Definitely an Artist: A.I. Bezzerides

New York.- By Vicki J. Yiannias
Even for someone not acquainted with the name A.I. Bezzerides from the credits of 1940ʼs and 1950ʼs movies, the filmography of novelist and screenwriter A.I. Bezzerides, is an epiphany of classics — some are film noir classics — with unforgettable titles like They Drive by Night, and Desert Fury (from his novels of the same name), Thieves Highway (from his novel, Thieves Market), They Drive By Night (from his novel, The Long Haul), On Dangerous Ground, Track of the Cat, Kiss Me Deadly,, The Angry Hills, and Sirocco, that for some, conjure up a darkened 1950ʼs movie house, the anticipation of a drama unfolding, famous stars, and the scent of fresh Hi-Pop Popcorn in its red box imprinted with the image of a rearing white elephant.

The Long Haul of A.I Bezzerides, directed and produced by Fay Lellios, is a sensitive new documentary that provides expansive insight into the man and writer, revealing the creative process of a consummate artist. The film includes interviews with the 98-year old at his home in Woodland Hills, California — an oasis of many electric typewriters waiting to be used — interspersed by interviews with director Jules Dassin, who directed Thieves’ Highway, Bezzeridesʼ adaptation of his own book, Thievesʼ Market; Mickey Spillane, whose book Kiss Me Deadly Bezzerides adapted for the screen; and Barry Gifford, George Pelecanos, and Jason Baldwin, writers whose work has been influenced by Bezzeridesʼ novels, action/crime/drama/mystery films.

Winningly candid and wearing a knit cap throughout the documentary, Bezzerides, in a monologue taken from the prologue to his first novel, The Long Haul (1938), notes that he could always “pray and swear in Armenian and Turkish”, and remembers that his mother had told him that he “was born hollering and will probably die hollering”. It isnʼt “hollering”, however, says Bezzerides, rather it is “speaking loud” out of the fear that people wonʼt hear what he has to say and “writing loud” so that people will read his scripts. But after Bezzerides wrote The Long Haul, about his trucking experience, at the suggestion of his first wife, Yvonne (their son and daughter are Peter and Zoe) and the screenplay for the movie by the same name that followed, Bezzerides was a man whose voice was definitely heard by Hollywood.

Bezzerides, who is working on a new novel, First Kill presents his past without sentimentality, relating events with an arresting, simple kind of poetic force of perception that conveys the vitality of a writer whose life is art and whose personality might always reveal surprises. A contemporary and friend of William Faulkner, Mr. Bezzerides, whose work is described by Barry Gifford in the film as being about “the common man, his flaws and temptations”, has been called “the last of the proletarian poets”.

His straightforward, almost tough-guy manner is beautifully contrasted in the film by thoughtful, sweeping shots — nostalgic but never maudlin — that include the interior of his home (designed by Rudolph M. Schindler) and a melancholy stretch of highway seen through the windshield of an old car.

How did the documentary come about? After hearing Bezzerides speak at a retrospective of some of his films at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art she “spoke briefly with him and then gushed about how much his work had influenced me.” After sending him many letters, Bezzerides finally called and asked, like a character from one of his movies, ʽWhat do you want, kid?ʼ”

Lellios replied that she wanted to get to know him, to know what influenced him as a writer. Bezzerides invited her for a Sunday afternoon visit that turned into a year of Sunday visits, but when Ms. Lellios expressed interest in shooting a documentary Bezzerides said he didn’t think he had much to offer. “But I kept asking. . . . finally he said he’d approve it only if it was about his writing, and the struggles and persistence of being a writer.”

A.I. Bezzerides (Albert Isaac Bezzerides), whose father was Greek and mother Armenian, was born in Samsun, Turkey, in 1908, and immigrated to America with his parents less than two years later. Although Bezzerides and Ms. Lellios are many generations removed from each other, Ms. Lellios says, “our backgrounds [both sets of parents were of mixed origins, met in Turkey, then emigrated to America] and the types of things we write about — Greek characters, the Greek experience, and the working class — lead us to becoming good friends.”

Ms. Lellios hopes that The Long Haul, which received high praise at the 8th Annual Festival of Film Noir, in April, 2006, will encourage “people to see his films, buy his novels, watch the old television shows he worked on [Bezzerides created The Big Valley, and wrote for Gunsmoke, 77 Sunset Strip, and countless other TV shows] and realize that not only was this man prolific, but that his work was poetic, culturally significant, politically significant. Clichè, yes, but his work was ʽahead of its timeʼ, his and his late second wife’s, screenwriter Sylvia Richards.”

For Ms. Lellios, whose warm friendship with Bezzerides — one of their meeting spots being a diner where he works on his new novel — the documentary was a wonderful opportunity to know A.I. Bezzerides. As well, it was a chance to interview and to work with writers, filmmakers, and artists who worked on films that continue to inspire her: George Pelecanos, Barry Gifford, Mickey Spillane, Jules Dassin, Jason Baldwin, Jim and Ted Pedas, Bill Durkin, Wilton Cruz, Marc Leidy, Fugazi to name a few. “If it weren’t for these individuals, the documentary would never have been made.”

Fay Lellios is preparing her next film, Septembriana (her mother grew up in Constantinople and lived through the Septembriana), with text and photos from The Mechanism of Catastrophe by Professor Spero Vryonis, who will be interviewed in the film.