Who is the most-adapted pulp author of all time?
The Killer Inside Me. 2010.
Debra Granik may have won the top award at last week’s Sundance Film Festival, but one of the most talked about pictures of the fest was The Killer Inside Me, Michael Winterbottom’s stylized noir-tastic adaptation of the pulpy Jim Thompson page turner. Starring Casey Affleck as Lou Ford, half small town Sheriff, all raging psychopath, and Kate Hudson as his girl (at least for a while), this Killer is the 11th time someone has brought one of Thompson’s tales to the big screen.
Which seems like a lot. 11 movies based on books or stories you’ve written? And many of them, like The Getaway, The Grifters and After Dark, My Sweet, are beloved classics of the form? Surely that would make Thompson one of the most-adapted pulp authors of all time, right?
Cover of Rear Window (Universal Legacy Series)
Wrong. In fact, he’s not even close. That distinction goes to Dame Agatha Christie, whose novels alone were adapted to the screen over 70 freaking times, and that’s not counting her almost countless stage plays, short stories, and original television scripts. But she wasn’t really a “pulp” writer, and of the pulp writers who fed the Hollywood beast with one tattered alcohol-infused page after another, it’s lesser-known scribe, Cornell Woolrich, who holds the most-adapted crown.
Woolrich’s novels have been turned into movies a whopping 24 times so far, along with an absurd number of short stories, and an equally impressive number of original screenplays. Go west young man? They all did it, but Woolrich, who lost a leg due to an untreated infection caused by a too-tight shoe (let that be a lesson to you), lived at home with his mother for most of his life (he tried marriage once; it lasted 3 months). Hence, plenty of time to pump out the pulp. And while frequency is fantastic, it’s not what counts. Greatness counts, so we have to ask, of all these guys: What was the best picture made from one of his works? In Woolrich’s case it’s easy: Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window. An undisputed classic.
Image via Wikipedia
But a lot of pulp scribes are right behind Woolrich. Elmore Leonard has had his novels adapted to the screen 23 times, in addition to some stories and a handful of original screenplays. What’s the best picture made from something he wrote? That’s actually a tough call, with 52 Pick-Up, Get Shorty, Out of Sight, Jackie Brown, and 3:10 to Yuma all in the running, but I’m going with Out of Sight. Sue me. It lit a new fire under Soderbergh’s ass.
Then there’s Patricia Highsmith, a girl for crying out loud. But her novels have made it to the screen, often famously, 18 times. Many of her short stories have been adapted too, and she also has a number of original screenplays under her belt. What’s the best picture made from something she wrote? I’m going with 1960’s Purple Noon. Oui oui.
Cover via Amazon
James Cain, who is among the darkest of the bunch, has seen his novels become films an unlucky 13 times (if you don’t count the Coen Brothers’ outright theft of Love’s Lovely Counterfeit for Miller’s Crossing). Some of his stories made it to the big silver square, and he wrote a handful of original screenplays that saw the light of day. The best picture made from something he wrote? Double Indemnity, in 1944. A classic. And get this: Raymond Chandler wrote the screenplay. Not too shabby.
Image via Wikipedia
One of my personal faves, Dashielle Hammett, has seen his books become movies 12 times. Several of his stories have also been adapted, and, like the others, he was responsible for some original screenplays. The best picture made from something he wrote? No question. 1941’s The Maltese Falcon, John Huston’s stunning debut as a director. Coming full circle, Huston of course showed up in Polanski’s Chinatown, based on nothing but an original screenplay by Robert Towne, as Faye D’s father-slash-lover-slash-father-slash-lover. And his daughter, Angelica, showed up in The Grifters, based on Thompson’s book. That family’s got pulp in its veins.
Cover of The Killing
And Killer’s author Jim Thompson has been adapted 11 times so far (10 from novels, and 1 from a short story), but was for a while very involved in Hollywood. Notoriously snubbed by Stanley Kubrick, Thompson was like an abused Chihuahua who just couldn’t help going back to the bowl for another kick. He wrote most of Kubrick’s great film noir, The Killing, and was stunned when he saw (at the premiere, no less) the credit Kubrick had given him: “Additional Dialog By.” Ouch. Legend has it Thompson walked out of the premiere, but the partnership didn’t end. He wrote most of Paths of Glory, and again got the famous Kubrick shaft. The best picture made from something he wrote? Well, until Winterbottom’s take on Killer comes out (the second adaptation of the book), we’ve got a classic troika to choose from: The Grifters; After Dark, My Sweet; and Coup de Torchon, wherein filmmaker Bertrand Tavernier moved the setting from dust bowl era Oklahoma to colonial Africa, a simple shift that resulted in a radical change to the novel’s take on racism. As great as Grifters and After Dark are, I’m going with the Frenchie this time.
