10 Behind-The-Scenes Facts About The Making Of Martin Scorsese's 'Mean Streets'

Before Raging Bull, before Goodfellas and before Casino, Martin Scorsese made a great crime film called Mean Streets.

The 1973 film about young Italian American hoodlums in New York starred Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro and many other talented actors. As I’m half-Italian and grew up in South Philly’s “Little Italy” section with the local hoodlum Mean Streets' counterparts, I found the film to be both recognizable and entertaining. Mean Streets is one of my favorite films.

I also love the music from the film. The late film critic Pauline Kael called the music the soundtrack of the character’s lives.    

Jake Dee at Screenrants.com offers 10 behind the scenes facts about Mean Streets.

Despite the poor box-office performance at the time of its release in 1973, Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets has gone to be recognized as one of the greatest gangster movies ever made.

The film currently boasts a 97% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a 96/100 Metascore. In 1997, the film was selected by the U.S. Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry.

Mean Streets stars Robert De Niro and Harvey Keitel as a pair of low-level street hoods trying to make it big in New York's Little Italy. For a better understanding of the movie that put Scorsese on the map, here are some behind the scenes facts about the making of the film.

10 Conception

Following the poor critical and commercial reception of his previous film, Boxcar Bertha, Scorsese's friend, and fellow filmmaker John Cassavetes urged him to get back to his roots and make a personal film, much as he did with Who's That Knocking at My Door in 1967.

Scorsese agreed and decided to make the semiautobiographical Mean Streets as a result. Scorsese based the story on his own personal experiences coming of age in New York's Little Italy, molding many of the characters on people he knew in real life.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

https://screenrant.com/behind-the-scenes-facts-about-making-of-martin-scorsese-mean-streets/

As I noted in my Crime Beat column on Martin Scorsese, I’ve been a Scorsese fan since Mean Streets came out in 1973.

I was a young aspiring writer at the time, hanging out at a bar in South Philly that was the same type of bar that Scorsese portrayed in Mean Streets.

The characters in the film, based on people he knew from the Lower East Side of New York, had their counterparts in South Philly. Replace New York’s tenements with South Philly’s row homes, and you had the same type of neighborhood and people.

… I later read The Playboy Interview with Scorsese and he mentioned a story about another crew that had flocked to see Mean Streets. He said that while filming Goodfellas, Henry Hill told him that he and Paul Vario’s son had seen Mean Streets and loved it. They saw Paul Vario, who was a capo in the Lucchese crime family, and urged him to see the film. Vario, who rarely went to the movies, gave in and saw the film.

Vario, who would years later be portrayed by Paul Sorvino in Scorsese’s Goodfellas, called his crew together and instructed them to see Mean Streets. Vario, a man of few words, simply told his astonished crew, "It’s about us."

You can read my column on Martin Scorsese via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/11/happy-birthday-to-martin-scorsese.html

You can also watch clips from Mean Streets via the below link:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZ7UwnfQ2nA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkGDaroLl_M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ag9zbMV5URM

Review Of Michael Mann's 1981 "Thief" Starring James Cann, The Criterion Dual Format Release

Lee Pfeiffer at cinemaretro.com offers a review of Michael Mann’s Thief, which has been released in DVD.

Criterion has released a dual format Blu-ray/DVD edition of director Michael Mann's 1981 crime thriller Thief starring James Caan.

It's a highly impressive film on many levels, especially when one considers this was Mann's big screen feature debut. He had previously directed the acclaimed 1979 TV movie The Jericho Mile, which was set in Folsom Prison. Mann was inspired by his interaction with the world of convicts and wrote the screenplay for Thief, which is credited as being based on author Frank Hohimer's novel The Home Invaders, but he maintains virtually none of the source material ended up on screen.

The story centers on Frank (James Caan), a bitter man with a troubled past. As a child he was raised in state-run homes before being sent to jail for a petty crime. Inside prison, he committed violent acts in order to defend himself but this only resulted in lengthier jail terms. By the time he has been released, he has spent half of his life behind bars. While in jail, Frank befriended Okla (Willie Nelson), a older man and master thief who is doing a life sentence. He becomes Frank's mentor and father figure and teaches him the tools of the trade.

