Tag Archives: James Ellroy

Jack Webb’s “The Black Dahlia”

Last night we had a pretty awesome True Crime class. The conversation was deftly led by Sara Akbari, Meredith Fiero, and Jack Harris; they did an awesome job with their presentation, research, and framing othe readings for the class as their … Continue reading

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Maybe I like to be cheap once in a while….

….maybe everybody does. The following scene is a classic Hollywood moment from Vincente Minnelli‘s 1952 melodrama The Bad and the Beautiful between Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas —and both prove why they are masters, though Douglas steals this one at … Continue reading

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Ellroy on Hammett: a Hardboiled War on Labor

I was searching the UMW library database for a James Ellroy novel I wanted to re-read this break (The Big Nowhere), when I stumbled across his introduction to an Everyman’s Library Edition of some of Dashiell Hammett’s stories and novels. … Continue reading

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Why so serious?

This is my last word on James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia because I need to write about the re-emergence of black capitalism in Walter Mosely’s Devil in a Blue Dress. At the beginning of Tuesday’s discussion about Devil in a … Continue reading

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Hardboiled Week 14: Black Dahlia, Alternative History, and the Rise of Smut and Gore

Audio of Hardboiled discussion of James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia 11-29-2012 Tonight’s class was a bit low energy given how late we are in the semester and how much reading I have thrown at the #emoboilers—but as they say what … Continue reading

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Hardboiled Week 14: James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia, and Other Twisted Obsessions

I can remember the exact moment I heard about James Ellroy for the first time. It was the Fall of 1994 and I was working at UCLA’s Audio Visual Services scheduling AV needs for the campus community when my co-worker … Continue reading

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Hardboiled: Mildred Pierce Discussion (Part 2) & Midterm

Mildred Pierce Class Discussion (10-11-12) The class discussion covering the second half of James M. Caine’s Mildred Pierce from Thursday can be found above. Oddly enough I forgot my marked up copy of the novel at home, so rather than … Continue reading

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Lana Turner

Lana Turner is always hardboiled! I wanted to title this one Johnny Stompanato —if you don’t know the story of Turner’s turbid relationship with the LA Underworld you should (James Ellroy writes them both as characters in L.A. Confidential). This one is … Continue reading

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Balls to the Wall

[openbook booknumber=”1400032873″] I started reading James Ellroy’s Destination: Morgue! (2004) this weekend, and I really can’t imagine a better author to lift your spirits when you are feeling down 🙂 I actually started this book of stories from the end, … Continue reading

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