Klute (1971) Novelization

Written by William Johnston.  The film was written by Andy Lewis and David E. Lewis and was directed by Alan J. Pakula.  It starred Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, and Roy Scheider.

Klute is a reasonably effective mystery bolstered by an Oscar-winning performance by Jane Fonda.  She really is very good in this, and together with her Oscar-nominated role in They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), she was on something of a tear in the early 1970's.  Acting-wise at least.  She was also becoming known for her politics, but her acting in these two films back-to-back is impressive. 

The film was the second to be directed by Alan J. Pakula, and it is the first to fully realize Pakula's "stylized documentary" approach, which is full of close-ups and off-kilter shots.  Cinematographer Gordon Willis was a big part of that, and Klute is visually impressive.  The sense of menace that the film generates is perhaps not quite to the level that Pakula was able to achieve with his next two films, THE PARALLAX VIEW (1974) and ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN (1976) but you can tell this was made by the same person.  

This novelization hews very closely to the screenplay, which is in turn very close to the final film.  There are a couple of differences but nothing particularly noteworthy.  There is a psychiatrist character who is female in the film, but male in the screenplay.  The ending was improved in the film as opposed to what is here--not of the mystery but with how the two lead characters' relationship is depicted.  The author of the novelization resorts to presenting dialogue as in a screenplay format too often.

Nothing is illuminated through the novelization process, but it reads pretty well.

From the back cover:

Klute was a cop from Pennsylvania. Bree Daniel was a New York call girl. They met when Klute came to the city looking for his best friend. Bree was his only lead but she couldn't remember the man. Or so she said. Her world of sex and hard drugs fascinated and repelled Klute. Its wanton cruelty represented everything he hated about the city.

But as Klute and Bree chased the missing man through New York's depraved underground society they found themselves drawn irresistibly together.

And then the killer appeared...  

Excerpt:

Carrying his suitcase, Klute stepped out onto the New York City street from the subway, then paused and looked about, uncertain as to which direction to take. After a moment, he sighted the street sign he was looking for. He set out, checking the addresses of the brownstones along the way.

This was the part of the city that was rarely mentioned in the travel folders. Garbage cans at the curbs, litter and dog droppings in the gutters, dim lights, downcast eyes and sullen faces. It was the part that made him appreciate most the green mountains and fertile fields of Pennsylvania.

A few blocks later, Klute reached the address he was seeking. Again, he halted. Squinting through the dimness, he peered at the For Rent sign in the window of the basement-level shop, then looked up toward the light that came from the window of the top floor apartment. Moving on, he ascended the steps to the foyer. After locating Bree Daniel's name on her mail box, he entered the building and climbed the stairs to the top level. When he reached her door, he knocked.

The peephole opened. Then a female voice, sounding annoyed, spoke from inside. "What is it?"

"Miss Daniel?" Klute said.

"So? What do you want?"

"My name is Klute---John Klute---"

The door opened approximately three inches. He could see enough of Bree Daniel's face to recognize it from the photograph he carried in his suitcase. Klute put his hand against the door to push it open. There was a crunching sound as it was stopped by the chain-lock.

Klute felt somewhat embarrassed, as if he had been caught trying to break and enter.

"Can I talk to you?" he said.

"What about?" Her manner was cold, suspicious.

"My name's John Klute."

"You said that."

"I'm an investigator," Klute told her. "I'd like to ask you some questions about Tom Grunemann."

"Who?" she asked, frowning.

"Tom Grunemann. He wrote you some letters."

"Geeeee . . ." she replied, forcing a slight smile, pretending innocence.

"He was a research engineer at the Tuscarora Laboratories in Pennsylvania," Klute went on. "He disappeared. I've been hired to look for him.

"Lucky you," she said. "Everybody ought to have something to do." She started to close the door---but Klute had a foot against it. "Believe me, he's not here," she told him.

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 make as much money as possible from the film. MGM was in poor financial shape at the time and was desperate to release something that would bring money in.

The producer removed over twenty minutes of material to bring 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 elements cut before filming, as well as the producer's trims. 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.  One example: 

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 Great Train Robbery

The Great Train Robbery

Directed by Michael Crichton.  Written by Michael Crichton.  Stars Sean Connery, Lesley-Anne-Down, Donald Sutherland,   
1978, 110 minutes, Color, Rated PG. 

