Customer Reviews

It's a Bitter Little World

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Sharp, unsentimental dialogue that says it like it is and apologizes for nothing is one of the reasons that the popularity of classic film noir endures. Those brutal lines delivered with machine-gun timing and precision are seared onto the minds of their audience. Writers and directors strive to capture that hard-boiled style in modern noir crime films. Madison Avenue knows that smart, blunt tag lines sell stuff. Such is the power of terse, cynical repartee. "It's a Bitter Little World" collects many of the most memorable, most brutally honest quotes from film noir, 1940 to 2005, into a single volume of gleefully pessimistic lines, organized by theme and by decade and accented with stark graphics.

Author Charles Pappas starts the reader off with a story of his own real-life femme fatale, followed by an overview of film noir through the decades written in a forceful style reminiscent of hard-boiled crime novels. Then to the quotes, which are arranged by theme in 5 chapters: "The Dicks and the Desperate", "The Dames and the Mugs", "The Brutality and the Barbs", "The Money and the Grubbing", "The Life Lessons and the Death Wishes". The chapter titles give some idea of the subject of the quotes. It's not always obvious why quotes are placed where they are, but there is a handy index in the back of the book, where you can find quotes by film if you're looking for something in particular. Within each chapter, the quotes are organized by decade, with the name and year of the film clearly indicated. It's nice to be able to see the evolution of film noir dialogue from the laconic 1940s to the more vulgar late 20th century.

Chapter 6, "The Quotes that Dreams Are Made Of", contains new quotes in the noir style contributed by contemporary writers, actors, and media personalities. The quotes are in the form of dialogue for movies that, of course, don't exist. That's probably just as well, but it's an amusing exercise anyway, with contributions by Gary Hart, Alain Silver, and Harry Knowles, among others. The quotes that fill "It's a Bitter Little World" represent about 300 films, more than 6 decades of film noir and its progeny. The book makes a nice gift for film noir fans and a useful reference for even those buffs who already have a shelf full of film noir books.

Every once in a while, and it's not often, you run across a book whose contents seem ready to bust its covers. ITS A BITTER LITTLE WORLD is one of those beauties. Charles Pappas has created a multi-media experience in book form. Not only do you get the best film-noir quotations ever uttered by the most desperate guys and dolls, but you get them surrounded by graphics and design that pull you right into the shadows. Visually, it's a striking book. And, as if that wasn't enough, you get a healthy dose of Mr. Pappas' own observations, written in a style that has all the bite and brains of the genre he obviously loves so well. ITS A BITTER LITTLE WORLD is a labor of love, and it pulls no punches. I can't imagine a worthier tribute to the film-noir genre, and I can't imagine anyone pulling it off half as well as Mr. Pappas. Film-noir has given us the greatest dialogue in the history of cinema, and ITS A BITTER LITTLE WORLD is a feast of imagery and phrases whose like we won't see again. This is a book for every library.

Charles Pappas' It's A Bitter Little World: The Smartest Toughest Nastiest Quotes From Film Noir represents the author's sixty years of film noir surveys to locate quotes and dialogue which pertain to life's challenges and answers. Arranged by decade, these are scalding quotes and even fun, memorable lines and dialogue bits which reflect a love of language and an eye to fun. It's A Bitter Little World is a fun, revealing compilation lending to leisure browsing by any who love film noir and literature.

What a fun little read, chockablock full of delectable saturnine, sardonic and downright surly one-liners that spew from the smirks and smiles of our favorite dicks, dames and dolls. "My first wife was a second cook at a third rate joint on 4th St." -The Glass Key, is particular favorite of mine...But there are so many more to chew on...like so many mordant morsels. Some are complimentary,e.g. "You'd look good in a shower curtain" -Cody Jarrett -"White Heat" but most bite to the bone. "You've gotta study to get that stupid" -Radak "Desperate" This tiny compendium of sarcasm is complimented with an arrestingly appropriate graphic style that is both simple and effective. Have this by the bedstand and the next time your wife or hubby gives you some grief...turn to page...30 "I'll never think of our moments together without nausea". Now what can you say to that? -NDW

I can't believe this book left out the one quote that sums up what film noir is all about. From "The Asphalt Jungle" is a line uttered by the sleazy lawyer: "Crime is the left hand of social endeavor." The reason for being for the film noir character is crime-going after the all mighty dollar and never mind what one needs to do to get it. Pimp your mother or sister, stab your most loyal friend in the back, sell your child to the highest bidder-there is nothing these people won't do. Film noir started out brutally honest and evolved into brutally realistic. It delved into the motives and motivations, and occasionally a character utters a gem statement. A book this small can't hope to capture all the best lines from every film, but it is a good start and highly entertaining. I hope there will be a second volume.

Compiles many of the best hard boiled lines from the Film Noir genre. Back before clever and smart observations were replaced by one liner zingers. Before smart writing was replaced by special effects. This is a bitter little review.

One of the things that makes 90% of Film Noir so compelling are the snappy comebacks, putdowns and banter that marks the interplay of the players. Some of these contain witticisms that are as acerbic as hydrochloric acid. Cutting remarks fly and this book has them all. A fun read for a noir enthusiast.

I must admit I fell in love with "It's a Bitter Little World", it's a good little reference book for some of the best late forties and fifties noir movie punch lines. Last Saturday afternoon I saw "Kiss Me Deadly" on TCM for the first time but I'm going to make it a point to see all my old favorites like "Somewhere in the Night" though not mentioned by Mr. Pappas, and "Nocturne", "High Sierra" and other Bogey noir favorites, also "Chinatown", "Farewell My Lovely" "Blade Runner" as well as some I haven't yet seen. Long live noir!

This book is endlessly entertaining. I've read it several times already and plan to read it several times more. It doesn't get better than this.