Earl and Nora

     This week a couple of films about crime paying to varying degrees. 

     Earl Macklin is attacked on his first night outside after 27-months. After he learns those responsible killed his brother and tortured his girlfriend, Earl decides they owe him for his troubles. Until they pay, he will keep robbing their operations. The fifth film adaption of Donald E Westlake's Parker and based on the third book in the series- The Outfit.
     After an eventful Christmas in New York, Nick and Nora Charles return home for an equally eventful New Year's. Nora's cousin Selma's missing husband returns only long enough to get shot and Selma is found standing over him with a gun in her hand. Since everyone in San Francisco wanted him dead, it's going to take our sleuthing couple a few days to untangle this knot. The second film in the series based on Dashiell Hammett's characters and the sixth to feature franchise leads Myrna Loy and William Powell together- After the Thin Man.
     All that and a strange coincidence as the curtain closes that is most definitely not about anything actually happening in the real world. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 477- Earl and Nora

Spartan Green

     This week- a pair of detectives trying to solve puzzling murders in less than friendly environments.

     While the long range V-1 missiles rain down and an English woman spews Nazi propaganda over the radio, a man dies under mysterious circumstances during a routine operation. While suspicions among the staff spread like wildfire, it is seen as just an accident... until a second body turns up murdered. Based Christianna Brand's book of the same name and the only film adaption featuring her acerbic detective, Green for Danger.
     A wealthy industrialist moves to Sparta, Mississippi to oversee the building of a factory and is soon found dead in an alley. Grabbing the first stranger they see, an African-American man with a fat wallet alone in the train station and immediately try to frame him neatly. The racist officers of Sparta soon learn that the suspect they blindly grabbed isn't just a cop himself but a detective from Philadelphia with the skills they desperately need. Based on the novel by John Ball and starting a film franchise and long running television series with two powerful central performances, In the Heat of the Night.
     All that and Dave gets stapled, Kevin digs up some classics, Tyler puts lotion in a basket, and Craig reveals he was hiding under the porch this whole time. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 350- Spartan Green

Catastrophic Corrosion

     This week two movies about people making violent choices. 

     The body of a young woman is dumped on Hampstead Heath. It falls to Police Superintendent Hazard, the only not massively racist cop in London, to find the killer. Before long, he and his casually racist Inspector look through jazz clubs and middle class workshops for who might have murdered the biracial victim and realizing that "Hey, there's a lot of racism, isn't there?". Winner of the 1960 Edgar Award for Best Foreign Screenplay, Sapphire.
     Following in her missing mother's footsteps, Sam works as an assassin for shadowy global dominating organization, The Firm. Tragically, Sam overindulges in a murder spree and accidentally kills the son of a rival group's leader and is offered up by her bosses to make amends. Fortunately, her mother suddenly returns and her mother's librarian friends help. Neon and sugar and homages, Gunpowder Milkshake.
     All that and Dave resumes the Great Work, Kevin refuses to go anywhere without proper noir levels ambient lit of fog, and Tyler realizes that his apple didn't fall far from Papa T's tree. Join us, won't you?

   Episode 334- Catastrophic Corrosion

Party by Gaslight

     This week- a missing child might never have existed and a deadly game that could destroy the global economy.

     Ann and her daughter have just moved from New York to London to be close to the only family they have, Ann's brother Steven. Tragedy strikes when Ann goes to pick the child up from her first day at pre-school but her child is nowhere to be seen. To make things worse, it seems no one but the family claims to have ever even seen the girl. Soon a tangled web of mental illness and jealousy will ensnare the Lakes. A mystery from a master- Bunny Lake is Missing.
     Shelly Kornpett is a dentist in Manhattan. He leads a nice calm existence and is happily looking forward to his daughter's wedding with a fine young man. All that changes when, only days before the young lovers exchange vows, he meets Vince Ricardo, father of the groom and teller of ridiculous tales. After being urged by his wife and daughter to be more open to this odd man he will soon be related to, Shelly happily obliges when Vince asks a favor the very next day. A favor that will lead him thousands of miles from home and on the run from a parade of gunmen. A classic double team comedy- The In-Laws.
     All that and Kevin watches from a bush, Tyler gets marked, and Dave gets wet. Join us, won't you?
   Episode 322- Party by Gaslight