A Beloved Author Passes
RIP Mary Higgins Clark, 92, beloved author of mysteries, whose novels never last long at the floating book shop. A Bronx girl, graduate of Fordham, she worked as a secretary, copy editor and stewardess before marrying. When her husband died in 1964, she began writing four-minute radio scripts. Encouraged by her agent, she gave novels a shot. Her first, historical fiction about George Washington, did not sell well. She then tried the mystery genre and found phenomenal success, publishing at least 50 books, of which a hundred million copies have sold in the USA alone. There are 28 titles of her works listed under her name at IMDb, adaptations to the big and small screen. Many are in French, and some have aired on channel 14–2, a PBS affiliate in NYC that specializes in Euro productions. From britannica.com/, edited by yours truly: “Among the many honors Clark received were the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière (1980), membership (1997) in the Horatio Alger Association of Distinguished Americans, and induction (2000) as a Grand Master of the Edgar Allen Poe Awards by the Mystery Writers of America. A devout Roman Catholic, she was awarded the papal honor of Dame of the Order of Saint Gregory the Great. In 2001 Simon & Schuster sponsored an annual award for suspense-fiction writers in her name.” A mother of five, her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, has also had success as an author. Awesome, madam. Thank you.
Having enjoyed writer/director S. Craig Zahler’s Dragged Across Concrete (2018) and Bone Tomahawk (2015), I added Brawl in Cell Block 99 (2017) to my Netflix list. I’m glad I did. It’s the story of a down on his luck guy fired from his job as a mechanic. When asked how he’s doing by a former co-worker, he says: “South of good, north of cancer.” He becomes a successful drug runner. 18 months later he’s living in a fine home with his pregnant wife. Things go wrong when he is assigned to work with men he doesn’t trust. He receives a seven-year prison sentence. While incarcerated, he learns his wife has been kidnapped and will be killed if he does not kill an inmate. The first half of the narrative is grounded, outstanding. It then evolves to an Army-of-One tale, baloney but viscerally satisfying, rousing. Vince Vaughn, head shaved, is chilling in the lead, an obvious powder keg on the verge of explosion. Jennifer Carpenter as the wife, Don Johnson as the no-nonsense warden, Udo Kier as a corrupt lawyer, and Fred Melamed lend their considerable talents to the proceedings. Johnson refers to the four, who have appeared in all three films, as The Zahler Players. 51,000+ users at IMDb have rated Brawl…, forging to a consensus of 7.1 on a scale of ten. It runs 2:12. Anyone squeamish about violence should pass. This is as about as brutal as cinema gets. Even though much of the action takes places in dark settings, it is quite graphic. To my dismay, Zahler’s credits list no coming films. This guy deserves more work even though he has not been a money-maker. He may have a great movie in him.
Tough weekend for leftists: No witnesses will be called in President Trump’s impeachment trial, and Brexit is official. Love it!
The floating book shop did nicely on this raw opening to February. My thanks to Bad News Billy, who bought all the DVDs on display, bootleg or not. He recently suffered a hack and spent a lot of time in the bank closing one account and opening another. I immediately suspected his “grand-daughter” or her boyfriend. He said he had no idea. I didn’t want to take any money from him, but, as usual, he insisted. My thanks, and also to the gentleman who bought four books in Russian, and to the woman who purchased one, and to the woman who did her customary weekend swap; and to the gentleman who took home How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie and StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath: and to the gentleman who selected When Bad Things Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner; and to Monse`, who chose the soundtrack to the movie version of Chicago (2002). “They had it comin’ — they had it comin’…!”
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