25 February 2004
sometimes adapting books sucks
Ever heard of a screenwriter named Don Jacoby? Or an author named John Steakley? No? How about a movie director named John Carpenter? I bet I hit home with that one, even if you haven't watched any of his movies. His connection to the other two guys is a little movie he humbly titled John Carpenter's Vampires. He wrote the musical score, but Don Jacoby takes the credit for writing the screenplay. Also picking up a writing credit, though, is somewhat established author John Steakley (well, he got a couple books published) with a novel called Vampire$.
Can't anybody come up with a simple title anymore?
Anyway, on a whim (or maybe something more sinister, I can't remember) I decided to read this book. I had enjoyed the film, I thought, and figured the book could be interesting. It and the movie couldn't have been more different, except that the leader of the team in both is named Jack Crow.
That's it. One name is all that links the movie and the book. Both are interesting, though each has a tendency to get a little messy at the end (and I'm not just talking blood and guts here). The connection is just so... tenuous. The book would make a pretty decent movie, I'd say, but I'd forego the trouble of coming up with an altogether new story and stick to the one that the author wrote. But hey, he got paid, didn't he?
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Hmm...reminiscent of Logan's Run. The character's name isn't quite the only similarity, but it's almost the only one. And the novel author's version of how the ridiculous movie came about is really interesting. Too bad it's published in the Logan Trilogy, which is out of print.
Oddly enough I've read the novelization of the movie. It was a thin book. Someday I will see the movie, and then _Free Enterprise_ will be all the more funnier.
So, one day when I manage to track down Free Enterprise, I will find it funnier than you did?
Perhaps. It's got a lot of laserdisc snobbery and William Shatner worshipping going on which I think is more my area, but there are several veiled (and others blatant) Logan's references including, I believe, a dream sequence to rival Brian's (the dog) from Family Guy.
It's worth giving a shot, and being out there on the West Coast you might catch more geographical stuff too. Maybe not. But do see it, just don't pay to rent it.