When Frank is finally released, he becomes a master at his craft, which is pulling off seemingly impossible heists of cash and diamonds. Before long, he has become a legend in his field. As a cover, Frank runs a major used car dealership and a small bar. However, he realizes that his luck will certainly run out at some point and he is determined to retire after making a few more high end scores. He works with a small team consisting of two confederates (James Belushi, Willam LaValley) who are also pros in gaining access to seemingly impenetrable vaults. The headstrong Frank wants to also settle down and raise a family.

He makes an awkward introduction to Jessie (Tuesday Weld), an equally head strong, down-on-her luck character who nevertheless becomes smitten by him and ends up marrying him. The couple face frustration, however, when their attempts to adopt a baby are thwarted by Frank's criminal record. Frank is ultimately approached by Leo (Robert Prosky), a local crime lord who entices him to stop working independently and pull off a high profile heist for a fortune in diamonds.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/7935-REVIEW-MICHAEL-MANNS-THIEF-1981-STARRING-JAMES-CAAN,-THE-CRITERION-DUAL-FORMAT-RELEASE.html 

A Look Back At Samuel Fuller's Classic Crime Film. 'Underworld USA'

Lee Pfeiffer at cinemaretro.com offers a review of a crime film I loved as a kid, Samuel Fuller’s Underworld USA. The crime classic is now out on DVD.

Samuel Fuller (seen in the below photo) is today regarded as a revered name among directors. Unlike his peers- John Ford, Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston, Howard Hawks, to name but a few- Fuller didn't get much respect when he needed it, at least from critics and studio heads who regarded his talents as workmanlike. 

Consequently, this talented director, screenwriter and occasional novelist and actor, toiled under meager budgets and scant support from studio executives. Fuller was typical of directors of his generation who had come of age during the Great Depression and World War II. 

He had a tough guy persona and had learned to survive on the mean streets of Manhattan where he worked as a crime reporter in the 1930s. Fuller could have landed a cushy job in the military during the war but eschewed the opportunity in favor of volunteering for combat duty in the European campaign. His scripts were tightly-written, no-nonsense affairs and his direction was direct and to-the-point. 

Fuller cut a larger-than-life figure with an out-sized personality and his penchant for indulging in cigars that were so large they looked as though they were inspired by cartoons. Despite the budgetary limitations on his films and the fact that he never enjoyed a career-defining breakaway hit, Fuller's movies have stood the test of time and before he died in 1997, he had witnessed his work being favorably reassessed by a new generation of directors and critics.

"Underworld U.S.A." is one of Fuller's true gems. A 1961 film noir crime story, the movie gave an early career boost to Cliff Robertson but its significance goes much deeper. Although viewed as a typical low budget crime thriller back in the day, the movie is a a true classic of the genre.

The film opens with 14 year-old Tolly Davlin (David Kent), a street-wise product of a crime-infested unnamed big city, witnessing the beating death of the father he idolized by a pack of enforcers from a mob syndicate that he had crossed. Tolly's dad, himself a low-life who was teaching his son how to survive in the urban jungle by being more cunning and ruthless than the competition. Tolly, now orphaned, finds the only friend he has is Sandy (Beatrice Kay), a tough-as-nails saloon owner who takes a maternal interest in Tolly, though he rarely heeds her advice. Tolly is consumed with avenging his father's death. He arranges intentionally builds up a criminal record leading to him being criminal record leading to him being incarcerated in a juvenile detention center- but all the while he is painstakingly following leads about who his father's murderers were and who employed them. 

The story jumps ahead and we find Tolly now a young man in his late twenties (played by Robertson) having been incarcerated in a prison that houses one of the killers, a man who is literally on his death bed in the hospital ward. That doesn't stop Tolly from smothering him with a pillow and making it look like natural causes. When Tolly is released from jail, he reunites with Sandy and has a chance encounter with  a sexy gun moll who is nicknamed Cuddles (Dolores Dorn) who has been marked for death for having failed to carry out a mission for the mob. Tolly saves her life and secretes her in Sandy's apartment while he begins his pursuit of two other men who killed his father that fateful night. Having succeeded in getting his street justice, he goes for bigger game: the syndicate bosses.

You can read the rest of the review via the below link:

www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/10190-REVIEW-SAMUEL-FULLERS-UNDERWORLD-U.S.A.-1961-STARRING-CLIFF-ROBERTSON;-TWILIGHT-TIME-BLU-RAY-SPECIAL-EDITION.html 

Note: I’d also recommend Samuel Fuller’s other great films, such as House of Bamboo, Merrill's Marauders, and The Big Red One.  

The Infiltrator: How Undercover Customs Agent - Played By Bryan Cranston In New Movie - Spent Two Years Partying In $1,000-A-Night Hotels, Driving A Rolls Convertible And Flying On A Private Jets And Then Trapped 85 Drug Lords At Staged Wedding

Over the weekend my wife and I watched director Michael Mann's film The Infiltrator on cable TV.

We enjoyed watched the crime film, which is based on a true case. I ordered the book online and I look forward to reading it.

In the film actor Bryan Cranston portrayed U.S. Customs Special Agent Robert Mazur (seen in the below photo), who went undercover and infiltrated the Colombian drug cartel and the world of crooked bankers.

Daniel Bates at the British newspaper The Daily Mail offers a piece on the true story behind the film.

As the drug lords relaxed by the pool sipping cocktails, they took turns to congratulate the friend who had invited them all to his wedding party.

Wealthy businessman Bob Musella worked the crowd of traffickers in 1988, who trusted him implicitly after he had laundered millions of their dollars from the heroin trade.

But the party was actually a rouse, the wedding was a fake and the 'couple' were both undercover US Customs agents who had spent the last two years duping them.

Even the 50 'family and friends' sipping drinks and making polite conversation were federal agents in disguise.

By the end of the night dozens of Colombian cartel bankers and high-ranking dealers had been arrested in one of the biggest takedowns in the history of US Customs.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3692397/How-undercover-customs-agent-played-Bryan-Cranston-new-movie-spent-two-years-partying-1-000-night-hotels-driving-Rolls-convertible-flying-private-jets-arranged-arrest-85-drug-lords-staged-wedding.html

A Look Back At 'The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three'

Jeremy Carr at Cinemaretro.com takes a look back at one of my favorite crime films, The Taking of Pelham One Two Three. 

The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974) feels like a working man’s thriller. Its bad guys come from varying backgrounds—military, mafia, experience on just the type of train they are hijacking—but none of them are exceptionally slick or formidably imposing in a supervillain sort of way. There is no global catastrophe, no city under siege; there isn’t even a single building at risk of explosion or collapse. These men want $1 million. Period. Sure, they have kidnapped about two dozen hostages, but in an age now when cinematic baddies detain entire metropolitan regions, this arrangement seems almost quaint by comparison. Leading the attempt to thwart the four antagonists are a couple of guys just doing their job, as capably and confidently as they would any other day. Written by Peter Stone, based on John Godey’s (Morton Freedgood) novel, this model of 1970s American movie grit stands out in form and function for the way its unpretentious, low-key scheme is conceived of and enacted, and the systematic, procedural manner in which the plot is hindered by men with evident occupational know-how.

...Transit Authority police lieutenant Zachary Garber (Walter Matthau), who unwittingly yet naturally becomes the key hero of the film, is first seen dozing off. He then spends the first part of his day escorting some visiting Japanese dignitaries, giving them a guided tour of the New York City subway system, reciting a numerical spiel composed of dry, textbook knowledge. Played by Matthau with delightful cynicism and weariness, a year after his excellent turn in Charley Varrick, Garber subsequently contends with the bureaucracy of city management while doing his blue-collar best to negotiate with the hijackers.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.cinemaretro.com/index.php?/archives/9306-REVIEW-THE-TAKING-OF-PELHAM-ONE-TWO-THREE-1974-STARRING-WALTER-MATTHAU-AND-ROBERT-SHAW;-KINO-LORBER-BLU-RAY-SPECIAL-EDITION.html

Note: I didn't much care for the Denzel Washington remake of the film.

