MILLER'S CROSSING (1990)

I've seen a number of films based (sometimes uncredited) on the writings of Dashiell Hammett, but only MILLER'S CROSSING comes close to what I see in my head when reading one of his wonderful stories.

Set in the United States during the Prohibition-era, two rival gangsters run the unnamed city.  Albert Finney is the older, more established of the two, but the other, Jon Polito, is gaining power.  Theirs is an uneasy relationship, but when Polito requests permission to kill a protected bookie (Turturro), Finney says no...cause he's boinking Turturro's sister, Marsha Gay Harden.  Finney's right hand man, Gabriel Byrne, tries to convince Finney that he should give up Turturro because he knows he's gonna lead to an all out war, but Finney is defiant.  Things happen and Byrne finds himself on the receiving end of Finney's wrath, so he switches his loyalty over to Polito, but this is only a ruse to intensify the war and cause the two gangs to destroy each other.

If you look it up, MILLER'S CROSSING it didn't get shit for awards when it was released and actually bombed at the box office making back less than half of its budget.  Which is a real shame. I guess audiences back in 1990 weren't interested in an intricately written, superbly acted and expertly directed film about the Prohibition filled with awesome violence and murder.

Highly, highly recommended.  If you need me I'll be in my room reading "The Glass Key".

IN NAME ONLY (1939)

One day while out walking near his country home Cary Grant runs into the beautiful Carole Lombard fishing.  As they talk you can tell there's a spark between them, but Grant has a terrible secret: he's married to a horrible, evil, gold digging, ice queen, devilish, manipulating, superbitch!  Lombard finds out about the superbitch soon enough and Grant demands a divorce, but SC does all kinds of underhanded things to stretch it out in hopes that the stress will doom Grant and Lombard's relationship.

IN NAME ONLY starts out slow, but once the emotional roller coaster gets going it's a wild ride.  Being such an old film I'm sure most modern audiences would find the whole thing dated, but I was happily surprised at how mature and non-sappy the film was for the time.  Good pace, brave performance by Kay Francis at playing somebody so unlikeable, good writing strong performances by the entire cast (I was especially intrigued to see two such talented slapstick performers trying out their dramatic chops).  For a 1930's melodrama IN NAME ONLY is a good one and worth checking out.