Thinking about film versions of HB novels - in general &
particularly in relation to adaptations being the key
criterion as to whether, in theory at least, certain films
warrant discussion on this list - 2 things occurred to me.
One is how hard it is to draw a line between HB adaptations
& original script films made in the same style or genre
or directed/written by the same people, particularly in an
era not only in which every director & writer is acutely
aware of film-noir & other related & non-related
genres/styles on the one hand, but many of these same people
(Coen Bros, Tarantino, et al) are known to be fans of the
written equivalents also.I mean, strictly according to the
rules we shouldn't really be discussing the Coens at all, not
that I have the least problem with it.Imagine that the Coens
never gave an interview, or if they did, & stated
consistently that neither of them read books.Imagine if they
hadn't made "Miller's Crossing".We would have no excuse to
discuss their work (or it's connections to HB lit) even
though they would still be the same movies. This is not
intended as a criticism of the list rules - no matter how
sensible a rule is there will always be times & instances
where a strict adherence would be foolish.- And there'll
ALWAYS be some asshole like me pointing them out :) - I think
Herr Listmeister Denton does an excellent job of letting us
run off at the mouth for a little but stepping in before the
thread gets bogged down in arguments over the comparative HB
credentials of "Rocky 15" &
"Rocky 19". The 2nd thing I thought of (& I'm by no meams
the 1st to think of it) is just how important these film
adaptations are/were in relation to popularising the work of
the authors' work initially & to the chance of their work
being remembered by the public & it's chances of being
reprinted.There were 2 things that brought me to HB lit as an
adolescent, at that time mostly obsessed with SF/fantasy -
(1) Michael Moorcock's constant refrain during his
editorshipof "New Worlds" magazine that SF had yet to produce
a writer of the quality of Hammett or Chandler (with the
possible exception of Alfred Bester, whose 2 classic novels,
"The Demolished Man" & "Tiger, Tiger" - AKA "The Stars My
Destination", unfortunatley - I think would be of interest to
many listmembers.Probably already discussed in various SF/HB
threads) ; (2) My love of Humphrey Bogart movies such as "The
Maltese Falcon". So the first HB I read was Hammett, Chandler
& JM Cain, all of whom had several books that had been
made into classic movies.After I'd read everything I could
get hold of by these guys I thought I'd exhausted the field
(oh, foolish youth!) & to maintain my HB habit I had to
turn to movies. Here, luckily, it was easier to have an
informed notion of what was out there.Aside from 1930's
gangster movies & film noir from 1940's &1950's there
were also the more contemporary films of the 1960's, '70's
& '80's which I gorged myself on during the decade
1974-1984 : Point Blank, The Conversation, Assault on
Precinct 13, The Long Goodbye; McCabe & Mrs Miller; The
Wild Bunch; Straw Dogs; Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia;
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid; The Good, the Bad & the
Ugly; For a Fistful of Dollars; For a Few Dollars More; Once
Upon a Time in the West; Once Upon a Time in America; High
Plains Drifter; Magnum Force; Dirty Harry; The Godfather; The
Godfather 2; Mean Streets; Taxi Driver; Raging Bull; King of
Comedy; Blue Collar; Breathless; Blood Simple; Cutter's Way;
Farewell, My Lovely; The American Friend; Blue Velvet; Body
Heat; First Blood; Southern Comfort; Deliverance;
Bladerunner; The Long Good Friday; Gorky Park; Scorpio; there
were some Australian films : Stir; Pure Shit
(AKA Pure S); The Cars That Ate Paris; Mad Max; Mad Max 2.
There were some excellent HB'ish TV shows being made in the
UK & Australia in the 1980's - the only ones I now recall
were "Edge of Darkness", "Out" &
"Law & Order" from the UK & "Scales of Justice" from
Australia but there were others. All these & many more
(yes I realise many of these flicks are westerns, etc but I
feel they fit comfortably in my list) not only fed my habit
but left me , luckily for me, exposed to the marketing
strategies of smart cookies like Maxim Jakubowski who while
republishing many HB/noir classics in his Black Box &
Blue Murder lines concentrated heavily on authors & books
that had famous film adaptations of them, the cover blurbs
prominently featuring info about said adaptations. It was my
familiarity with films such as "Little Caesar" & "High
Sierra" which clinched my decision to buy my first HB books
outside the HamChanCain ouevre.Later I discovered that some
of the modern films I liked were based on novels, eg "Cutter
& Bone"/"Cutter's Way".Lou Stathis, in his intro to the
RESearch edition of "Wild Wives/High Priest of California"
speculates that most of the HB authors of the past who are
remembered today (1 exception being JD MacDonald who had
managed to break through to bestsellerdom) are remembered
primarily because of classic film versions of their
work.Publishers also seem more likely to reprint books that
have movie versions extant & will usually retitle books
if there is a film version (eg Point Blank/Payback; Shoot the
Piano Player; The Killing).Which is a possible answer to the
question someone posed recently, "Why are Charles Williams
books out of print?"Although several of his books have been
adapted I don't think any of the films achieve classic status
- the only ones I recall seeing "The Hot Spot" & "Dead
Calm" hardly qualified as classics, even though I enjoyed
them both, particularly "Dead Calm" (oh, & both the
original books were republished as movie tie-in editions by
Penguin & No Exit, respectively - the Penguin edition
using the movie title instead of "Hell Hath No Fury", natch.
I also have a Penguin edition of "The Long Saturday Night" as
a tie-in to Truffaut's film adaptation titled "Finally,
Sunday". No prizes for guessing which title Penguin went
with).So, no famous classics, cult hits, etc for Charlie,
even though IMDB lists 13 different adaptations of his
work.No famous films, no books in print (or at least as far
as I know).Others here have noted the Prion (?) imprint which
is reprinting the original novels that many famous films are
based on, that being the criterion for selection; many if not
all of these titles would qualify as HB/noir or near
relations & several have been printed previously as part
of noir revival lines such as the mentioned Zomba & Blue
Murder editions. Sorry about the long & rambling post but
the topic is near to my heart & reading the Washington
Post piece by G Pelecanos got me going .(I guess it's well
past time that I read one of his books!Man has excellent
taste, fer sure.)Thanks for the link, Ann.Also a big thank
you to all those who weighed in with the great info about
Horace "the real" McCoy. Youse guys never let me down.
Rene.
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