"Funner" With Frank

I had a double dose of the works of the late, great crime fiction writer Jim Thompson yesterday.

First, I finished reading POP. 1280 (1964). The book is narrated by Nick Corey, the sheriff of a very small town (hence the population number) somewhere in the South sometime during the early 20th century. Exact details are never given.

Nick presents himself as a good ol’boy who might be one sandwich shy of a picnic basket. But he’s a cunning, totally evil man who will gladly commit murder should someone stand in the way of his wants. By the end of the book, six people are dead, either by Nick’s hand or by way of his machinations. Nick reacts to the carnage he’s wrought with an “aw shucks” air of innocence. Imagine Barney Fife as a psychopathic killer and you’ll have an idea of what Nick is like.

POP. 1280 is a fast read but it ultimately goes nowhere. There’s no real suspense generated and the ending leaves us wondering what Nick’s final fate might be. Thompson could certainly take his readers for a walk on the very, very dark side of the street but it’s not a journey that I enjoyed taking and I can’t recommend this book to any but the most die-hard of noir fiction aficionados.

THE KILLER INSIDE ME, published in 1952, was filmed in 2010. The story and set up is remarkably similar to that of POP. Casey Affleck stars as deputy sheriff Lou Ford in Central City, Texas. It’s sometime in the 1950s to judge by the cars, clothes and music. Ford is a sadistic son of a bitch who gets his kicks by beating the women (Jessica Alba and Kate Hudson) he’s having affairs with. Beating to the point of death. Some scenes are incredibly brutal and realistic and hard to take.

You can’t root for Lou. You can only follow the twisty path the narrative takes as Lou, who killed two people in a complicated blackmail scheme, talks an innocent man into suicide, kills his second lover and attempts to kill a blackmailing bum. Killing is nothing to this man. And when a character believed dead reappears in the third act, Lou’s world goes up in literal flames.

The film is well made and the cast is solid. One gripe, Affleck narrates the film and speaks in a very soft voice, often times merely mumbling rather than enunciating. He’s very good as the soulless killer but again, you can only admire the actor’s performance because there’s no way to like Lou.

The period detail is spot on and there’s a terrific soundtrack full of vintage country and rockabilly songs. Set in Texas but filmed in Oklahoma and New Mexico, THE KILLER INSIDE ME is not an easy film to take. If you’ve got a stomach for graphic brutality and totally amoral characters, once again, Jim Thompson can take you into some very dark places.

Enter at your own risk.