Posted on 08/27/2004 5:27:39 PM PDT by 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.
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
Are you referring to "Casino Royale"?
I thought David Niven played Bond in that one.
Cheers!
I'm surprised somebody hasn't tried to remake that one a little closer to the way it was written.
The most painful Bond book.
Check the acknowledgment page.
Wow how long have I been here and didn't know he wrote that book! I LOVE that book.
I noticed that the thread heading now says not FR Travis McGee LOL duh :o)
Sam Elliot? With Katharine Ross (his real-life wife) in the lead feminine role?
I was living in Germany in the early eighties and took a Travis McGee novel out of a pile of books at work, just out of boredom, and read it an proceeded to read the whole series from DRESS HER IN INDIGO to THE LONELY SILVER RAIN, and
The Dreadful Lemon sky
The Quick Red Fox
Cinnamon Skin
and on and on.....
"Dark Of The Sun" is one of my alltime favorite Mercenary movies. The others are "The Wild Geese", "The Dogs Of War", and "Ronin".
It was Roderick Thorpe, as I understand (who only wrote a few other novels).
I think she was.
Darker Than Amber!! That was it. Yeah, Taylor's just about the perfect McGee.
My brother saw the movie. He said it wasn't great but wasn't that bad.
Woody Allen played the bad guy, Bond's nephew,
Dr. Noah.
A movie so bad...it's good.
With a great theme song.
There'd be no catered meals or lavish personal trailers or facilities onset, either. No "entourages" for the principles on my payroll. Reduce the overhead, and the cost of the film is reduced and can be spent on script and production.
I'd make movies that had the unmistakable element of COOL. I wouldn't allow unecessary elements, like a romance or a cute kid, to interfere with a good story. If I'm doing a war movie, it's gonna have square-jawed tough guys kicking the enemie's a$$, with no apologies, and afterwards having a beer and a smoke under a Flag. No nonsense would be the motto. I would fire any director who asked what the "message" was going to be...it's to entertain the audience, always. Leave your personal "messages" at home.
If I do a horror movie, it's gonna be two things...scary and brutal. Forget the young, silicone-enhanced actresses cracking jokes with the monster or killer...either they shoot him, or they'll get the chainsaw.
If it's a cop movie, plan to see gunfights, car chases, hard-drinking, two fisted cops and REALLY bad guys, not the PC, "sensitive" crap we see all too often. Oh, and plan to see the good guys WIN.
I'd create an entire department just for the production of war movies (based on the CURRENT war), with films of the Air Force, Army , Marines, and Navy all being well-represented. NONE of them would cast the troops as anything other than the heroes they are.
In my sci-fi department, forget the current trend towards heroes who "must find their inner powers" to defeat the Evil Overlord. What they must find is their ammo, and their courage. My heroes won't be talkers...they'll be DOERS.
Hey, that formula worked well enough for Hollywood for 50-odd years.
The only version available now is a drastically-cut one. That's probably why it wasn't so great.
Ah, my two favorite male fictional characters -- Dirk Pitt and Travis McGee. Definite swoon!
then that eliminates Springfield, Ma.
OK thanks.
Not Ma but Pa
Clive Cussler's character, Dirk Pitt, is an updated, more adventurous and slightly James Bond-y kind of guy. If you liked John D. MacDonald, you will like the Clive Cussler books. And there are maybe 15 of em.
Padfoot and I think Dirk is cute.
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