Book Review - Two from Ralph Dennis

Atlanta Deathwatch / The Charleston Knife Is Back In Town

Ralph Dennis / Reissued by Brash Books

 Reading the first two volumes of Ralph Dennis’ 1970s Hardman series featuring Jim Hardman and Hump Evans is like finding $50 in your jacket pocket.  An unexpected blessing.  Before reading an article about the series on CrimeReads this past February, I never heard of Ralph Dennis or his 12-book series.  And that’s the real crime here.  Kudos to Brash Books for reissuing the entire Hardman series by this wonderful writer.

The first thing I noticed is how great the writing is – it’s clean and strong.  The narrative voice is immediately engaging.  It’s all there in the first few pages.  The narrator is Jim Hardman, a former Atlanta cop forced out under a cloud of corruption.  He and his friend Hump Evan, a former pro football player and full-time ladies’ man now work on the fringes of Atlanta.  They’re unlicensed private eyes of a sort who also take on the occasional drug courier assignment.  They make an interesting team.  Hardman has connections to the Atlanta police department while Hump is a minor celebrity.  Their connections enable them to freely move between the while underworld, the black underworld and the gray area in between.

The writing and stories are somewhat reminiscent of the great John D. MacDonald (the steamy southern gothicness but minus all the philosophizin’ - but yes, Ralph Dennis is that good).  There’s even a nifty Travis McGee reference in Atlanta Deathwatch.

On top of the fabulous writing, the stories are cleverly put together.  In Atlanta Deathwatch, Hardman and Hump try to find out who killed the coed daughter of a rich businessman.  This brings them into contact with The Man, the king of the black underworld. 

In the second installment, The Charleston Knife Is Back in Town, the duo help a little old lady find her grandson – who may have been involved in an audacious heist – before the title character can filet him like a fish.  This book also employs a neat trick – Dennis switches from a first-person narrator to the third person at several points in the novel and it works very well.

The Ralph Dennis story and how Brash Books got the rights to his book is a fascinating story and is best told in the CrimeReads pieces linked about as well as here. It reminds me a little of how John Kennedy O’Toole’s kept mother kept pestering Walker Percy about the Confederacy of Dunces manuscript.  Maybe that’s a stretch.

The books also include a wonderful introductory essay by Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap and Leonard series which apparently was inspired by the Hardman series.

Ralph Dennis was writing in the 1970s and his books reflect that shaggy, semi-enlightened decade.  Each book starts with a Publisher’s Note stating: “This book was originally published in 1974 and reflects the cultural and sexual attitudes, language, and politics of the period.”  Indeed.

By resurrecting Ralph Dennis and his wonderful novels from the deep recesses of second-hand bookshops, Brash Books gives us all an amazing gift.  Thank you to everyone involved!

Highly recommended.

ADULTS ACTING LIKE IT

Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993, dir. Woody Allen)

I recently watch this wonderful film again for at least the fifth or sixth time. And while it’s an enjoyable romp, it’s certainly one of Woody Allen’s lesser good pictures.  

But what struck me on this viewing was how adult all the characters were — everyone in the picture acts like grownup (even Zach Braff’s character behaves like a mature 21 year old). Now I know this is, of course, true in most movies, but I recently watched recent films and it was something of a shock to see adult characters not behaving like Jolt Cola’d teenagers.  

The characters do behave ridiculously, don’t get me wrong, but they do not try to adopt youthful language or slang or to to act or dress like a they were thirty years younger.  In 1993, Woody was 58 years old, Alan Alda was 57, and Diane Keaton was 47. Angelica Houston was only 42. 

The film I saw right before this was the vile Bad Moms Bullshit Christmas 6 (please don’t ask) which featured six grown women acting like 13 year old boys.  On purpose.  

It was refreshing to see Keaton, Alda, Allen and Huston behaving like comfortable and  (somewhat) well-adjusted adults.  They go to nice restaurants and hockey games and the Met; they have conversations about real things and speak in full sentences.

I guess my point is that it was nice to relax and enjoy a film that was made for an audience that doesn’t need to be titillated or shocked to enjoy itself.

At the movies

When I was a kid I loved going to the movies.  I would look at the movie ads in the newspaper and ask my mother to take me.  And because it was the 70s/80s, she would drive me to the theater (either the one at the small mall, the big mall or later, the new mall) and drop me off at the theater with just enough money for a ticket (the matinee was about two dollars) and maybe some popcorn.  She would the pick me up after.  I would try to get there as early as possible, find a good seat get out a book and wait for the movie to start. 

Back then there were only a few previews and perhaps a quick advert for the theater chain.  This was one of my favorite moments was right at the beginning when the studio or production company logo would appear on the screen.  I always would wonder what it was like to work at the company; what the offices looked like.  How happy the employees were to be making movies all day. 

One of my favorites was the Ladd Company. 

The Ladd Company made Outland, Chariots of Fire, and, of course, Blade Runner.  Another one I loved was was TriStar:

Here's the great Orion Pictures logo:

I also liked the static logos without animation or sound.

New World Pictures:

This is just a small but sweet memory I have to going to the movies a long time ago.