Hammett

This is a decent but fictional story about Dashiell Hammett, played here by Frederick Forrest. Directed by Wim Wenders, but was revamped and partly reshot by Francis Ford Coppola (although FFC picked WW to direct this, I think there was eventually some conflict between them).

In San Francisco in the time of his mystery novels, Hammett here is a writer who has just about finished his next book, where he imagines people from his real life as characters. But his manuscript is stolen, so while on the trail of it, he comes across organized crime in San Francisco's Chinatown that is linked to several powerful men in the city.


Costars include Marilu Henner as a neighboring dame who helps Hammett and is a sort of love interest (married to Forrest at the time), Peter Boyle as a private dick, and Jack Nance as a photographer who needs Hammett's help. The film has good period production values, with dialogue and storyline also of the film noir type.

Although the story type is a bit dated in that it depicts Chinese characters mostly in the "yellow menace" vein or as typical mobsters, it fits the writing of the era's dime novels. There are a few twists and some suspense as to who the real baddie is, but the story is not taxing.  A minor pleasure.