Happy Birthday To The Late, Great Crime Writer Raymond Chandler

As my friend R.T. notes at his blog, Crimes in the Library, today is the late, great crime writer Raymond Chandler's birthday.

You can read about Chandler at Crimes in the Library via the below link:

http://crimesinthelibrary.blogspot.com/2015/07/born-on-23-july-in-1888-raymond.html#comment-form

You can also read my interview with Chandler biographer Tom Williams via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/03/my-crime-beat-column-mysterious.html

And you can read my Crime Beat column on Chandler's influence on novels and films via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2009/11/on-raymond-chandlers-influence-on-crime.html

We Took Care Of That Thing For Ya: As 'Goodfellas' Turns 25, Here Are 25 Things You Never Knew About Martin Scorsese's Mobster Flick

In celebration of the finest and most realistic crime film ever made, Rachel Maresca and Philip Caulfield at the New York Daily News made a list of 25 things you may not know about Godfellas.

We took care of that thing for ya.

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of "Goodfellas" this year, the Daily News has compiled a list of 25 things every movie nut should know about the classic gangster flick, which is being honored on the closing night of The Tribeca Film Festival Saturday.

To celebrate, the cast of the Martin Scorsese movie will reunite and participate in a sit-down conversation hosted by Jon Stewart.

The violent, profane and often funny film, based on Nicholas Pileggi's book "Wiseguy: Life in a Mafia Family," featured several cameos by the story's real-life characters, and is revered by movie fans for its colorful dialogue and memorable lines.

Now go home and get your shinebox . . .

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/25-didn-goodfellas-article-1.2194719

You can also read an earlier post on the making of Goodfellas via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2015/04/25th-anniversary-of-martin-scorseses.html

25th Anniversary of Martin Scorsese's 'Goodfellas': 21 Facts You May Not Know About The Classic Crime Film

I believe that Martin Scorsese's Goodfellas is the greatest crime film ever made. Based on a true story, it is the most realistic film made about organized crime. 

Cory Mahoney at hollywood.com offers 21 facts you may not know about the classic crime film.

How well do you know the iconic gangster movie?

1. Real-life gangster Henry Hill, whose story inspired the book Wiseguy that inspired the film, had said that Joe Pesci's performance was a 90-99% accurate portrayal of Tommy DeSimone.

The difference? The real DeSimone was a massively built, strapping man. Joe Pesci? Not so much.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.hollywood.com/news/movies/60015767/goodfellas-movie-facts-you-didn-t-know

You can also read my Crime Beat column, Goodfellas Don't Sue Goodfellas, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/09/goodfellas-dont-sue-goodfellas-look.html

And you can read my Crime Beat column on Martin Scorsese's world of crime via the below link: 

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/11/happy-birthday-to-martin-scorsese.html

I Relate To The Way Sherlock Talks About Death’: Ian McKellen On His New Film Role In 'Mr. Holmes'

Vanessa Thorpe at the Guardian offers a piece on Sir Ian McKellen portraying Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's iconic character Sherlock Holmes as an older man in retirement.

There will be no deerstalker. There will be no pipe. In their place will be a straw hat and a walking stick. But with the appetite for Sherlock Holmes growing after the worldwide success of Benedict Cumberbatch’s television portrayal, Sir Ian McKellen is about to give fans of the great sleuth more of what they crave.

The 75-year-old actor’s new film, Mr Holmes, has its world premiere at the Berlin film festival on Sunday and offers a vision of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective living quietly in retirement in Sussex, keeping bees. Directed by Bill Condon, the film is about a crime, but also about age, unreliable memory and the power of the past.

                                 

Preparation for the part has allowed the award-winning Shakespearean actor to reflect on his own age. “Mr Holmes really is as much about being old as it is about the crime,” McKellen said this weekend. “I do relate to the ease with which Sherlock talks about death. That ease is something that has come to me and to a lot of my friends. Death is suddenly ever-present, although we all ignore it when we are young.

“For Sherlock, in this story, it is a race against time, and it is not quite like that for me. I don’t intend to retire. I will go on working on and off. I am happily going on with my life.”

