Category Archives: James Ellroy

Maybe I like to be cheap once in a while….

Posted on March 4, 2013 by jgroom

….maybe everybody does. The following scene is a classic Hollywood moment from Vincente Minnelli‘s 1952 melodrama The Bad and the Beautiful between Lana Turner and Kirk Douglas —and both prove why they are masters, though Douglas steals this one at … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Curtis Hanson, douglas sirk, Hardboiled, James Ellroy, Kirk Douglas, L.A. Confidential, lana turner, movies, Quentin Tarantino, Sterling Hayden, The Bad and the Beautiful, Vincente Minnelli | Leave a comment

Ellroy on Hammett: a Hardboiled War on Labor

Posted on December 18, 2012 by jgroom

I was searching the UMW library database for a James Ellroy novel I wanted to re-read this break (The Big Nowhere), when I stumbled across his introduction to an Everyman’s Library Edition of some of Dashiell Hammett’s stories and novels. … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Dashiell Hammett, Hardboiled, James Ellroy, labor, Red Harvest, work | Leave a comment

Why so serious?

Posted on December 6, 2012 by jgroom

This is my last word on James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia because I need to write about the re-emergence of black capitalism in Walter Mosely‘s Devil in a Blue Dress. At the beginning of Tuesday’s discussion about Devil in a … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in emoboiled, Gwynplain, Hardboiled, James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia, The Dark Knight, The Joker, The Man Who Laughs, Victor Hugo | Leave a comment

Hardboiled Week 14: Black Dahlia, Alternative History, and the Rise of Smut and Gore

Posted on November 29, 2012 by jgroom

Audio of Hardboiled discussion of James Ellroy’s The Black Dahlia 11-29-2012
Tonight’s class was a bit low energy given how late we are in the semester and how much reading I have thrown at the #emoboilers—but as they say what doesn’t … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Hardboiled, James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia | Leave a comment

Hardboiled Week 14: James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia, and Other Twisted Obsessions

Posted on November 28, 2012 by jgroom

I can remember the exact moment I heard about James Ellroy for the first time. It was the Fall of 1994 and I was working at UCLA’s Audio Visual Services scheduling AV needs for the campus community when my co-worker … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in Hardboiled, James Ellroy, The Black Dahlia | Leave a comment

Hardboiled: Mildred Pierce Discussion (Part 2) & Midterm

Posted on October 14, 2012 by jgroom

Mildred Pierce Class Discussion (10-11-12)
The class discussion covering the second half of James M. Caine’s Mildred Pierce from Thursday can be found above. Oddly enough I forgot my marked up copy of the novel at home, so rather than freaking … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in audio, Hardboiled, James Ellroy, Joan Crawford, Johnny Stompanato, lana turner, Mildred Pierce | Leave a comment

Lana Turner

Posted on September 3, 2012 by jgroom

Lana Turner is always hardboiled! I wanted to title this one Johnny Stompanato —if you don’t know the story of Turner’s turbid relationship with the LA Underworld you should (James Ellroy writes them both as characters in L.A. Confidential). This one is … Continue reading → Continue reading →

Posted in film noir, Hardboiled, James Ellroy, L.A. Confidential, lana turner, Los Angeles, The Postman Always Rings Twice | Leave a comment