Red Harvest
Red Harvest is a seminal novel by Dashiell Hammett, first published in 1929. It is narrated by The Continental Op, a recurring character in Hammett's world. The novel has had a great deal of influence on later fiction ranging from samurai films to noir.
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This damned burg’s getting me. If I don’t get away soon I’ll be going blood-simple like the natives. —The Continental Op
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Red Harvest is thought to have been an influence on Akira Kurosawa's film Yojimbo, and combined with The Glass Key is a heavy influence on Coen Brothers's noir film Miller's Crossing. Red Harvest also coined the term Blood Simple (after which the Coen Brothers' film debut is named); the phrase refers to the addled, fearful mindset people are in after a prolonged immersion in violent situations.
Red Harvest is not related to Blue Harvest: Horror Beyond Imagination.
- Anti-Hero: The Continental Op
- Badass Driver: Dinah Brand.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Continental Op never gives his name.
- Gambit Pileup
- I Did What I Had to Do
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Poisonville.
- Mob War
- Outlaw Town
- Pinkerton Detective
- Playing Both Sides: Red Harvest actually has more than two factions in play, but...
- Pretty in Mink: The only time the Op describes Dinah as pretty is when she's wearing a fur coat.
- Screw Politeness, I'm a Senior!: Elihu Wilsson. Also a case of No Indoor Voice.
- The Unfettered: The Continental Op will get the crooks he's after, no matter what it takes or how many laws he has to break.
- Villainous Glutton: The only thing Dinah Brand likes more than hefty meals and drinks is money, and she'll sell her help and information to the highest bidder. Notably, she's also a Big Beautiful Vamp.