The Writer's Life 10/2 - Sad Day

What a sad day for America. We awoke to the news of the mass murder in Vegas, then found out Tom Petty, 66, had succumbed to cardiac arrest. I won't comment on the former, as it will dominate the media for several days. I've been a fan of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers since the late '70's when I first heard I Need to Know, 2:27 of kick-ass rock n roll. His career spanned 40 years. As a member of the band and as a solo artist, he is responsible for the sale of more than 80 million records. He did 13 albums with the band, two with the Traveling Wilburys, which included George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison, and Jeff Lynne of ELO; and two with Mudcrutch, the final two discs he released, the name a tribute to his first group way back when. He dabbled in acting, appearing in two films and lending his voice to TV's King of the Hill animation series. IMDb lists 133 movie and show titles in which his music is heard. He won three Grammys and was nominated for 15 others. He was nominated for ten MTV Video Music Awards, winning three. He and the Heartbreakers are members of the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. He was honored by Billboard magazine with its Century Award and by Radio Music Awards Legend designation. Well done, sir.

Lately I'd grown frustrated with Movies!, channel 113 on Cablevision in NYC, as it kept repeating the same flicks over and over again in prime time. Last night it began a new series - Sunday Night Noir, black and white crime films. First up was one I'd never seen, Cry of the City (1948), not the best of the genre but solid. It was helmed by a director who specialized in such fare, Robert Siodmak, who two years earlier had made one of the all-time best noirs, The Killers, an expansion of Ernest Hemingway's short story starring Burt Lancaster and Ava Gardner. Cry of the City is the story of an unrepentant criminal, played by Richard Conte, and the by-the-book cop determined to take him down, played by Victor Mature. Also in the stellar cast: Shelley Winters, Fred Clark, Betty Garde (the maid in The Honeymooners), Debra Paget, and Hope Emerson, scary as a hardcore predator. She was six-two, 230 pounds, according to her bio at IMDb. Her most famous role is the nasty prison matron of Caged (1950), starring Eleanor Parker. I enjoyed that Conte's character preferred crime, even when it led to killing, to ordinary life. In my next novel, one of the two main characters lives the same way. I also loved hearing Italian spoken in the film. Here's a still of the negotiation between the characters of Conte and Emerson:

My thanks to the kind folks who bought books today, especially the ever gregarious Carmine, who would brighten anyone's day.

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