George wrote:
. But those who call Peckinpah's
> movie ending a copout should bear something in mind.
In 1972, to have
the
> stone-killer couple ride happily off into the sunset
without paying
for
> their sins was a very radical conceit. It just
didn't happen in films
up
> until then (even those rebels Bonnie and Clyde, not
to mention The
Wild
> Bunch--heroes to '60s counterculture audiences--had
to buy it in an
> apocalyptic way). In its own way, for its own time,
Peckinpah's
ending was
> almost as anarchic as Thompson's.
>
If this is a reference to my post on the topic I thought I'd
mentioned, or at least inferred, that Peckinpah was probably
not responsible for the alterations to Thompson's original
story but that it was most likely a commercial decision made
by the producers/money men ("suits"). I don't know that the
date of the movie version is all that significant - the
recent remake follows very much the template of the first
movie version, rather than Thompson's novel. I certainly
meant no disrespect to Peckinpah, a director whom I admire
greatly (in case that wasn't clear in my original
post).
George also wrote:
"Regarding all the negative comments on SUMMER OF FEAR, it
might be helpful to note that Jeff Parker's first wife, Cat
(to whom the book was dedicated) died of brain cancer during
the writing of the novel. In the book
(which I reviewed for the Washington Post), Parker makes some
interesting connections between serial killers and cancer,
implying that these random murderers are both manifestations
of the anti-Christ. I don't know how Parker found the guts to
tackle the subject matter in SUMMER OF FEAR as his wife was
dying."
Likewise, I meant no disrespect to Parker. I was completely
unaware of any personal problems that he had & in fact
the only thing I knew about him was the one novel of his I'd
read, "Summer of Fear", of which I recall very little except
that it didn't really float my boat. Although I empathise
with his situation (my mother died of cancer & I spent
her last night in the hospital room with her when she died,
so I think I'm fairly sensitive about this issue) I don't
really see this as being relevant to whether or not a book is
a good read. In my own situation, I still had to earn a
living & make my own way with no concessions being made
on the basis of my own personal tragedy. That's just the way
things are. I don't mean to make an issue of this but I feel
we should be able to discuss books in a frank manner on this
list without having to worry about the personal lives of the
authors. It's fair enough to avoid slagging authors on a
personal level but surely their books are fair game. (&
as far as slagging went, I just said that it didn't do much
for me. I think most people on this list are fairly aware of
how difficult it is to write anything, let alone something
good enough to publish).
Rene (who's getting off his soapbox now)
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