Hammett (1982)

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Joe Gores (novel)
Dennis O'Flaherty
(more)

Release Date:

17 September 1982 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Mystery

Tagline:

The mystery writer who lived his own stories ! [Video]

Plot:

The novel writter Dashiell Hammett is involved in the investigation of the mysterious disappearance...

Plot Keywords:

Detective | Writer | Reputation | Photograph | Police

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

Frederic Forrest	...	Hammett
Peter Boyle	...	Jimmy Ryan
Marilu Henner	...	Kit Conger / Sue Alabama
Roy Kinnear	...	English Eddie Hagedorn
Elisha Cook Jr.	...	Eli the Taxi Driver (as Elisha Cook)
Lydia Lei	...	Crystal Ling
R.G. Armstrong	...	Lt. O'Mara
Richard Bradford	...	Detective Bradford
Michael Chow	...	Fong Wei Tau
David Patrick Kelly	...	The Punk
Sylvia Sidney	...	Donaldina Cameron
Jack Nance	...	Gary Salt
Elmer Kline	...	Doc Fallon
Royal Dano	...	Pops
Samuel Fuller	...	Old Man in Pool Hall
Lloyd Kino	...	Barber
Fox Harris	...	Frank the News Vendor
Rose Wong	...	Chinese Laundress
Liz Roberson	...	Lady in the Library
Jean-François Ferreol	...	French Sailor (as Jean Francois Ferreol)
Alison Hong	...	Young Chinese Girl
Patricia Kong	...	Chinese Girl in Fong's
Lisa Lu	...	Miss Cameron's Assistant
Andrew Winner	...	Bank Guard
Kenji Shibuya	...	Chinese Bouncer
James Quinn	...	Fong's Guard
Mark Anger	...	Bartender in Cookies' Bar
James Devney	...	Police Projectionist
Hank Worden	...	Pool Room Attendant
Christopher Day	...	Neighborhood Kid
Ciceley Rush	...	Neighborhood Kid
Chris Alcaide	...	Man in Boardroom (as Christopher Alcaide)
Ben Breslauer	...	Man in Boardroom
James Brodhead	...	Man in Boardroom
John Hamilton	...	Man in Boardroom
John T. Spiotta	...	Man in Boardroom
Ross Thomas	...	Man in Boardroom

Directed by
Wim Wenders

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Joe Gores		novel
Dennis O'Flaherty
Thomas Pope		adaptation
Ross Thomas

Produced by
Ronald Colby	....	producer
Francis Ford Coppola	....	executive producer
Don Guest	....	producer
Fred Roos	....	producer
Mona Skager	....	associate producer

Original Music by
John Barry

Cinematography by
Joseph F. Biroc		(director of photography) (as Joseph Biroc)

Film Editing by
Janice Hampton
Marc Laub
Robert Q. Lovett
Randy Roberts

Casting by
Janet Hirshenson
Jane Jenkins
Barbara Johnson

Production Design by
Dean Tavoularis
Eugene Lee		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Leon Ericksen		(as Leon Erickson)
Angelo P. Graham		(as Angelo Graham)

Set Decoration by
George R. Nelson
Steven Potter		(as Steve Potter)

Costume Design by
Ruth Morley

Makeup Department
Jeff Angell	....	makeup artist
Kathryn Blondell	....	hair stylist (as Kathy Blondell)
Mary Keats	....	hair stylist
Thomas Tuttle	....	makeup artist

Production Management
Ronald Colby	....	unit production manager
Robert Huddleston	....	unit production manager (as Robert J. Huddleston)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Daniel Attias	....	second assistant director
Ronald Colby	....	first assistant director
Arne Schmidt	....	first assistant director
David Valdes	....	second assistant director (as David Valdés)

Art Department
Roger Dietz	....	set artist
Gary Fettis	....	leadman
Dennis Gassner	....	graphic designer
Robert C. Goldstein	....	set designer (as Bob Goldstein)
Douglas E. Madison	....	property master (as Doug Madison)
James J. Murakami	....	set designer (as James Murakami)
John J. Rutchland Jr.	....	construction coordinator (as John Rutchland)
Robert Scaife	....	construction coordinator
Tom Shaw Jr.	....	property master
Alex Tavoularis	....	illustrator
Stan Cockerell	....	assistant property master (uncredited)
Stan Cockerell	....	set dresser (uncredited)
Mike Villarino	....	propmaker (uncredited)
Louis Zamora	....	labor foreman (uncredited)

Sound Department
Jill Demby	....	dialogue editor
John Duffy	....	sound editor
Richard Bryce Goodman	....	sound mixer (as Richard Goodman)
Bob Johnston	....	sound editor (as Robert Johnston)
Randy Kelley	....	sound editor
Andrew London	....	supervising sound editor
Chris McLaughlin	....	boom operator
Vince Melandri	....	dialogue editor
Donald O. Mitchell	....	sound re-recording mixer
Donald Ortiz	....	assistant sound editor
Wylie Stateman	....	sound editor
Darcy Vebber	....	boom operator
James E. Webb	....	sound mixer (as James Webb Jr.)
Glenn T. Morgan	....	assistant sound editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Howard Jensen	....	special effects
Joe Lombardi	....	special effects (as Joseph Lombardi)

