Travis McGee Says a Long Goodbye (Not FR's Travis McGee)

American Spectator ^ | 8-27-04 | Lawrence Henry

[Temple Owl]

Travis McGee Says a Long Goodbye

By Lawrence Henry

Published 8/27/2004

My old college roomie from time to time cusses me out roundly for introducing him to the Travis McGee novels of John D. MacDonald. Like me, Mike was raised reading quality lit (he majored in classics, and teaches Greek and Latin), and we both came to popular literature -- indeed, to the very idea of reading for fun -- late in life. Like me, Mike was stunned by McGee and MacDonald -- by the sheer quality, the go-to-hell abandoned narrative mastery (MacDonald rejoiced in digression, and his readers rejoiced with him, as he threw his storytelling loops out into the universe and then reeled them back in, fast or slow, inevitably to the story, always the story), by the settings, the crimes, the characters (some of the most chilling villains ever), the social commentary. The last McGee appeared in 1985.

[TADSLOS]

Man, if ever a title needed a clarification disclaimer this is it!

[Tribune7]

Half the bag guys in McDonald's stuff remind me of Clinton & his cronies.

[jwalsh07]

I never took you for an opus kinda guy.

[Focault's Pendulum]

Whew! When I first saw the headline I thought it was our Travis McGee.

Still....a damn good Headline for an Opus!

[mabelkitty]

Whew!
I thought this was a Travis McGee opus.

[mabelkitty]

LOL!
I just grabbed a beer for the links to the inevitable posts from The Other Site.

[Temple Owl]

Well, we haven't heard from him yet.

[dennisw]

bttt

[bitt]

if you liked Travis McGee

try author Harold Adams

his character is a good guy in Nebraska during the 1930's.

[ken5050]

It's the perfect read for a rainy summer weekend..A whiule ago I read an article about MacDonald...marvelous piece..how/where her lived, how he wrote...as I recall he livd in a small ton..in a rural part of the state..He joked to the author that he';d quite writing the McGee series when he couldn't come up with any more catchy titles...

Tonite's trivia queston..who played McGee in the movie....maybe the worst film ever made..ruined a good potential "franchise"..no, I correct that..Dean Martin as Matt Helm was even worse than Peter Sellers as James BOnd..

[Captain Peter Blood]

I have enjoyed John D. McDonald novels and may go back to read some of them again.
I also have enjoyed Ross Thomas novels and they are just as interesting as John D's. So check them out as well.

[Larry Lucido]

Just looked it up 10 min ago, so it wouldn't be fair to offer an answer now.

[Tribune7]

Sam Elliot was in the "Empty Copper Sea" which was mediocre. I never saw the one with Rod Taylor.

[Focault's Pendulum]

Well, we haven't heard from him yet.

Mebbe he had The American Spectator do it for him.

[Tribune7]

And then there are Ross McDonald novels -- who wrote his first Lew Archer books as John McDonald.

[zeugma]

Thanks for the thread Owl. Like many others, I thought it was either an obit or opus for Freeper Travis McGee. I've been chuckling all the way down the thread. :-)

[Temple Owl]

You're right it was pretty bad, but I enjoyed Sam Eliot in other movies.

[Dog]

Man you scared the living crap out of me....I thought something happened to freeper Travis McGee..

[ken5050]

IT lalways amazed me..You've got this great book franchise..sells millions, like clockwork..guaranteed success, and millions of guys dyig to see it..so Hollywierd buys the rights, pays a bundle, then all these idiots sit around a big table, and ask themselves..OK we've got this sure-fire hit, with built in sequels. How can we screw it up?

[ken5050]

The US Olympic men's basketball team is "pretty bad"