It\u2019s another Wednesday night here at BCB After Dark: the coolest club for night owls, early risers, new parents and Cubs fans abroad. Come on in out of the heat. We always have room for a friend. There are still a couple of tables available. There\u2019s no cover charge. The dress code is casual. Bring your own beverage.<\/p>\n
BCB After Dark is the place for you to talk baseball, music, movies, or anything else you need to get off your chest, as long as it is within the rules of the site. The late-nighters are encouraged to get the party started, but everyone else is invited to join in as you wake up the next morning and into the afternoon.<\/p>\n
The Cubs won a thriller against the Brewers tonight, 4-3.<\/a> Wrigley was rocking and the mozzarella sticks were flowing in Colin Rea\u2019s home town of Cascade, Iowa. Michael Busch had a three-run double off hard-throwing rookie Jacob Misiorowski and Matt Shaw hit a needed insurance home run in the eighth. It was the first time the Brewers have lost three in a row since May 10. The Cubs clinched the season series with the Brewers.<\/p>\n I said last night that if the Cubs won the final two games against the Brewers that I\u2019d break out Judy Garland. But I wasn\u2019t thinking that we\u2019re going to be dark tomorrow night (or at least I will be off) and so when the Cubs win tomorrow, I won\u2019t be here to break out Judy. So I\u2019m assuming the Cubs win tomorrow afternoon and:<\/p>\n Last night I asked you if you thought Kyle Tucker was worth an eight-year, $380 million deal.<\/a> Today, we\u2019ve discovered that Tucker has been playing with a hairline fracture in his finger since early June.<\/a> Tucker wanted to play through it and to be fair, he had his best month of the season in June. But it appears to have caught up with him in July and August.<\/p>\n In any case, 58 percent of you didn\u2019t think Tucker was worth the money yesterday. I don\u2019t know if that number would change today with what we know now.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s the part where we listen to music and talk movies.<\/p>\n Tonight we\u2019re featuring another concert from Norway, this one from 1971. This is legendary saxophonist Sonny Rollins along with Bobo Stenson on piano, Arild Andersen on bass and Jon Christensen on drums.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve seen two movies recently (not counting Monday\u2019s Crime Wave) and I didn\u2019t care for either one, nor did I have anything interesting to say about them. I am watching another one but despite it being just 96 minutes long, family and other writing obligations kept me from finishing it. So that\u2019s for next week.<\/p>\n So I\u2019m taking a different approach tonight. One of my favorite films is director Nicholas Ray\u2019s 1950 masterpiece In a Lonely Place, which stars Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame. It\u2019s one of those films that every movie lover should be familiar with. I read a story where actress Jenna Ortega listed it as one of her favorites and it made me think that there\u2019s hope for Gen Z yet.<\/p>\n I wrote about In a Lonely Place when we did our noir tournament a few years ago. I haven\u2019t had the chance to re-watch it again recently so I\u2019m not going to write about it again. But if you haven\u2019t seen it, it\u2019s something you should.<\/p>\n But until earlier this month, I had never actually read the Dorothy B. Hughes novel on which In a Lonely Place is based. And by \u201cbased\u201d I mean \u201ctook the name of the book and the name of the characters and then made an entirely different movie.\u201d Both works have murder in them and they\u2019re both set in Los Angeles, but that\u2019s about it. OK, there is also some basic connecting theme of what we would today call \u201ctoxic masculinity,\u201d but that\u2019s a pretty thin connection.<\/p>\n The interesting thing is that I kind of knew this before going into the book. If you\u2019ve ever seen the movie, Bogart plays Dix Steele, a successful Hollywood screenwriter. His agent wants him to write a screenplay based on a hit novel. Dix doesn\u2019t want to, but his agent insists. Not wanting to read the book, he gets the coat check girl from the club to read the book and come back to his apartment after work to give him a thumbnail summary. She agrees and discovers that she loves the book. As she eagerly explains the entire plot of the book to Dix, he just keeps rolling his eyes and predicting the plot before she tells him. After she leaves, Dix takes the book and tosses it in the trash.<\/p>\n So right from the beginning, Ray is saying \u201cYeah. I\u2019m not going to do the book.\u201d The novel isn\u2019t what you would call \u201cunfilmable,\u201d but it would be tricky. The entire novel is written from Dix\u2019s point of view and much of the drama goes on in arguments in Dix\u2019s head. Dix also leaves out some crucial information in the plot as the story has sudden jumps ahead in time at points.<\/p>\n To film In a Lonely Place, keep it true to the story and still get it past the Production Code in force in 1950, they\u2019d likely have to shift much of the focus of the novel away from Dix and on to his detective friend Brub Nicolai, played by Frank Lovejoy in the film. Brub is a supporting character in the movie, which focuses mostly on the relationship between Dix and Grahame\u2019s Laurel Gray.