EDGAR RICE BURROUGHS – Tarzan and the Forbidden City. Tarzan #20, Ballantine U2029, paperback; 1st printing thus, March 1964. First published in rather different form in Argosy as a six-part serial under the title The Red Star of Tarzan. March 19, 1938 – April 23, 1938. The story is a revised version of the radio serial, “Tarzan and the Diamond of Asher,” written by Rob Thompson in 1934. First hardcover edition: ERB Inc., September 15, 1938. Many reprint editions.
Tarzan is asked by his friend Paul d’Arnot to help Brian Gregory’s father and sister in their search for the lost explorer. They have a map he sent, and a description of the lost city of Ashair, which contains the fabulous Father of Diamonds. Others know of the diamond, however, and are determined to get there first. An uncountable number of kidnappings, captures, and other forced separations keep the party divided and working to save the rest, until final victory.
There is same formula here that Burroughs is famous for, but the buildups often lead to quick letdowns, or nowhere at all, as if he [Burroughs] were a bit tired of it. Tarzan is a superman – without him the group would have been quite helpless, facing total disaster by the second chapter. Flashes of surprising humor shine occasionally, with apt comments on religion (page 134) and Hollywood (page 176). Not to be read critically.
Steve Fisher had a long career of writing mystery fiction. He wrote for the pulps — Black Mask, Adventure, and Argosy, among many others – and for the leading slick magazines: Esquire, Cosmopolitan, and the Saturday Evening Post. Fisher also wrote more than thirty motion picture screenplays, including Lady in the Lake (1946), Johnny Angel (1945), The Big Frame (1953), I, Mobster (1959), Johnny Reno (1966), and Rogue’s Gallery (1968).
Steve Fisher’s writing style can best be described as hardboiled laced with sentimentality: His characters are prone to strong emotions; his plots are action-packed and melodramatic. But Fisher’s strengths are his professional style and honest presentation of characters pushed to their limits.
The arguable best of Fisher’s twenty novels is Saxon’s Ghost. Joe Saxon. one of the world’s best stage magicians, known as the Great Saxon. finds himself involved in the occult arts when his beautiful young assistant, Ellen Hayes, disappears. Saxon has to use all his arts of legerdemain to arrive at the chilling truth: The ESP powers he and Ellen fooled audiences into believing in are real. When Saxon learns Ellen has been murdered. he uses these ESP powers to reach out to her beyond the grave to deliver a special brand of earthly justice.
Other recommended novels by Fisher include The Night Before Murder(1939) and his most famous novel, Wake Up Screaming (1941; revised edition, 1960), which was filmed in 1942 starring Victor Mature and Betty Grable.
GIL SCOTT-HERON – The Vulture. World Publishing, hardcover, 1970. Belmont Books, paperback, 1971. Payback Press, paperback, 1996. Grove Press, paperback, 2013.
Minor book about minor drug-dealers in Harlem, late 60’s.
The book is in four parts, with a murder, a suicide, drug deals and a couple blocks in Harlem to bind them. Each of the four parts are narrated in the first person by a different member of the scene, describing loosely connected happenings. Each of the narratives touches the other. But only tangentially. And though we have four different perspectives, and each has a very different voice, still the reality remains the same. There are no Rashomon like problems of reliability in narration, each reality consistent with the drug-jive whole.
So you’re left with a harmonious picture of Harlem disharmony, late sixties, among the drug dealing set. Credibly realistic slice of love and life and death in happening times.
WHITE TIE AND TAILS. Universal Pictures, 1946. Dan Duryea, Ella Raines, William Bendix, Donald Curtis, Seymour S. Hinds. Screenplay by Bertram Millhauser. Story by Rufus King and Charles Beahan. Directed by Charles Barton. Currently streaming on YouTube (see below).
Charles Dumont (Dan Duryea) is the perfect butler, a man who can mix the perfect martini, keep up with his mistress’s spectacles, advise his master on art purchases, and solve their children’s teenage problems all in the course of readying the family to leave on their vacation. The Latimers just can’t function without him.
He even reminds them to give the staff paid holidays while they are gone.
But Charles Dumont has an ulterior motive. You see Charles is planning a staycation, where he will enjoy the lifestyle of his employer and indulge in the life of a playboy with a little help from the chauffeur George (Frank Jenks).
What could possibly go wrong?
