The language in those old Dashiell Hammett adaptations was laconic but efficient, even eloquent.

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Scott Fitzgerald, William Faulkner and Dashiell Hammett infused their film scripts with novelistic craft.

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Mr. Hammett, the retired finance executive, is doing voice therapy, too but isn't making much headway.

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The Coens have certainly done their homework: their movie is a brilliant reading of Hammett.

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Johns, an otolaryngologist and director of the Emory Voice Center, who is familiar with Mr. Hammett's care.

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Meat Loaf and Metallica's Kirk Hammett were among the rock stars who watched the two-hour gig at the basement club.

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In a rare case of the stars aligning, the film's Hollywood ending is utterly faithful to the last pages of Hammett's novel at least in spirit, if not dialogue.

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"The Glass Key" (1942), based on Dashiell Hammett's 1931 novel, was the second film made from this influential book, in which organized crime and big-city politics are cozy bedfellows.

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Their coupling isn't unique -- after all, Dashiell Hammett wrote about the married Nick and Nora Charles more than 70 years ago -- but it's still unusual enough to bring a few new angles to the well-thumbed P.

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Nominees for best actor in a miniseries or made-for-TV movie were Sam Shepard for his role as author Dashiell Hammett in "Dash and Lilly, " Jack Lemmon for "Inherit the Wind" (Showtime), Ian Holm for "King Lear" on PBS, Don Cheadle for "A Lesson Before Dying" (HBO) and Stanley Tucci for "Winchell" (HBO).

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