Thursday, July 10, 2014

The Seventh, by Richard Stark

(pb; 1966, 2009: seventh novel in the Parker series.  Also published under the title The SplitForeword by Luc Sante)


From the back cover:

"The robbery was a piece of cake.  The getaway was clean.  And seven men were safely holed up in different places while Parker held all the cash.  But somehow the sweet heist of a college football game turned sour.  Parker's woman is murdered and the take stolen.  Now Parker's looking for the lowlife who did him dirty, while the cops are looking for seven clever thieves - and Parker must outrun them all. . ."



Review:

This entry in this taut, reader-gripping series is filled with especially quirky and crazy characters and situations which collide with disastrous, often laugh-out-loud results.   When a plotted killing - which has little to do with Parker - and an incidental robbery - which directly involves Parker - occurs, the master thief and his six partners (who have just completed an easy-peasy heist) fan out to relocate their missing loot, while a killer stalks Parker and the cops search for all of them.

Once again, Stark nails it.  Seventh, like all the preceding Parker novels, is worth owning.

Followed by The Handle.


#

The resulting film, The Split, was released stateside on November 4, 1968.  Gordon Flemyng directed the film from a screenplay by Robert Sabaroff.

Jim Brown played McClain (cinematic stand-in for Parker).  Diahann Carroll played Ellen "Ellie" Kennedy.  Jack Klugman played Eric Kifka.  Ernest Borgnine played Bert Clinger.  Julie Harris played Gladys.  Donald Sutherland played David Negli.

Gene Hackman played Detective Lt. Walter Brill.  Warren Oates played Marty Gough.  James Whitmore played Herb Sutro. 

An uncredited Thordis Brandt played a "Police Clerk".  An uncredited Chuck Hicks played a "Physical Instructor".

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