187 (DVD) 1997 / a film by Kevin Reynolds; screenplay by Scott Yagemann; starring Samuel L. Jackson, Clifton Collins Jr., John Heard and Kelly Rowan

"Like you, I used to think the world was this great place where everybody lived by the same standards I did, then some kid with a nail showed me I was living in his world, a world where chaos rules not order, a world where righteousness is not rewarded. That's Cesar's world, and if you're not willing to play by his rules, then you're gonna have to pay the price."

High school science Trevor Garfield is one of a special breed of people with a sincere desire to teach. His is not just a passion to instruct his pupils on the wonders of the scientific world, but a deep need to influence the young lives he comes into contact with, especially the lives of those who are on the cusp of making potentially life-altering choices. It's not an easy job. At the Brooklyn school where he teaches, he struggles to maintain order in his always disruptive classes and walk the line between instructor and disciplinarian. When he's forced to give a failing grade to a student, a known criminal named Dennis Broadway, Garfield unwittingly unleashes a premeditated murder hit, a 187, on his own life. Attacked only hours later by a hooded assailant in the hallway, he's severely injured, almost dying prior to emergency rescue. Trevor is placed on stress leave to recuperate from the accident and, during the interval, relocates from New York to Southern California where he eventually offers his services to the public school system as a substitute teacher. He needs the paycheck and, well, he is a teacher. 

The new school he gets a chance at is little different from his former one. A woefully disorganized institution badly in need of repair, it's a place where the principals are defacto politicians who've never taught and the classrooms are hot, crowded cesspools of juvenile delinquents. The true students, the ones who have a chance are overshadowed by rambunctious riff raff, many of them active gang members, who willfully destroy school property and habitually threaten teachers with violence (like the one Garfield is replacing). It's not long before Garfield himself is threatened by a kid named Benito "Benny" Chacon, a graffito-tagger already under house arrest (an ankle bracelet on his left leg) who seems to enjoy terrifying his teachers and getting away with it--a pending lawsuit involving the school district has prevented his removal from the classroom. Other troublemakers, like Cesar, a less menacing version of the Benny, take center stage when Benny is notably absent from school. Cesar is actually someone Trevor thinks can be helped, seeing the kid as one of those caught-in-the-middle types. But what he finds is just the opposite. Some people, it seems, just don't want help.

187 was released to mediocre reviews, the critics hailing it as an unrealistic portrayal of urban high school life. Somehow this notion carried weight even with the screenplay written by a former teacher, Yagemann, who not only experienced documented cases of being threatened by students but worked under the supervision of a principal who'd never once taught in a classroom. Much of the drama is indeed laid on thick at times and the harsh thematic material involving the often unwinnable world of public education can be difficult to take in. There's also some awkward scenarios within the last third of the film which beg the question of plausibility. But aside from imperfections, there's an authenticity to the movie, its characters especially, which make parts of it undeniably brilliant. Jackson as Trevor and Clifton Collins Jr. in particular as the almost-too-believable Cesar (Collins Jr. then billed as Clifton Gonzalez Gonzalez), both of them converging into the same type of insanity as the film nears its conclusion, create a foreboding picture of not only the microcosm of formative education but of a world which rewards compassion and courage with contempt and corruption. It's a system which leads more than a few, many of them very strong-minded individuals, down the path of fear and frustration to a dead-end scenario of despair and contempt. (DVD ONE)

