Posted by Don Malcolm
on 11/9/2009, 8:06 pm, in reply to "NOTW: Raw Deal (1948) / Part 2 - Correcting Misinterpretations of the Plot"
98.171.179.25
Dan, I think you're largely correct about all of these issues. I do think that there's movement in each direction between Joe and Ann, where he embraces something beyond a cynical, criminal weltschmerz and she discovers that life is something more than idealism. The "love triangle" aspect is the reason why Britta Sjogren could easily program this film in her IN THE VORTEX series, because it fits perfectly into the intersection of "women's film" and noir.
In fairness to our friend Chi-Bob, we should note that his comments were written in 1980, when the paradigm of the "hard-boiled" was freshly minted and in its early zenith of influence. What I can tell you is that when this group did its original "Top 25" voting back in 2005, Chi-Bob put RAW DEAL in his Top 25, and the film ranked 16th overall in that poll.
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