In A Lonely Place

As you all know, I from time to time like to engage in a variety of allusions to the world of literature and film as an aid to our investigations. Not only do I intend these forays into the Arts to be entertainment for us but also instructive.

My latest bit of advice from the world of film concerns In A Lonely Place with Humphrey Bogart. Its of interest for many reasons, not the least of which is that its one of the few movies that are a zillion times better than the book. I won't give away too much so as to not spoil your fun, but in the best-selling novel the main character was a heel, he only pretended to be a script writer in Hollywood and he was guilty as hell of the murder.

In the movie, he is actually a scriptwriter and he may have some character defects but is by no means a heel. At least he is not a heel by Hollywood's standards. And what on earth you ask does this movie have to do with sleuths devoted to a homicide case?

Well, half the internet seems all agog about the disappearance of Kyron Horman in Oregon and the fact that the father is divorcing the step-mother who was the last to see Kyron alive. So I thought that seeing a film of what a homicide investigation can do to a relationship would be a good idea. Therapeutic, uplifting, instructional and a pretty darn good movie too. For film buffs, the lead actress had to sign a contract that she would not use her feminine wiles on the Director during the shooting of the movie. They were in the process of a marriage breakup at the time, but he felt his wife was the best actress for the part.

What about the JonBenet Ramsey case? Sure. There the marriage grew even stronger, but don't think a homicide investigation is not an ordeal. Seeing the police dedicated to going in the wrong direction is bad enough. Seeing them dedicated to going only in the wrong direction and in no other direction at all must have been a terrible ordeal for the Ramseys to have endured.