Re: RARA-AVIS: Thompson and other novelists who wrote screenplays

From: Dave Zeltserman ( davezelt@comcast.net)
Date: 07 Nov 2004


"The Killing" is a very faithful adaptation of Lionel White's novel, but the dialogue is distinctly Thompson's. Jim Thompson's biography "Sleep with the Devil" breaks down what Thompson + Kubrick both did for this screenplay (Thompson wrote it - Kubrick put it into screenplay format, and put his name on the credits!).

Hell, The Grifters is also a very faithful adaptation of Thompson's book, but that didn't stop Donald Westlake for winning an Oscar for it.

-Dave Z.

--- In rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com, "Al Guthrie" <allanguthrie@u...> wrote:
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jay Gertzman" <jgertzma@e...>
> To: "rara avis" < rara-avis-l@yahoogroups.com>
>
> > I have been reading about Jim Thompson's collaboration with
Stanley
> > Kubrick on the latter's 3rd film, _The Killing_. Kubrick said
he wanted
> > Thompson's hard boiled dialogue, but the film clearly shows the
> > novelist's influence in other ways. For example, the well
thought out
> > plan to steal millions from the race track unravels due to
common
> > people's uncommon obsessions and desires: a wife's disloyalty,
her
> > husband's masochism, a hit man's bigotry.
>
> Jay, if you check out the excellent source material, the
novel "Clean
> Break", I think you'll agree that you're attributing to Jim
Thompson what is
> rightfully Lionel White's.
>
> Al

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~-->
$9.95 domain names from Yahoo!. Register anything. http://us.click.yahoo.com/J8kdrA/y20IAA/yQLSAA/kqIolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~->

RARA-AVIS home page: http://www.miskatonic.org/rara-avis/
  Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rara-avis-l/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     rara-avis-l-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 07 Nov 2004 EST