2/2/19 Harper

Post date: Jan 21, 2019 5:47:04 PM

"Harper" is a detective story based on the Ross MacDonald's character Lew Archer. Paul Newman asked if the character name could be changed out of superstition since he had success with other 'H' movies like Hud and Hustler(coming soon).

The movie is very faithful to MacDonald's "The Moving Target" even improving on some of the dialog. I was surprised since it seems to have a similar setup to Raymond Chandler's "The Big Sleep". I thought it was the movie the writer had stolen

Both stories start with the detective coming to a mansion to meet a rich invalid about family problems. In the "Big Sleep" Philip Marlowe meets with invalid General Sternwood about blackmail. In "Harper", Lew Harper meets with invalid Mrs Sampson about the disappearance of her husband.

In "The Big Sleep", Marlowe meets wild daughter Carmen. In "Harper", Harper meets wild daughter Miranda. I often wondered if there was an in- joke because the name Carmen Miranda is the name of a famous actress.

I find Harper similar in tone to Chandler's "Farewell My Lovely"(1975). It shows the disillusionment of the main detective by crime and corruption in Los Angeles. "Farewell My Lovely" in the 1940s and "Harper" in the 1960s. I love Archer's line from the book. "Your husband keeps lousy company. As bad as there is in Los Angeles and that is as bad as there is".

There is a stark difference between Raymond Chandler and Ross MacDonald. MacDonald is a lot more cynical especially about the fairer sex. A female fatal betrayal in "Farewell My Lovely" is characterized as a corrupt environment. In Lew Archer's world, it is the female themselves that are deadly. In "The Moving Target", females are not the root of any of the crimes but Archer still thinks "It seems to me that evil was a female quality, a poison that women secreted and transmitted to men like disease". Wow that's harsh! Luckily Harper kept the movie a little lighter than that.