The Professionals by Frank O’Rourke

(pb; 1964 – original title: A Mule for the Marquesa)

From the back cover

“They’re past masters of the violent arts of destruction and killing. They have to conquer the bandit-infested, waterless wasteland and murderous mountains of Mexico. And they have to conquer the most ruthless, intelligent, lethal, and cunning bandit chieftain in all that harsh countryside.

“All of this to rescue a woman who might just be enjoying it where she is!”

Review

Professionals is an entertaining, good western. O’Rourke’s writing alternates between rough, bordering-on-poetic ruminations on nature and the nature of men, excellent and taut dialogue and action sequences, and detailed descriptions of the titular characters prepping for the mission’s completion even as they cross unforgiving mountains and desert to rescue a woman who might not want to be taken back to her husband. Worth reading, this.

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The resulting film was released stateside on December 13, 1966. It was directed by Richard Brooks, who also wrote the screenplay.

Lee Marvin played Fardan. Burt Lancaster played Dolworth. Robert Ryan played Ehrengard. Woody Strode played Jake. Rafael Bertrand played Fierro. Joe De Santis played Ortega. 

Jorge Martínez de Hoyos played Padilla. Claudia Cardinale played Maria. Ralph Bellamy played Grant. Jack Palance played Jesus Raza. 

Marie Gomez played Chiquita. Vaughn Taylor played a “Banker.” 

**One of Will Viharo's stories, People Bug Me, was published in Nightmare Illustrated magazine

One of Will Viharo's stories, People Bug Me, was published the fifth issue of Nightmare Illustrated.  This story is a fast-moving, entertaining mix of two 1957 films, The Sweet Smell of Success and I Was a Teenage Werewolf. 

The plot for People runs thusly: a post-Sweet/on-the-lam reporter, Sidney Falco (Tony Curtis' character in Sweet), is interviewing a small town shrink, Dr. Alfred Brandon (Whit Bissell's character in Teenage) for an article after Brandon has been attacked by one of his patients - a teenage "lycanthrope," according to Brandon, named Tony Rivers (Michael Landon's character in Teenage).  When the interview takes on sinister overtones, Falco - quippy and doubtful about his interview subject - tries to extricate himself from the obviously obsesssed Brandon, but it's too late. . .

This quick-blast, feels-like-a-real-Fifties-film tale made me wish I could see it on the big screen, even as a short.  There probably won't be a film version, but even if there isn't, there's this highly enjoyable sort-of sequel to read, penned by consistently excellent author Viharo.

Check this story - and this equally excellent magazine - out. 

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I also especially enjoyed Viharo's recent "Flicks" column ("Cerebral Cinema") in the latest Bachelor Pad magazine (issue #27), in which he shows knowledgeable appreciation for select body-based horror and similar genre films (e.g., The Brain That Wouldn't Die, 1962; Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia, 1974), many of which are my personal favorites.  This is a must-read for any fan of these genres, so if you're an adult reader and so inclined, pick this up!

The Island of Doctor Moreau by H.G. Wells

(hb; 1896)

From the inside flap:

"[This] is the story of [Edward] Prendick, a common man, who is shipwrecked on a mysterious island populated by Moreau, a scientist and Montgomery, his drunken assistant, a disgraced doctor. Growing suspicious of Moreau's experiments, Prendick discovers Moreau is creating strange, human-like cratures from animals. Wolves, dogs, pumas, oxen and other animals have been transformed by Doctor Moreau's skillful hands and brilliant mind into Beast People, capable of speech and thought.

"Following a shocking sequence of events Prendick is left alone with Moreau's creations, as they revert back to their animal state. . ."



Review:

Wells's fast-paced novel is immediately gripping and timeless, perfectly balancing the action/science fiction aspects of the tale, the emotions of its lead protagonist (Prendick, whose panic suffuses the work) and its horrific men should not play God with nature theme.

True to Frankensteinean form, Doctor Moreau is a curious and barbaric man, often more cruel and perverted than the Beast People he created and brainwashed. And this reader could practically smell Montgomery's desperate, acrid alcoholic sweat, as he, caught in his own fugue-panic, further enables Moreau's escalating (and equally desperate) atrocities.

One of my all-time favorite novels, this: own it, already.

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Seven films have resulted from this novel.

The first, The Island of the Lost, was released in 1921.

This German-language film was directed by Urban Gad, from a screenplay by Hans Berhendt and Bobby E. Lüthge.

Fritz Beckmann played Jim. Hans Berhendt (who also co-scripted the movie) played Pat Quickly. Alf Blutecher played Robert Marston. Tronier Funder played Dr. Ted Fowlen. Ludmilla Hell played Evelyn Wilkinson.

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The second version, Island of Lost Souls, was released stateside in December 1932.

Charles Laughton played Dr. Moreau. Richard Arlen played Edward Parker. Leila Hyams played Ruth Thomas. Bela Lugosi played "Sayer of the Law". Kathleen Burke played "The Panther Woman - Lota". Arthur Hohl played Mr. Montgomery. Tetsu Komai played M'ling. George Irving played "The Consul".

Erle C. Kenton directed the film, from a script by Waldemar Young and Philip Wylie.

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Terror Is A Man was the third cinematic version of Wells's novel, though the novel was never credited as the film's source material. Terror Is A Man was released stateside in November 1959.