The Big Sleep / by Raymond Chandler

LA Private Eye Philip Marlowe has been around the block a few times and knows more than he'd like to about the city's seamy underbelly. When he's hired by a wealthy retired general to investigate an extortion case, Marlowe thinks the job to be a welcome break from the more sordid affairs he's grown used to. The case of General Sternwood chiefly involves his two daughters, Carmen and Vivian, both beauties and somewhat scandalous for their wild ways. Carmen is involved with a man named A.G. Geiger who's been blackmailing the old general for increasingly large sums of money and, as Marlowe abruptly finds out, may be mixed up with the older daughter Vivian's estranged husband Terence Regan.
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Things swiftly turn deadly when Marlowe hooks on to Geiger's trail only to discover him lying dead--murdered--at his home with Carmen Sternwood in the vicinity. When the next lead takes him to the location of one Joe Brody, a crony of Geiger's, Marlowe questions the man only until Brody himself is shot during the inquiry. With the case intensifying and the bodies piling up, Marlowe's asked by the DA as well as General Sternwood to back off; but to no avail. In too deep to back out now, Marlowe starts digging deeper into the case, re-evaluating the other Sternwood daughter, Vivian, and soon uncovering more corruption, more dirt and more violent confrontations right up until the very last secret . . . and the very last bullet.
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Nothing sets the tone of hardboiled crime fiction like Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. Perhaps no other character, with the exception of Dashiell Hammet's Sam Spade, epitomizes the grim, sordid world of private investigating and its knack for cleverly revealing the darker elements of human behavior. Rated among the best novels of the twentieth century, 1939's The Big Sleep is a masterpiece of crime and mystery fiction, meshing the elements of private secrets, personal confrontations, grotesque evils and professional affairs which inevitably lead to very intimate encounters. Additionally it's the way Chandler writes dialogue, all the clever back-and-forths which make for exquisite reading and even more scintillating live action--Humphrey Bogart as Marlowe in several movie adaptations (and Robert Mitchum later on) in which the character quotes and conversations remained largely intact from the book. It's also a story highlighting the admirable gritty nature of the protagonist, a character as good as a man can be within a world where pretty much everyone is corrupt. (MYS CHANDLER)

Zeroville / by Steve Erickson

Ike Jerome, nicknamed "Vikar", arrives in Hollywood in the summer of 1969 with nothing but an extremely odd tattooo on the back of his bald head. The image shows a silhouetted image of two movie stars: Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift in a rendering of a scene from the film A Place in the Sun. As a man haunted by a severely restricted, irregular past and largely unfamiliar with his own identity, Vikar is a curious character even amidst the counterculture of the day. He's a bit edgy too, erratic at times, confrontational and frequently violent (especially when it comes to misunderstandings about his tattoo). He's coherent enough though and at times ironically intellectual, his psyche seemingly held together by a curious mixture of conviction and fascination over his passion in life--the world of the movies.

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Vikar is an obsessive, almost possessed devotee to the movies, having only seen his first real film at the age of 16--his rigidly pious, overbearing father disallowing all forms of popular entertainment. He has since become enraptured by all things silver screen; the actors, directors, cinematography, production design, etc. all drawing him almost trance-like back to the the theater, often multiple times in one day. Now in Hollywood, a place Vikar is sure he will find people to share his love for the cinema, he discovers the world around him to be oddly clueless. The hippy landscape on which he's landed is largely disassociated from moviemaking, instead focused more on drugs, sex, music and progressive activism. In addition, it's a culture now targeted by the authorities owing to the recent Manson family murders. Vikar, ever conspicuous with his peculiar appearance and vagrant status living as a tramp in the Hollywood Hills, has even been interrogated on suspicion of his own involvement with the crime even as he's never heard of Charles Manson or his "family"

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Zeroville is an exquisite literary experience. Reminiscent of Don Delillo or Thomas Pynchon with its unconventional structure--terse 1 or 2 paragraph chapters and idiosyncratic subject matter--the novel is a refreshing work by a talented writer, equally provocative and entertaining at every turn. The author of award-winning novels like Amnesiac, Arc d'X and The Sea Came in at Midnight, Erickson's work has been described as apocalyptic for its rendering of themes involving dysfunctional societies and isolated characters. Zeroville carries this notion to a new level with a familiar place and time inhabited by quite a unique individual surrounded by a world seemingly on the edge of destruction. (FIC ERICKSON)

The Mexican Mafia / by Tony Rafael

What originally began as a territorial street gang in the heart of Los Angeles in the fifties took only a few short years to become one of the largest, most heavily involved prison gangs in the world. The Mexican Mafia, as it's called, has been directly or indirectly responsible for thousands of homicides, literally hundreds every year in California alone; most of which have been authorized by long-term prison inmates and well-organized groups of incarcerated individuals. Operating largely outside the realm of public knowledge and too often projecting its influence beyond the scope of police authorities and corrections officials, the Mexican Mafia is centrally integrated within virtually all existing hispanic street gangs in California, controlling all aspects of drug trafficking and narcotics distribution through a vast network of street pushers and drug dealers.