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2015/feb/08/sherlock-film-mr-holmes-ian-mckellen

Actor Johnny Depp In Character As Boston Mobster Whitey Bulger

Eleanor Gower at the British newspaper the Daily Mail offers a piece on Johnny Depp portraying Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger in an upcoming film.

You can read the piece and see photos of Depp as Bulger via the below link:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2629535/Johnny-Depp-bald-cap-wig-role-mob-boss-James-Whitey-Bulger-begins-filming-biopic.html

You can also read my Washington Times review of Whitey: The Life of America's Most Notorious Mob Boss via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/my-washington-times-review-of-whitey.html

And you can read my interview with Dick Lehr, co-author of Whitey and Black Mass via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2013/06/crime-beat-column-q-with-dick-lehr-co_17.html

The Definitive London Tough Guy: Watch Bob Hoskin's Best Scene

Stephen Marche at Esquire.com offers a piece on the late Bob Hoskin's finest film scene from The Long Good Friday.

Bob Hoskins was the definitive London tough guy. He starred in the definitive London tough-guy film, The Long Good Friday, which you should feel obligated today to rewatch instead of working. The whole of his performance in that movie is pure bravura acting — I mean, the man outshines Helen Mirren — but the final scene stands out as one of the greatest scenes in any film noir ever. Captured by the IRA in London, whose leader he has just killed, Hoskins's Harold Shand stares down a very silent and very menacing and very grinning Pierce Brosnan. He knows that he has lost. He knows that he is about to be tortured and killed and that his body is going to be displayed in some horrific way. In total silence, an amazing series of emotions plays over his face — hatred, animal horror at what is about to happen to the wife he loves, amazement, crippling fear, a last gasp at calculation, the realization that all his cunning isn't going to help him now, wistfulness for what he might have accomplished, amusement at the irony of his own downfall, existential sickness, atavistic loathing, and then cosmic resignation. That all happens, in silence, in a minute and a half. Have a look: 

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/bob-hoskins-the-long-good-Friday?src=nl&mag=esq&list=nl_enl_oth_non_043014_bob-hoskins

You can also read an earlier post on the late actor via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2014/04/rip-british-actor-bob-hoskins-dead-at-71.html

Funny How? I Amuse You, Like A Clown?: The Funniest-Scariest Scene In 'Goodfellas'

John Semley at Esquire offers a piece on the funniest-scariest scene in the classic crime film Goodfellas.

Take Joe Pesci's hot-head mobster, Tommy DeVito. After cracking up a table of career criminals with a violent anecdote, Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) tells him he's "a funny guy." The mood immediately drops. Tommy begins interrogating his friend about the comment. "Like a clown? Like I make you laugh? How am I funny?" Scorsese invites the viewer to enjoy his character's good humor, then, on a dime, shifts to tense throat-in-the-chest anxiety — and back again. In one scene, Scorsese demonstrates how totally seductive a sharpened sense of humor can be, and how we so often use our appreciation of that quality to skate over the larger fissures in a character's personality.

You can read the piece and watch a clip of the Martin Scorsese film via the below link:

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/culture/goodfellas-scene-0913

In one of my Crime Beat columns, Goddfellas Don't Sue Goddfellas, I noted that I grew up in South Philly with guys like the Joe Pesci character.

Over the years I've heard from a number of law enforcement officials who complain that The Godfather and the other mob books and movies glamorize crime. When I was a producer and on-air host on Inside Government, a public affairs radio program that aired on WPEN AM and WMGK FM on Sunday mornings a few years ago, I interviewed the assistant U.S. attorney in charge of organized crime in the Philadelphia area

He did not agree with my assessment of Goodfellas, which I said was the most realistic film portrayal of organized crime. He felt that audiences liked the actor Joe Pesci in the film because he was funny and charming, but they failed to realize that he and the other criminals in the film were vicious and murderous.

I countered by saying that I’ve found some of the real mob guys to be funny, charming and even generous. And I’ve also seen them quickly turn vicious, cold and heartless – just as Joe Pesci and Robert De Niro portrayed them on the screen. They can be good friends and good company - unless you owe them money or you have something they want. Serial killers and con artists have also been known to be quite charming.

