clcouch123

Looking at You

(first films)

Have you ever seen The Big Sleep?

Like the earlier Maltese Falcon

Philip Marlowe

Sam Spade

Raymond Chandler

Dashiell Hammett

Many people say the plots are convoluted

They say that because they are

So we watch for character

The personalities

The texture

The underlying value

I like both films a lot

They are cynical stories

But there’s an underline of care

Otherwise, why watch?

I know it’s fashionable to avoid a message

Sometimes the words get through, anyway

They are in the folds of a trenchcoat

In a look from woman’s or man’s eye

In the outcome, which only

Works if

We look subcutaneously

Appreciate not the lack of technical justice

But the abundance of

Sound conclusions and livable ethics

Manifest

I’m sorry, I don’t want to give away

The endings

Have I said too much?  Sorry, again

But watch the movies, anyway

They have action

They have dialogue that ricochets

Sharper than bullets on stone

They have energy

They bring the oddest hope onto the screen

Something to talk about on the way home

C L Couch