Well… for instance on his first night on the town, Charles could meet beautiful wealthy Louise Bradford (Ella Raines) and her father (Samuel S. Hinds), and while endeavoring to impress the beautiful Louise as something of a charming mystery man, he could discover her sister is involved with Nick Romano (Donald Curtis) who works for casino owner Ludie (William Bendix) and owes Ludie $100,000 dollars, and naturally Charles offers to write a check to cover the amount because Mr. Bradford will repay him the next morning and Ludie, a charming fellow impressed by Charles clothes and manner, will happily call Romano off and cut off the sister’s future credit.
Again, what could possibly go wrong?
Save Mr. Bradford is going to need time to sell some bonds and raise that $100 K in cash and Mr. Ludie is going to come calling at the Latimer mansion to check on Charles legitimacy and seeing the Latimer’s art collection, which Charles can’t help but show off as his own, Ludie is going to take a few paintings as collateral until he cashes Charles check.
And from there on it gets complicated, as Charles, who gave up a promising art career because it was easier to be a butler and now is falling for Louise, and his house of cards is getting more and more precarious.
This charming romantic comedy is a surprise for Duryea who is perfectly suited to the lead and romances the lovely well-cast Raines, ably abetted by Bendix as an urbane figure (almost as much of a stretch for Bendix as Duryea) who would like a little tutoring in clothes and art and style from Charles if not for the little matter of that $100 K.
Jenks even gets a nice scene as he tries to win back the $100K at Ludie’s casino at the crap table.
In the manner of romantic comedy, the complications pile on until it seems as if there is no way a happy ending can be eked out of the mess, and then, being romantic comedy it somehow is and charmingly so.
It is also refreshing that Raines and Duryea hit it right off, and she is level-headed and smart and not the least the flighty screwball heiress.
This is not a mystery or crime film, though several times it seems as if it might be. Maybe it’s just Duryea’s presence though, and the fact that half of the writing team for the original story is mystery writer Rufus King, creator of Philo Vance-like Reginald De Puyster, Lt. Valcour, Colin Starr, and Chief Bill Dugan.
What it is, though, is an involving attractive and intelligent romantic comedy. As far as I know it is Duryea’s only lead in a romantic comedy (he is in several comedies including Howard Hawks’ Ball of Fire, but usually playing comic versions of Dan Duryea roles). It is quite possibly unique in this aspect, though I think you will agree after watching it that it should not have been.
I wouldn’t have wanted to miss out of Duryea’s great villain and character parts, but it would have been nice if he got a few more chances like this to show other aspects of his talent.
ELLERY QUEEN – The Last Man Club. Pyramid R-1835, paperback; 1st printing thus, July 1968. Both stories were originally published as Better Little Books in 1940 and 1942, respectively. Both are novelizations of radio plays.
Not all of the recent assortment of EQ reprints, of which this is one, are listed with rest of Ellery Queen’s works, and it is not surprising. The writing is distinctly substandard, although the first story does have appeal as a problem in deduction. The print is large, and there aren’t many pages [127], so 50¢ is an exceeding high price for this book.
Overall rating: **½
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“The Adventure of the Last Man Club.” A hit-and-run accident witnessed by Ellery and Nikki leads them to believe a murderer is striking the survivors of an unusual club formed twenty years before. A trust fund of $120,000 to be divided equally if the killer’s obvious goal. A poisoned cordial bottle provides Ellery with the necessary clue.
A clever and unexpected twist that occurs as the would-be killer is revealed makes the story better than it would otherwise be. Color-blindness is the key, but mailboxes are no longer painted green. ***½
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“The Adventure of the Murdered Millionaire.” A murdered stockbroker’s gum-chewing habit gives away the killer’s identity in this one, as a baseball scorecard pinpoints his whereabouts the previous afternoon.
It’s too simple a puzzle, and bad writing shows too clearly. Did EQ actually write this? On page 98, Doc Prouty is dusting for fingerprints. Since he is the medical examiner, what indeed is going on? *½
PulpFest 2024 got underway early on Wednesday evening, July 31, when the convention’s chairperson, Jack Cullers, opened the dealers’ room at the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh — Cranberry for vendors to set up for the convention. Many PulpFest dealers took advantage of this early setup to load in their wares and socialize with friends whom they see but once, twice, or thrice each year.
