Sunday, March 3, 2013

Burt's Dirty New York

Shamus.  Burt.  Gowanus.  Kentile sign.


Long before it became a beloved symbol of pre-gentrified Brooklyn, the Kentile Floors sign (and the company which it touted) were simply part of the landscape of an unglamorous, industrial section of Brooklyn, just the type of location used by Hollywood productions shooting in "Dirty New York," as was the case with 1972's Shamus, a mostly routine detective yarn with Southerner Burt Reynolds pretending to be a Brooklyn Philip Marlowe, even including a riff on the bookstore salesgirl scene from The Big Sleep.  Burt does plenty of running and leaping throughout the picture, showing off his formidable physical prowess, which is ultimately the best part of his performance.

No comments: