GOOD - I enjoyed the 1920s look, the San Francisco-Chinatown locale and the nice set designs. It was interesting to see Marilu Henner from television's "Taxi" fame. I also was great fun to see one of my favorite actors from the classic film noir era, Elisha Cook Jr. Another classic star, Sylvia Sidney, also makes an appearance.
BAD - A somewhat convoluted story and several main male characters who are uninvolving - particularly lead character " Dashiell Hammett," played by Frederic Forest - make one lose interest in this story by the halfway point. If the lead doesn't connect with the audience, then the film is in trouble, which may explain why this movie is almost obscure. Peter Boyle, playing "Jimmy Ryan," also looked like he was reading his lines from a cue card. From what I've read, this film had a lot of production problems and much of the director Wim Wenders' work had to be re-shot by Francis Ford Copolla. Obviously, this project was a semi-disaster from the start. One thing they could have used: narration. It goes perfectly with this kind of story, and they didn't use it.
Overall, being a film noir buff I was very disappointed in this effort. I really wanted to like this movie. It should have been far better than it wound up, but at least I know now why the movie never made a name for itself.
BAD - A somewhat convoluted story and several main male characters who are uninvolving - particularly lead character " Dashiell Hammett," played by Frederic Forest - make one lose interest in this story by the halfway point. If the lead doesn't connect with the audience, then the film is in trouble, which may explain why this movie is almost obscure. Peter Boyle, playing "Jimmy Ryan," also looked like he was reading his lines from a cue card. From what I've read, this film had a lot of production problems and much of the director Wim Wenders' work had to be re-shot by Francis Ford Copolla. Obviously, this project was a semi-disaster from the start. One thing they could have used: narration. It goes perfectly with this kind of story, and they didn't use it.
Overall, being a film noir buff I was very disappointed in this effort. I really wanted to like this movie. It should have been far better than it wound up, but at least I know now why the movie never made a name for itself.