HAMMETT (1982) – Directed by Wim Wenders and produced by Francis Ford Coppola’s Zoetrope Studios, Hammett is a criminally neglected valentine to Hard-Boiled Detective Stories and Film Noir. The flick is based on the novel by Joe Gores.
The stories about the behind the scenes chaos and conflicts surrounding the production of this movie are legion. Pre-production work began in 1975 and by the time it was released in 1982 multiple cast and story changes had taken place and Coppola himself re-shot more than a third of the film.
In the way that Time After Time presented a whimsical “what if” adventure featuring H.G. Wells having a real time machine, Hammett serves up iconic detective novelist Dashiell Hammett getting caught up in solving a real-life mystery.
The timing is excellent, with the story being set in the late 1920s, after Hammett was no longer working for the Pinkerton Detective Agency but before he became a successful author. The tale begins with our hero – played by Frederic Forrest – typing out one of his penny-a-word Pulp stories for Black Mask Magazine, which was to detective fiction what Weird Tales was to horror and sci-fi.
Booze and coughing fits figure prominently in the movie, as you would expect given a protagonist who was an alcoholic with tuberculosis. For the sake of convenience the story that Hammett just finished before blacking out was one featuring his character the Continental Op (as in an operative for the fictional Continental Detective Agency).
Hammett awakens to find his most recent work being read by Jimmy Ryan (Peter Boyle), his old mentor from his Pinkerton days. Ryan jokes with “Sam” (Samuel Dashiell Hammett was his full name if you’re new to all things Hammett) that the “man with no name” in the story seems to be based on him (Ryan) and the way he operates.
Eventually Jimmy gets to the point: he saved Hammett’s life when our hero was new at detective work, and Ryan is finally calling in the debt that Sam owes him for that. The former colleague thus lures Hammett back into detective work for one last case. Continue reading
Scream Factory has announced that on September 11th it will be releasing its edition of the 1990 cult movie Brain Dead, with Bill Pullman and Bill Paxton. 
Roughly 12 years ago writer Phelim McAleer moved to the U.S. from Europe and learned that many European assumptions about the country are just plain wrong. That was especially true when it came to the overseas image of America’s political left compared to the ugly reality of what they’ve become in recent decades. 
“One of the first things I learned when I came to America was that American Progressives don’t much believe in progress. In fact they are among the most conservative – even regressive – people I know.” 
ERSKINE COLLEGE 
GENEVA COLLEGE 
THE AVENGERS Volume One, Number 97 (May 1972) 
Synopsis: We pick up right where we left off: Rick Jones has just been transported back into the Negative Zone, the buffer dimension between the Matter Universe and the Anti-Matter Universe. He is being attacked by Annihilus, the Lord of the Negative Zone, who wants revenge on Rick for the way the Avengers prevented him from invading Earth back in Part One. 
NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics) 
NCCAA (National Christian College Athletic Association)
Recently Balladeer’s Blog had another posthumous interview with Mary Harris Jones aka “Mother” Jones. Despite passing away in 1930 Mother Jones told me she is still a devoted fan of de facto Third Party President Donald Trump. As usual I tried to rein in her enthusiasm for the Donald during the following interview but Mother Jones is a strong female character and is very empowered so she simply would not be denied. I know, right? 
MOTHER JONES: And don’t forget I compared him to the character Richard Channing on the old soap opera Falcon Crest. 
BB: The past few years have certainly been shocking. Many have pointed out what an unlikely hero President Trump has turned out to be for the working class AND for all of us Third Party people who have been longing for attempted reforms to the Washington D.C. Swamp. 
*** And here’s yet ANOTHER figure of color praising President Trump and encouraging more African Americans to recognize that he has done more for them than the Democrats have in decades. Click 
CHAMPIONSHIP GAME – It took THIRTEEN INNINGS for a champion to be crowned in NJCAA3. The two teams competing were the 4th seeded OAKTON COLLEGE OWLS and the 3 seeds – the 4-time defending champion TYLER COLLEGE APACHES. 
THE AVENGERS Volume One, Number 96 (February 1972) 
THE ANDROMEDA SWARM 
Anyway, Thor, Iron Man, Captain America, Goliath and the Vision board the ship, named Bogie, in honor of Humphrey Bogart. (?) With Thor’s hammer serving as the nearly infinite power source for the spacecraft – just like it could have for a craft built in Attilan – the Avengers fly off. 
Balladeer's Blog 