Think Bob Hope and Nicholson together...

John Powers' appreciation of Bob Hope on this afternoon's Fresh Air includes this deliciously subversive wish -- to have seen Hope take on a more sinister-than-usual film role. Powers sees Hope as a great Noah Cross, the corrupt power behind the scenes in Chinatown played so memorably by John Huston. Hope did after all make a fortune buying up San Fernando Valley land, just as Cross does. I can hear it now: "Well Mr. Gittes, either you bring the water to Toluca Lake, or you bring Toluca Lake to the water..."