In his novel, Murakami makes a lot of references to films: John Ford’s “The Quiet Man,” “2001: A Space Odyssey,” and a couple of film noirs, as well. I wanted to do a context piece about the film noirs that Murakami mentions because they obviously have a lot to do with Murakami’s “hard-boiled” writing style. Film noirs were known as having “hard-boiled” heroes, cold detectives who often dealt with a lot of violence and sex. Oddly enough, when Murakami mentions the movies “Key Largo” and “The Big Sleep,” he focuses on the female lead in them: Lauren Bacall. He even makes Bacall one of the three items listed as part of the chapter title. Why such a focus on Bacall and these two movies?
We watched a bit of “The Big Sleep” in class. It’s about a private detective who is hired by a wealthy, old client with two daughters, one of which is played by Lauren Bacall. The movie “Key Largo” is another film noir, this time about a war veteran who comes home to pay his respects to the family of a war buddy who died. He gets wrapped up in some trouble with a few gangsters, and the story continues from there. Lauren Bacall plays the female lead in both of these films, alongside Humphrey Bogart. Bacall (and Bogart, too) was known for doing film noirs. Why does Murakami place such an emphasis on Bacall then? He refers to as being “practically allegorical” in “Key Largo.” I think Murakami’s emphasis on her serves two purposes. First, to play up the hard-boiled quality of the narrator. He has a deep interest in film noirs that have hard-boiled characters like Bogart and Bacall. Secondly, I think it is to illuminate the narrator’s character by showing his preference in women. If he likes Lauren Bacall’s character in “Key Largo,” he probably likes a a no-nonsense, sultry, femme fatale type.
This interest in a very specific type of woman lends even further to the hard-boiled style of the narrator. He is blunt and headstrong, he focuses on sex and mystery, and he seems to love women like Lauren Bacall. He could not be a more perfect hard-boiled man.
The movie poster for "Key Largo"
World of Wonder 