Driving down 8th Avenue in the rain, past the Gulch and So Bro—old neighborhoods with new names—he revisited cafes and clubs, making a mental mix tape of the good and the bad, tied together like the shinju harness she craved, until she didn’t.
From one haunt to the other, he pulled the phone from his pocket, slid it across the counter, and watched the proprietor shake his head. No.
The past would find him, like film noir, only he was emasculated in a Tinder world, swiping right in search of his wayward femme fatale.
Bogart and Mitchum wept softly.
This is good updated written noir, reminiscent of the films noir of the 1940s and 1950s. Starting with the title,”Bumble Gum Shoe,” honoring the lone detective or male character in films noir, and continuing into film noir settings that are more than likely darkly lit, and were at onetime smoke-filled places with jukeboxes, a bar, and a couple of tables, you show the main character, alone in film noir fashion, diligently pursuing a woman who probably would have been called a “great broad” or in Sinatraeese “quite a dame.” And then ending with Mitchum and Bogart. I immediately thought of “Casablanca,” but read that that movie is not film noir, though it has film noir elements. I learned a lot from this. I had to reasearch film noir and Google the definition of a few words. Thanks for the learning experience!
Thank you Susan for your thoughtful read and comments. Appreciate it! Doug