More Tom Clancy Movies Coming!

JoBlo's Movie Emporium ^ | April 2, 2004 | Jim Law

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Two more Tom Clancy novels will find their way to the big screen with the help of Paramount Pictures. Stuart Beattie, fresh off the false rumors of him writing the next Indiana Jones film, will write an adaptation of WITHOUT REMORSE and John Enbom will take a stab at RAINBOW SIX. Both novels are based around CIA agent John Clark, the darker character Clancy invented as a break from his lovable hero, Jack Ryan, who was the focus in THE HUNT FOR RED OCTOBER, PATRIOT GAMES, CLEAR AND PRESENT DANGER, and THE SUM OF ALL FEARS. The John Clark character actually appeared in both DANGER (played by Willem Dafoe) and SUM (Liev Schreiber).

REMORSE centers on an ex-Navy SEAL who infiltrates a gang responsible for killing a woman he loved and then taking on a new name and life as John Clark. RAINBOW has Clark joining with several colleagues to leave the CIA and create an England-based multinational organization designed to battle terrorism. Yet another Clancy story, RED RABBIT, is also in Hollywood's future.

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Oh, okay. I thought that a BLOG was something someone had on a SITE, I didn't know they were two different animals. Thanks.

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Oh, yeah. couldya do me a favor? I just notice that this is in "chat", so no one on the regular boards is seeing it. Do you maybe have a ping list to kick it to?

Thanks a gain.

[Travis McGee]

Now that I've figured out how to monkey wrench my website at the webhost, it's as easy to change or make additions as it is to post these replies on Free Republic. I've thought about adding a blog page to it, but you know, I just can't get excited about writing for "my blog" compared to the fun I get right here writing for all comers on topical threads. To me, FR is the UberBlog, the universal blog.

[Travis McGee]

Do you think that it's an abuse of privilege to post this to the Bang_List? I mean, there's a LOT of bang-bang in a Clancy novel. (But I've got to be honest, I thought the ending of Without Remorse was totally corny and almost laughable, the speedbaoat/ship thing on the Chesapeake. Clive Cussler / Dirk Pitt Action Jackson hokem.

[gcruse]

I think fora like FR and DU inhabit a world separate from the blogs. FR is being a frog in a large pond. A blog is creating your own pond and interacting with other frogs in theirs.

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I doubt it. You think anyone would whine?

Hey, I've got a soft spot for Clive Cussler's hero, Mr. Pitt. That dude not only could shoot, dive, fly, and fight but he ALWAYS got the girl, and the stories wrapped around his exploits were as interesting as Hell.

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You're right about some of these more recent Clancy books, though. Corny is the word I'd use, as well.

Actually, I believe that at least two, Red Rabbit and Rainbow Six, were ghosted. They just didn't READ like a genuine Clancy Book.

[Travis McGee]

I like Clive Cussler, because he doesn't pose as a writer of serious, reality-based fiction. Dirk Pitt is Dirk Pitt, like James Bodn, we know he's not supposed to be based in reality.

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Good point...Clancy is at least supposed to be based in the real world.

Although, his main characters (Ryan, Clark) sometimes seem a little TOO perfect, y'know?

[Woahhs]

Actually, I believe that at least two, Red Rabbit and Rainbow Six, were ghosted. They just didn't READ like a genuine Clancy Book

Didn't read Red Rabbit, but I'd have to agree with you, at least in part on Rainbow Six. You can see the struggle between the conservative warrior and the sensitive artist on every page. Makes me wonder if the person that wrote that serial drek with Clancy's name attached has more influence than widely appreciated.

[Woahhs]

Although, his main characters (Ryan, Clark) sometimes seem a little TOO perfect, y'know?

The War god does seem to smile on them often.

[Milwaukee_Guy]

Here's my recollection of the Clancey novels turned into movies,

Hunt for Red October - Good movie, captured the essence of the book.

Patriot Games - Good movie, they played with the ending a bit but it was not too great a departure from the book.

Clear and Present Danger - Completely reworked the book to fit in Harrison Ford and the second half of the movie was a complete fabrication out of thin air. No relation to the book in any real sense.

Sum of All Fears - Changed Islamic extremists into Argentine Nazis. Complete travesty of the book. PC insanity.

The more Clancey movies they make, the worse they seem to become. Unless I hear otherwise, I have no interest to see another Clancey book turned into some ludicrous Hollywood remake.

[Milwaukee_Guy]

Check out Dale Brown. Especially "Storming Heaven".

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"Makes me wonder if the person that wrote that serial drek with Clancy's name attached has more influence than widely appreciated."

You and I are on the same page. Think Clancy realized that he didn't really have to WRITE to earn the big $$$? He was getting something in the seven-figure range PER BOOK, anyway.

Plus, he had all his video games and movie checks rolling in, and his non-fiction line.

Even if he DID write them, it's plain that he was only phoning it in. He DOES have alimony to pay, after all.

[B4Ranch]

I'd like to see you knuckle down and get to writing on the 2nd good book!

Quit playing with the Internet and go back to work, Matt.

[Travis McGee]

Roger that.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I'd like to see someone have the stones to make Unintended Consequences into a movie.

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You could fit the modern day story into 2-3 hours, but then it would lack the moral underpinnings provided by the first part of the story.

It would really require a mini-series to do it right. Kinda like a "Roots" about gun rights. (Which suggests that the best format may just be a novel.)

The one to make into a movie is Enemies Foreign and Domestic.

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Any studio making UQ and EFAD into a movie would have my money.

Hey, how 'bout some casting suggestions? I say Tom Selleck as Henry Bowman.

If you get Mel Gibson to direct it, you could sell smelling salts in Hollywood and NYand retire early.

[Travis McGee]

Sounds good to me!

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Thought you might like this.