The Beast in View

Beast in View by Margaret Millar

In 1956, Beast in View by Margaret Millar became the third book to win the Edgar Award for Best Mystery Novel. It took a different tack from the two previous winners. Charlotte Jay's Beat Not the Bones, which won in 1954 was written from the point of view of a widow of a murder victim seeking answers. Raymond Chandler's The Long Goodbye, which won in 1955, was from the point of view of his famous private eye Philip Marlowe. Beast in View, however, is written from the point of view of the intended murder victim.

That victim is Miss Helen Clarvoe, a young woman who lives alone in a hotel room, but who has been receiving harassing phone calls from a woman she claims not to know named Evelyn Merrick. In fearful desperation she turns to a P.I. named Blackshear. Through the course of his investigations, Blackshear discovers that Clarvoe and Merrick do in fact know each other, though they haven't seen each other in many years. As Blackshear questions their acquaintances, people start dying. Things ultimately culminate at Clarvoe's hotel with all three finally meeting face to face for the first time.

In the 1990s, Beast in View was listed as one of The Top 100 Crime Novels of All Time by the British Crime Writers' Association, and one of the Top 100 Mystery Novels of All Time by the Mystery Writers of America. Yet, despite such accolades from Millar's peers, the novel isn't very accessible to modern audiences, both literally and figuratively. The story is a bit dated - it kicks off with prank phone calls, and ends with a twist which was no doubt novel at the time, but has since been ripped-off or copied so much in the intervening half-Century, that at best it lacks punch, at worst can be downright predictable. Perhaps that's why this novel has been out of print for so long, finally receiving its first re-release in deaces by Soho Syndicate Books in 2018.

While the mystery is usually the primary reason, and often the only reason to read a mystery novel,  the dated elements of Beast in View can be their own reason for picking it up. Aside from the mystery, it offers a view of affluent urban life in the 1950s that seems strangely familiar, yet entirely removed from the contemporary life experience of most modern readers. And at less than 150 pages it's practically novella length, and written in a straightforward style, making it a fairly minor time investiture.

**1/2 out of *****

Gator

Gator

With a bigger budget, a more ambitious script, bigger name talent and more action, humor and romance than than its predecessor, Gator, the sequel to White Lightning would seem to have it all. And while it probably looked that way on paper, the reality ended up being something not quite as good. While Gator does have some of the things that made the last film great.

Part of the blame (as well as the credit) surely goes to Burt Reynolds himself, who not only starred in the film, but took his first stab at directing. While I'm sure he was probably desperate to prove himself, the film tries to pack in too much drama, comedy, action, romance, and just about everything else, that it tends to lose any charm it might have otherwise had, amongst the plot holes, ham-fisted action bits, clunky dialogue, and humor that misses the mark.

Still, Gator isn't without merit, in fact much is quite good,and is a must-see for Reynolds fans. 

The Good: Reynold's and his soon-to-be regular co-stars Jerry Reed and Lauren Hutton are all at their best

The Bad: So many plot holes...

Pairing: sweet tea

The Verdict:
**1/2 out of *****

Border (Gräns)

Tina is a Swedish border guard with a unique ability

Border is a pretty unique animal - it's a mystery/romance that has elements of gender-blending drama, art film, horror movie, fairy tale, police procedural, and more.

This Swedish film has been gaining awards left and right on the festival circuit, including Best Director (Ali Abbasi) at the 2018 Cannes film festival.

The film stars Eva Melander as a Swedish border guard with a decidedly neanderthal look, and a queer ability to literally sniff out trouble. But her life is soon turned upside down when she comes across a similarly odd looking traveler she flags for screening.

Border is the type of film that's best seen knowing as little about the plot as possible, so rather than reveal any more about the plot, I'll conclude by saying that the film is an adaptation of a short story by John Ajvide Lindqvist, the writer of Let the Right One In, and if you liked the film adaptation of that story, chances are you'll like this one too.

The Good:

• Weird

The Bad:

• Too weird for some?

Stuff to watch for:

• Everything

Pairing:

• Swedish Fish and Gummy Worms

The Verdict:

**** out of *****

White Lightning

White Lightning

Gator and Roy before a liquor run

Burt Reynolds had been a leading man for almost a decade at the time White Lightning came out. Usually in Westerns thanks to a long run on the TV show Gunsmoke. But when he was cast as "good ol' boy" Gator McKlusky, a moonshine bootlegger in White Lightning, sort of a cross between Billy Jack and Vanishing Point, it changed his career forever.

In White Lightning, Gator is serving a prison sentence for running moonshine when he discovers that his little brother has been killed by the corrupt local Sheriff (Warren Beatty). Gator cuts a deal with the Feds who spring him from prison in exchange for his cooperation in an undercover sting operation against the Sheriff. Gator however plans to get his own revenge against the Sheriff with the aid of a 1971 Ford LTD Galaxie 500 provided by the Feds.

