To me obviously "The Rockford Files" in not a few of its eps venerates
the seminal noir tradition: it's a hip extension. For example, we've
already talked about Cannell doing this in such eps as "The Attractive
Nuisance" and "Paradise Cove." Here he's showing a little humorous
reverence as well as some parody that feels just right for the
changing times and audience.

I think it's interesting to look at, and compare to TRF, other kinds
of "neo noir."

Two that I've seen lately, much more contemporary than TRF but showing
the durability of noir, are "The Black Dahlia" and "Where The Truth
Lies." The critical reception for both was mixed, at best. The general
rap on DePalma's rendition of James Ellroy's "Dahlia" is that it falls
short of Ellroy's "L.A. Confidential" in its movie version. The
negatives on Atom Egoyan's "Where The Truth Lies" is that it is too
complex.

Actually, I thought "LA Confidential" was pretty obvious early on. You
just know that Hollywood's standard thrust in almost every film that
includes the police procedural aspect--"Dirty Harry," "Serpico...

On Jul 14, 2:07 am, AlbertClarkson aol.com> wrote:

On Jul 14, 5:34?pm, Bongo Jim aol.com> wrote:

Just after reading this, I spotted and acquired "The Black Dahlia" at
Blockbuster Video as part of their 'Buy 2, Get 2 Free' sale. I'll see
what I think of it.