tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8762075.post6673123244468826426..comments2024-03-27T13:28:50.405-07:00Comments on Alienated in Vancouver: Brent Butt introduces Miller's Crossing TuesdayAllan MacInnishttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05394301776870727673noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8762075.post-30059248332903034182009-03-06T23:06:00.000-08:002009-03-06T23:06:00.000-08:00Just glanced at Something to Do with Death -- actu...Just glanced at <I>Something to Do with Death</I> -- actually, Leone's associating <I>Yojimbo</I> with <I>Red Harvest</I> comes in a different passage from the bit discussing the legal shenanigans.... apparently he & the film company commissioned someone to find ANY halfway plausible Italian source for both <I>Yojimbo</I> and <I>Fistful</I> and the result was the claim that Kurosawa nicked his plot from.... Goldoni!ndhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12087777428126727780noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8762075.post-10570728272362616472009-03-05T08:31:00.000-08:002009-03-05T08:31:00.000-08:00Hm. Okay, I will seek out SOMETHING TO DO WITH DEA...Hm. Okay, I will seek out SOMETHING TO DO WITH DEATH! Thanks - as I say, I have not actually read RED HARVEST, was repeating something someone else told me. I actually missed the MILLER'S CROSSING screening the other day - I woke up from a nap and didn't feel like hurrying - so I could use a memory refresher myself here, but I think the similarities between MILLER'S CROSSING and Hammett's work run a little deeper than you suggest; THE GLASS KEY has the whole idea of the trusted friend sleeping with the boss' wife, while "going underground" to save him from his folly, as I recall (though it plays out a bit differently); the scene where Tom is beaten up is very similar to one in that book; there are some character names that I seem to recall are the same - and so forth. It still all may be overt homage/pastiche, but it gets to where an "inspired by the works of Dashiell Hammett" would have been a fitting thing to put on the screen; I certainly would have valued them as a teenager, since I would probably have started on Hammett earlier than I did! <BR/><BR/>Oddly, their "smirks" don't bother me so much in this film... <BR/><BR/>Thanks for the comment. Nice to know there are film buffs looking in on this blog...<BR/><BR/>A.Allan MacInnishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05394301776870727673noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8762075.post-11909827836604522322009-03-05T01:06:00.000-08:002009-03-05T01:06:00.000-08:00Is Yojimbo really particularly close to Red Harves...Is <I>Yojimbo</I> really particularly close to <I>Red Harvest</I>? Beyond the general fact that it involves someone who blows into town, discovers that the place is a powderkeg of warring criminal factions, & decides to set them at each others' throats. -- My recollection is that the <I>Yojimbo-Red Harvest</I> connection was made primarily by Leone & his film company in order to muddy the legal waters of the otherwise open & shut case that <I>Fistful</I> was a ripoff of Kurosawa's film (the Italians had neglected to secure the rights). See Frayling's discussion in <I>Something to Do With Death</I> (which I may be misrepresenting somewhat--this is from memory).<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, the Coens' film models particular scenes on Hammett (like the pub shootout, complete with the two-fisted gunner--that's in <I>RH</I> too!), & a few lines of dialogue and phrases (like "What's the rumpus?").<BR/><BR/>I'm actually not bothered by this--it's simply overt homage/pastiche. I'm more bothered, actually, by the Coenesque smirks that stick out from the mix, like the toupee theft & ear-cocked doggie.ndhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12087777428126727780noreply@blogger.com