“You’re the second guy I’ve met within hours who seems to think a gat in the hand means a world by the tail.”

— Phillip Marlowe in Raymond Chandler’s The Big Sleep

I don’t think I’ve done a Ten Things I Think I Think, for A (Black) Gat in the Hand. Huh. I guess we can rectify that today.

As I write this, all 2,000+ books which I own are boxed up. They will be moving to the house I close on later this week. They made up 55 boxes of books. There’s a loft that will be my writing room/home office, with bookcases spread out across a few other rooms.

It’s weird not being able to grab a book to read, or look something up. I feel like I’m in a book version of homelessness. Definitely strange. So, I think:

1 – PHILIP MARLOWE HAS STAR POWER

Philip Marlowe was born in 1939, when Raymond Chandler cobbled together part from short stories featuring other detectives (I’m not exaggerating, I believe he used he word ‘cannibalized), and published The Big Sleep. Marlowe novels were used for movies starring The Falcon, and Mike Shayne. But the character of Marlowe has compelled some big Hollywood names to play him. Such as Dick Powell, Humphrey Bogart, James Garner, Elliot Gould, Robert Mitchum, Powers Boothe, James Caan, and Liam Neeson.

These are heavyweight male stars playing a character often from decades before. And honestly, none of them are bad, though I definitely like them to varying degrees. Sam Spade, Race Williams, The Continental Op: similar big names in hardboiled fiction don’t have nearly the ongoing screen impact of Philip Marlowe. I ruminated on various Marlowe incarnations here.

2 – YOU SHOULD CHECK OUT LIAM NEESON’S MARLOWE

And speaking of Neeson…He starred in the 2022 film Marlowe, based on Benjamin Black’s novel. With a budget of $20 million, it grossed $6 million world-wide. Yeah… It was a flop, and it’s poorly rated. It’s not in my Top Five Marlowes (still better than The Long Goodbye, though…). But there are two reasons to sink 109 minutes of your life into it.

1) Set in 1939 LA, visually, it’s lovely. This is a gorgeous hardboiled film. Truly. 2) And Liam Neeson is a good actor. He’s not my picture of Marlowe; nor of Matthew Scudder (A Walk Among the Tombstones), but Neeson pretty much always delivers a good performance. He never mails it in. I’ll add a third 3) Jessica Lange is one of the great female stars of my lifetime. She’s simply a wonderful (and I think underappreciated) actress. I don’t think this will be your favorite Marlowe movie. But I do think it’s worth a watch.

3 – MIKE HAMMER MAY JUST BE A BETTER-WRITTEN RACE WILLIAMS

I never got into reading Mickey Spillane’s Mike Hammer. But I quite like Stacy Keach’s two TV runs in the role. And the radio plays he did. Plus listening to him narrating the books. And I find the Spillane-Max Allen Collins books easier to read.

I think they remind me too much of Carrol John Daly’s ultra-violent Race Williams. Spillane is absolutely a better writer. And woman after woman all but betting Hammer to bed her, is tiresome. It’s even more silly in the TV shows. Hammer seems more like a caricature of the Pulp Era Pis, but from a good writer. So, while I listen to audiobooks (hearing someone other than Keach read them is jarring) and watch the TV show, I don’t hold the books in the same esteem I do my other hardboiled favorites.

4 – TUBI IS A RESOURCE FOR HARDBOILED FILMS

As I wrote about here, I cut almost all my streaming cords. I only have Prime, and Britbox (I went to cancel Britbox and they gave me three months at $3 a month to stay). I’ve been watching lots of movies and TV on Tubi; which is totally free. And Tubi is a great option for hardboiled and Noir. Some of the flicks streaming there I recommend:

Dead End (Bogie and the Dead End Kids), Manpower (George Raft had Bogie kicked off this film, and he got in a fist-fight with the mild-mannered Edward G. Robinson), Johnny O’Clock (you read about that here, right?), Scarlet Street (creepy Noir), Borderline (Fred MacMurray and Claire Trevor), Pitfall (Dick Powell), Dead Reckoning (Bogie!), They Made Me a Criminal (check out John Garfield), Farewell My Lovely (Robert Mitchum’s better Marlowe movie), The Roaring Twenties (the Cagney and Bogie classic), and many more. Some recognizable, some sleepers. But there’s a long list of hardboiled and Noir you can check out for free.

