Blaxploitation Cinema: The Essential Reference Guide by Josiah Howard

(hb; 2008, 2021: cinema/nonfiction)

From the back cover

“Josiah Howard’s Blaxploitation Cinema: The Essential Reference Guide contains everything you need to know about the most colourful film movement of the 1970s. Dazzling and highly stylized, blaxploitation enjoyed a brief but memorable period in motion picture history.

“•A comprehensive introduction to the genre.

“•Q&A interviews with ten blaxploitation movie directors: Matt Cimber (The Candy Tangerine Man), Larry Cohen (Hell Up in Harlem), Paul Bogart (Halls of Anger), Cirio H. Santiago (TNT Jackson), Robert A. Endelson (Fight for Your Life), Don Schain (A Place Called Today), Jack Hill (Coffy), Arthur Marks (Detroit 9000), Jonathan Kaplan (Truck Turner) and Jamaa Fanaka (Penitentary).

“•A complete ten year filmography (1970-1980) featuring more than 270 movie listings, which include director, producer, screenwriter and actor credits along with a full sypnosis.

“•Vintage and contemporary film reviews and commentary, plus movie tag-lines, ratings, and extensive cross-referencing.

“From the blockbuster hits Shaft and Super Fly to the little-known The Guy from Harlem and Velvet Smooth, Blaxploitation Cinema. . . is your one-stop source of information on a decade of intriguing, controversial and thoroughly entertaining black-cast films.”

 

Review

Blaxploitation is an excellent, interesting and straightforward resource book for anyone, whether they’re new to the subgenre, or familiar with it. I’ve little doubt that there are other worthwhile books published on the subject, but if you’re looking to own one book on the subject—something casual readers like myself might do—this is worth your money and your time.

Double Indemnity by James M. Cain

 

(pb; 1936: loosely linked prequel to Jealous Woman)

From the back cover

“Walter Huff is an insurance investigator like any other—until the day he meets the beautiful and dangerous Phyllis Nirdlinger and falls under her spell. Together they plot the perfect murder. . . Double Indemnity is the classic tale of an evil woman motivated by greed, who corrupts a weak man motivated by lust.”

 

Review

Double Indemnity is one of my all-time favorite pulp novels, with its quotable (often edgy and ripe-with-innuendo) dialogue, action and lead characters, barebones writing and sharp editing, fast pace, effective Master Class twists and haunting, hair-raising/eerie finish. Excellent, timeless novel for those readers willing to walk on the oh-so-dark and unsettling side. Only a few writers I’ve read match the stripped-down (yet effective and disturbing) tone, delivery and editing of Double.

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Double Indemnity has been filmed twice.

The first theatrical version (there’s the inevitable theatrical remake) with the same title was released stateside on July 6, 1944. Billy Wilder directed and co-scripted it. Raymond Chandler Jr. is listed as a co-screenwriter.

Fred MacMurray played Walter Neff. Barbara Stanwyck played Phyllis Dietrichson (cinematic counterpart to Phyllis Nirdlinger). Edward G. Robinson played Barton Keyes.

Tom Powers played Mr. Dietrichson (cinematic counterpart to Mr. Nirdlinger). Jean Heather played Lola Dietrichson (counterpart to Lola Nirdlinger). Byron Barr played Nino Zarchetti (Beniamino “Nino” Sachetti in the book). Richard Gaines played Mr. Norton.

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The second adaptation, a telepic, aired as an ABC Movie of the Week on October 13, 1973. Directed by Jack Smight from Steven Bochco’s based-on-the-1944-screenplay teleplay, it starred Richard Crenna as Walter Neff. Samantha Eggar played Phyllis Dietrichson. Arch Johnson played Mr. Dietrichson. Lee J. Cobb played Barton Keyes.

Sands of Dune by Brian Herbert and Kevin J. Anderson

 

(hb; 2022: story/novella anthology. Twenty-second book in the Dune series.)

From the inside flap

“. . . The stories: A young firebrand Fremen woman, a guerilla fighter against the ruthless Harkonnens, who will one day become Shadout mapes; inside the ranks of the Sardaukar is the child of a betrayed nobleman who becomes one of the Emperor’s most ruthless fighters; the lost years of Gurney Halleck as he works with smugglers on Arrakis in a deadly gambit for revenge; and an early tale of the blood feud of Atreides and Harkonnen ancestors, whose vendetta will rock the Imperial court.”

 

Review

The four stories that comprise this short story anthology—“The Edge of the Crysknife,” “Blood of the Sardaukar,” “The Waters of Kanly” and “Imperial Court”—fill in some of the character-focused and mentioned-in-passing gaps in the epic Dune stories and novels. All, like Herbert and Anderson’s usual work, are well-written, entertaining and further the overall excellence of the series, and serve as warm-up for the upcoming third entry in The Caladan Trilogy, Dune: The Heir of Dune, scheduled for November 22, 2022 publication. Sands is worth reading for new-to-the-series readers and ongoing Dune fans (who’ll likely get more out of the stories), with good endings that hint at what follows each of the four tales.

Down to the Bone by Ralf König

 

(pb; 1990: sequel to König’s The Killer Condom. Translated from the German by Jeff Krell.)

Review

Set a few years after the events of The Killer Condom, a new spate of murders—which leave gay-bar patrons literally stripped to skeletons—Inspector Luigi Macaroni must re-enter a heart of bizarre-creature night to find out not only who is behind these flesh-corroded killings, but how, a journey that has key elements eerily reminiscent of an earlier case.

Down is a great read, with all the elements that made Killer stand out: it’s slapstick (its gay sex scenes are Mad-magazine hilarious) and double-entendre funny, has memorable characters (some of whom were seen in Killer), an overt, genre-true pulp-movie structure, and sharp, often quotable dialogue that you’d seen in the best pulp novels or noir films. Worth reading and owning, this for-mature-readers comic, like Killer.

