"The Grifters" is a good adaptation, but the best adaptation
of a Jim Thompson book has to be "Coup de Torchon" a French
adaptation of Pop. 1280. What's remarkable about this version
is it takes Pop. 1280 out of West Texas and moves it to a
French territory in Africa, and the movie still captures the
feel of the book entirely.
The one movie I've bene wanting to see but can't find is the
French version of "Hell of a Woman". Has anyone on this list
ever seen it?
-Dave Zeltserman http://www.hardluckstories.com/inhisshadow.htm
In His Shadow - "noir to the nth degree"
-----Original Message----- From:
owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca [mailto:
owner-rara-avis@icomm.ca] On Behalf Of William Denton
Sent: Sunday, March 02, 2003 2:32 PM To: RARA-AVIS Subject:
Re: RARA-AVIS: The Grifters
On 2 February 2003, William Denton wrote:
: I agree. And the book is one Thompson's best. I see it's on
DVD, with
: commentary by Westlake, and an extra about Thompson. Anyone
know what
: that's like?
I watched it this week, and it's good. Of course the movie
itself
(1990, with John Cusack as Roy, Angelica Huston as Lilly, and
Annette Bening as Myra) is very good, one of the best
adaptations of a Jim Thompson novel. There's a ten-minute
extra about Thompson that includes clips of Robert Polito (a
Thompson biographer) and Donald E. Westlake, who's a very
good talker and knows how to tell a story. If you haven't
seen the movie, it's worth renting.
There's a commentary track, and the best thing about it is
that Westlake talks the most. Director Stephen Frears,
Cusack, and Huston have some comments (they're not all in the
same room at the same time), but Westlake's the most
interesting. He talks about how he came to work on the movie,
how it was written, what the characters are doing, why
certain scenes were done a certain way, and more. The final
scene with Roy and Lilly, where she's trying to get his
money, he saw as a boxing match, with rounds divided by short
breaks or sharp cuts and sudden mood changes.
In Myra's flashback to when she and her old partner were
working the long con and she roped marks for the Big Store,
Westlake notes the name of the fake investment firm: Coe
Stark Fellowes and Associates. He says those are all names
he's written under: "I've been Tucker Coe, Richard Stark, and
a lot of other fellows."
Around the end of the movie, Westlake says that recently he
was asked to adapt a David Goodis book. He went back and read
a few, but says they're
"completely dead, they just lie there." By contract, Jim
Thompson's books still feel alive, and don't feel dated.
Goodis's books are permanently stuck in the '50s.
Bill
-- William Denton : Toronto, Canada : http://www.miskatonic.org/ : Caveat lector.
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