I have a friend who wrote a book that became a bestseller,
and he wanted
a couple blurbs from his favorite writers Peter Blauner and
Nelson de
Mille. The former gave him a lukewarm quotation, and the
second was
respectful, but it was clear that both of them maybe read a
page or two.
The reality is, few of these fellow writers ever read ANY of
some
stranger's book. The worst is Ellroy, who always gives some
over-the-top
"Ellroyism" to countless books I KNOW he never reads. A quote
from the
Dog is a joke ...
Now to change the subject back to Westlake -- I ran into
somebody last
night who had just seen "Payback," the remake of course, of
"Point
Blank." He was knocked out by it, said that it was very
seventies, very
funny, and better than "Pulp Fiction." It's going to be a
major hit.
However, he didn't respond when I asked him if it was better
than "Point
Blank."
By the way, the word on the street is that Mel locked
writer/director
Brian Helgeland out of the cutting room.
Dave
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