Image via Wikipedia
One of the best know, and most-loved pulp authors, Raymond Chandler, has only been adapated 10 times, as far as novels go, but some of his stories made it, and he had a hand in many original screenplays, some of them great. The best picture made from something he wrote? 1946’s The Big Sleep. But his screenplay for Hitchcock’s Strangers on a Train, based on the Highsmith novel, was pretty damn good too, though he had some help.
Cover of Shoot the Piano Player
Lesser known scribe David Goodis also had his novels adapted 10 times, plus several stories. But he only wrote a few original screenplays. The best picture made from something he wrote? Zat is easy, no? Shoot the Piano Player, made in 1960 by François Truffaut (who for some reason dropped the “Don’t” from the title, kind of a big deal, yes?). The book is currently being adapted again, and again in France, but this time with its complete title. Go figure.
Self-described demon dog of pulp fiction, James Ellroy has seen his work adapt 7 times (6 from books and once from a short story), though everything the man has written is, quote-unquote, in development. Anyone who has spent any time in Los Angeles knows what that means. The check’s in the mail. The best picture made from something Ellroy wrote? There haven’t been that many so far, and since De Palma botched Dahlia, I’m going with LA Confidential.
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I always thought Miller’s Crossing was based on Dashiell Hammett’s Red Harvest, an excellent book where the body count just keeps piling up page after page.
And The Man Who Wasn’t There appeared to borrow heavily from The Postman Always Rings Twice, although I believe it was more based on Double Indemnity which I never got around to reading.
That’s what you hear, actually, but it was actually Miller’s Crossing that GOT me into pulp fiction in the first place, and one of the first authors I read was Cain. Not only do they borrow the general plot of a partner in crime playing both sides off of each other, there’s even a character called Casper (Johnny Casper in M.C., played by Polito), AND a scene in which Casper’s kid comes in and he tells his goons to give him a penny. Of course the Coens took that simple moment and ran with it – “I ain’t got a penny, boss.” “Well that’s a penny you owe him.” – and ultimately departed greatly from that basic model, but it really is Cain to whom they owe a debt, in my opinion. Though it’s been a while now since I’ve read Red Harvest, I admit (but it’s still my favorite Hammett novel).
About ‘Man,’ that’s really interesting. For some reason I’ve only seen that film once. I think I need to revisit. Even at the time I knew there were interesting things going on, even if it wasn’t 100% successful. It would be cool to re-watch with ‘Indemnity’ and ‘Postman’ in mind, though I can’t really see how it could be based, at all, on ‘Postman.’ I mean, both of those books share certain narrative elements (like about 80% of noir, right?), but ‘Man’ also has the whole postwar paranormal paranoia thing, the ‘everyman’ idea, and who knows what else. I think it’s time to add it to the ol’ queue! Thanks, tnewman.
In response to another comment. See in context »IIRC I had not long read The Postman Always Rings Twice when I saw The Man Who Wasn’t There, and by the time the film ended I was wondering if it wasn’t another loose remake. The ending, for example, is almost a direct lift from the book.
Even supposing it’s true, it wouldn’t matter one jot. I read somewhere that Miller’s Crossing was the Coens’ nod to Hammett, The Big Lebowski their nod to Raymond Chandler (loosely based – and titled – on The Big Sleep), and perhaps The Man Who Wasn’t There was their nod to James M. Cain.
Of course, I don’t follow cinema in anything like the depth you do, and I might well be wrong in all of this. But I know that I like cinema, I usually like the Coens’ stuff (especially Oh, brother) and when I read Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett it comes across to me like poetry rather than prose. Great stuff.
I agree with you, T, and I don’t think you’re wrong about this. I’d heard that about ‘Miller’s Crossing,’ but not the others (though that’s cool to consider), but you’re right, it doesn’t really matter. If the Coens were making schlock it’d matter, but they always (almost always) do something interesting with whatever it is they borrow. The same goes (most of the time) with Tarantino, in my opinion. Sure ‘Dogs’ was essentially a remake of ‘City on Fire,’ but it’s so good that I couldn’t care less. I’ll have to take another look at Postman because I don’t really remember the ending, and then rewatch ‘Man Who Wasn’t There.’ If you’re up for it, I suggest you give Love’s Lovely Counterfeit a read and then watch ‘Miller’s Crossing’ again, for fun.
I’d worried about the Coens around ‘Cruelty’ and ‘Ladykillers’ time, but after ‘No Country’ (especially) and ‘A Serious Man,’ I have to say I’m really looking forward to ‘True Grit.’
In response to another comment. See in context »