Over time, the syndicate has evolved from a central entity to a multinational conglomerate, expanding its geographic domain and proliferating its operations beyond drug sales, extortion and murder and into illegal arms dealing, political strong-arming and police corruption. Underground journalist and long-time guerilla reporter Tony Rafael exposes the ins and outs of one of America's most notorious criminal enterprises, erasing all preconceived public notions about the street gang infrastructure and involvement (ex. prison mafia heads often orchestrate anti-drug, anti-gang campaigns within the same neighborhoods they infiltrate the most murders, drug deals and gang activity). In an age when awareness about the criminal element in our society couldn't be more prevalent, this in-depth case study provides a broadly revealing, eye-opening analysis of organized crime in the modern era. (364.1 RAFAEL)

Heat (DVD) 1995 / a Michael Mann film; starring Al Pacino, Robert De Niro, Val Kilmer, John Voight & Ashley Judd

"You want to be makin moves on the street? . . . have no attachments, allow nothing to be in your life that you cannot walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you spot the heat around the corner."

When a heist involving a hijacked armored truck is executed in broad daylight, LAPD members are suprised later on to find the cash and most of the currency lying untouched still inside the cab. It's an unusual but not unheard of situation, one which well-worn chief investigator Vincent Hannah instantly pins, explaining the meticulously conceived plan for the robbery (lucrative offshore equity bonds the target, not the cash), how it was pulled off and surmising on the likely party of adept, experienced criminals involved ("this look like gangbangers workin' the local 7-11 to you?"). A skilled veteran with a well-practiced team working under him, Hannah is soon able to 'make' the culprits, certain they're the same unit, headed by professional thief Neil McCauley, who've masterminded several similarly unsolvable crimes. But with little-to-no evidence and only vague information on the identities of those involved, Hannah can only hope for a break in the case or to somehow catch McCauley in the act.

Not too many career criminals make it to where Neil McCauley is; not just in terms of age and financial security but having attained the skill, discipline, wisdom and expertise required for undetectable, high-stakes holdups. For McCauley, what he does is every bit as painstakingly precise as those in the law-abiding professions, his approach to his work as polished, proficient and vocationally sound as anyone, perhaps more so. When the ultimate 'job' is laid out before McCauley and his gang of loyal though less-immersed veteran criminals, the decision is made to go forward--one last job and then out for good. Carefully, the necessary tactics are employed to not only execute the operation, but to evade the 'heat' which would inevitably bear down if plans were made known.

Heat was one of the last, good American movies. With quality performances all around from great actors in their prime, masterful storytelling by Michael Mann and engaging, authentic action sequences, it definitely rates high on the list of movies-to-see-before-you-die movies. Everything fits into a complex but well-conceived format, incorporating multiple plots and subplots all illuminating a good chunk of just why it is that everything must be the way it is: McCauley has to be a criminal for the same reason Hannah can't be anything other than cop. In one pivotal, almost legendary scene between Pacino and De Niro, each confesses to the other (and the audience) the movie's most fundamental maxim, that each needs the other: McCauley: "I don't know how to do anything else." to which Hannah replies "neither do I." Accessibility is another reason it works. The film's sizable range of characters and situations is matched with appropriate depth and substance, creating a movie with both mainstream appeal and iconoclastic intrigue. (DVD HEAT)

Jackie Brown (DVD) 1997 / a film by Quentin Tarantino starring Samuel L. Jackson, Pam Grier, Robert Forster & Robert De Niro

