Quadrophenia (1979) Novelization

Quadrophenia the novel, by Alan Fletcher. Corgi edition published 1979. First publication in Great Britain.

I don't know much about the author. The style is loose and full of idiosyncratic touches where emotional turmoil is described via impressionistic text. The book alternates between third and first person and fleshes out the context of the film very nicely. The Who's lyrics are featured throughout the book, in perhaps a more direct way than in the film.

The book opens with a definition of how amphetamines work. There is a difference of opinion between audience members regarding the ending of the film. The entire end sequence--a dramatic depiction of the song "I've Had Enough"--involves Jimmy the Mod driving a scooter around some cliffs. The last shot before the credits shows the scooter crashing on the rocks beneath the cliffs. Many take that to mean that Jimmy killed himself by driving off the cliff. However, the FIRST shot of the film clearly shows Jimmy walking away from the cliff as the sun is setting. This clearly shows that Jimmy is in fact still alive.

So, for me, Jimmy does not die at the end of the film. He rejects the life he has been living, which is represented by the crashing of the scooter. This is far more rewarding in my opinion than having him kill himself. Just my opinion, mind you.

The novelization does NOT clear this up, by the way.

Excerpt:

And, again, it began to rain, gently and persistently. He put his face up and felt it drum over the skin, running into his collar, over his hands.

He climbed to his feet, overcoming the tiredness that almost paralysed his limbs, stiff from the cold. The scooter came off the floor after he'd heaved at it for several minutes, straining and sweating. It started and he revved it up, twisting the throttle. There was music in his head again, but not as it had been, harsh and discordant and violent. It was gentle as rain and soft, soft and swelling chords.

He brought the G.S. up to forty and the engine whined at a steady pitch. The wheels slithered on the wet grass, but he leaned and righted it and weaved away, the speed mounting and the engine beginning to scream.

He took it towards the edge, racing it down, the music increasing. Even through the blur and the rain he saw the green of the cliff top meet the band of white chalk along the boundary between earth, sky and sea, the land's end. He ran along it for a while, almost on the Up, then turned back, racing up the incline. At the road, he turned again.

On the rocky beach below a crab scuttled under a rock. Seaweed lay draped across the rocks that were clear of the water waiting for the tide to claim it, as did the shellfish and molluscs scattered throughout the quiet world of the microscopic ten square feet of space where the scooter came to rest.

As it hit the rocks the polished metal crumpled, great slabs of lacquer fell away, lamps shattered, the flyscreen buckled and cracked and the whole statuesque shape, the symbol of the mods splattered like a broken toy.

An hour later it was under water.

METEOR (1979) Novelization

Based on the 1979 film written by Edmund H. North and Stanley Mann. Directed by Ronald Neame. It starred Sean Connery, Natalie Wood, Karl Malden, Brian Keith, Martin Landau, Trevor Howard, Richard Dysart and Henry Fonda. The book is credited to Edmund H. North and Franklin Coen. I have a draft of the screenplay dated October 19, 1977 that is credited only to Stanley Mann.  I believe that this novelization is based on that draft.

METEOR was one of the last of the disaster films made in the 1970's and while the film itself is disappointing it nevertheless has a lot of positives. From a story standpoint, the film tells its story grounded in realism and avoids melodrama—this is more DEEP IMPACT than ARMAGEDDON. The emphasis is on character. There is spectacle but plot-wise it is organically handled. In many ways the film should have been an outstanding example of the genre, differentiating itself from things like THE TOWERING INFERNO and EARTHQUAKE and falling closer to ON THE BEACH.

Alas, the film is ultimately a miss. Too often the film presents us with details that take you out of the story. Some of the details are scientific—early in the film a conversation is shown between Earth and a manned spacecraft in the vicinity of Mars. The conversation is shown as being real-time whereas in reality there would be a considerable lag (6 to 22 minutes depending on where the craft was) between the two sides. Am I picking nits? Perhaps, but the filmmakers talked about scientific accuracy in the press so I think it's a fair point. Additionally, there are moments in the film where views from outer space are shown on video monitors with no explanation as to how they are being produced. Are both quibbles a result of narrative shorthand? Sure, but again, they went on about how accurate it was in the press. . .

And I guess WAS accurate. . .for a 1970's disaster film that is.

