I had been meaning to read a few of the Easy
novels by Walter Mosley for a while now and finally got around to finishing
one yesterday. The first book in the series which just happens to be what
this film is based on. The series of books has a fine reputation and is often
compared to Hammett, Chandler and Ross MacDonald. All of whom dig deep into
the grime, gutter and sin of Los Angeles, but Mosley's protagonist is a black
man and that puts an entirely different spin on it. His world is a vastly
different one, his status in society is always on the edge of crashing out
and there are just things he is not allowed to do that a white man can. Especially
back in 1948 when this takes place.
Mosley is a wonderful writer. After trying out a number of jobs, he began
writing at 34 years old after someone told him - you are half black and half
Jewish - you have a lot to write about. His dialogue is a pleasure to read
- natural and clean - like people really talk. The script keeps that but
what it can't really include is the way he talks about his community and
his friends when he will go into their background making them real characters.
The series has fourteen books (Mosley has written many others as well) and
what Mosley does is interesting - they are progressively later in years.
This is 1948, his next book occurs in 1953, his last one so far is 1968 -
and by doing so he also touches on the history of black America and its relations
with white America. Easy is a witness to this and so are we.
He is back from the war where he fought and killed for democracy only to
return to find a country that parcels out democracy to certain races and
not to others. Like so many blacks he migrated from down south to Los Angeles
for a better life and better opportunities but they were still second class
citizens. Easy had a decent job and saved up to get a mortgage on a small
house with a small green lawn in Watts. He is proud of this patch of land
- being a home owner and black was unusual. He means to keep it. So when
he gets let go from his job for not doing double duty, he is terrified. When
a white man on the advice of his friend Joppy offers him a job he takes it.
$100 will pay the next mortgage.
Albright just wants him to find a white girl. Daphne Monet. She likes going
to the black clubs. Likes black company. A white rich man is in love with
her and wants her back. Just tell me where she is Easy. That's all? That's
it. Of course that is never it - this is noir - as a lot of ugliness is buried
till he unearths it. People get murdered, the cops like him as the killer,
Albright is getting nasty - so he calls for help from an old friend down
in Texas. Mouse. Mouse is a small man. With a psychotic personality. Killing
for him is no more difficult than flicking off a piece of lint. All the same
to him. At one point Easy leaves him to guard someone and comes back to find
the man dead. "You told me not to shoot him. I strangled him. If you didn't
want him dead, why did you leave him alone with me," Can't argue with that
because if you do the chances are Mouse will kill you.
The film sticks closely to the book with a few changes that actually improve
the plot a bit, streamline it but keeps the atmosphere and the racial boundaries.
I was worried that Denzel Washington as Easy would be too good looking for
the character but he keeps his charisma under wraps and that little moustache
makes him look average. The other actors are fine as well - Don Cheadle as
Mouse is perfect, Tom Sizemore as Albright is good though not as terrifying
as he is in the book and Jennifer Beals as Daphne has the allure and interestingly
a background that may have allowed her some insight into the character. Directed
by Carl Franklin who had received acclaim for One False Move in 1992 and
was to direct Washington again in Out of Time in 2003. Surprisingly, this
has been the only adaptation of an Easy Rawlins book though from time to
time a production company has expressed interest. Just recently Amblin is
planning to develop a TV series on the books. As a minor historical note
- but the kind I like - Easy drives by a movie theater that is showing The
Betrayal directed by Oscar Micheaux who was one of the great early black
directors of what were termed Race films.