5 – THE BOWERY BOYS ARE GOOD FOR A HARDBOILED LAUGH

There are well over a dozen Tubi movies with The Bowery Boys; as well as their earlier incarnation as the East Side Kids (similar, but less of the zany humor). The Boys often go up against gangsters, and there’s a silly hardboiled vibe in their flicks. They’re actually mistaken detectives in Hardboiled Mahoney, but several of their movies have the guys stopping a plot filled with tough guys. And there are lots of tropes from the times – newspapers, boxing, fake mediums, spies in wartime.

There’s not a lot of variety, but watching one at a time, they’re fun. The East Side Kids have a little more depth the plots, and less silliness. I prefer The Bowery Boys. Leo Gorcey’s Muggs McGinnis is similar to his Slip Mahoney, but lower key and more serious. But I enjoy the guys in both series’.

6 –THE DAIN CURSE DISAPPOINTED ME AGAIN

I have not yet seen 2024’s Monsieur Spade miniseries. Before that, the last Dashiell Hammett on screen was Samuel L. Jackson’s 2002 No Good Deed, based on “The House on Turk Street.” I mentioned we’re still getting Philip Marlowe. And my all-time favorite writer, John D. MacDonald, is back on streaming this Summer with Cape Fear. But we’ve got a dearth of Hammett.

So I decided to re-watch James Coburn’s I, on Tubi. This is the much-edited version, which I watched the first time on DVD from Netflix. I’ve not found the original full miniseries yet. Probably didn’t matter, as I set it aside. They took Hammett’s second novel, and had James Coburn play The Continental Op as Hammett, not as the Op. I can’t get past that. Meh.

7 – TOBY STEPHENS IS A REALLY GOOD MARLOWE

Ed Bishop did a BBC radio series covering the Chandler novels, back in 1977 and 1978. With the last one appearing in 1988. These are good, and people still praise them. I like them. I’ve mentioned before that Toby Stephens then did the six original novels, plus Payback, and Poodle Springs, in 2011.

These are EXCELLENT, and I keep them on my phone. I listen a couple times a year. Stephens (who is hilarious in the short-lived buddy cop show, Vexed) is a terrific Marlowe. And with no trace of his British accent. Here’s a short promo he did for it. I give this five stars. Audible had all of them packaged as one credit (back when I had Audible), and it’s stellar Marlowe.

8 – YOU SHOULD HAVE WATCHED SPIDER-NOIR BY NOW

I couple weeks ago, I posted on the hardboiled/Noir vibes in the first three episodes of Spider-Noir. I have now watched all eight episodes – both in black and white, and color. And I was not disappointed in any way. It is one of my favorite Marvel series’, and it delivered both the Noir, and the superhero/villain stuff. Nicholas Cage channeled Bogie’s Marlowe as it went on. I liked the story, the vibe, the look, the performances – all of it.

It’s lovely in color, but I do think the black and white takes it to a different level. Your mileage my vary. It was worth watching in both formats, for me. I can’t recommend it enough. I’m really pleased with what Marvel did. And as with the season of Archer that was a hardboiled/Maltese Falcon homage, Marvel really studied their Noir before making this. Two Spidey thumbs up.

9 – I STILL LIKE HOLLYWOOD TROUBLE-SHOOTER BILL LENNOX

I wrote about W. T. Ballard’s hardboiled studio fixer, here. That series also inspired James Scott Bell’s Bill Armbrewster, who Wally Conger wrote about here. I just finished my latest Steeger Books intros. One was for Volume Two of the Lennox stories. I hope Matt Moring keeps putting out more Lennox. I really like the character, and I have a couple of the novels in digital format. They are typical hardboiled PI fare from the thirties and forties. But the Hollywood setting adds a totally different vibe.

Ballard also wrote over two dozen stories (originally in Black Mask) about a horse racing PI named Red Drake. I’ve never found one, but I am a fan of T.T. Flynn’s race track circuit bookie, Mr. Maddox. I pitched a collection to Steeger, and the response was positive. I may get to write a Red Drake intro soon! I’m all for more Ballard out there.

