PALMETTO
US, 1998, 110 minutes, Colour.
Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Shue, Gina Gershon, Rolf Hoppe, Michael Rapaport, Chloe Sevigny, Tom Wright.
Directed by Volker Schloendorff.
From a 30s thriller by James Hadley Chase, this is one of those Florida film noir tales of femme fatales, credulous men and contrived murders. It's familiar, but it's interesting to watch the variations on the theme (and get a few surprises at the end). Woody Harrelson is just right as the framed journalist who willingly gets himself enmeshed in an abduction that turns into a murder. Elizabeth Shue has a good go at the seductive bad girl (her role making more sense at the end).
The film was directed by Volker Schlondorff (The Tin Drum) who decided he would like to try an American entertainment. It worked for me - but others found it too familiar. But, even when something is predictable, it is enjoyable to watch and see if you were right. Devious Florida doings.
1.A film noir style – in the 1990s? The down-and-out man? The femme fatale? The girlfriend? The heavy? The double deals? How well did this work – with tongue in cheek?
2.The background of the film: the novel, Just Another Sucker, by James Hadley Chase (Chase being an English author who visited the US only twice and briefly but whose knowledge of the US came from books and films and was a prolific writer of film noir, especially No Orchids for Miss Blandish)? The German director, Volke Schlondorff, different from all his other films?
3.The Palmetto setting, the east coast town? The temperature? The apartments, the rich mansions, the police precincts? The water? Atmospheric? The score?
4.The focus on Harry Barber, the ordinary “sucker”? Journalist, investigative, framed by the people he was investigating? Found guilty, serving years in prison? Getting out, down and out on his luck? The perfect target for Mrs Donnelly?
5.Elizabeth Shue as Mrs Donnelly? Posing as Rehea Malroux? Seductive? Interesting Harry in her scheme? The pretence of the abduction of her stepdaughter? The ransom from her old and unwell husband? The safety of the daughter-in-law? Her being persuasive, the promise of money? The reality, being Malroux’s cook, married to his bodyguard? Concocting the whole plan?
6.Nina, the nice girlfriend, sticking by Harry? Becoming suspicious, urging him to get out of his difficulties? His explaining the truth to her?
7.The abduction attempt, Harry and the planning, writing the notes? The finding of the body? His anxiety? The irony of the real Odette also being killed? The further involvement, his being asked to be the journalist covering the investigation? The district attorney and his trust? Harry being further and further enmeshed? The help of Nina? The help of Donnelly, disposing of the body?
8.The revelation of the truth, Donnelly and his planning? With his wife? Hooking Harry?
9.Harry and the background work of his being a journalist, the district attorney, the truth?
10.The confrontation, the plan for the Donnellys to kill Harry? The irony of Donnelly falling into the acid? The arrest – of both Mrs Donnelly and Harry?
11.The ingredients of the film noir, given the bright and sunny Florida setting for the 1990s? The stock characters? Played for melodrama, for laughs as well as for a murder mystery and thrills?
