Ray Sticks: The Anton Chigurh of Spokane

Drew Cobb

Professor Sinowitz

HONR101C Noir Film & Novel

16 November 2017

Ray Sticks: The Anton Chigurh of Spokane

I have always enjoyed the appeal of a “hitman-in-town” feel for novels and films alike. It sets a suspenseful, edgy mood, and it also creates an overwhelming sense of impending doom. Is this professional that has been called in going to be the reckoning of the main character, who we have most likely followed up to this point? How will this “intruder” on society be treated, and how will they, in turn, treat others? I definitely had this feel with Jess Walter’s Citizen Vince, which follows an ex-mob member, Vince Camden, and his seemingly average life in Spokane, Washington, until he is double-crossed by a friend who is in the same credit card scamming business as him. His friend has involved a man from out of town, a hitman, by the looks of him, and the novel instantly takes a turn of suspense and edginess. We later find out the man’s name is Ray Sticks, and he is a professional killer--a man who is said to enjoy his work--who is utterly ruthless, even taking the lives of kids. I immediately connected this archetype of a “hitman-in-town” to one of my favorite novel and film villains of all time, Anton Chigurh from No Country for Old Men. Ultimately, I believe the mood created by these “intruders” is much more ominous than the mood of some of the classic noirs that we have looked at, which made Citizen Vince all the more compelling to me not only as a noir, but also as simply a novel. Some may argue The Maltese Falcon is a much more successful, well-known noir, but in terms of the mood of lurking danger--or an impending sense of doom, as our class has classified it--I felt Citizen Vince accomplished this noir trademark feature on a much greater scale than other noir novels,  namely due to the inclusion of such a deadly character like Ray Sticks.

In going along with the No Country for Old Men comparison, Ray Sticks can be compared to the main antagonist in the novel/film, Anton Chigurh. We first meet Anton in a cell block after he is detained in the beginning of the novel. Obviously an outsider based on his attire and dialect, he later kills the cop in the police station after he hangs up the phone, brutally strangling him to death in a very sudden, unnerving scene. Ray Sticks is introduced in a similar manner in Citizen Vince. After promptly shooting Doug, which is described in a very sudden and brutal manner, Ray is shown to be unbothered and is confused as to why Lenny is shocked by the murder, even asking, “Isn’t that what you wanted me to do?” (Walter 70). When I encountered this scene I was certainly thrown off guard, since Ray had not been brought up prior to this point. The simplicity to the brutality struck me, and it made me truly realize the deadly nature of Ray, something I related to Chigurh in his quick, brutal murder of the police officer. Both scenes certainly established their respective villains as men not to necessarily be messed with, which was powerful in influencing a more ominous and dangerous mood, something I did find missing in the classic noirs we have read in class.

Namely I felt at times that Gutman and the other criminals in The Maltese Falcon were laughable to an extent, Gutman often described as overweight and boisterous, clearly losing the upper hand to Spade in a number of situations. In Citizen Vince, however, Ray is brought to light in a much more realistic, contemporary, and savage way, with his heartless murder to introduce his character, as well as his phasing personality and charisma around Vince when the two do finally meet. Even when Vince hears Ray’s voice for the first time, he can sense a danger that we have not really encountered in other noirs, as far as criminals and mob bosses go (at least the classic noirs, as I do feel Mouse, for instance, carries an ominous, unpredictable quality to himself in Devil in a Blue Dress). Walter writes, “It’s not so much the voice, but some quality within the voice that he recognizes, some hint of common past--a set of rules...no, it’s something more, something dark” (Walter 78). Furthermore, Vince analyzes him as a man “from the world,” which sets him up as a different character, compared to a more simple-minded man like Lenny.

Ray was a scary enough character before we knew exactly who he was, in that I felt more unconfident in the main character to take care of the problem than I did in other classic noirs--whether this is just a byproduct of Humphrey Bogart’s stoic, yet humorous nature when encountering criminals in noir films, or the quick-witted dialogue that normally lofts the main character in a noir above the other “silly” criminals.” This time, in this neo-noir, I could sense a mood shift. Ray was unnerving. In the car, I was constantly waiting for him to shoot Vince, and Vince himself was admittedly paranoid and disturbed as well, thinking that Ray’s words to him, “front seat,” were probably words that the sixty-some dead men he knows heard before they were killed as well (Walter 79).

There is truly a moment of understanding revolving around Ray’s character when Vince makes the trip to New York City to find out why Ray is after him. Vince’s old lawyer, Benny, lays out Ray’s background in the mob and how he was involved in the Gambino family, but more importantly how “he’ll do anyone anytime. No conscience. Guy’s a friggin’ factory. Full service. Loves his work. But supposedly...he especially gets off doing women...all the old rules are gone. Women. Kids. Whole families. Done. And this Ray Sticks, he takes these kinds of jobs…” (Walter 123). This kind of backstory explanation, as vulnerable as it can be (since this never really happens with other noir antagonists, Gutman, for example), with Ray there is an element of pure sociopathic tendencies. He is clearly cold-blooded, and not only loves killing men, but clearly has the capability and looks for opportunities to take out families. This very disturbing element, which is content that we have not really encountered to this point in any noir novel or film, makes Citizen Vince’s mood stand out as a truly twisted, uncomfortable, and ominous mood. There is no telling what Sticks could do at any moment, which makes him all the more dangerous. He is, purely, the sense of impending doom to this point, much like Chigurh in No Country for Old Men, who is barely a step behind the main protagonist the entire novel.

The ending of the novel too sparked a reflectiveness in me, since Ray Sticks does not necessarily die, as far as we know of. Our class speculated loosely that he was going off to be either killed by Ange, or sent back to New York to be confronted and perhaps killed by John Gotti. Generally, I think Ray’s future in the novel being so ambiguous and uncertain can account for some of the darkness that remains lurking by the end of the novel. We do not know if Ray will reappear in Vince’s life, if Gotti shows him the same level of mercy that he shows Vince in the novel. This unresolved ending parallels, interestingly, Chigurh’s future in No Country for Old Men, since he does not die in the conclusion of the novel and film, but instead walks away, only physically injured, probably going back to his life as a rehearsed hitman. While Ray can arguably be seen as more “in with the sharks” than Chigurh, there is no telling if Vince will be re-wrapped into the hands of the mob that he has desperately been trying to escape from through the duration of Citizen Vince.

Ultimately, Ray Sticks as a character influences the mood of Citizen Vince so prominently, and in such a different way from the other noirs that we have seen. His calculating, dangerous, “intruder-like” presence gives to a sense of impending doom that has been seen in a lot of noirs we have looked at, but not with the same magnitude. He is a hitman bent on killing anyone he is assigned, even families. The tension built up around his character influences greatly the dark and ominous mood of Citizen Vince, which can be contrasted to the sometimes-comical, unprepared criminals in earlier noirs, such as The Maltese Falcon. I think the realism behind Ray Sticks makes him a more ominous character, which does influence Citizen Vince’s mood, and makes it one of the darker noirs we have read as a class. With new characters emerging such as Ray Sticks and Mouse in Devil in a Blue Dress, the entire genre or style that noir comprises can be seen to be taking on an adaptation. Are more brutal, lone-wolf style characters with violent mob backgrounds going to be propelling future neo-noirs? Thus, can we assume a darker take on noir as time progresses and new neo-noirs are produced? Such a tonal impact would not only influence classic noir fans and critics, but also shape the future for works to come and the responses those works would demand from audiences of all types.

Works Cited

Walter, Jess. Citizen Vince. ReganBooks, 2005.