I think it was a good, faithful adaption of the novel,
unfortunately the quality of the print suffered from the
decision to convert the final color film to black &
white. It looses a lot of contrast over shooting with good
black & white film.
The soundtrack was absolutely inspired, going with the
exotica, rather than more obvious 50s crime jazz. I liked it,
but I always feel I'm in the minority.
BTW, if anyone's interested, I sell the never-released
soundtrack on my website: electronicfolio.com
Jeff
> Thanks to Mr. Wilson, who lent me the video, I was
finally able to see the
> 1999 movie adaptation of THE WOMAN CHASER by Charles
Willeford. I looked
> back through the archives and almost everyone who
saw it liked it and said
> it was the most faithful of the three adaptations of
Willeford's books
> (the others being COCKFIGHTER and MIAMI
BLUES).
>
> One or two people didn't like it much, and neither
did the reviewer in the
> New York Times. I'd say it's middling. Some scenes
are well done, like
> the dance with Hudson and his mother, and some of
the minor parts are well
> cast. The movie within the movie, what bits we see
of it on screen or
> while it's being filmed, looks great. Willeford's
book is very good, so
> it's got the right stuff to start with.
>
> The problem is not that it's a low budget, off-beat,
black and white film
> noir homage with a lounge music soundtrack, it's
that it's not an original
> low budget, off-beat, black and white film noir
homage with a lounge music
> soundtrack. It often looks just like you'd imagine
it would, camera
> angles, grainy film, and all.
>
> While watching it, I thought, man, if they'd handled
it the way Stephen
> Frears and Donald Westlake did Jim Thompson's THE
GRIFTERS, they'd have
> one hell of a movie. But that's a rare
happening.
>
>
> Bill
> --
> William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/
: Caveat
lector.
>
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