According to PulpFest’s marketing and programming director, Mike Chomko, the DoubleTree staff went above and beyond to have the hotel’s exhibition hall ready and waiting for the convention’s dealers. He recommends that all PulpFest vendors take advantage of the convention’s early set-up hours to prepare their exhibits for the convention’s official opening the next day.
PulpFest 2024 officially opened on Thursday morning, August 1, with the arrival of more dealers for unloading and setup. Early-bird shopping began around 9 a.m. and continued until 4:45 p.m. Although there were no feeding frenzies noted on opening day, most dealers reported brisk sales at the convention.
Dealers with substantial pulp offerings included Adventure House, Ray Walsh’s Archives Book Shop, Steve Erickson’s Books from the Crypt, Doug Ellis & Deb Fulton, Heartwood Books & Art, Paul Herman, Mark Hickman, John McMahan, Peter Macuga, Phil Nelson, Steranko, Sheila Vanderbeek, and Todd & Ross Warren. You could also find original artwork offered by Doug Ellis & Deb Fulton, George Hagenauer, Craig Poole, and others.
In addition to pulps and original artwork, you could find digests, vintage paperbacks, men’s adventure and true crime magazines, first-edition hardcovers, genre fiction, series books, Golden Age, Silver Age, Bronze Age, and pulp-related comic books, and more.
Additionally, one could find pulp reprints and contemporary creations including artwork, new fiction, and fanzines produced by Age of Aces, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., Flinch! Books, Doug Klauba, Craig McDonald, Meteor House, Charles F. Millhouse, Brian K. Morris, Will Murray, Stark House, Steeger Books, Mark Wheatley, and others.
With more than 80 dealers registered for PulpFest 2024, the dealers’ room was a sell-out. One dealer who came on board late had to set up outside the dealers’ room, near the back entrance to the hotel.
Henry G. Franke III — the co-host of ERBFest 2024 (with PulpFest) — also set up outside the dealers’ room. His table was near the main entrance to the dealers’ room where he provided information about Edgar Rice Burroughs, ERBFest, and the 2024 Dum-Dum banquet.
The fourth annual PulpFest Pizza Party followed the closure of the dealers’ room at 5 p.m. Almost 70 pizzas were baked for the convention’s members, thanks to the generosity of PulpFest’s dealers. In fact, so many pizzas were made that the hotel ran out of some ingredients. Since it was started in 2021, the annual pizza gathering has become a very popular fixture at PulpFest. The convention’s advertising director, Bill Lampkin, promises more “Pizza at PulpFest” gatherings in the years to come.
Following opening remarks by chairman Cullers, the convention’s admirable programming line-up began with a look at the early years of Black Mask, presented by Blood ’n Thunder editor and publisher Ed Hulse and his dear friend and pulp authority, Walker Martin.
Afterward, Will Murray and John Wooley — who appeared in no less than three presentations at this year’s PulpFest — discussed the gumshoes and writers for Spicy Detective Stories. Later in the night, pulp art expert David Saunders explored the Spicy artists, including an in-depth look at Adolphe Barreaux, creator of “Sally the Sleuth.”
Tim King — a former investigator for the Department of Defense and US Intelligence Services — offered a very entertaining and well-received look at spy heroes in the pulp magazines, creating a “Mission: Impossible” task force made up of the great spy heroes.
Closing out the night were Bernice Jones & Cathy Mann Wilbanks discussing “The Women of Edgar Rice Burroughs,” one of several talks on ERB and his creations at this year’s PulpFest/ERBFest. Unfortunately, a showing of The Land That Time Forgot had to be canceled due to technical difficulties. The film, directed by Kevin Connor, turned fifty this year.
Despite a long day of buying and selling and an evening packed with programming, many conventioneers gathered in the hotel lounge to talk and reminisce about their favorite authors, cover artists, and pulp characters long into the night.
There was more buying and selling on Friday, August 2. Competing for attendees’ attention were three afternoon presentations. Starting shortly after noon, filmmaker Ron Hill offered one of two special showings of his documentary on pulp fandom, We Are Doc Savage. Questions and comments followed the showing. Afterward came the 2024 “Flinch! Fest,” hosted by John C. Bruening & Jim Beard of Flinch! Books. Joining them was Flinch writer Brian Morris.
