Dashiell Hammett: Detective, Writer

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating author of the hard-boiled mystery
Review: This film is an interesting look at Dashiell Hammett, the master of the hard-boiled detective novel, who wrote lovely prose and then drank his ill-health to the breaking point. He was a Pinkerton detective, a TB patient, a friend of William Faulkner, and an intimate friend of Lillian Hellman. Hammett joined the Armed Forces during WWII, became a card-carrying Communist, and was imprisoned during McCarthy's red scare.

The film is well-done and incorporates lots of photographs and clips from the films he authored, as well as lines from his novels and stories. If you've read Hammett, you'll want to read more, and if you haven't, this film will prompt you to delve into some of his works. It's definitely worth seeing, because the story of Hammett himself is as fascinating as the stories he wrote.