 You can read the rest of my column via the below lnk:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2011/09/goodfellas-dont-sue-goodfellas-look.html

Note: I read somewhere that Joe Pesci suggested the scene to director Martin Scorsese, as he was on the other end of this kind of situation when he worked in a restaurant and he told a real goodfella that he thought the guy was funny. The mob guy responded like the character Pesci portrays in Goodfellas. 

5 Things You May Not Know About 'The Third Man'

Oliver Lyttelton at indiewire.com offers an interesting piece on one of my favorite films, The Third Man.

Thirty-six years ago today, on April 25th, 1976, filmmaker Carol Reed passed away. One of the greatest directors ever to come out of the U.K., Reed started out as an actor, but gained fame as a writer-director in the late 1930s and 1940s, thanks to films like "Night Train To Munich," and the outstanding "Odd Man Out" and "The Fallen Idol." Later, he'd also find success with films like "Trapeze," "Our Man In Havana," "The Agony and the Ecstasy" and "Oliver!," for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director, beating out Stanley Kubrick's "2001" and Gillo Pontecorvo's "The Battle of Algiers."

But Reed's undisputed masterpiece is "The Third Man," a 1949 film noir based on a screenplay by the great British writer Graham Greene. The film involves a writer of Westerns, Holly Martins (Joseph Cotten), who comes to post-war Vienna after being promised a job by his childhood friend Harry Lime. On arriving, he discovers that Lime had seemingly been killed shortly beforehand. However, he soon finds out, through investigating with Lime's girlfriend Anna (Alida Valli) that his old pal had been stealing and diluting penicillin from military hospitals, leading to the death of children, and that Lime (indelibly played by Orson Welles) is still alive.

You can read the rest of the piece via the below link:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplaylist/5-things-you-may-not-know-about-the-third-man-20120425

You can watch some of the footage from the great film via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBNlL23sUGI&feature=related

And you can listen to a reading of Graham Greene's The Third Man via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykUcSk5JN6w

Note: the above photo is of Orson Welles as Harry Lime and the below photo shows is of Third Man director Carol Reed and writer Graham Greene.

Letters Of Note: A Bitter Note From Crime Novelist Raymond Chandler To Film Director Alfred Hitchcock Regarding the Film 'Strangers On A Train'

Jason Boog at MediaBistro.com offers a look at a note Raymond Chandler wrote to Alfred Hitchcock, blasting him about the script for the film Strangers on a Train.

The excellent Letters of Note site has posted a bitter note that private detective novelist Raymond Chandler mailed to Alfred Hitchcock, an angry sermon punctuated with this zippy line: “if you wanted something written in skim milk, why on earth did you bother to come to me in the first place?”

You can read the rest of the piece an watch a trailer from Strangers on a Train via the below link:

http://www.mediabistro.com/galleycat/raymond-chandler-blasts-alfred-hitchcock_b45139

Crime Thrillers On Cable: The Lincoln Lawyer

 

The Lincoln Lawyer is out on DVD and the film is also available On Demand on Comcast Cable TV.

I watched The Lincoln Lawyer on Comcast Cable TV last night with my wife.

We both enjoyed the film and we thought it was a very good, fast-paced and suspenseful crime thriller.

Matthew McConaughey was very good as Mickey Haller, the Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer who works out of his Lincoln Towncar rather than an office. He prefers to work out of his car, as he has to travel a good distance to five different courthouses located across Los Angeles.

The film director, Brad Furman, cast the film with a good number of fine co-stars, including Ryan Phillippe, William H.Macy and Marisa Tomei.

He also cast some strong character actors in supporting roles. The film offered Bryan Cranston, Francis Fisher, Michael Pena and other fine character actors.

You can watch a trailer of the film via the below link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU4ReVEemN0

I'm thankful that Furman and screenwriter John Romano were basically faithful to the Michael Connelly novel. Connelly is one of my favorite crime writers and I read and enjoyed The Lincoln Lawyer some years ago.

I interviewed Michael Connelly a while back and you can read my piece, Killers, Cops and Crime Reporters: A Q & A With Crime Writer Michael Connelly, via the below link:

http://www.pauldavisoncrime.com/2010/04/killers-cops-and-crime-reporters-q-with.html