Jun. 22, 2002 - 3:53 pm

cover
*No Good Deed (2002)

just for a refresher, you might want to read this entry before reading this entry.

so after writing last night's entry i decided it was time to finally take a break, sit down and read Dashiell Hammett's short story "The House in Turk Street" which has been sitting on my shelf now for a couple of months. i don't know why i didn't go ahead and read it all before. i kept picking it up and putting it down. it's not like it's really that time consuming to read. only 23 pages total.

basic story for it was a detective goes to investigate a missing person and gets lured into a house by a couple of seemingly innocent elderly people. he finds out that they're a couple and they seem very sweet. until the husband pulls a gun on him and we find out that they're actually the cover for a small group of 5 gangsters who use the house as a base. when the three others return to the house, the detective is tied up and witnesses a lot of backstabbing and betrayals. the pretty girl in the gang with the short red hair tries to pit the two men who are interested in her against each other. she also attempts to make off with the $100,000 in bonds that they have recently nabbed. once the detective gets free, he ends up acquiring the bonds himself and basically watches the gang self-destruct.

from what i can tell from the IMDb, the plot will change significantly. this short story could probably only take about 20-30 minutes to tell on the screen, so lots of plot has been added to it for the screenplay. more characters, more involvement, and it appears that a bank robbery will actually take place with the gang while the detective and short-haired girl are left alone conversing in the house. the detective and the girl will be Samuel L. Jackson and Milla. apparently they form some kind of bond in that time.

this didn't really happen in the short story. the girl's character was violent, beautiful, deceitful, and seemed to have contempt for everyone. i'm seeing some extreme changes to that character in particular. the leader of the gang will be played by Stellan Skarsgard who you might remember as Professor Lambeau from Good Will Hunting (1997). the "ugly," less intelligent mob guy who's interested in the girl will be Doug Hutchison who played Percy in The Green Mile (1999).

i don't know. it's a good plot with a lot of action for what it is. possibly the makings of a good film. great cast too. well i mean obviously i have to go see it now that i've talked about it so much.