<\/p>\n In the movie, Dix is a very successful screenwriter with a bad problem controlling his temper. (Many have said that Dix is the part that Bogart is most playing himself.) In the novel, Dix is an a recently-discharged veteran who misses the sense of purpose and danger that the war gave him. His uncle wants him to come work for him at his successful hardware store, a kind of domestic life that disgusts Dix. So his uncle is willing to pay for him to spend a year in Los Angeles writing a detective novel. His uncle figures that the book either will never get written or will be a failure and Dix will have to come back and work in the hardware store, now knowing he couldn\u2019t do anything else.<\/p>\n In reality, Dix isn\u2019t much of a writer and spends very little time doing any. Instead, he wanders aimlessly around Los Angeles, sponging off his uncle and an absent old school friend who is letting him stay in his place while he\u2019s out of the country. While he lives this parasitic life, Dix complains in his head about how awful and unfair life is to returning veterans like himself. Well, mainly himself.<\/p>\n Oh, and there\u2019s a serial killer running around Los Angeles and Dix\u2019s detective army buddy Brub is in charge of bringing the killer to justice. That\u2019s kind of important.<\/p>\n In the movie, there\u2019s only one killing\u2014that of the coat check girl that summarized the book for him.<\/p>\n Both the book and the movie have a romance between Dix and Laurel, but the romance is at the heart of the movie whereas it\u2019s kind of a side plot to the serial killer (and Dix\u2019s inner monologues) in the novel. The movie portrays Dix and Laurel as deeply in love, although Dix has some strong ideas about how a woman should behave around her man. In the novel, the relationship is portrayed much more coldly. Dix and Laurel\u2019s relationship is much more casual and it\u2019s not clear that Laurel even likes Dix at all, but goes out with him just because he\u2019s there and he spends money on her. Dix goes from thinking Laurel is a cheap tramp to becoming very infatuated and possessive of her. And back the other way again in the book.<\/p>\n Brub\u2019s wife Sylvia is also a huge character in the book\u2014as much or more than Laurel, to be honest. In the movie, Sylvia (Jeff Donnell) is barely noticeable.<\/p>\n The voyage of In a Lonely Place from page to screen is interesting in the way that Hollywood just buys a hot book without thinking about how they were going to film it. So they made their own film and stuck the title on it so that they didn\u2019t think they got ripped off paying for the rights. I think they could have filmed In a Lonely Place with some difficulty, but I don\u2019t think audiences in 1950 would have liked it and Humphrey Bogart wouldn\u2019t have played Dix. (For one, the Dix in the book is a lot younger.) But the movie is a must-watch and the book is definitely worth reading. But the plot of one has no connection to the plot of the other.<\/p>\n Just for fun, he\u2019s the trailer for In a Lonely Place.<\/p>\n Welcome back to everyone who skips the music and movies.<\/p>\n Daniel Palencia nailed down a save tonight, thanks in large part to a great defensive play by Nico Hoerner that ended the game.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not the only time Palencia has given Cubs fans Mitch Williams flashbacks in August. While he\u2019s 4 for 5 in save opportunities this month (and the one he failed to convert the Cubs won anyways on Justin Turner\u2019s walk-off home run), he\u2019s been shaky lately. In four of his seven appearances this month, Palencia has given up a run. In six of his seven outings, Palencia has given up a hit. In only one save attempt has Palencia retired the side in order in August.<\/p>\n On the other hand, trade deadline acquisition Andrew Kittredge is 2 for 2 in save opportunities, both of which came when Palencia was unavailable because of his workload. Kittredge has made nine appearances this month and has allowed runs in only one of them. (But that one was a doozy\u2014four runs in a third of an inning against the Reds.) Outside of that one terrible appearance, Kittredge has allowed just two hits and has walked no one over 7.2 innings. Kittredge has struck out ten in those eight appearances.<\/p>\n Of course, it should be mentioned that Palencia has been pitching in the more-stressful ninth inning more than Kittredge.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not going to ask you if Palencia should lose his closer\u2019s job to Kittredge. I think both of them are going to continue to get save chances the rest of the year and in any case, I don\u2019t think Palencia should lose his job after having not blown any games.<\/p>\n But I am asking you which pitcher do you feel more secure with pitching a one-run game in the ninth? Which pitcher would make you bite your nails more: Palencia or Kittredge? Which one would make you feel more confident to the point where you go \u201cWe\u2019ve got this\u201d when the inning begins?<\/p>\n Thank you for stopping by this week. It\u2019s been the best week in a while and you\u2019ve contributed to that. Please get home safely. Tell us if you need anything. Recycle any cans and bottles. Tip your waitstaff. And join us again next time for more BCB After Dark.<\/p>\n