White Lightning was the first in a string of films featuring Reynolds as a bad boy hot rodder, squaring off against a corrupt Sheriff. As such, it's the spiritual forerunner of Reynold's biggest film, Smokey and the Bandit, containing all the same tropes, including a blonde cowboy sidekick, played by Bo Hopkins here, but in succeeding films by Jerry Reed.


White Lightning is notable for it's authentic feel. Aside from Reynolds himself, nobody here looks like an airbrushed Hollywood type, and everything was shot on location in Arkansas.

While it was inevitably overshadowed by his later work, White Lightning is worth checking out for an example of Burt Reynolds in top form.

The Good:

• Every minute Gator is behind the wheel of the 1971 Ford LTD Galaxie 500

The Bad:

• A fair amount of redneck-ery (the price of authenticity) 

Stuff to Watch for:

• Diane Ladd's real life daughter Laura Dern in an uncredited cameo playing her daughter

Pairing: 100 proof Ole Smokey Moonshine

The Verdict:***1/2 out of *****

My Friend Dahmer

My Friend Dahmer

Derf's collected Dahmer comics

As true crime books about serial killers go, the most numerous are those written by journalists who covered cases, with first hand accounts of former law-enforcement officials coming in second. After that you have a smattering of memoirs by family members. But among the truly rare, and most interesting, are books by friends who knew the perpetrators before they became killers. When done right, these books have both the qualities of good autobiographies, as well as offering rare glimpses at the psychology of killers-in-the-making. Ann Rule's excellent memoir The Stranger Beside Me is one such book. Derf Backderf's graphic novel My Friend Dahmer is another.

Derf was already a successful cartoonist whose work appeared in papers from New York City to Phoenix when his high school acquaintance Jeff Dahmer was arrested for murder and cannibalism. It's clear that Derf struggled for a long time with whether and how to tell his story. It wasn't until Dahmer's death in 1994 that Derf began to chronicle their acquaintance in cartoon form. It made it's way into print in 1997, collected form in 2002, but it wasn't until 2012 that it reached it's final fully fleshed out book length graphic novel form.

There's a reason Time magazine named it one of the top 5 non-fiction books of 2012. The story deals with a difficult subject in an interesting and respectful way. It never depicts any of the murders, just the years leading up to them.

But My Friend Dahmer is much more than a serial killer story. It's a document of the drudgery of high school life in 1970s Ohio, a time and place of such vacant isolationism that one wonders, not so much why it happened, but why it didn't happen more. Indeed when Derf finally learns that one of his friends was a serial killer, Dahmer isn't even the first possibility that came to mind.

***** out of *****

Hard to Kill

Hard to Kill

Hard to Kill was Steven Segal's second film in a leading role, following Above the Law by just two years. But already evident is the gradual downward trajectory of Segal films. Like Above the Law, Segal plays a kickboxing cop. This time he's an L.A. detective whose home is targeted by the mob, leaving him in a coma, and his family dead.With the help of a nurse (Kelly LeBrock), he hides out and recovers until he can get revenge.

Unlike Above the Law, however, the whole scenario is a little less believable, and the acting - including Segal's - is generally weaker. Still, it's enjoyable in it's own lowbrow way. Segal would rarely be this good again.

The Good:

• Segal's martial arts are really the only reason to watch

The Bad:

• Extremely predictable

The Verdict:
**1/2 out of *****

Blow-Up

Blow-Up

Movie poster for Blow-Up

Blow-Up is one of those movies that receives widespread acclaim, but is probably more notable for it's setting as a cultural document, than it's effectiveness as a dramatic presentation.

For those unfamiliar, the story involves a photographer who insults his models and coworkers, does little actual work, and drifts around aimlessly around 1960s London until he photographs a woman in the park one day. She eventually shows up at his studio, demanding the photos.

The first hour is slow and confusing. It's not really until an hour into the film when the photographer finally makes the titular bow-up of the photos do things start to get interesting. But, while the concept of a photographer accidentally photographing a crime - like Rear Window with a camera rather than a telescope - is a great setup for a mystery, the plot never really develops - so to speak.

So what we have is interesting as a document of an era where casual drug use, casual sex, and passionless hedonism were commonplace, yet Anonioni's swinging-60s London potboiler, like a lot of experimental cinema of the 1960s, just doesn't hold up too well in the 21st Century.

The Good: 

• Herbie Hancock's jazz score
• gorgeous models, clothed
• gorgeous models, nude

The Bad:

• filled with Antonioni's usual obtuse metaphors, like a bunch of loud, rowdy mimes that travel around in an army Jeep, randomly appearing throughout the film for no good reason
• a frustratingly ambiguous ending

Stuff to watch for:

• Mid-Century modern furniture and Mod fashion aplenty
• The Yardbirds with Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page performing a smoking version of "Stroll On" in a club scene

The Verdict:
*** out of *****