Michael Crichton had an interesting film career in the 1970's. His first job as director was the television movie PURSUIT (1972) which was based on his novel Binary (published under his 'John Lange' pen name).  PURSUIT is a perfectly fine little film but it doesn't really point to any great talent. His first big-screen film was WESTWORLD (1973) based on his original screenplay, and was a corker of an idea executed far better than the meager budget allocated to it would have predicted.  Blessed with an above-average cast (especially the stunt casting of Yul Brynner as a robot), WESTWORLD shows some real flair for film storytelling.  Crichton moved on to other projects after WESTWORLD, namely writing The Great Train Robbery (1975) and Eaters of the Dead (1976), but returned to filmmaking when he accepted the directing and screenwriting chores for COMA (1978), which was based on the novel by Robin Cook. COMA is quite effective and fits in nicely within his oeuvre, even though it was not his original idea.  Along with PRIMARY EVIDENCE (1989), ROBBERY stands apart from Crichton's other films by lacking any science fiction elements. 

THE GREAT TRAIN ROBBERY (1978) is an old-fashioned adventure tale based on fact and blessed with sparkling performances by Sean Connery, Donald Sutherland and Lesley-Anne Down. The film is set in London in 1853 and does a good job of depicting this thanks to the opulent cinematography by Geoffrey Unsworth.  The bulk of the running time is taken up with Connery's plan to plan and execute the world's first robbery on a moving train.   The robbery itself occurs over the last twenty-some minutes.  The plan involves copying four keys to open safes on the train that contain gold bullion while the train is moving.  In 1855, no one had ever successfully robbed a train in motion so it was a big deal at the time.  

Sean Connery plays Edward Pierce, mastermind of the plan.  The film shows the steps that led up to the robbery and the robbery itself.  The film compresses and slightly rearranges the events but remains faithful to the source novel. Those involved in the robbery were caught in 1857 and put on trial, but Pierce escaped and presumably lived out his life in luxury, as the money was never recovered.  Since all the pertinent facts of the story come from the trial transcripts, if they had not been caught, we would have no real way of knowing how it was done.  

Crichton states in the novel that he took all the dialogue from the trial.  It lends an aura of authenticity to the book, but ultimately becomes its biggest problem, as almost nothing is known with certainty about Edward Pierce.  Given the lack of confirmable information that is available, it is not even entirely clear that this was his real name.  Therefore, everything we know about him comes from what others said about him, and we know he lied to them.  Crichton largely overcomes this issue in the novel by layering in much detail about the time period in which the story is set.  It's a great read and very entertaining.  The film cannot spend so much time on the context of the events, but between Connery's charisma and the excellent production design, the film moves along in a way that you aren't really aware of the lack of true understanding of Pierce.

Other changes from the novel and film:

• Two people are combined into the character that Sutherland plays.  He is a pickpocket and "screwsman" (someone who makes copies of keys) in the film; in the novel, he is just the screwsman, with another person being the pickpocket.  
• One of the keys has to be obtained from Mr. Henry Fowler, who in the film is a lecherous bank executive who carries one of the four keys needed to open the safes that contain the gold.  Pierce is able to copy the key by setting him up with a prostitute (played by his accomplice Lesley-Anne Down).  There is subterfuge involved and Down's character does not have to actually do anything with the man.  In the novel, he is still lecherous but suffering from the effects of a venereal disease.  Pierce sets him up with a prostitute who is a virgin (and frightfully young) and is able to copy the key while they are engaged in their activities.
• In the film, Pierce is caught at the station directly after the robbery.  He is put on trial and convicted but escapes as he is being led from the courthouse with the help of Down's and Sutherland's character.  In the novel everyone gets away.  However, two years later Sutherland's character is brought in by the police after a woman he knows tells them that he had a part in the gold robbery.  He eventually gives up Pierce and this is how everyone is caught.  Pierce still escapes, but Sutherland's character ends up in jail.

Just when things start to drag a bit too obviously--somewhere around the act of copying the fourth key--the film finally gets to the robbery itself.  Up until this point, the film was lightweight, agreeable and mostly fun, but the train sequence elevates the film and is far and away the most impressive thing that Crichton ever filmed.  Connery was just shy of 50 when he made this film, which makes his decision to do all of his own stunts on the train impressive.  The film shows him climbing onto the roof of the moving train without a safety harness, which is astonishing.  When Connery is almost taken out by low bridges several times it truly appears as though he was in real danger.  In his book Travels, Crichton explains that these scenes were carefully planned out which makes the execution all the more impressive, at least from a cinematic standpoint.

This is not to say that Connery was not in real danger at times.  Crichton also relates in Travels how the train was supposed to stay at 35 miles per hour, but as it was a period train there was no speedometer.  The engineers estimated the speed the best they could by counting how many telephone poles they passed in a minute.  Later, the helicopter crew confirmed that for at least one of the sequences the train was in fact going closer to 55 miles per hour.  This gives the film an element of danger that it probably doesn't deserve.  Still, an agreeable film that has always been a personal favorite.

I watched it this time on the Kino Lorber Blu-Ray.  It's an older transfer but looks decent enough.  The disc includes Crichton's audio commentary, originally on the MGM/UA laser disc.  Crichton is an intelligent speaker and it's a great commentary.