Volume 4, Issue No. 49
OPINION/COMMENTARY
/ News That Fears None, Views That Favor Nobody /
Our latest as of Monday, February 27, 2023
~ The mockery thrown my way as I follow through investigative journalism in Toronto, and previously in San Diego, California, has hardly abated despite the threats, intimidation, and a number of defamation lawsuits triggered by such an undertaking. Ironically, the most vociferous are the pretenders who lack the bona fides of a journalist. Philip Marlowe, a fictional sleuth who rose to fame years ago, thanks to his creator, Raymond Chandler, has come to life in a movie of the same name, his role essayed by actor Liam Nesson. There are lessons in basic journalism to be had in this flick.
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RAYMOND CHANDLER'S PHILIP MARLOWE
A Model for Investigative Journalism
Actor Breathes Life Into Marlowe the Sleuth
By ROMEO P. MARQUEZ
Editor, The Filipino Web Channel
TORONTO - Actor Liam Neeson was being interviewed live last week on ABC's The View (video at: https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/the-view) about his latest movie, Marlowe, that's now showing in some theatres in the US and the Greater Toronto Area.
The show caught my attention while browsing YouTube, and clicked on it, not because of the Irish-British-American movie star, a favorite in Schindler's List, but for the role he plays as Philip Marlowe, from where the flick gets its title.
Marlowe, called the "quintessential American detective," is a creation by author Raymond Chandler who was born in 1888 in Chicago, Illinois, and died in 1959 in the affluent community of La Jolla, California. He is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego.
The fictional Marlowe's career spanned 25 years from 1935 to 1960. (More about him at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Marlowe).
I had taken an interest in his detective work after his name was mentioned in an article about me by Michael Gregory Stephens, Ph.D., the prolific American author who has published 21 books, including the memoir Where the Sky Ends (Hazelden) and the reissue of his novel The Brooklyn Book of the Dead (New Island Books in Dublin, Ireland).
Stephens wrote a lengthy feature about my pursuit as an investigative journalist in San Diego, California, which the mainstream San Diego Reader published as its cover story in the June 14, 2001 issue. (The full story at: https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2001/jun/14/cover-sinister-hero/?page=1&).
To have an idea of the scope of my news coverage, he rode shotgun with me for two days in my old Nissan Sentra, traversing known Filipino hangouts in San Diego and National City, and having meals in Filipino restaurants, snack bars, and visiting friends in parks, even in a barbershop where I had a haircut.
In the car and out, he conducted the freewheeling interview, occasionally taking notes for the all-important quotes while his tape recorder ran the whole time we journeyed from one place to the next. His deportment was a giveaway to the story he was going to write - far-reaching, detailed, accurate, and personal.
I didn't know a bit about Marlowe at that time but when Stephens used Marlowe as the punchline of his article, thus effectively comparing his work as a private detective with mine as a journalist, I felt even more emboldened to continue investigative reporting. It was a big boost personally and professionally.
Small wonder that when the news magazine came out, the acrimonious sector of the Filipino community was shocked to find my news coverage had attracted San Diego's largest weekly publication, which devoted pages upon pages to Stephen's account of my job.
It was more than a pat on the back; it is a valuable recognition, a validation, of the pioneering work I had embarked upon as soon as I committed my newspaper, the Diario Veritas, to the pursuit of stories about corruption and wrongdoing in the community.
Stephens wrote, and I quote the penultimate paragraphs from the Reader:
“I started my newspaper,” Romeo says, “because I needed to expose the lack of principled leadership in our community organizations. I needed to let people know what tricks were being played right before their eyes. I needed everybody to be informed that those who claimed to be exalted leaders were not leaders but opportunists.”
Then the tightness leaves Romeo Marquez’s face.
“On the other hand, beauty pageants,” he says, “next to being the biggest cottage industry hereabouts, are also our favorite pastime. Beauty contests make us forget about day-to-day problems. They are a diversion from the hard reality of living in America at the great expense of our women, young and old.”
With that, he gets into his 1986 Nissan Sentra, and National City’s Philip Marlowe drives away. n
That was the first and only time, I was associated with Marlowe. (National City is a southeastern suburb of the City of San Diego and is one of the 18 cities in San Diego County. In the 2000 census, Filipinos comprised 19 percent of the population, second only to Mexicans at 53 percent).
The week the Reader circulated, a close friend gifted me with a book - the 400-page Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe - which is one of my treasured possessions in my small library.
One of these days when the weather permits, I'd like to see Liam Neeson's Marlowe on the big screen and take some cue on how he has evolved into the "quintessential American detective".
Whatever secret tricks Marlowe has up his sleeve, it would be useful in Toronto's Filipino community where scammers, wrongdoers, and impostors proliferate. (Copyright 2023. All Rights Reserved).
Mabuhay ka, Romarlowe! Please continue to be the conscience of expats’ newspapering trade. Don’t quit, please! Your fan in Seattle,
ReplyDeleteSluggo Rigor
Thank you for your trust. - Romy M.
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