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"I can do that."
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Jackie Brown (Grier) is a middle-age flight attendant for a crummy, transit airline specializing in shuttle trips back and forth between LA and Mexico. To supplement her meager salary, she trafficks money and drugs for Ordell Robbie (Jackson), an LA arms dealer and violent criminal currently under investigation by federal authorities. On a routine trip back into the US, Jackie's apprehended by police and briefly detained only to be released on bail (paid by Ordell) before she can be fully interrogated. Despite her freedom, Jackie, along with Max Cherry (Forster), the bondsman Ordell has hired, knows she's now a marked woman--her testimony to the cops along with a likely plea deal the only thing needed for a fatal indictment of her 'employer'. Knowing that sooner rather than later Ordell will try and remove her from the picture, Jackie decides on the only risk worth taking and boldly steps forward in her design, swindling Ordell out of several hundred thousand dollars in cash while giving the cops the slip and making a break for it with help from Cherry.
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Quentin Tarantino's follow-up to Pulp Fiction, while originally not so well-received as its predecessor, ultimately found its place among loyal fans and continues to generate favorable approval. Like his previous work as a writer/director up until Jackie Brown, True Romance and Reservoir Dogs coming to mind in addition to PF, the movie's intended focus is as much on character, mood and atmosphere as it is on the plot. It's not just what's happening and why; it's who's doing it and how--personality, method and demeanor a major part of telling the story. Take, for instance, the scene with Ordell and his partner Louis (De Niro) in a van just after learning Jackie's made off with the cash, the camera steadily resting on Ordell's still gaze for over a minute before he soberly exclaims "It's Jackie Brown". The audience knows what's going on (and likely what will be said in some capacity) all the way up until the words are spoken. But the way in which it's done, how the vocal exclamation subtly stamps the mood consummately underlying the film's overall concept, is truly entrancing. People who think Tarantino self-consciously tries to be cool or that he uses shock value to entertain--rampant profanity and violence a trademark--should look closer at his use of dialogue in scenes more secondary to the climax, how much more craftily those situations convey depth and meaning in contrast to hyped verbal confrontations or violent action sequences.

Bright Shiny Morning / by James Frey

Though it was as much by scandal as by literary merit that James Frey came to notoriety--his memoir A Million Little Pieces about his junkie/rehab days discovered as being not altogether accurate--his work has still been recognized as a unique new voice in contemporary literature. In his first real fiction book, Frey examines the social and cultural diaspora of Los Angeles through a hodgepodge of historical tidbits, quirky factoids and poignantly characterized iconoclasts.

Predilections and bias aside, it has to be said that if any one city were so thoroughly influential that it's legacy encompassed the globe, it would be Los Angeles. Yet "city" may not even be the most appropriate terminology to describe the mammoth conurbation that is Los Angeles County proper, as absurdly flamboyant and yet intricately manifold community as any one concentrated metropolis ever was. LA is the entertainment capital of the world, the glamour capital of the world, the pop culture capital of the world. It is the [adult film] capital of the world, the gangbanger capital of the world, the surfing capital of the world, and, in no small order, it is the natural disaster capital of the world. Also, not unlike other cities though in far greater proportion of diversity, it can be said that LA is the "world" capital of the world where dozens of ethnicities, nationalities, races and creeds all congregate into one teeming mass of post-modern civilization.

Dylan and Madi are two young lovers just arriving from Ohio to chase down their dreams. Amberton Parker is a mega-movie star whose public life hides a very private secret. Old Man Joe is a homeless drunk who looks 70 even though he's only 39. Esperanza is a bright young first-generation American permanently scarred by one incident of public humiliation. Though their lives are hardly similar and despite the fact that they will never meet or experience the same of anything together, they are all a part of that absurdly glamorous but maddeningly depraved, ridiculously wealthy yet atrociously disparate, increasingly dangerous and frequently violent cosmopolis that is Greater Los Angeles. It's a world where dreams can definitely come true, but also, and perhaps more defining, it's a place where shattered dreams and nightmares are far more prevalent.

For what it's worth (and there is a disclaimer at the beginning of the book for any wrong or unintentionally skewed references), this work of general fiction spliced into an almanac-style travelogue is unique if only for its subtle--almost subliminial--insights into one of the world's most recognized places. If you've never experienced Southern California up close, this is the book to read before, or even if you never plan on, traveling there. Frey does right by letting everyone in on the secret: all things considered, the downside(s) of LA pretty much overwhelms any conceivable upside. And yet it's so diverse--"worlds within worlds within galaxies"--who's to claim the one identity which could accurately describe it? (FIC FREY)