Jerry Buck (PeteCastle@worldnet.att.net)
Thu, 17 Jun 1999 22:27:00 -0700
> Newman's wife, Joanne Woodward, later claimed on The
Tonight Show that
Archer's name was changed because Newman had had two hits
(`Hud,' 'The Hustler') with H titles. Goldman's response: `If
you know anything about the movie business, you know it's all
bullshit.'"
Bullshit is
the fuel that drives the movie industry.
I interviewed
Sterling Silliphant when he began what was to be a series of
novels set in Southeast Asia. Silliphant had recently
purchased a Swan sail boat in Sweden, had a five-man crew,
and centered the story on the hero in his sailboat. The
interview hook was "why I'll never sell my books to the
movies." Silliphant contended he would lose control and that
the actor cast in the hero's role would forever be the
public's image of the character. Silliphant was a good writer
and prolific, but it was all hype and a needless worry. The
books were a flop, and discontinued after about two were
published.
Silliphant
adapted John D. MacDonald's THE EMPTY COPPER SEA for
television, and had no qualms about turning MacDonald's hero
inside out. Travis McGee was moved to California, the Busted
Flush became a sailboat (Silliphant's preference), and McGee
was played by Sam Elliott with a big mustache. Elliott looks
great in Westerns with the mustache. Without it he looks like
the traveling salesman who's made to dance by the town bully
brandishing a gun. Silliphant later admitted he made a
terrible mistake in his adaptation because the houseboat is
almost like a character in the MacDonald books. And Florida
is the place for houseboats, unless you want to tie up in
Sausalito.
Jerry
Buck
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