Additional note: Fans of the 1996 film Killer Condom will likely notice that it incorporated character-linked and select plot elements from Down, just something to be aware of if you want to read the comics before seeing the excellent-for-its-budget movie.

Edomia: A Fantasy Adventure--Tales from the Edonmian Mythos (Book 1) by J.M. Kind

(oversized pb; 2020: first book in the Edomia series)

From the back cover

“At the dawn of a new Dark Age, the world of Edomia reels amid the clash of warring species, and the rise of a militant new religion from beyond the stars. Heir to the ancient Goddess-worshipping matriarchy of Taugwadeth, Princess Ashna N’rene is sent on a dangerous journey to form an alliance with her people’s most obstinate foe, the fanatical, misogynist Curions, adherents of an alien faith only recently carried to Edomia from fourth-century Earth. But success in this endeavor may be no more desirable than all-out war with the ravenous race of arachno-sapiens known as the Sc’dorim. Faced with two equally dire prospects—to become concubines for the Curions or livestock for the Sc’dorim—Ashna and her companions must fight for their own enlightened way of life, their faith, their freedom, and all they have ever loved, before their once-proud world of women passes forever into the hands of men.”

 

Review

Kind’s ambitious, engaging first Edomia novel mixes science fiction, horror, fantasy, high adventure, feminism, LGBT+ friendly, sexuality and R-rated elements, with situationally loquacious and fierce characters who mostly walk their talk. Its initially thick-with-universe-creating mythos is intense in the way that J.R.R. Tolkien’s 1977 encyclopedic Silmarillion is, so readers looking for an easy beach read might not immediately take to this first volume of Edomia; however, devoted readers of George R.R. Martin’s vivid Game of Thrones series and others of its complex ilk may easily fall in love with this series set-up novel (which becomes a more straightforward, still-high-toned adventure a quarter way through Edomia). Worth reading and owning, this, followed by Children of Edomia – Tales from the Edomian Mythos (Book 2).

Hammer: The Haunted House of Horror by Denis Meikle

 

(oversized pb; November 2017: nonfiction)

From the back cover

“Hammer and Horror, they go together like horse and carriage. The legendary British studio ruled the genre in the 1950s through the 1970s, with its gloriously Gothic takes on classic monster stories that made stars out of Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. Now you can read the full story of Hammer’s rise and fall, and rise again in the modern age. . .

“Businessman and variety artist William Hinds (who adopted the stage name Will Hammer) first registered his company, Hammer Film Productions, in 1934. After scoring a hit in 1955 with a movie version of the BBC serial The Quatermass Experiment (1953, a.k.a. The Quatermass Xperiment), Hammer made history with its first full colour creature feature, The Curse of Frankenstein (1957), a massive success that set the company on course for a profitable future in screen horror.

“This milestone book paints a colourful picture of a bygone era of filmmaking as it traces the history of Hammer in fascinating detail, revealing the full story behind its hits and misses, with contributions from many of Hammer’s key players, including Peter Cushing, Christopher Lee, Oliver Reed, producers Anthony Hinds and Kenneth Hyman and latterday studio head Michael Carreras.

“Profusely illustrated in full colour throughout, with never-before-published stills, posters, lobby cards, flyers, candid photographs and unused artwork, this lavish book is the definitive history of Hammer, and essential reading for every horror fan.”

 

Review

Published by the company that also puts out The Dark Side magazine, Meikle’s excellent and detailed charting of Hammer Film Productions’ successes, failures, and the events and personalities behind them is one of the best books I’ve read about the iconic British studio that breathed new life into the Frankenstein/Dracula/monster genres, a company that began in December 1934 under another name, Exclusive Films, before it—years later—was renamed with the Hammer moniker. If you’re a reader and a fan of Hammer’s Gothic movies, Meikle’s interesting, entertaining and fact-filled entry in the cinematic nonfiction genre is a worthwhile read and purchase, its charms further buoyed by its popping-with-vivid-color pictures, posters and other artwork. One of my favorite reads this year, and an all-time favorite read. If you're interested in purchasing it, go here.

A Prayer for the Dying by Jack Higgins

 

(pb; 1973)

From the back cover

“Fallon was the best you could get with a gun in his hand. His track record went back a long and shady way.

“This time the bidding came from Dandy Jack Meehan, an underworld baron with a thin varnish of respectability. Not exactly the type you’d want to meet in a dark alley.

“The job Dandy Jack wanted doing was up North, but when Fallon got there he soon found himself changing sides—which put him in opposition to Meehan, a place where life expectancy suddenly gets very short indeed.”

 

Review

Prayer is an excellent, grip-you-from-the-get-go thriller with great, unique and memorable characters, character- and morality-based gravitas and action, as well a potent blend of omnipresent themes, e.g., regret, religion, imperialism, overall morality, etc., that—along with Higgins’s superbly sketched characters, clever-twists, and cut-to-it writing, lift this above the usual thriller. It might not go anywhere you don’t expect at times, but it’s so well-written and character-true that a certain inevitability is a virtue here. Worth owning, this.

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The resulting film was released in released in the UK on May 13, 1987. Its stateside release happened on September 11, 1987. Prayer director Mike Hodges, along with one of its co-stars, Mickey Rourke, forswore the studio’s theatrical cut of the film. Screenwriters: Edmund Ward and Martin Lynch. (Studio: The Samuel Goldwyn Company, which trimmed Prayer so it would play less like a drama with occasional violence, and more like an action movie for American audiences. Mike Hodges’s director's cut is said to exist, but it has not been released.)