The above is minor, and I could have happily lived with it if not for the film's major failing—the special effects. For whatever reason, they were not able to get anyone to handle the visual effects competently. Just about every shot of the titular meteor is a bad optical and every shot of the orbit-based missiles are bad miniatures. The scenes of destruction are usually the raison d'être for disaster film, and these are just as badly handled. There is a scene of an avalanche in the alps that reuses footage from the 1978 low budget film AVALANCHE.

What's astonishing is that the filmmakers delayed the release of the film in order to have the visual effects redone. This decision was made after filming was complete and, reportedly, after the film was "done". The original effects team was fired; a new team came in who also struggled to deliver the effects. Very late in the day yet another team was brought in. Considering how poor the effects that made the film are, it makes you wonder how bad the original effects were.

This is a shame. Money was obviously spent on the film. The cast is good, the story is inherently dramatic. If the effects were at least decent it would be a lot easier to take.

The novelization corrects all of the flaws of the finished film. Characters are more fleshed out (Sean Connery's character is a professor at Columbia, for instance), the science is more realistic, one is not constantly taken out of the story by obvious model work. There is more political shenanigans (wisely left out of the film but not unwelcome here), and the Connery and Wood's character have a full blow lover affair. It's all well-handled and is the ideal version of the story.

Night Games (1980) Novelization

Based on the 1979 film written by Anton Diether and Clarke Reynolds and directed by Roger Vaidm. It starred Cindy Pickett, Barry Primus and Joanna Cassidy.

I had never heard of this film before coming across the novelization, and after tracking the film down and watching it, it turns out that there was a reason for that. It is not a good movie. I am not even sure that the screenplay had the makings of a good movie.  Whatever drew everyone to this project, it does not come across in the final product.  Vadim complained that the producers recut the movie after he was done with it, which possibly accounts for the final result. Maybe. Parts of it are certainly better than others, but aside for a couple of things, the movie is utterly forgettable.  The acting by all involved is poor, although I am not sure who could have made the dialogue believable. 

The plot: A woman that suffers from PTSD due to a rape cannot be intimate with her husband. While he is away, she starts to fantasize about having sex with a mysterious masked stranger late at night. Or are they fantasies? When someone breaks in and tries to rape her again, the mysterious stranger turns out to be the drunken author who was also staying at her house. (It's a big house.) The author sends the would-be rapist packing. The entire ordeal—late-night sex and attempted rape—cured her of her PTSD.

The only interesting things about the film are that it stars Cindy Pickett, the creepy actor who played the killer in 10 TO MIDNIGHT (1983) plays a creepy rapist, and the music score.

Cindy Pickett is perhaps best known for playing Ferris Bueller's mother in FERRIS BUELLER'S DAY OFF (1986).  She also was on St. Elsewhere and a fair amount of television work.  Nothing else in her filmography was as overtly sexual as this role.  Gene Davis was pretty effective as the nude killer in 10 TO MIDNIGHT.  He is less effective here, but is still creepy.

Somehow they got the great John Barry to write the music. What works in the film works because of his music. It almost makes it worthwhile watching. Almost. The soundtrack for the film has these titles on it: Descent into Decadence, The Lesbian Tango, The Wet Spot, Phantom of the Orgasm. Seriously, the music is good, which makes one or two of the sequences work almost decently.

The novelization is much expanded over the film. It throws a lot more melodrama and sex into the proceedings that are way more effective than anything in the movie. It's not good exactly, but it's certainly much better than the movie. So, win?

Excerpt (best read with the lush music of John Barry in the background):

Dreamily, half-knowing what she did, she opened unfocused eyes and stared into the mirror. Then a slow smile, implicit with the luxury of triumph, spread over her face. For he was there as she had known he would be. The demonic feathered features gazed over her shoulder, and the mouth that she could barely see in the shadowed light, smiled into the mirror. Her own smile deepened in return. It was the smile of a woman who knows she can call her mate to her at her will, for he desires her and her alone.

Her blood was raging in her veins, demanding his touch, but when it came it was as soft as a whisper---just the lightest finger placed against her shoulder and run gently down to her wrist. Light as it was she felt as if he had seared her.

With his every caress a fork of fire seemed to shoot through her. He had come close to her now, his breast leaning gently against her back. Like her, he was naked except for a long dark cloak clasped about his neck. She felt his hands come round her waist, sliding downwards over her satiny skin until they touched the tops of her thighs and rested there. A tremor ran through her and she moaned in sweet agony.

