Neo-noir that's light on the "neo". No post-modern winks at the audience, no updating to the modern standards. It feels like something straight out of the era. The blatantly artificial sets are perhaps a little too self-conscious but it doesn't ever get too kitschy. Terrific score and very appropriate cast. The biggest problem is that the film doesn't have a great storyline to hang its fedora on. It's pretty much just an exercise in pure duplication. But it's a fun time for lovers of the genre.

it's dark and gritty and carries the spirit of hardboiled fiction, yet it's boring and slow, and too choppy to really appreciate. forrest was a great pick, but sadly the writing could have been better.

Good filming by Wim Wenders of the Joe Gores private eye novel featuring Dashiell Hammet of the detective.

Rewarding overall, but there's some weird narrative distance that also dragged down Wenders's similar The American Friend.