You’ve seen the types in movies over the years. Tough relentless men, searching out the truth no matter where it takes them. They walk down the mean streets of New York, Denver, Seattle, and yes, LA. They are untouched by the corruption of society, keeping true to their own private code.
They’re known as Sam Spade, Philip Marlow, Cliff Janeway, Francis Hogan and Arthur Boyle. All men cut from the same bolt of rough cloth.
Goodnight, My Love (1972)(ABC Movie of the Week)
Written & Directed by Peter Hyams
With: Richard Boone as Francis Hogan, a shamus. Michael Dunn as Arthur Boyle, a small shamus. Barbara Bain as Susan Lakely, a tomata.Victor Buono as Julius Limeway, a fatman.
L.A. 1946. These P.I.s are so hardboiled they never remove their fedoras.
So, Hogan and Doyle are a couple of flatfoots down on their luck, an occupational hazard for peepers in them days. They’re relaxing in the office one day trying to scam a citizen into paying for lunch when this tomata breezes in all the time wearing a package all in blond great lookin’ that snaps them to attention under them hats they wear. And does she have a story.
Puts you in mind of Orfamay Quest, Ruth Wonderly or that phony Mrs Evelyn Mulwray. You get the picture. Onlyest she wants the gumshoes to find her missing boyfriend, Michael Tarlow. They suspicion something. I mean, why would he lam it out from this great lookin’ dolly? Is he running from the wrong kind of people, of the type you do not want to be on the bad side of?
They do not trust her, but they do trust her $35 a day. Lunch is waiting to be bought, and charity went out with spats. After lunch, they go to toss his hotel room to discover the aforementioned wrong people are also looking for Tarlow and the big lug Hogan ends up nursin’ a goose-egg on his noggin for his trouble. Them 35 semolians ain’t lookin’ so good now.
Turns out, Tarlow disappeared with 40 large of the wrong people’s money. He is wanted to try on a pair of cement overshoes at the bottom of Santa Monica bay. From then on it’s not what you might expect, but a few bodies remain for the coppers who never do catch on, when they bother to show-up. Nothing changes in 80 years, eh?
Director Hyams does not succumb to the temptation of the small screen to play scenes on close-ups, the bane of most television directors. He keeps his camera nicely involved when it needs to be and carries the narrative along at a good pace, using three of the best actors in the business: Richard Boone, Michael Dunn and Victor Buono. They are a delight even when they just phone it in.
It’s as a writer Peter Hyams really shines. His story is worthy of Chandler or Hammett and his snappy dialogue is a simple joy to the ears of this noir-detective fan. That he chose Richard Boone to deliver those lines is great casting. Bogie could have not done a better job.
You can find this gem on You Tube.
PS: I wish the crowd walla in the nightclub scenes could have been a little less obtrusive. Really my only beef.
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