Query: the incompetent hero--multiple responses

From: Nora Gilbert <[email protected]>

Preston Sturges really liked to go the "incompetent hero" route,
particularly when he cast Eddie Bracken as his male lead.  *The Miracle of
Morgan's Creek* is my personal favorite, but *Hail the Conquering Hero*
might
be even more to the point.

Nora Gilbert
University of North Texas
* * * *
From: Henry M. Taylor <[email protected]>
> From: Leo Enticknap <[email protected]>
> . . .As writers from Frank Krutnik to contributors to Ian Cameron's book
have
> noted, the Noir hero HAS to be incompetent, thanks largely to the
> prevailing, censorship-imposed standards of morality that existed when
> the genre was at its peak.

I disagree. The noir protagonist is not so much incompetent as fallible.
That's a difference.

Henry
* * * *
From: Amy Heller <[email protected]>

I appreciate and applaud Leo Enticknap's addition of the noir hero/patsy
into this discussion. My first thought when I read the initial query was of
Joseph Cotten's character, Holly Martins in THE THIRD MAN. A third-rate
writer of pulp Western novels, Martins is completely oblivious to both the
criminality of his supposedly deceased friend and the dangerous world of
divided postwar Vienna. And his incompetent (if idealistic) bumblings have
dire consequences for both his erstwhile friend Harry Lime and Lime's
girlfriend, the lovely Anna Schmidt.

Another truly incompetent hero is Vic, the human protagonist of The sci fi
classic A BOY AND HIS DOG, played by Don Johnson with appealing lunkheaded
charm. In the violent post-apocalyptic world of the film, it is Vic's
telepathic super dog, Blood who keeps his human companion alive.