Would you say Chandler's influence is even greater than Hammett's? The lyrical element in Chandler's writing is missing from Hammett, but the sense of 'good is a vacation from evil' that I think of as the key element to the hard-boiled style seems to me to be even more pronounced in Hammett's novels. I love the best of Chandler's work, but it is much more sentimental; this is what made Altman's version of The Long Goodbye so funny. An updated version of The Continental Op wouldn't seem out of place - e.g., Red Harvest was made into a contemporary action picture.
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