The sign outside the roadside lunch room
says Man Wanted
which it turns out
has at least three meanings
Inside, John Garfield
picks up the lipstick that rolls across
the linoleum
the camera seeing only
Lana Turner’s legs
Her white outfits
flawless like her platinum
coiffure
Penciled eyebrows and key lighting
soulless perfection
She says Please don’t
He does anyway
she doesn’t seem to mind
You must’ve had to fight off
a lotta guys
A lotta guys?
All the guys
I haven’t met a man since
I was 14 that
didn’t want to give me
an argument about it.
Context for her loveless marriage
to a kindly much older man
who in this noirscape
naturally needs knocking
off
The adulterers hatch a plan
as she irons
immaculate whites
a dark heart
John Garfield talks with
his mouth half-closed
a nuanced performance as
drifter undone by the
femme fatale
If your first murder attempt fails
By all means
try again
Production code in full force
it’s a question of when and how,
not if
they meet the appropriate fate
Hounded for
Un-American Activities
Garfield, who had
a weak heart
died six years later
at 39
