© 2007 William Ahearn
David Goodis is probably the most tragic of the pulp writers, although there are certainly other contenders for the role. His career took off early and then his eccentric behavior and his alcoholism took its toll and he died young at 49 in 1967. At the time of his death, all of his work was out of print in the US although he was still being bought and read in France.
For more on his background and career, go here.
Not a noir writer in the classic sense, his work resonates to this day and it’s readily apparent in the work of Irish writer Ken Bruen, among others. Goodis was a poet of the streets and bars and diners and his work is peopled with what are often referred to as low-lifes. His characters are usually someone on the slow skid to nowhere and in Down There (which was renamed Shoot The Piano Player after the Truffaut film was released as Woolrich’s It Had To Be Murder was renamed Rear Window after the Hitchcock film) it’s a classical pianist who grew up in a family of criminals and after finding out about a discretion on the part of his wife to further his career, he begins the slow unraveling that will lead to playing piano in a seedy bar, violence and the return of his criminal family.
David Goodis got noir, understood the dark angles of a seedy street after midnight and the dangerous minds that lived there. Francois Truffaut didn’t. Truffaut, as others in what became the French New Wave, was influenced and obsessed with American crime films. Jean-Luc Godard would take what he learned from the cinema noir of the postwar years and absorb it into his own inimitable style turning out major films such as “Breathless,” “Band of Outsiders,” “Alphaville,” and “Pierre le Fou.” Truffaut suggested the story of “Breathless” to Godard and he would never again seem to grasp what went into a good film about crime or petty criminals. Godard skipped in Pierre Melville’s footsteps while Truffaut wanted to emulate Hitchcock. Godard succeeded and Truffaut didn’t.
“Shoot The Piano Player” is more a pastiche of criminal vaudeville than an exploration of the dark side of humanity. It’s like taking the song “Invitation To The Blues” by Tom Waits and having it performed by Elton John or Donny Osmond. Granted, tragedy and comedy can sometimes be separated by a laugh track but it’s not a particularly good film even on the basis that Truffaut intended. This was the first time that Truffaut would ruin a good crime story, but as future essays will show, it won't be the last.
“Tirez Sur le Pianiste,” as the film is titled in French, sports an excellent cast with Charles Aznavour, Marie Debois and Nicole Berger. There are many people who love this film (and most of them went to film school) but don’t expect to get a sense of David Goodis from the viewing. Cassidy’s Girl is back in print and several others – Street of No Return and Nighfall – are either in print or will be soon.