Mark wrote:
I recently commented on the odd paradox that Get Carter and
Payback/Point Blank were made due to their title recognition,
but made for an audience too young to recognize those titles.
In that light, I find it odd that Falcon has not been remade
a fourth and fifth time in the last 66 years. I'm not saying
it should have been, kind of glad it hasn't been, but it's
not like Hollywood to think of anything as sacred.
-----
I think there's been some unsettled legal problem regarding
the film rights to the book. At least that was the case back
in the Sixties when, with the success of Peter Gunn, 77
Sunset Strip et al, a Sam Spade TV series was contemplated
and shelved. Too bad. Howard Duff, whose radio version was,
in my opinion, the best detective show in that medium, was
still young enough to have played him. But then, it was his
and of course Hammett's political leanings that helped to end
the radio series.
Maybe I'm fantasizing, but I seem to recall that a musical
version starring the Rat Pack was considered, with Sinatra
(who at one time did resemble the book's description of
Spade), Martin as Archer, Sammy Davis as Cairo, Angie
Dickenson as ..., Victor Buono as ... And so on. Would have
been a challenge for Burke and Van Husen. But Sondheim might
have been able to put some songs together.
In any case, there will probably be more movie and/or TV
interest in Spade next year when Joe Gores' prequel
arrives.
Dick Lochte
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