Hardboiled in Hollywood tells the story of the tangled relations between the great crime novelists, from Dashiell Hammett to Elmore Leonard, and the Hollywood machine. Haut begins by showing the huge debt Hollywood owed to writers like Hammett, Chandler and James M. Cain, as the film versions of novels like The Maltese Falcon, The Big Sleep and Double Indemnity came to define film noir. Almost every significant American crime novelist since has served their time in Hollywood, some, like W.R. Burnett or Donald Westlake, with great success, more often, as with the likes of Jim Thompson and David Goodis, with great disillusion. Haut weaves in anecdote and analysis along with original interviews to provide an invaluable companion for moviegoers and crime fiction fans alike.
Born in Detroit in 1945, Woody Haut has been a cinema programmer and, as journalist, was the Labour Editor for Rolling Stock magazine. He is the author of Neon Noir and Pulp Culture, published by Serpent’s Tail and now lives in London.
Also available by Woody Haut
Pulp Culture
TP $15.99, 1-85242-319-6 • CUSA
Neon Noir
TP $16.99, 1-85242-547-4 • CUSA