Stunts
Terry Leonard	....	stunt coordinator

Camera and Electrical Department
Clifford Dalton	....	best boy
Larry Gilhooly	....	gaffer (as Larry Gilhouley)
Jack Harris	....	still photographer
M. Todd Henry	....	first assistant camera (as Todd Henry)
Bill Johnson	....	camera operator
Philip H. Lathrop	....	cinematographer: other photography (as Philip Lathrop)
Carl Manoogian	....	key grip
Pete G. Papanickolas	....	key grip (as Pete Papanickolas)
Morgan Renard	....	still photographer
Frederic J. Smith	....	camera operator
Robert A. Torres	....	first assistant camera (as Robert Torres)
Bud Woodside	....	best boy
Robert Woodside	....	gaffer (as Bob Woodside)
David A. Smith	....	video assist operator (uncredited)

Casting Department
Frank Cullen	....	extras casting
Elisabeth Leustig	....	extras casting (as Elizabeth Leustig)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
April Ferry	....	costumer
Ed Fincher	....	costumer
Mina Mittelman	....	costumer (as Mina Mittleman)
Dean Skipworth	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Carrie Ellison	....	assistant editor
Dorian Harris	....	assistant editor
Barry Malkin	....	supervising editor
Suzana Peric	....	assistant editor
Deborah Roberts	....	assistant editor
Sonya Sones	....	assistant editor

Music Department
John Barry	....	conductor
Lucia Hwong	....	chinese music consultant: John Barry
Michael Lang	....	musician: solo piano
Ronnie Lang	....	musician: solo clarinet
Robert Q. Lovett	....	music editor
Dennis S. Sands	....	music recording engineer (as Dennis Sands)

Transportation Department
Ernie Foster	....	transportation captain
Richard Padgett	....	transportation captain (as Dick Padgett)

Other crew
Bill Blackbeard	....	additional researcher
Joanie Blum	....	script supervisor
Trevor Colby	....	production aide
Francis Ford Coppola	....	presenter
Gian-Carlo Coppola	....	production aide
Anthony Cunningham	....	location coordinator (as Tony Cunningham)
Steve Danton	....	production assistant
Tony Dingman	....	production aide
David Fechheimer	....	additional researcher
Teri Fettis-D'Ovidio	....	production coordinator (as Teri Fettis)
Wayne Fitzgerald	....	title designer
Michael Hacker	....	production assistant
Kimba Hills	....	production aide
Murdo Laird	....	electronic cinema
Anita Luccioni	....	assistant: Mr. Wenders
Lillian Michelson	....	additional researcher
Mary Mitchel	....	researcher (as Mary Patton)
Lloyd Nelson	....	script supervisor
Giedra Rackauskas	....	auditor
Lisa Radano	....	production aide
Robert Rock	....	production aide
Frank Simeone	....	production aide (as Franklin Simeone)
Mona Skager	....	location coordinator
David A. Smith	....	electronic cinema (as David Smith)
Ann St. John	....	electronic cinema
Tony St. John	....	electronic cinema (as Anthony St. John)
Julie Stark	....	production aide
Barbara Stones	....	researcher
David Stump	....	production aide
Judy Thomason	....	assistant to producer
Beverly Walker	....	publicist
Charles B. Wessler	....	production aide (as Charles Wessler)
Kurt Woolner	....	auditor
Daniel R. Suhart	....	assistant production office coordinator (uncredited)

Thanks
Keith Deutsch	....	acknowledgment: "Black Mask" courtesy of

Production Companies

• Zoetrope Studios

Distributors

• Warner Bros. (1982) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Home Video (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• Manga Video (2004) (USA) (DVD)
• AMLF (1982) (France) (theatrical)
• Adams Filmi (1985) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Artificial Eye (????) (UK) (theatrical)
• Neue Constantin Film (1983) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Orion Pictures Corporation (1982) (USA) (theatrical)
• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (1985) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• Arthaus Filmverleih (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2008) (Finland) (DVD)
• Showtime Networks (1985) (Finland) (VHS)
• Warner Home Vídeo (????) (Brazil) (VHS)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1996) (Finland) (TV)

Other Companies

• Clein & Feldman Associates  publicity
• Group Four  music recorded at
• Pacific Title  titles and opticals
• Sony  electronic cinema

Also Known As:

Runtime:

97 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | UK:AA | USA:PG | West Germany:12 (f) (bw) | Iceland:12 | Australia:M | Argentina:13 | Portugal:M/12

Filming Locations:

920 Sacramento Street, Nob Hill, San Francisco, California, USA

Company:

Zoetrope Studios

Trivia:

The film is a homage to writer Dashiell Hammett, film noir, pulp fiction, detective films, 'roman noir', 'hard-boiled' gumshoe 1920s & 1930s fiction, and the Golden Age of Old Hollywood.