Closing out the afternoon programming was “The Universe According to Edgar Rice Burroughs,” a panel led by Christopher Paul Carey — director of publishing for Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. — and Cathy Wilbanks, the organization’s Vice President of Operations. Joining them was Joe Ferrante from Pocket Universe Productions — creators of John Carter of Mars: The Audio Series — and Doug Simms of Heroes and Games.
After the dinner break came more evening programming, beginning with a look at the spicy influence on the men’s adventure magazines, presented by Bob Deis and Wyatt Doyle — co-editors of “The Men’s Adventure Library.” Next came a look at the Popular Publications years of Black Mask, presented by John Gunnison, John McMahan, and John Wooley.
Afterward, writer and illustrator Mark Schultz and PulpFest programming director Mike Chomko teamed up for a look at dinosaurs in the pulps. This in-depth presentation on the topic ran quite a bit over its allotted time as the two discussed paleontology and the pulps. It was part of the 2024 salute to the centennial of the first book publication of The Land That Time Forgot.
Tom Krabacher and Kurt Shoemaker came next with a look at America’s Secret Service Ace — Operator #5 — while Morgan Holmes, a leading expert on sword and sorcery and the work of Robert E. Howard, finished up the evening’s programming with a discussion of Culture Publications’ Spicy- Adventure Stories. The “Spicy” pulps turned 90 years old in 2024.
Rather than show the evening’s planned film — The People That Time Forgot — the convention screened the previously canceled The Land That Time Forgot. The audience was asked to turn off the lights and make sure the doors were locked if they decided to watch the movie’s sequel during the wee hours of Sunday morning.
On Saturday, August 3, the dealers’ room opened again at 9 a.m. and brisk business continued. All told, 436 people passed through the entrance to the PulpFest 2024 dealers’ room where they were tempted by more than 150 tables filled with thousands of pulp magazines, digests, vintage paperbacks, original art, and much more.
Ron Hill started off the afternoon programming with another showing of We Are Doc Savage, a documentary on fandom. Afterward, Win Scott Eckert, Sean Lee Levin, & Paul Spiteri, with Keith Howell, celebrated Farmercon XIX with a discussion about the latest offerings from Meteor House.
Closing out the afternoon programming, author and journalist Craig McDonald interviewed artist Douglas C. Klauba, whose work covers the interests of the three conventions held annually at the DoubleTree in Mars, PA: Burroughs, Farmer, & pulp.
This was the third time that PulpFest had hosted both Farmercon — which has been coming to PulpFest almost annually since 2011 — and ERBFest — a “convention within a convention” that began at PulpFest in 2021. They’ll both be returning next year, along with a third convention — Doc Con, a gathering of the fans of “The Man of Bronze.” It has been nearly a decade since the last Doc Con.
After the close of the dealers’ room on Saturday, The Burroughs Bibliophiles and fans of the author’s work gathered at the nearby Bravo! Italian Kitchen for the 2024 Dum-Dum Banquet. Named for the special gatherings of the great apes as described in Burroughs’ Tarzan of the Apes, the banquet was hosted by Henry G. Franke III and Jason Aiken, a local member of The Bibliophiles. Attended by nearly fifty people, the banquet featured door prizes, a free program book with an autographs page, and a driving-tour map of Mars, Pennsylvania, and its vicinity.
Speaking at the event was author and illustrator Mark Schultz — who was also presented with the 2024 Golden Lion Award — and Mike Conran, Vice Chairman of the Bibliophiles Board of Directors. Frankie Frazetta also provided a video recorded at the Frazetta Art Museum in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, made especially for the banquet. Jim Goodwin was presented with the Outstanding Achievement Award at the banquet.
After Saturday’s dinner break came more evening programming, beginning with a look at PulpFest 2025, presented by committee members Cullers and Chomko. Afterward, the 2024 Munsey Award was presented to researcher and editor, Gene Christie. The Munsey Award recognizes an individual or organization that has bettered the pulp community — be it through disseminating knowledge about the pulps or through publishing or other efforts to preserve and foster interest in the pulp magazines we all love and enjoy.
Finishing off this year’s programming at PulpFest was an interview with Peter Wolson, the son of hardboiled detective writer Morton Wolson (who wrote as Peter Paige). The tireless John Wooley conducted the interview.
