy uncovers.

Dorothy Unhak - The Investigation

Who killed Kitty Keeler's two sons in the dead of night and dumped them in nearby park? That is the question for police department to decide. While detectives are fighting over positions in the police hierarchy, one man genuinely tries to solve the case and help poor mother, and in the process become infatuated with her. However, as it turns out, Kitty Keeler is not the woman she seems to be. Superficially cold, inside warm, no one knows what she is or what she is thinking. Many factors are involved in the case, for instance Kitty's involvement with underworld figures, curious acting of her husband, relentless assault by detectives on Kitty, unscrupulous lawyer, manipulation of events, time of death, phone calls in the middle of the night, shameless journalist, all that which doesn't need to surprise unlike in other crime novels because Dorothy Unhak herself was a cop, and at the end of her career died of drug overdose, which is rather less painful than other suicides in police profession. Good crime novel, but maybe too long.

Maigret (2022)

So little movies have been made about famous detective created by Georges Simenon, that this one is actually worth watching if you are desperate for old school detective movies. Gerard Depardieu makes good performance and somehow catches the spirit of Maigret, in this tale of murder of aspiring actress. Maigret often leaves culprits alone, and is non-judgmental character. However he has keen eye and is disgusted by prudity and hypocrisy. In brilliant scene where one of dead girl neighbour shows dressed like the dead girl murderers are terrified, not knowing what to say, since they killed her. However Maigret leaves them alone with their guilty conscience and in the end say goodbye to his helper who leaves on the train.

Exposed (1983)

Poor Nastassja Kinski leaves her home and comes to New York only to be robbed of her little cash she had. So to pay her rent in run down motel she has to work as a waitress. There she encounters mysterious figure who seduces her and make her a model for fashion magazines. But as it turns out it was only a trap for her to become involved with a terrorist group. Movie itself doesn't have much sense, but is interesting and not too long.

John Creasey - Gideon's March

In London, that criminal hell hole, a Visit is expected by presidents of United States, France and Germany. So Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard, Gideon, has many problems on his hands to deal with in forthcoming weeks. From keeping local criminals from Manchester, Liverpool and other towns in control, and at the same time solving the death of troublesome young girl. But in meantime curious character prepares attack on the president of France for his own personal reasons which would prove fatal in the end. All in all, interesting police procedural with funny characters.

The Breaking Point - Mary Roberts Rinehart

Dick Livingstone lives happily with his brother David and is in love with Elizabeth. But something about his past disturbs him, and he soon finds out that he isn't the man he thought, but quite another, and sinister one at that. Long ago, he lived as Judson Clark, who was in love with singer named Beverly Carlysle. There was some quarrel between Judson Clark and some man over Beverly and in the process he killed the man. So to escape conviction David changed his identity and made him into another person, general practitioner Dick Livingstone. But Dick/Judson had to go through that again, and find Beverly Carlysle. After much trouble and abandoning poor Elizabeth he eventually finds Beverly but realizes that bringing up the subject again would only cause trouble for Beverly, and he returns as a free man to find peace and happiness with Elizabeth. Whole story is somewhat reminiscent of Bible, as all good crime novels are, and is very atmospheric, especially in Dicks effort to find his former self. But than again, it is too long and reader gradually loses interest in the story. Modern reader may find it old fashioned and too rosy, but it was enjoyable read for me in this cynical times.