The Third Man, on the big screen at Regent Sq Theater

Great movie about Holly Martin, a marginally successful "western" writer, going to Vienna in 1949ish for a job arranged by his friend Harry. Turns out, Harry is dead, or is he? the Third Man is a moralistic tale by writer Graham Greene (i loved him in Bonanza) and screenplay also by Greene. Orson Welles plays Harry, Joseph Cotton (Orson's old Mercury Theater player) plays Holly. Harry is evil incarnate: no Kantian moral imperative here. I love this film for many reasons, but the exploration of evil, or moral bankruptcy, is frightening. Harry has no moral sense. Life is a big hustle, to enjoy while you are here. Other people? Fu*k em. Holly is more than a hack western writer, like his western novel characters, Holly believes in old fashioned morality: you dont cripple children to make a quick dollar. in the end, Holly is the sheriff who rids the town of the bad guy. Never read the book, but i will - Greene's books are such hard reads, the settings are always so exotic, so "british empirish" or rather, the decay of empire. Perhaps we are in the decay of our own empire. anyway, Graham Greene is a fascinating writer, and this movie is perfect. here are some great harry quotes:

You know, I never feel comfortable on these sort of things. Victims? Don't be melodramatic. Look down there. Tell me. Would you really feel any pity if one of those dots stopped moving forever? If I offered you twenty thousand pounds for every dot that stopped, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money, or would you calculate how many dots you could afford to spare? Free of income tax, old man. Free of income tax - the only way you can save money nowadays.

Nobody thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't. Why should we? They talk about the people and the proletariat, I talk about the suckers and the mugs - it's the same thing. They have their five-year plans, so have I.

Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.