Francis Lederer played Dr. Charles Girard. Greta Thyssen played Frances Girard. Richard Derr played Dr. Fitzgerald. Oscar Keesee played Walter Perrera.

Geraldo de Leon directed the film, from a script by Paul Harbor.

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Tim Burton directed, scripted and starred in the 1971 shot-on-Super-8 short The Island of Doctor Agor. It was Burton's first film, and the fourth cinematic adaptation of this Wells novel.

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The Twilight People was released stateside in January 1973. The film did not cite Wells's novel as a source, though this appears to be the case.

John Ashley played Matt Farrell. Pat Woodell played Neva Gordon. Jan Merlin played Steinman. Charles Macauley played Dr. Gordon. Pam Grier played "Ayesa, the Panther Woman". Ken Metcalfe played "Kuzma, the Antelope Man". Kim Ramos played "Primo, the Ape Man".

Eddie Romero, who also co-scripted the film with Jerome Small, directed this fifth film version of Wells's novel.

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The sixth version, The Island of Doctor Moreau, was released stateside on July 13, 1977. Don Taylor directed the film, from a screenplay by Al Ramrus and John Herman Shaner.

Burt Lancaster played Dr. Paul Moreau. Michael York played Andrew Braddock. Nigel Davenport played Montgomery. Barbara Carrera played Maria. Richard Basehart played "Sayer of the Law". Nick Cravat played M'ling.

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The seventh (and latest) cinematic adaptation, The Island of Doctor Moreau, was released stateside on August 23, 1996.

David Thewlis played Edward Douglas. Marlon Brando played Dr. Moreau. Fairuza Balk played Aissa. Val Kilmer played Montgomery. Ron Perlman played "Sayer of the Law". Marco Hoffschneider played M'ling. Temuera Morrison played Azazello. Mark Dascascos played Lo-Mai.

John Frankenheimer, who replaced an uncredited/fired Richard Stanley, directed the film, from a script by Richard Stanley and Ron Hutchinson.

The Osterman Weekend by Robert Ludlum

(pb; 1972) 

 From the inside flap

 "In a secret room in Washington, D.C., a man named John Tanner is asked to stake his life and those of his wife and children in a gamble whose goal and risks no one will fully reveal to him. "In a small suburban town, where only the nicest people live, friends, neighbors, everyone and anyone may be part of a monstrous conspiracy of international evil." 

 Review

Laconic, paranoid, twisty actioner from one of the masters of explosive political thrillers. This is one of Ludlum's more personal efforts, in terms of scale, plot and characterization. The core players in this steadily ratcheted-up drama are four couples who have been friends for twenty years, since the Sixties. Every couple embodies a varied, evolved social/political outlook from that turbulent period. Any possible conflict between these eight individuals has been (mostly) dodged, with eyes toward preserving the calm of their long-distance friendships, nothing more. Throw into the cautious mix Laurence Fassett, a highly-regarded and sympathetic CIA agent, who tells Tanner that his friends are international conspirators -- and has proof to back up his outrageous charge -- and you've got suburban bedlam ready to happen. Ludlum's ruinous fireworks, personal and physical, don't explode until late in the novel. Character-inherent betrayals and maneuvers (some unexpected) precede and follow the fireworks, of course, as does Ludlum's sublimated quirkiness and ever-present sense of humanity. Oddball, moreish, intense entry in Ludlum's oeuvre. Check it out. 

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The Osterman Weekend was released stateside as a film on October 14, 1983. Sam Peckinpah directed the film -- it was his last, in a storied career -- from a script by Ian Masters and Alan Sharp. 

 Rutger Hauer played John Tanner. Meg Foster played Ali Tanner. Craig T. Nelson played Bernard Osterman. Dennis Hopper played Richard Tremayne. Helen Shaver played Virginia Tremayne. Chris Sarandon played Joseph Cardone. Cassie Yates played Betty Cardone. John Hurt played Lawrence Fassett. Burt Lancaster played Maxwell Danforth. Kristen Peckinpah, daughter of Sam Peckinpah and Marie Selland, played Tremayne's secretary.

Valdez Is Coming, by Elmore Leonard

(pb; 1970)

From the back cover:

“They laughed at Roberto Valdez and then ignored him. But when a dark-skinned man was holed up in a shack with a gun, they sent the part-time constable to deal with the problem – and made sure he had no choice but to gun the fugitive down. Trouble was, Valdez killed an innocent man. And when he asked for justice – and some money for the dead man’s woman – they beat Valdez and tied him to a cross. They were still laughing when Valdez came back. And then they began to die...”

Review:

Straightforward Western from Leonard, whose mix of action and dialogue reads in a choppy fashion; this is uncharacteristic of Leonard’s work, whose writing generally has a natural “flow.” That’s not to say that Valdez is mortally flawed – that choppiness actually works, when one considers that the story deals largely with Mexicans whose primary language is Spanish, not English.

Good book, this, possessing less brutality than one would expect (given the back cover blurb). This is not one of Leonard’s best works.

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Valdez Is Coming was released stateside as a film on April 9, 1971.

Burt Lancaster played Valdez. Susan Clark played Gay Erin. Jon Cypher played Frank Tanner. Richard Jordan played R.L. Davis. Hector Elizondo had a bit part as a “Mexican rider.”

Edwin Sherin directed, from a script by Roland Kibbee and David Rayfiel.