Sunday, October 14, 2012
Jeff Bailey = Most Hardboiled, Yet Most Moral of All the Noir Protagonists?
I definitely agree with Arick that Robert Mitchum's Jeff Bailey (also known as Jeff Markham) seemed like the quintessential hard boiled detective. As far as being a film noir antihero though, he seemed less tragic or tortured than Walter in Double Indemnity or Frank in the Postman Always Rings Twice; however, that made his death at the end of the film more depressing for me since he seemed a little bit more ethical than the other typical noir anitheroes. It was good to see that he wasn't a fool like the rest of the noir protagonists we read about, including Johnny Marr from Rendezvous in Black,and didn't continue to stay with his mistress (except for setting her up) after he realized she was trouble. I was also glad to see that the Deaf Kid (even though I don't think he is credited with a legitimate name) didn't conform totally to the victimized disabled person or bitter/evil/vengeful disabled person trope. One last question, what would have come of Jeff and Ann's relationship if Jeff remained alive? Although Jim (Ann's local admirer) is a law officer, he still seemed like a pretty shifty character to me and a little too possessive over Ann, so some violent confrontation might have taken place between the two.
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I definitely agree that Jeff seemed the most moral. He seemed more like a hopeless romantic than Walter. He tried so hard to talk to Kathie, even though he knew she was bad news. He ever shares a romantic night with her on the beach, yet somehow doesn't seem to think she is a criminal. I thought Jeff and Ann made a good couple, and I like how he chose a better girl after making Kathie, yet fell victim to Kathie's malicious ways again. It would have been interesting to see how their relationship would have turned out had he not died.
ReplyDeleteI think Jeff knew that setting up Kathie would lead to his own demise. If both he and Kathie had survived, Kathie could have easily framed Jeff for the three murders. He knew that calling the police could possibly cause his own death by Kathie killing him, or he could be framed for murder and executed by the police.
ReplyDeleteHis decision to call the police was definitely influenced by Ann. He felt that Ann was too good for him, and in order to remove himself from Ann’s life, he decided to take action by setting up Kathie. He knew that he would probably not survive the encounter with the police, and Ann would be forced to move on with her life.
It is still tragic, since his intentions were ethical and moral, mirroring his characterization in the film. I just wish there was something else to make it slightly less depressing. But it is a Noir film.
ReplyDeleteIf Jeff remained alive, I believe the confrontation would have indubitably taken place and turned fatal for either party. On the other hand, it would also mean Ann most likely would know the actual truth (he was setting up Kathie), and not be heartbroken and cursing his memory like she does in the film.