Re: RARA-AVIS: Hard Boiled Paul

TERRILL LANKFORD (TOLANKFORD@webtv.net)
Thu, 6 May 1999 20:57:34 -0700 (PDT) MT

You may be right about HARPER. I haven't seen it in twenty years and I
do remember it seeming a bit lite, but I recently rewatched THE DROWNING
POOL and while it's no classic, it's not very funny either. Kind of dark
and brooding actually. Newman goes easier on the wisecracks in that
one.

(Which might explain its lackluster boxoffice performance.)

With all the talk of MacDonald flying around it's interesting to see
that movie, now 25 years old.

I think I'll try to dig up a copy of HARPER tomorrow. Anyone know if it
is readily available on tape?

Whatever the merits (or deficits) of these films, MacDonald enthusiasts
should be glad they were made. Movie dough subsidized MacDonald's
career and got him through some hard times. And the movies revitalized
publisher's interest in Archer. Without the film deals he may not have
been able to write all those books!

TL

P.S. - Who would make a good Archer today?

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