Hammett
Director: Wim Wenders and Francis Ford Coppola
Year Released: 1982
Rating: 3.0
Literary icon Dashiell Hammett (Frederic Forrest) unexpectedly ends up in the middle of one of his own stories, complete with those 'staples' of his 'world': corruption, violence, buckets of liquor, head lacerations, trench coats and Asian whores (er, okay, at least some of those). Tortured production history aside - according to the IMDb, 80% of this had to be re-shot - this has some genuine B-movie charm to it, particularly for those aware of Hammett's style, distinctive dialogue and menagerie of thugs and crooks - Forrest, usually a character actor, is actually impressive as Hammett-mixed-with-Sam-Spade. Dean Tavoularis' set design is almost another character in itself.
