Review: Excellent!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 02 24, 2014
Opening scene:  Danny, who was passed out, awakens in his car as it sinks into the Pacific Ocean.  He can't unroll his windows, can't pull up the door locks, and can't open the doors, because he's been worked over by a thug who broke all of his fingers, and wrecked his elbows, shoulders and kneecaps.  Curtains for Danny.Next morning, Danny's best friend Matt Hudson (called Hud), learns of this murder and vows to take revenge.  This is 1928, and Hud's a bootlegger who supplied movie studios around LA and some of the ritzier eateries.  Interspersed in the story is the subplot about early movie making, and Hud's firm belief that talking movies like The Jazz Singer are the way of the future (which all studios are firmly denying, claiming that the only reason the audiences loved it so is because Al Jolson sang), and his attempts to get a studio to let him use a stage to make a "talkie".  There's also the mob guy from Chicago who keeps hijacking Hud's trucks.Plenty of twists and turns, and although we knew "whodunit" from the beginning, it was certainly a very well told, fast paced and entertaining story.  Great work, Mr. Stone!