Latest Posts

April 12, 2022

Be grateful in spite of your suffering

I settled into my seat just a few rows back in the mezzanine and surveyed the crowds surging across the performance hall. As I had expected, the audience was composed largely of young adult males, though there was a substantial number of women, older folks, and even a few children present. Continue Reading...
April 06, 2022

Masculine despair in The Killers

My first film noir essay was on The Maltese Falcon, whose ambitious protagonist, private detective Sam Spade, chooses justice over an uncertain promise of happiness, the love of a dangerous woman. Continue Reading...
April 05, 2022

The kids are all right, but better with religion

In a classic 1976 episode of All in the Family, the TV character Archie Bunker took it upon himself to baptize his grandson at his local church. He did this secretly, as he explained to God, because his son-in-law was a “dopey atheist” who wouldn’t permit the baby to be baptized. Continue Reading...
March 30, 2022

Film noir and the movie-made American male

Recently I spoke at Hillsdale College on film noir as part of a program that introduced audiences to four of the most impressive movies in the genre that defined the tough detective in America and the less popular type of doomed romantic. Continue Reading...