She threw her head back against his shoulder while her hands grasped his. At first he tried to draw them away but she would not be resisted and pulled his hands inwards to the depths of her, leaning against him as if she would collapse.

With a convulsive movement she released his hands and turned to face him. Her eyes tried to pierce the mask, but only his mouth was visible, and that was in shadow. No matter, she knew Jason's mouth. It was on hers now, all else blotted out as she felt herself drawn towards him in an embrace that enveloped her under the cloak. She was vanishing into darkness as the cloak was wrapped around her, swallowing her up. But this was how she wanted to be swallowed up---in this whirlpool of feeling that left no room for any sensation but sensuous joy and rapture.

His body was hard and smooth against hers. His hand in the small of her back was pressing her imperiously towards him so that she could feel his desire as powerful as her own. And then the hand was gone, an arm tightened under her shoulders and she felt herself held high in his arms. She had one last look at his face blazing above her with the pride of conquest. The sight was too much for her. She flung an arm round his neck and buried her fade against his breast as he carried her out of the studio and started up the stairs. . .

Kelly's Heroes (1970) Novelization

KELLY'S HEROES
By Burt Hirschfield
Based on the screenplay by Troy Kennedy-Martin
1970

In World War II, during the period following the breakout at St. Lo and the Liberation of Paris, the Third U.S. Anny made its fighting dash to Germany's Rhine River. In the vanguard of the Third Army were numerous reconnaissance companies. These Armored Cavalry units moved with the situation, probing, fighting and developing contact with the enemy far beyond the main body. Their tactics were as unpredictable as the front, which was, to say the least, fluid. Such a company---and its equally unpredictable personnel---is the subject of this story; a story of a somewhat questionable mission that aimed to deny to the German Army a huge treasure trove of more bombs and bullets, and at the same time to provide aid, comfort, and a large slice of wealth to a group of wild, enterprising G.I.'s.

The Warriors ... Kelly's Warriors ...

***

When KELLY's HEROES was released by MGM in 1970, it was not quite the film that the filmmakers intended. The original screenplay was a big sprawling story that was decidedly anti-war. However, after filming, the story was altered to both reduce the running time and to homogenize the final product. A hippy-dippy pop tune was imposed over the bulk of the main titles, for instance. The song helped make the film more of a straight "war comedy" instead of what it was intended to be—a thoughtful, anti-war message film (with action). It was also a cheap ploy to try and make as much money off the film as possible. MGM was in poor financial shape at the time and desperate to release something that would bring money in.

Something around over twenty minutes of material was removed by the producer to get the running time down. It was at this point that the film was retitled to KELLY'S HEROES. It was known as THE WARRIORS during filming, and then briefly as KELLY'S WARRIORS.

This novelization is based on the original screenplay, which includes some elements cut before filming as well as the trims made by the producer. Because it is based on the original script, this novelization retains the anti-war elements. They are not overt or preachy, but rather presented organically—these are battered men who have lost faith in what they are doing. The novelization includes the backstory that fleshes out how lost the men are. The movie is decent, but I think I enjoyed reading this more.

It also includes whole scenes and characters that don't exist in the final film. Doing a little digging, I think the following summary is correct:

The team encounters a mother and daughter while en route to the town with the gold. The daughter becomes a love interest for the Clint Eastwood character. I don't believe these scenes were ever filmed. Ingrid Pitt was apparently cast as one of these characters and she has said in interviews that her role was eliminated right before shooting started.

I found this description of scenes that were apparently filmed and cut here (based on the Cinema Retro "Special Edition" on the film):

• First scene cut: "Oddball and his unit pack up camp and the local village girls are running around half naked." (Photos of the sequences were used in the film's publicity.)

• Two sequences of Kelly and his men in the barn, waiting for Oddball's unit:

• A conversation between Kelly and Big Joe (wherein we learn why Kelly was made the scapegoat for the attack that resulted in his demotion)

• The platoon decides they don't want to continue with the mission; Gutkowski threatens Kelly at gunpoint, but Big Joe and Crapgame side with Kelly and everything turns out A-OK

• The platoon encounters a group of German soldiers and naked girls swimming in a pool (John Landis remembered this scene)(filmed at Kaminca Park on the banks of the River Danube, in Novi Sad)

• "During the attack on the town, production designer Jon Barry had a cameo as a British airman hiding from the Germans, and there was a scene with Kelly, Oddball and Big Joe discussing tactics while standing on an abandoned Tiger tank."