10 – NOIR CAN BE IN COLOR

I remember there was a mini-burst into Pulp when Pulp Fiction was a movie hit. Even though that wasn’t exactly Pulp. Spider-Noir is definitely Noir, and the word Noir is popping up on social media. More Modern Noir is often tagged as ‘Neo-Noir.’ I think that’s just some self-applied label to make it hipper and more contemporary. Whatever. Fantasy, Adventure, Western; I’m just gonna call Noir, Noir.

A few classics were in color (Dial M for Murder, A Kiss Before Dying), but it’s primarily a black and white genre. And that fed into Spider-Noir for me. But there’s a long list of color Noirs that I love: Miller’s Crossing, Mulholland Falls, Chinatown, Last Man Standing, After Dark My Sweet, LA Confidential, Road to Perdition, Red Rock West (oooh), etc. I like my hardboiled black and white, but Noir can be terrific in color.

Prior Posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2026 (4)
Rory Gallagher & The Continental Op (again)
Spider-Noir
Elliott Gould Reads Chandler
All My Steeger Books Intros

Prior Posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2025 (12)

Will Murray on Dash(iell Hammet) and (Lester) Dent
Shelfie – Dashiell Hammett
Windy City Pulp & Paper Fest – 2025
Will Murray on Who was N.V. Romero?
Conan – The Phoenix in the Sword in Weird Tales
More of Robert E. Howard’s Kirby O’Donnell
More Weird Menace from Robert E. Howard – Conrad and Kirowan
Hardboiled Gaming- LA Noire
Western Noir: Hell on Wheels
T.T. Flynn’s Mr Maddox
Dashiell Hammettt’s The Scorched Face (my intro)
Will Murray on Raymond Chandler’s Other Lost Stories?

Prior Posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2024 Series (11)

Will Murray on Other Lost Raymond Chandler Stories?
Will Murray on Dashiell Hammett’s Elusive Glass Key
Ya Gotta Ask – Reprise
Rex Stout’s “The Mother of Invention”
Dime Detective, August, 1941
John D. MacDonald’s “Ring Around the Readhead”
Harboiled Manila – Raoul Whitfield’s Jo Gar
7 Upcoming A (Black) Gat in the Hand Attractions
Paul Cain’s Fast One (my intro)
Dashiell Hammett – The Girl with the Silver Eyes (my intro)
Richard Demming’s Manville Moon
More Thrilling Adventures from REH

Prior Posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2023 Series (15)

Back Down those Mean Streets in 2023
Will Murray on Hammett Didn’t Write “The Diamond Wager”
Dashiell Hammett – ZigZags of Treachery (my intro)
Ten Pulp Things I Think I Think
Evan Lewis on Cleve Adams
T,T, Flynn’s Mike & Trixie (The ‘Lost Intro’)
John Bullard on REH’s Rough and Ready Clowns of the West – Part I (Breckenridge Elkins)
John Bullard on REH’s Rough and Ready Clowns of the West – Part II
William Patrick Murray on Supernatural Westerns, and Crossing Genres
Erle Stanley Gardner’s ‘Getting Away With Murder (And ‘A Black (Gat)’ turns 100!)
James Reasoner on Robert E. Howard’s Trail Towns of the old West
Frank Schildiner on Solomon Kane
Paul Bishop on The Fists of Robert E. Howard
John Lawrence’s Cass Blue
Dave Hardy on REH’s El Borak

Prior posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2022 Series (16)
Asimov – Sci Fi Meets the Police Procedural
The Adventures of Christopher London
Weird Menace from Robert E. Howard
Spicy Adventures from Robert E. Howard
Thrilling Adventures from Robert E. Howard
Norbert Davis’ “The Gin Monkey”
Tracer Bullet
Shovel’s Painful Predicament
Back Porch Pulp #1
Wally Conger on ‘The Hollywood Troubleshooter Saga’
Arsenic and Old Lace
David Dodge
Glen Cook’s Garrett, PI
John Leslie’s Key West Private Eye
Back Porch Pulp #2
Norbert Davis’ Max Latin

Prior posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2021 Series (7 )

The Forgotten Black Masker – Norbert Davis
Appaloosa
A (Black) Gat in the Hand is Back!
Black Mask – March, 1932
Three Gun Terry Mack & Carroll John Daly
Bounty Hunters & Bail Bondsmen
Norbert Davis in Black Mask – Volume 1

