For this week’s Doing Shots, I wanted to focus on the scene when Mike Hammer visits Carmen Trivago, friend of the deceased Nicholas Raymond, at the Hill Crest Hotel (56:00). For context, Hammer believes Trivago may have some information on Raymond’s death, who and why they would kill him. Hammer watches Trivago sing to an Italian record without Trivago noticing, then snaps one of the records to intimidate him. This scene is not monumental within the plot of the story, just a stop in Hammer’s goose chase for the box, but I was intrigued by the framing of the shot.
Throughout the scene, the two men are framed by the clothesline and Trivago’s hanging pants, and we can immediately contrast Trivago and Hammer’s clothing and homes. While Hammer lives in a spacious home, Trivago lives in a hotel or apartment style building on the second floor with a single room. Trivago’s home is messier, with shelves of records while Hammer’s home is minimally decorated. Furthermore, Trivago is wearing an old vest and plain white shirt while Hammer is wearing a working, more expensive suit. From this, we are meant to view Trivago as poorer and perhaps a ‘quack,’ spending his money on purchasing records and singing to himself. Furthermore, Trivago folds easily to Hammer’s threats on the record collection, prioritizing his records over his loyalty to Raymond. This contrasts the overemphasis on loyalty to family and friends within American culture.
The framing adds to this characterization, often splitting the screen and the characters in half. Again, the hanging pants divide Hammer and Trivago into class status, wealth, and the audience’s perception of the characters. As with Joel Cairo in The Maltese Falcon, Trivago represents non-American ideals in contrast to the stereotypical American man. Trivago is perpetually anxious in the scene, flitting about in contrast to Hammer’s bored examination of Trivago’s home. Subsequently, Trivago has become a servant in his own home to Hammer, representing how the American people view Europeans, specifically Italian people. Trivago’s heavy (and not very good) Italian accent further place him as an outsider to American society, unable to garner wealth or move up in socioeconomic status. This reflects the immigrant outlook in America, as many immigrants are lured by the promise of wealth and the American Dream. However, many immigrants then face long immigration times, language barriers, and xenophobia when they do not present as an American-born person. While the audience is never told of Trivago’s entire story, we can infer that this character was used to directly contrast Mike Hammer’s ‘American-man’ status.