• When Kelly and co. drive off at the end, a bunch of soldiers (including John Landis) shout at them that they are headed in the wrong direction.

Excerpt:

Kelly considered Oddball without enthusiasm. Oddball held the glance for as long as he could, then looked away. He indicated the exit. For the first time, Kelly became aware of music playing somewhere outside. He started for the doorway, looked back. The girl had come around in front of the files. She was naked and perfect. Kelly wet his mouth.

"You like that?" Oddball said hopefully.

"Just thinking back," Kelly said.

"And?" Crapgame said.

"And I remembered," Kelly answered, heading for the stairs. "Every last detail."

Outside, in the glare of the sun, Kelly allowed a moment or two for his eyes to adjust. Then he saw the dancers, three men stripped to the waist, dancing Greek-style. Like Oddball, Iron Crosses dangled from around their necks. They moved in an ever-narrowing circle around a young girl who sat cross-legged on the ground, a euphoric expression on her lovely young face. In her hand she held a bayonet and there was a steel helmet on her head. Otherwise, she was naked.

Beyond the dancers, were the rest of Oddball's crew. In various stages of dress and undress, the men lay with naked girls on the grass eating grapes and drinking some of the local wine from a barrel, which was perched strategically on one of the Sherman tanks. The girls, Kelly noticed with interest, were very young, very pretty, very healthy.

A few men were busy dismantling the gleaming high-explosive shells used by the Sherman's guns with absolute unconcern for the danger involved. Kelly watched one man as he emptied one of the capsules, then filled it with a quantity of very bright paint.

Kelly looked back at Oddball. He shrugged, mouth turned in that deceptive smile. "These are the boys," he murmured.

"And those are the tanks," Kelly added, his disapproval evident.

Oddball's eyes flickered to the crusted, scabrous lumps of armor that seemed too dirty and rusted to move. "Yeah." He nodded wisely. "You are noting the dirt and the rust? We like to give the impression that we just come out of action and are in need of a period of rest and reorganization. 'That way nobody bothers us."

Oddball moved forward, past the naked girls and their friends, leaped onto the first tank and struggled to open the two rusted hatch covers. At last he succeeded and a flash of sunlight glittered off the gleaming chrome and silvered surfaces of the engines. Kelly wanted to see for himself. Thirty cylinders of the five Chrysler motors sat pristinely on their beds, polished and modified as if they were on display in the showroom of a dealer.

"I'm impressed," Kelly said.

"Notice, please," Oddball said, "that the machinery is in good working order. It has in fact been improved on by our mechanical genius, here---Moriarty. A man with the muffin face and the loose gait of a punch-drunk fighter joined them, grinning, head bobbing loosely. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, yeah."

The Curious case of The Dark (1978) Novelization

Written by Max Franklin (aka Richard Deming). Based on the 1979 film written by Stanford Whitmore and directed by John 'Bud' Cardos. It starred William Devane, Cathy Lee Crosby, Richard Jaeckel and Keenan Wynn.

This is an odd one. The behind-the-scenes story of this film is definitely more interesting than the film itself. The film was begun with Tobe Hooper directing. However, Hooper was fired after only a few days with journeyman director John 'Bud' Cardos taking over. Cardos is not a stylist and did was he was hired to do, which was finish the film on time whatever it took. 

Where it becomes interesting is that the filmmakers decided to alter the story after filming was completed to inject a science fiction aspect to the story. Namely, they made the monster an alien that can shoot lasers from his eyes. Exactly what the original story was is...complicated.

There are reports that the story at that point the story was about an autistic person who had been locked away for most of their life going on a murder spree when they are freed by a house fire. This info seems to originate with an interview with Cardos that was in the May 1984 issue of Cinefantasique. This was later repeated in the commentary that Cardos participated in for the 2017 Code Red Blu-Ray released.  

Which brings us to this novelization. The only screenwriter ever credited on The Dark was Stanford Whitmore. The novelization claims to be based on his screenplay, but it is NOT about an autistic person killing people. It tells the story of a 100-year-old Zombie that cuts off the heads of his victims with a scimitar and then eats them. The father of the first victim and a newscaster band together to investigate what is going on. In all ways the novelization reads like an episode of the Night Stalker TV series, without Carl Kolchak. This is not a bad thing.  A still in the photo section includes a scene of a death BEFORE the alien was added strengthening the case that the alien was a very late addition.

