by Stephen King
Everything’s Eventual (2002)
* * * * * (Excellent) Realistic
Homer Van Meter, a member of the Dillinger Gang, shares the unknown tale behind the scar on John Dillinger’s lip. It’s a tale of robberies, firefights and speeding cars, lassoing flies, and the death of a friend, Jack “Red” Hamilton.
Now I really want to see Michael Mann’s Public Enemies starring Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. If Dillinger and his gang are anything like King portrays them in this “myth”, then the movie will be an enormous success. In this tale we learn the supposed “true story” about how Dillinger’s luck finally ran out. Narrated by Van Meter, you get a strong sense of the time through the dialogue, and of Dillinger’s charm in his interactions with each and every person he meets, be it a car-jack victim or close confidant. King perfectly captures his anti-heroic/outlaw appeal. This story teases a genre King could very easily branch out into: crime, or cops and robbers. (To be honest, I’m such a supporter that I believe King could write anything and it would succeed.) And the idea of lassoing flies creates an amazing image. That someone has the patience, skill, and dexterity to accomplish such of a feat is unbelievable, but the thought of those white threads attached to the flies floating in the air is just as funny and beautiful to me as it was to the dying Jack Hamilton.
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