DENZEL WASHINGTON

Using a full two pages to detail every physical movement and speech pattern Washington chooses in this crucial opening sequence, Baron compels us to pay strict attention: "[Washington] snaps his newspaper taut, suddenly taps the pistols in his shoulder holster together and abruptly replaces a smooth flow of dialogue with sharp minced words punched out. Devil in a Blue Dress), an obvious race-based moniker invented, Baron cites, by those wishing to distinguish an African American noir detective hero from traditional white male noir heroes such as Robert Mitchum and Humphrey Bogart (116, 118).