Let's try to unpack this. The final film matches the zombie plot mentioned above save for the lasers. The characters all talk about the monster being a zombie, and never reference that the victims have been "blown up" by lasers. The monster when finally shown is wearing contemporary clothes and does not really match the description of the zombie in the book.  The autistic angle of the plot bears some similarity to Hooper's later THE FUNHOUSE, so perhaps he made that film to get the idea out of his head.

The changes were talked about in issue 12 of Starburst Magazine: 

"Okay, so it was a gamble," admits Larry [Fredericks], the Cinema Shares president. "But after doing our market research...we decided to shift the emphasis from conventional horror to a sci-fi image, which the plot allowed us to do. We re-thought the publicity campaign completely and really put some hours into getting the new art just right. With our experience of selling across the whole range of world markets, we figured we could make the film really work." 

Note, nowhere in the above is the idea of making the film better mentioned. I think the changes were done because the filmmakers had a film that wasn't very good. According to producer Igo Kantor in the above-mentioned 2017 Blu-Ray commentary,  the switch to the alien happened after filming was complete. So switching to an alien was a last-ditch effort to salvage the investment when it became clear the film wasn't very good. 

Watching the film objectively, I think about a minute of alterations were done to support the alien plot-change:

• A prologue that explains that the alien came from the stars was added.
• The scenes of carnage stop before the zombie does anything, with lasers and explosions being overlaid on top of the original footage.
• Some insert shots showing the monster's hands as claw-like and decidedly non-human.
• The climax, which involves the alien battling a slew of police officers, appears to have some new footage to better support the laser angle.  Some full face shots of the alien shooting lasers, some pyrotechnic effects showing the effects of the laser hits.

That's it. I don't see anything else that was added. Of course, based on the novelization we can see that things were removed or changed. But it is clear, at least to me, that the book used the same screenplay for the film that was shot, at least in part. Most of the names are the same, and the basic plot follows the same beats.  The fact that the monster is wearing regular clothes in the film makes me lean toward the autistic person as explaining the monster (in as much as that really explains how he could take so many gunshots and still be alive.)  I think the film had a rushed filming schedule that resulted in something that has a couple good scare scenes but not much coherence.  The producers tried to jazz it up with lasers to try and get their money back. 

So where did the story in the novelization come from?  Given that the filmmakers have repeatedly stated that the monster was an autistic person, I have to conclude that either the author worked from an earlier script that was ultimately changed to what Cardos described, or he took it upon himself to improve things with a story of his own. Cardos came on board about a week into filming, so perhaps there was an earlier script without the autistic person. This could have been what was provided to the author of the book.  I am not sure we will ever know for sure. 

Which is all too bad because this is a good novelization! The author really spends time with things and makes it a satisfying read. Considering that the basic plot does not make complete sense (what is the significance of the blind guy anyway?), the author does a very good job trying to make it make sense.  If nothing else, the book describes a movie I'd much rather watch than the actual film made.

Excerpt:

At five-thirty in the afternoon Randy Morse had just finished making love to his latest conquest for the sixth time that day. She was a lovely Eurasian girl of eighteen named Camille Quam, whom he had met at an actors' workshop a week before. Since then they had been out of each other's sight for only brief periods, even making the rounds of TV studios to read the call-boards together. A good deal of the time, both day and night, they spent in bed together, always at his apartment, because she still lived with her parents. 

Sitting up in bed, naked, Camille leaned over the side of the bed to reach into her purse on the floor. She drew out a marijuana cigarette, a marijuana clip, and a packet of matches. Lighting the joint, she took a deep drag, held it, and passed the joint over to Randy, using the clip. 

Exhaling, she said, "Get it on, lover." 

Randy took a drag and handed back the clip. The phone on a bedside stand rang. Exhaling, he lifted the phone. 

"Hello," he said. 

"Randy?" a mature female voice said. 

"Oh, hi, Marge." 

"Busy tonight?" Marge Madison asked seductively. 

He glanced at Camille. "Why?" he asked. 

"His nibs flew to New York this morning. He's flying back again late tonight, but meantime, I thought perhaps we could discuss that part." 

"Sure," he said instantly. "I'm free."