Review of Tough Guys Don't Dance

I once had the opportunity to tell Mr. Mailer how much I enjoyed his book and he told me he owed his publisher one more novel so he wrote it to get out of his contract as quickly as possible. I get the feeling this movie was produced in much the same manner. While I loved Lawrence Tierney and Wings Hauser, the rest of the characters, as well as the plot, are as contrived as any Spike Lee movie I've ever seen. Friends of mine hail this as the "New England Blue Velvet" which would explain Isabella Rossellini but I'm not a big fan of David Lynch either. For better or worse, I am addicted to (Neo) Noir and Wings Hauser is the perfect foil for this genre. The best that can be said about the film is his scenes make the movie palatable.