the edition of that Gores novel I have (unfortunately
> inaccessible at the moment), he has a fascinating
Introduction
involving
> all that it took to get that movie -- including a
phenomenal number of
> screenplays, by Gores and others -- made!
>
> I'm as much fascinated by behind-the-scenes stuff
such as this as, far
too
> often, I am the works of fiction
themselves....
I wouldn't mind reading that intro - I find that stuff
interesting also
(usually). Movies being such a collaborative medium, with the
money men having a huge say in what gets made & how, it's
amazing that good movies get made at all. Wim Wenders
(director of "Hammett") is a director I have much respect for
- his "The American Friend" is one of the great post-noir
flicks of the 1970's, IMO, & I consider that high praise.
It may not be that faithful to Patricia Highsmith's source
material, with Dennis Hopper playing Ripley, for instance,
but it's still a corker & Hopper is excellent, even if
the character is more Hopper than Ripley. I guess, as George
P pointed out , I & others may be a little harsh in our
criticism of Peckinpah's version of "The Getaway". Perhaps
because in this case I actually read the book first. An old
buddy of mine, who is a Peckinpah fan as well as a Thompson
fan has a much higher opinion of the movie - but he'd seen it
before I'd turned him onto Thompson so he wasn't disappointed
at his first viewing like I was. According to Harlan Ellison,
Hollywood movies go through a process of being put through
what he calls the "Blanditron" (IIRC) to achieve the lowest
common denominator. It reminds me of an interview with Jodie
Foster that I saw on TV. She was talking about a script she'd
received that she was very interested in. The story was,
according to Foster, a gritty, realistic look at the life of
a single-mother prostitute who works out of truck stops. When
she got to the first meeting to discuss the script she was
told that they'd made a few small changes - "It's pretty much
the same but she doesn't work out of truckstops & she's
not a single-mother. She's also just starting out now, so
it's still kinda fun for her" (?!) (This spoken by a woman,
IIRC). Foster says she pulled out of the project right
then.The film was made & became rather successful under
the title "Pretty Woman".
& while I'm talking about adaptations, in about 3 hrs
time I'm going to be watching a matinee screening of
"Cockfighter" which I've never seen before - or even recall
an opportunity to do so. Oh joy oh joy oh joy! I'll let
everyone know what I thought later - I know everyone's
hanging out for another one of my rare & sparse
posts!
Rene
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