Closing out the evening was the convention’s Saturday night auction. It featured over 300 lots of material including nearly 250 lots of science fiction books, magazines, and reference materials from the estate of Charles Danowski, a former school superintendent with a love for the genre. Perhaps the highlight of the auction was a copy of the October 1933 issue of Weird Tales, featuring the iconic “Bat Woman” cover of Margaret Brundage. It sold to a silent bidder for $2000.
The remainder of the lots consisted of several groupings of The Shadow, Doc Savage, and The Phantom Detective, about ten issues of Weird Tales — mostly from the 1930s — Edgar Rice Burroughs first editions, and a half-dozen or so number one pulps, including South Sea Stories, The Skipper, and Jungle Stories.
Although the dealers’ room opened a final time again on Sunday, August 4, buying and selling opportunities were limited as dealers packed up and prepared for the drive home.
PulpFest 2025 will take place August 7 – 10 at the DoubleTree by Hilton Pittsburgh — Cranberry in Mars, Pennsylvania. The convention will be celebrating “Masters of Blood and Thunder” in 2025. The 150th anniversary of the births of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Rafael Sabatini, and Edgar Wallace will happen next year.
You can learn more by visiting http://www.pulpfest.com. I hope to see you at the convention.
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EDITORIAL UPDATE: August 26th. I’ve just added photos sent to me by Bill Lampkin. Thanks, Bill!
ROBERT L. FISH – The Incredible Schlock Homes: 12 Stories from Bagel Street. Simon & Schuster, hardcover, 1966. Avon, softcover, 1976.
Only the most humorless Sherlockians could object to the way their hero is treated in these enormously funny parodies, all twelve of which were originally published in Ellery Queen’s Mystery Magazine. Because Fish clearly knew the canon, these stories arc also excellent pastiches of the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. He has captured Doyle’s style in having a Dr. Watson narrate the events, and the cases generally start with the same time-tested devices used to begin the Sherlock Holmes tales. A distressed potential client appears, and Homes, who has never seen him or her before, uses his best deductive methods to guess pertinent facts. He is totally wrong, but hilariously so.
Starting with a decidedly cockeyed chronology, “Watson” proceeds to refer to past successes of Homes’s, and these are merely excuses for some of the most outrageous puns ever to appear in the mystery genre. For example, Homes’s efforts on behalf of a Polish group are included as “The Adventure of the Danzig Men.” The detective’s involvement with a British lord who, because of dishonesty, had to resign from his clubs is called “The Adventure of the Dismembered Peer.”
Obviously, nothing is to be sacred here, including the names of the famous characters. Watson goes under the name “Watney,” Mrs. Hudson becomes “Mrs. Essex,” and Professor Moriarty operates as “Professor Marty.” The action starts at 221B Bagel Street.
“The Adventure of the Ascot Tie,” Fish’s first published story, is probably the best in the collection, but it is only minutely superior to “The Adventure of the Stockbroker’s Clark,” “The Adventure of the Artist’s Mottle,” and “The Adventure of the Snared Drummer.”
Another group of stories, almost as good, was collected and published as The Memoirs of Schlock Homes (1974). All are delightful to read as they lovingly spoof the methods and idiosyncrasies of the most famous character in all of literature, exposing the frequently tenuous reasoning by which Sir Arthur’s hero came up with his solutions. Schlock’s methods are very similar-except he is always wrong, to our comic delight.
It is proof of the permanent appeal of Sherlock Holmes that a talented writer like Robert L. Fish can take him apart, giving us great pleasure. and yet at the same time make us anxious to read the original stories once again.
JEROME ODLUM – Each Dawn I Die. Bobbs-Merrill, hardcover, 1938. To be published by Stark House Press as a Staccato Books imprint edition in September. (See comment #4.) Film: First National/Warner Brothers, 1939, withe James Cagney, George Raft.
Frank Ross is a reporter digging up dirt on the corrupt local administration when he gets sapped by some goons and set up on a phony vehicular homicide rap. And sent up to prison for 20 years.
“When you first came here, you imagined that every day would bring your release. Then you started figuring in weeks, then months. And now you’re beginning to feel it’s nearly hopeless. And you hate all the world and God and Jesus Christ for letting you in for a mess like this. You don’t want any part of them…. When you came here, you had no intention of adopting the code of the convict. But now you’re not only a convict by number and garb; you’re also a convict at heart. That’s what the dumb taxpayers and yard sprinklers and grass mowers and God and Jesus Christ and all the rest of the world have done for you. That’s what prison has made of you. The hell with all of them.”
