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About DonHerron.com
In 1977 Don Herron began leading The Dashiell Hammett Tour, now the longest-running literary tour in the nation. On this site you’ll find information on current walks — dates, where to meet, arranging tours by appointment — plus a hard-boiled blog with news, reviews of books and film, and a dash of noir.
The latest and greatest edition to self-guide you up and down the mean streets.
Willeford: The Book
Includes the first “Mr. Hunt” story, “Knives in the Dark.”
Tag Archives: John Huston
Rediscovered: W. R. Burnett on Defund the Police
A few weeks ago I finally got around to reading the heist-gone-wrong classic The Asphalt Jungle from 1949 by W. R. Burnett. With his first novel in 1929, Little Caesar, Burnett made his name. A cornerstone of crime fiction, the … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Hammett Easter Egg OSTRICH-Sized in Legends of Tomorrow
I thought I had gotten in on something early when I did the post about spotting a Maltese Falcon statue in an episode of the CW show Arrow. A subsequent and cursory check of the web revealed that only one guy … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film
Tagged Arrow, DC Comics, Hawkgirl, Hawkman, John Huston, Legends of Tomorrow, The CW
Hammett: Midget Bandit Week!
If you’re any kind of serious fan of the writings of Dashiell Hammett, you know that Hammett modeled the gunsel Wilmer Cook in The Maltese Falcon, published in first edition hardcovers by Knopf in 1930, on a crook known as The Midget Bandit. … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit, News
Tagged Bogie, Elisha Cook Jr., John Huston, Modern Library Falcon, PEAPS, Stockton California, The Midget Bandit, Warren Harris, Wilmer Cook
Sinister Cinema: And the Bleak Noir Rains Crashed Down
I’ve got my slideshow talk in Livermore tomorrow, after warming up with the Q&A in Novato the other day. Wow. You can tell when you’re showing a genuine noir classic, because the sky breaks open and cold rain paints everything in shades … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Lit, News, Willeford
Tagged Arkham House, August Derleth, Clark Ashton Smith, Donald Wandrei, IMDb, John Huston, Lovecraft, Novato Theater, Oscar, Peter O'Toole, Philip Rahman, Sidney Greenstreet, Weird Tales
Hammett: Rhea, Wilmer, or. . . ?
Mike Humbert refreshes his name in my Tag Cloud by sending in a link to a bit about The Maltese Falcon he’s found hanging out in the web — as he notes, it is an “Off-the-wall theory, but interesting. . . .” The … Continue reading
Sinister Cinema: Lorre Noir
Valentine’s Day again — one of the birthdays of noir. In 1930 — 81 years ago today — Knopf released the first edition of The Maltese Falcon in hardcovers. As I maintain in the short essay “San Francisco Noir” (and to my … Continue reading
Posted in Dash, Film, Frisco, Lit
Tagged Bogie, Falcon from Knopf, Joel Cairo, John Huston, Noir, Noir City, Peter Lorre, Poe, Valentine