Quotes:

Crystal Ling:He was good.
Hammett:He was the best - in his heyday.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Dream Studio (2004) (V)

"Shouldn't we call the police? Shouldn't we do something legal?"

It's tempting to see Hammett as a real life variation of The American Friend with Francis Ford Coppola as Dennis Hopper's Ripley and Wim Wenders as Bruno Ganz's picture framer who gets conned into becoming a hit-man. Part of Francis Ford Coppola's ill-fated attempt to recreate the old studio system with a stock company of players and his own studio, Zoetrope, that had a troubled history to match any of his own directorial efforts, the wunderkind lured Wenders to Hollywood with the promise of artistic freedom in an artist-friendly environment with Joe Gores' fictional novel about the revolutionary crime writer and former private eye Dashiell Hammett getting involved in a semi-fictional mystery involving the cops, the crooks and the big rich while writing Red Harvest as bait. Set in 1928 San Francisco, it presents the tubercular Hammett as a half-decent man in a 9/10ths dishonest world who's given up the detective racket for short stories for pulp magazines, drinking too much and coughing his lungs up all the way until his old mentor turns up to call in a favour that leads to a web of murder, corruption and blackmail, it's easy to see the attraction. Instead things went a little haywire...

When the film was in development in 1978, Wenders had originally wanted Sam Shepherd – not only was he gaunt enough to play Hammett and was a writer himself but, more importantly for the director, he could actually type, something most actors who tested for the film had real problems with. Instead, Coppola wanted Frederic Forrest, one of his stock company of actors at Zoetrope, to play the lead: it turned out to be an inspired choice, but was indicative of how far the film would veer from his original intentions. After 40 scripts and countless legal and copyright problems with the Hammett Estate that ensured little of Gores' novel remained (and nothing of the Red Harvest connections), Wenders shot around 90% of the film before an unconvinced Coppola persuaded him not to shoot his planned ending until they had a rough cut of the film to see if it would really work, only for the director to realise they had film that was more about Hammett the writer than Hammett the detective. Cue yet another rewrite, while reshoots were delayed a year, by which time Forrest had gained so much weight for One From the Heart that they had to wait another year for him to slim down again while Wenders went off and shot The State of Things. Out went original co-stars Brian Keith and Ronee Blakely (by then the ex-Mrs Wenders) to be replaced by Peter Boyle and Marilu Henner, while Sylvia Miles part went out altogether, with only Frederic Forrest and Sam Fuller seemingly retained from the original cast. (Although there are claims that the bulk of the film was reshot by Coppola himself, Wenders is adamant that his American friend didn't shoot a single shot of it).

The result, Wenders felt, offered "More story, less soul." Damned with faint praise by the critics, audiences stayed away in droves when it finally saw light of projector in 1982. It's not a forgotten masterpiece and it's certainly no Chinatown, but it is a better one than it first appeared. While it's a film that felt slightly disappointing at first sight, on repeat viewings it's one of many pleasures for the film buff and more open-minded crime-writing fan. Forrest immersed himself in the role and is uncannily like the real Hammett, giving what's still his most effective performance (even briefly reprising it in the 1992 TV movie Citizen Cohn), while Wenders' visually inventive direction ensures that the film often feels more like the genuine Thirties item than a knowing pastiche.

Although Wenders' original version was shot on location, the finished version is possibly the last great backlot picture, rarely straying from the studio. Luckily it's a great backlot, with Dean Tavoularis' wonderful design that takes everything from the backstreets of Chinatown to the houses of the big rich complimented by the gloriously rich colours of Joseph Biroc's cinematography (just enough of the original shoot made it in the final cut for Philip Lathrop to get a credit for 'other photography'). John Barry's score, all smoke, piano and clarinet, compliments the mood beautifully even if one major theme had already made an appearance in Body Heat. And the film is often beautifully cast: Elisha Cook Jr (The Maltese Falcon) and Sylvia Sidney (City Streets) provide the cinematic links to the real Hammett with David Patrick Kelly and Roy Kinnear mirroring Cook and Sydney Greenstreet's roles, Richard Bradford and R.G. Armstrong a variation on Barton MacLane and Ward Bond's good cop-bad cop duo and restaurateur Michael Chow a more sophisticated upmarket Peter Lorre, while the pool hall boasts Sam Fuller (who suggested the evocative writing shots from under the typewriter's keys) and Royal Dano with Hank Worden sittin' in the corner in a rockin' char, with Jack Nance for any David Lynch fans who walked into the wrong theatre by mistake..

The script rarely triumphs over the look and feel of the film, and one plot development is more Chandler than Hammett (although it does lead to a neat bit of business with a mirror), but it offers some nice quips ("First day on the job?" Hammett cracks when a rookie cop asks him to sign for a million dollar pay off), has room for nice little moments like a weary Hammett finding children playing hide-and-seek outside his apartment and even offers a handy definition of the word 'gunsel' (no, it doesn't mean hired gun). It's not a great film and probably never would have been had it had a smoother ride to the screen, but it is a much more enjoyable one than it has any right to be and it's strangely easy to like.