Rourke & De Niro – angel and the devil
Review of ‘Angel Heart’, a film by Alan Parker (1987)
“I don’t like messy accounts” Louis Cyphre tells private detective Harry Angel, a man who knows all about messy.
Louis ( an extended cameo by Robert De Niro) is pristine and precise, Harry Angel is a walking health hazard. His suit is permanently crumpled, his shirts sweaty, he is constantly unshaven and his hair is unkempt.
Angel is also played by Mickey Rourke back in his pre-boxing days so he manages to make all this look stylish and sexy.
Alan Parker is a filmmaker who likes a challenge and always says he wants to try something new with each movie. The book on which this movie is based – Falling Angel by Willian Hjortsberg – appealed to him through its combination of hard-boiled Chandleresque noir and horror.
One stroke of luck during my trip to the USA was that my visit coincided with the publication of Dave Eggers wonderful new non-fiction book ‘Zeitoun’. I snapped this up at Powell’s in Portland and it helped enormously to ease the boredom of long trips (and frequent delays) on Amtrak. 
