In a message dated 8/17/01 2:33:50 PM,
DJ-Anonyme@webtv.net writes:
<< About your comparison, though, I always preferred
Our Man Flint to Casno Royale when it came to spy
spoofs.
There was one thing I did like about the movie, Velda's clear
animosity towards Mike. It seemed as if she had finally
gotten fed up with Mike's overlooking her "in that way" and
going off with other women. I can't remember if it came
through in the dialog or the delivery (weren't Estes and
Anderson once engaged -- yes, I am embarassed to know that --
was she acting out after they broke up?), but she had a
pretty nasty attitude towards Mike. >>
I'll try to be brief because I'm sure we're on the edge of
being off topic. Velda's animous toward Mike was written into
the script. Pamela and Rob never were a couple. I'm probably
being a little unfair toward Pam because she couldn't deliver
the line "I've accessed every data base known to man. And
some only known to woman."
I like the Flint movies. Heck, I like the Dean Martin Matt
Helm movies even though they certainly aren't Donald
Hamilton's Helm. My biggest beef with Rob's performance is
how much sincerity he invested in the scene where the love
interest asks him why he became a private eye and he says it
was because of Sinatra's performance in Tony Rome. It's a
joke, Rob. Like I said earlier though, once he got it, he got
it.
Clearly books and film are two different medium. TV is a
netherworld unto itself. Much is lost in the translation,
usually to the detriment of the source material. Sometimes
however, movies can improve on the book. I would suggest
Michael Mann's MANHUNTER over Thomas Harris' RED DRAGON.
Likewise the movie's ending of HANNIBAL is superior to the
novel's. I thought that Steven Soderbergh's version of OUT OF
SIGHT a vast improvement over Elmore Leonard's underdeveloped
novel. I'm embarrassed that the name of the screenwriter who
did the adaptation eludes me at the moment.
Other works are so different it's like apples and oranges.
Case in point: THE LONG GOODBYE. It ain't Chandler, but it's
one heck of an interesting movie.
Finally, not only does the material change translating from
book to screenplay, but also from script to film. I think
everyone knows the memorable ending to CHINATOWN is director
Roman Polanski's contribution, and not screenwriter Robert
Towne's.
Sometimes the process works.
John Lau
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