Hammett (1982) - DaaVeeDee

Hammett (1982) (DVD) (*)

~~$26.99~~ $20.97

Screened, competed or awarded at:
Cannes Film Festival
Other Film Festival Awards

Language Selections:
English ( Dolby Digital Stereo )
German ( Dolby Digital 2.0 )
German ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
Germany ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
94 min

Aspect Ratio:
Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)

Special Features:
Anamorphic Widescreen
Interactive Menu
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1982 and produced in:
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Wim Wenders

Written By:
Joe Gores
Dennis O'Flaherty

Actors:
Frederic Forrest ..... Hammett
Peter Boyle ..... Jimmy Ryan
Marilu Henner ..... Kit Conger/Sue Alabama
Roy Kinnear ..... English Eddie Hagedorn
Elisha Cook Jr. ..... Eli (cab driver) (as Elisha Cook)
Lydia Lei ..... Crystal Ling
R.G. Armstrong ..... Lt. O'Mara
Richard Bradford ..... Detective Bradford
Michael Chow ..... Fong Wei Yau
David Patrick Kelly ..... The Punk
Sylvia Sidney ..... Donaldina Cameron
Jack Nance ..... Gary Salt
Elmer L. Kline ..... Doc Fallon
Royal Dano ..... Pops
Samuel Fuller ..... Old Man in Pool Hall

Synopsis:

Wim Wenders' film version of Joe Gores' novel, a conflation of elements of the writer's life with episodes from his work, is a fascinatingly stylized artifact which will likely be of more interest to the director's fans than Hammett's. More a meditation on the detective genre than an actual detective film, it bends Gores' novel to the deliberate pacing and meandering plotting of Wenders' characteristic theme of perennial wanderjahre. The casting of an actor with a persona as vulnerable as Frederic Forrest to play the laconic, hard-nosed Hammett of reality is just one of many unusual choices that take one into the realm of cult film and Marilu Henner, Forrest's wife of the time, also seems out of place here. But the rest of the cast, which includes veterans of Hollywood's golden age like Sylvia Sidney, Elisha Cook Jr., and Royal Dano, acquit themselves well. Philip Lathrop, a specialist in noir and crime films, and the 79-year-old Joseph Biroc, whose last feature this was, combine their talents in the film's stunningly dream-like visual texture.

Based in part on detective-fiction writer Dashiell Hammett's early experiences as a Pinkerton detective, this moderately-noir film has Hammett (using his little-known first name, Sam) involved in an elaborate extortion plot by his former detective agency mentor, Jimmy Ryan. Ryan shows up at Hammett's San Francisco digs searching for a mysterious Chinese girl, Crystal Ling. He calls in a marker from Hammett's days at the detective agency to get his help in finding the girl, who turns out to be a very sexy and shrewd former prostitute and porn star. She has photographs of San Francisco's most influential citizens engaged in sexual fantasy with her and she means to turn them into a million-dollar payday. The tubercular Hammett must cope with an unfriendly police force, a mysterious gunsel intent on inflicting serious harm, and betrayal by supposed friends; to save the reputations of the powerful while tweaking their collective noses.

The novel writter Dashiell Hammett is involved in the investigation of the mysterious disappearance of a beautiful chinese cabaret actress in San Francisco.

This product was added to our catalog on Tuesday 17 January, 2012.

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