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David Goodis (1917–1967)

Auteur van Shoot the Piano Player

56+ Werken 2,896 Leden 79 Besprekingen Favoriet van 14 leden

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Werken van David Goodis

Shoot the Piano Player (1956) 522 exemplaren
Nightfall (1947) 230 exemplaren
The Wounded and the Slain (1955) 204 exemplaren
Dark Passage (1946) 166 exemplaren
Street of No Return (1954) 166 exemplaren
The Burglar (1953) 155 exemplaren
Black Friday (1954) 147 exemplaren
Cassidy's Girl (1951) 145 exemplaren
Night Squad (1961) 131 exemplaren
The Moon in the Gutter (1983) 125 exemplaren
The Blonde on the Street Corner (1954) 107 exemplaren
Of Tender Sin (1952) 75 exemplaren
Shoot the Piano Player [1960 film] (1960) — Screenwriter — 70 exemplaren
Dark Victory [1939 film] (1939) — Screenwriter — 64 exemplaren
Black Friday & Selected Stories (1990) 51 exemplaren
Behold This Woman (1947) 34 exemplaren
The Raving Beauty (1967) 32 exemplaren
Of Missing Persons (1950) 23 exemplaren
Fire in the Flesh (1957) 20 exemplaren
Street of the Lost (1952) 19 exemplaren
Retreat from Oblivion (1939) 10 exemplaren
Nightfall [1956 film] — Auteur — 8 exemplaren
The Blue Sweetheart (2001) 8 exemplaren
La méchante dose [anthology] (1999) 8 exemplaren
Profondo Nero (1989) 7 exemplaren
The Unfaithful [1947 film] (1947) — Screenwriter — 4 exemplaren
The Cop On the Corner (2011) 4 exemplaren
Black Pudding (2009) 4 exemplaren
The Plunge 4 exemplaren
The Cloud Wizard 3 exemplaren
Un gato del pantano (1961) 2 exemplaren
Caravan To Tarim 2 exemplaren
Killer Ace 2 exemplaren
ROMANZI 1 exemplaar
Nachtvorstellung [anthology] (1993) 1 exemplaar
Black Lizard 1 exemplaar
La chica de Cassidy 1 exemplaar
La calle de los perdidos (1990) 1 exemplaar
En selle pour la trois (1970) 1 exemplaar
La fuga 1 exemplaar
The Secret Squad (Illustrated) (2014) 1 exemplaar
Dames, Booze, Guns & Gumshoes (2013) 1 exemplaar
Goodis David 1 exemplaar

Gerelateerde werken

Crime Novels: American Noir of the 1950s (1997) — Medewerker — 521 exemplaren
The Best American Noir of the Century (2010) — Medewerker — 357 exemplaren
The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction (1996) — Medewerker — 234 exemplaren
Hard-Boiled: An Anthology of American Crime Stories (1995) — Medewerker — 183 exemplaren
A Century of Noir: Thirty-two Classic Crime Stories (2002) — Medewerker — 78 exemplaren
20 Stories Pulp Fictions (1996) — Medewerker — 69 exemplaren
The Mammoth Book of Pulp Action (2001) — Medewerker — 69 exemplaren
New Crimes 1 (1989) — Medewerker — 20 exemplaren

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David Goodis’s Dark Passage is most famous today because of the WB film starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall. Goodis sold the rights to film it for $25,000 and secured for himself immortality by doing so. To those who read, however, and especially those who enjoy a good crime noir, Goodis’s name would be known and bandied about during discussions of the genre, regardless.

Anyone familiar with the very good film based on the book knows that for the first forty minutes or so of the movie, we are in Parry’s (Bogart’s) shoes during the prison break and the ensuing escape. We never see Parry’s face during this portion of the film. Goodis’s entire novel is the equivalent of that portion of the film, the reader placed into Parry’s head, “hearing” him panic, reason out things, fight his fear and paranoia, and finally, figure out who killed his unfaithful wife and framed him for the murder.

Tightly constructed and narratively claustrophobic, Dark Passage is a unique narrative that won’t appeal to everyone. It is more likely to appeal to fans of the genre, and fans of the greatest writer of suspense, Cornell Woolrich. Goodis here seems to be influenced by Woolrich’s work. Parry even has an entire conversation in his head with his only friend, who has just been murdered, which is very Woolrichian.

One can almost picture Agnes Morehead as the shrill and annoying Madge Rapf, and Bacall as the lovely and lonely Irene, whose motives for helping Parry hide out at the outset, and later so that his face can heal when he has it altered, are at first unclear. Those motives will be seem more ambiguous for anyone who hasn’t seen the 40s film, but that’s not many.

There is loneliness here, and not just Parry’s, and there is that feeling of the little guy fighting against fate which permeated Woolrich’s work during this period. While Goodis doesn’t quite reach the level of Woolrich noir, this is very good, and there are moments when he comes close. A tricky and ultimately dooming confrontation with a guy referred to as Studebaker for much of the book, and the color of a car, set in motion an exciting conclusion. It is here, at the end, when Goodis throws the reader a Deadline at Dawn type of lifeline that makes this a memorable read.

While the narrative style of nearly every thought in Parry’s head can become too overblown at times, at other times it’s marvelous, both cerebrally claustrophobic and entertainingly mesmerizing. This seminal noir novel will have you looking up Patavilca, Peru on your globe, and wondering…

Because Goodis seemed to be channeling Woolrich, but didn’t quite reach that lofty plateau, this is 4.5 stars for me. But it is such a terrific read, I’m rounding up. A unique novel (unless you’ve read Woolrich), and like Woolrich, not for everyone. Fans of 1940s and '50s noir/suspense, however, must have a go at it to sample the full spectrum of what the genre has to offer.
… (meer)
 
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Matt_Ransom | 12 andere besprekingen | Oct 6, 2023 |
I almost feel ashamed that I have held onto this book so long without reading it. I loved every minute of it. Monomythic in scale with a heart of gold. Going right into my top 20.
 
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Deni_Weeks | 12 andere besprekingen | Sep 16, 2023 |
Chatty eyes, lots of dialogue to self, and conversations without sound.
 
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Mcdede | 3 andere besprekingen | Jul 19, 2023 |
Mildred Cassidy era una mujer decidida que sabía exactamente lo que quería y disponía de numerosos recursos para conseguirlo. Cassidy, un pelirrojo descomunal, le pertenecía y nadie más podía acercarse a él. Pero esta singular pareja está unida por una relación en la que se mezclan amor y odio con la misma intensidad... Y la pasión estalla en salvajes disputas...
 
Gemarkeerd
Natt90 | Apr 12, 2023 |

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Statistieken

Werken
56
Ook door
14
Leden
2,896
Populariteit
#8,848
Waardering
3.8
Besprekingen
79
ISBNs
172
Talen
9
Favoriet
14

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