a Smith

29May12

In about 80 minutes, this movie packs what modern gangster pictures take hours to show. Some of it may be a bit shallower, a bit more naive than others--like the gangsters in Sonatine, Gary Cooper plays the gangster as a child--but Hammett's cynicism unveils the treacheries in human interactions, especially when money is involved. (granted, this is an underworld picture, so generalizations may be inappropriate)