Saturday, May 15, 2021

Murder, My Sweet (1944)

Murder, My Sweet is a 1944 film noir starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Anne Shirley. Priceless.


Rotten Tomatoes has a consensus critics score of 94%. It's included in the book 1,001 Movies You Must See Before You Die.

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And speaking of infrastructure... were we speaking of infrastructure?

The Interstate 40 bridge across the Mississippi River at Memphis has been evaluated as safe for river traffic, so the river itself has been re-opened to all those barges waiting.

from CNBC:
The Mississippi River reopened to vessel traffic near Memphis on Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard said, ending a shutdown of a part of the waterway that disrupted shipments of oil and corn and caused a backlog of more than 1,000 barges.
from Agriculture.com:
The TDOT conducted three separate analyses of the bridge with nothing on it.

“They (TDOT) determined that the bridge was stable enough for vessels to transit underneath the bridge,” [U.S. Coast Guard Sector Commander] Captain Rhodes says.

The closure of a Mississippi River bridge on the Tennessee-Arkansas state line sent the grain markets nosediving Thursday.

On Tuesday, a bridge inspector discovered a “significant fracture” that has indefinitely closed the Hernando de Soto Bridge that carries Interstate 40 across the Mississippi River between Memphis, Tennessee, and West Memphis, Arkansas.
The bridge itself remains closed, with road traffic being detoured three miles sounth to the old Highway 55 bridge.

21 comments:

  1. ...what a miss on the Mississippi, pass the infrastructure bill.

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  2. I'll watch this later (hopefully) tonight if I've caught up on art and gardening. Lots on my plate right now.

    I wonder how long before the Highway 55 bridge shows the same stress as the I 40 bridge that I actually was on at least 15 years ago.

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    1. This is the _new_ bridge lol. The old bridge that carries I-55 opened in 1949. The new one opened 47 years ago.

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  3. This bridge story was even on my local news. That crack is scary though. Have a happy weekend!

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  4. I don't think I've heard of this one. As to your bridge, sure, why do we care about the safety of commuters across the bridge? As long as the oil barons, captains of industry, and stockholders can make their profits off of oil and grain.

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    1. We get a huge amount of truck traffic crossing that bridge, taking I-40 coast to coast. I'm hearing this'll raise prices of consumer goods as traffic slows down because of the detour.

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  5. This is a great film!

    With regard to the US infrastructure: how much US Tax Payer money does Congress give away to foreign countries each year? That US Tax Payer money could be used for things like the US infrastructure, but since the news rarely talks about that, most Americans don't even realize it is happening. And it looks like McCain was telling the truth, back in 2008, when he said it was a 100 year war, because the US foreign policy has remained the same since at least 9/11/2001, regardless of which political party was in the White House.

    (Note: I'm very far behind on visiting everyone's blogs, so I'm doing a quick pass through, and will try to catch up later.)

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    1. This was my first time to see this film, and it's definitely re-watchable.

      Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_foreign_aid) has figures for foreign aid all in one easy-to-read place with sources in footnotes. I love their willingness to provide linked sources for their information. According to their figures, 1.2% of our budget went to foreign aid, with the majority of that going to Afghanistan and Iraq (because of our current heavy military involvement there) and Israel. I agree with you that it's a frustration that we provide so much aid to a country like Israel, which provides benefits to their citizens like health care and government-subsidized college/university education, while our own citizens do without those benefits. Try suggesting reducing aid to Israel, though, and the fur flies.

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  6. Bridges all over need repair. A few years ago a big one collapsed in Minneapolis (where I grew up). Scary!

    Not sure if I have seen this one or not. Will have to peek. ;)

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    1. At least they caught this one before it collapsed. Wow!

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    2. I didn't remember this one. Was pretty good. :)

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    3. I'm so glad you liked it :)

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  7. This film stirs some memories, so I have probably seen it, but I'll watch it again for fun! Valerie

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  8. So, you can go under it but not on it -- that's scary. But I'm glad the river traffic can get through.

    I love "Murder My Sweet." It's very well done. Oh, and last night I watched "Murder Me Please" and that was well worth the time. Thanks for the link!

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    1. Yes, it's good the barges can get through. So much commerce goes under and across that bridge!

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    2. I'm glad you liked the other one. Some of these old films deserve to be watched again. And again :)

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  9. Dick Powell. I haven't thought of him in years. I will give this one a try.

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    1. I'm a real film noir fan, no matter how they define "film noir" ;)

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