Prior posts in A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2020 Series (21)
Hardboiled May on TCM
Some Hardboiled streaming options
Johnny O’Clock (Dick Powell)
Hardboiled June on TCM
Bullets or Ballots (Humphrey Bogart)
Phililp Marlowe – Private Eye (Powers Boothe)
Cool and Lam
All Through the Night (Bogart)
Dick Powell as Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar
Hardboiled July on TCM
YTJD – The Emily Braddock Matter (John Lund)
Richard Diamond – The Betty Moran Case (Dick Powell)
Bold Venture (Bogart & Bacall)
Hardboiled August on TCM
Norbert Davis – ‘Have one on the House’
with Steven H Silver: C.M. Kornbluth’s Pulp
Norbert Davis – ‘Don’t You Cry for Me’
Talking About Philip Marlowe
Steven H Silver Asks you to Name This Movie
Cajun Hardboiled – Dave Robicheaux
More Cool & Lam from Hard Case Crime

A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2019 Series (15)
Back Deck Pulp Returns
A (Black) Gat in the Hand Returns
Will Murray on Doc Savage
Hugh B. Cave’s Peter Kane
Paul Bishop on Lance Spearman
A Man Called Spade
Hard Boiled Holmes
Duane Spurlock on T.T. Flynn
Andrew Salmon on Montreal Noir
Frank Schildiner on The Bad Guys of Pulp
Steve Scott on John D. MacDonald’s ‘Park Falkner’
William Patrick Murray on The Spider
John D. MacDonald & Mickey Spillane
Norbert Davis goes West(ern)
Bill Crider on The Brass Cupcake

A (Black) Gat in the Hand – 2018 Series (32)
George Harmon Coxe
Raoul Whitfield
Some Hard Boiled Anthologies
Frederick Nebel’s Donahue
Thomas Walsh
Black Mask – January, 1935
Norbert Davis’ Ben Shaley
D.L. Champion’s Rex Sackler
Dime Detective – August, 1939
Back Deck Pulp #1
W.T. Ballard’s Bill Lennox
Erle Stanley Gardner’s The Phantom Crook (Ed Jenkins)
Day Keene
Black Mask – October, 1933
Back Deck Pulp #2
Black Mask – Spring, 2017
Erle Stanley Gardner’s ‘The Shrieking Skeleton’
Frank Schildiner’s ‘Max Allen Collins & The Hard Boiled Hero’
A (Black) Gat in the Hand: William Campbell Gault
A (Black) Gat in the Hand: More Cool & Lam From Hard Case Crime
MORE Cool & Lam!!!!
Thomas Parker’s ‘They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?’
Joe Bonadonna’s ‘Hardboiled Film Noir’ (Part One)
Joe Bonadonna’s ‘Hardboiled Film Noir’ (Part Two)
William Patrick Maynard’s ‘The Yellow Peril’
Andrew P Salmon’s ‘Frederick C. Davis’
Rory Gallagher’s ‘Continental Op’
Back Deck Pulp #3
Back Deck Pulp #4
Back Deck Pulp #5
Joe ‘Cap’ Shaw on Writing
Back Deck Pulp #6
The Black Mask Dinner

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Bob Byrne’s ‘A (Black) Gat in the Hand’ made its Black Gate debut in 2018 and has returned every Summer since.

His ‘The Public Life of Sherlock Holmes’ column ran every Monday morning at Black Gate from March, 2014 through March, 2017. And he irregularly posts on Rex Stout’s gargantuan detective in ‘Nero Wolfe’s Brownstone.’ He is a member of the Praed Street Irregulars, and founded www.SolarPons.com (the only website dedicated to the ‘Sherlock Holmes of Praed Street’).

He organized Black Gate’s award-nominated ‘Discovering Robert E. Howard’ series, as well as the award-winning ‘Hither Came Conan’ series. Which is now part of THE Definitive guide to Conan. He also organized 2023’s ‘Talking Tolkien.’

He has contributed stories to The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories — Parts III, IV, V, VI, XXI, and XXXIII.

He has written introductions for Steeger Books, and appeared in several magazines, including Black Mask, Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine, The Strand Magazine, and Sherlock Magazine.

You can definitely ‘experience the Bobness’ at Jason Waltz’s ’24? in 42′ podcast.