It’s a good prison yarn with plenty of gory details. Then the ending goes all Hollywood on you and everything’s smiles, rainbows and cotton candy. But until that point you’ve got a solid story of prisoners, the weasels running the prison and their succubae. But for the ending, I liked it.
PHILIP JOSE FARMER – The Felled Star. Serialized in If SF, July-August, 1967. Combined with the serial “The Fabulous Riverboat” (If SF, May-June 1971) into the second Riverworld novel, The Fabulous Riverboat (Putnam, hardcover, 1971).
Continuing the Riverworld series, we now follow the adventures and dreams of Sam Clemens as he and a shipful of Viking warriors [as they] sail upstream in search of a mysterious tower reportedly seen in the polar regions. One of the Ethicals intervenes again, to cause a meteorite to fall, promising a source of much-needed iron.
The story does not end, and cannot stand by itself; hence the low rating. Who couldn’t it be told at once? Farmer’s Sam Clemens has only faint resemblance to the historical Mark Twain, though no doubt the facts of his life are correct. Some comments [are included] on the human condition, reflections on life by Clemens, etc.
RIDE THE PINK HORSE. Universal, 1947. Robert Montgomery, Wanda Hendrix, Andrea King, Thomas Gomez, Fred Clark, Art Smith, Martin Garralaga and John Doucette. Screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles Lederer, based on the novel by Dorothy B. Hughes. Directed by Robert Montgomery.
The one non-Boston Blackiefilm I’ve seen on TV lately was Ride the Pink Horse, starring and directed by Robert Montgomery. Not a great film by any means, but interesting throughout. Montgomery had, by all accounts, an unusually high IQ, and it has always seemed to me that his films are all marked by an almost intangible quality of Intelligence. The failures as well as the successes seem to presuppose a certain degree of of the movie-going audience (a classically underestimated group) and work from there.
The well-known extended subjective camerawork in Lady in the Lake, for example, is hardly an unqualified triumph, but it’s the sort of thing somebody had to try sooner or later; All it took was a director who had some confidence in his audience.
Likewise the sly references in Montgomery’s autobiographical daydream-movie Once More, My Darling, where Ann Blyth conveys a hitherto-unsuspected and startling sensuality while we wait for things to get funny, which they never really do.
Montgomery’s intelligence often showed itself even in films he didn’t direct but merely acted in. There’s his effete quisling in The Big House, the blandly ingenuous psycho in Night Must Fall, the Detective/Prince in Trouble for Two, and the memorable Here Comes Mr. Jordan and They Were Expendable, all films marked by much more thoughtfulness than is common in movies of their sort.
Oddly enough, it’s this very intelligence that mitigates against Ride the Pink Horse, in which Montgomery portrays Lucky Gagin, a not-too-bright petty crook out for revenge against Fred Clark as a murderous Political Boss; He just never convinces us that he’s as dumb as his character is supposed to be. Montgomery walks and talks just like a pug throughout the film, but every so often he visibly relaxes and just listens while another character talks, and in these moments his face betrays him with a perceptive, alert expression that all the Dis ‘n’ Dats in his dialogue just can’t hide.
What we have here is an educated man playing a Dummy, and for all his brains, Montgomery just ain’t a good enough actor to hide it.
I should go on to add, though, that except for this, Ride the Pink Horse is just about everything you could want in a film noir and more, with moody lighting, long, expressive takes, a host of skillfully limned minor characters, and the showy stylistic flourishes one expects from this genre.
Yet even the standard film noir brutality takes an oddly thoughtful turn here: for though the Good Guys in this movie take an awful lot of physical abuse — very graphically portrayed — the Baddies get their lumps off-camera, if at all. And this is not a small point when you’re talking about film noir.
One of the staples of Classic noirs no one ever mentions is that grin of Guilty Pleasure lighting the features of Bogart, Powell, et. al. as they prepare to deliver a well-deserved ass-kicking to their erstwhile tormentors. Nothing like that ever happens in Ride the Pink Horse, as if Montgomery were trying to subtly convey that violence is, after all, the province of the Bad Guys, and we grown-ups must look elsewhere for catharsis.
Hmm. Bob Montgomery may not be the best moviemaker ever, but he maybe deserves more attention than he’s been getting.
— Reprinted from The Hound of Dr. Johnson #57, July 2008.
