Today is July 12th which marks the anniversary of the birth of my favorite author Donald Westlake who was born on this day in 1933.
Today's Movie Time features 2 films based on recurring characters featured in Westlake's novels.
Parker is a professional robber specializing in large-scale, high-profit crimes, Parker is the main protagonist of 24 novels Westlake wrote under his Richard Stark pseudonym.
Parker is callous, meticulous and perfectly willing to commit murder. He will not put up with your bullshit if you try to fuck up his carefully planned robbery.
Which is what happens in the film called Parker which came out on 2013. Jason Statham stars as Parker and pretty much does the tactiturn, coldly violent persona we got in The Transporter.
Parker takes a job for his mentor Hurley to head up a crew he doesn't know, consisting of Melander, Carlson, Ross, and Hardwicke.
They rob the Ohio State Fair, but Hardwicke alters part of Parker's plan, resulting in an unnecessary death.
Melander wants to use the funds from the state fair job to fund a bigger score, a jewel heist in Palm Beach FL.
Parker wants nothing more to do with these fuckers.
- they didn't follow the state fair job exactly has Parker planned it.
- not following the plan cause someone to die who didn't need to to be killed
- he didn't sign up for any jewel robbery shit and just wants his share of the state fair loot.
Harkwicke shoots Parker in the head, tosses him out of the car and leave him to die by the side of the road.
This just pisses Parker off.
Parker wants his share of the state fair money, nothing more, nothing less.
And he wants to make Melander, Hardwicke and the gang pay by making them unalive.
Hurley tries to talk Parker out of it but...
Well, a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
Parker goes to Palm Beach and masquerades as a rich Texas oil baron looking for an expensive house. Which crossses his path with real estate agent Leslie Rodgers (Jennifer Lopez), recently divorced down on her luck and forced to live with her mom. Figuring out that the "rich Texas oil baron" is a phony cover, she hits up Parker to help him with whatever con game he's up to.
Leslie really needs to money and REALLY does NOT want to live with her mom anymore.
Parker is reluctant to take on a partner but she does know the area and she also comes in handy when a violent altercation leaves Parker a bloody, broken mess.
This does not stop Parker. He is implacable in his mission for revenge.
Long story made short: Parker gets his revenge.
It's ain't easy.
It ain't pretty.
The complexities of a Westlake plot are on display in Parker but the film as a generic 1980's action film feel and the unemotive Jason Statham brings nothing of value other than kicking ass. God bless her Jennifer Lopez who brings some level of humor and heart to an otherwise dour production.
Let's move on to movie #2.
Based on the first John Dortmunder novels of the same name,
The Hot Rock is a 1972 American crime comedy-drama film directed by Peter Yates and written by William Goldman.
The movie stars Robert Redford as Dortmunder.
In 1971, after John Dortmunder is released from his latest stint in prison, he is approached by Andy Kelp about another job.
Dr. Amusa seeks a valuable gem in the Brooklyn Museum that is of great significance to his people in his country in Africa, stolen during colonial times and then re-stolen by various African nations.
Dortmunder, with Kelp, driver Stan Murch and explosives expert Allan Greenberg, devises an elaborate plan to steal the gem from the museum.
The scheme works.
Except for the part where Greenberg gets caught.
And he was the one with the diamond.
Before he's arrested, Greenberg swallows the diamond.
So Dortmunder and the gang busts Greenberg out of jail.
Except he doesn't have the diamond.
Eventually the diamond passed through his digestive system and came out. So Greenberg hid the diamond in the jail.
So Dortmunder devises an elaborate plan to steal the gem from the museum.
The scheme works.
Except for the part where the diamond isn't where Greenberg hid it.
Greenberg's father was the only person who knew where the diamond was hidden.
So Dortmunder devises an elaborate plan to steal the gem from Greenberg's dad.
The scheme works.
Except for the part where...
You can guess where this is going.
Dortmunder has to keep stealing this damn rock over and over.
The Hot Rock is a fun comic crime caper movie that I enjoyed immensely. I wasn't quite sure I was gonna buy the very handsome and charismatic Robert Redford as the dour and non-descript John Dortmunder but I think he conveyed the sense of fatalism and doom I've come to associate with Dortmunder.
I have not read the book so I don't know if this was an invention of Westlake or screenwriter William Goldman but the use of a hypnotist to make the last robbery attempt work seemed a bit of a stretch to me.
Westlake originally conceived the plot for The Hot Rock as a Parker novel but found the premise of stealing the diamond over and over too amusing for Parker. So Westlake created John Dortmunder and his off kilter gang of theives and grifters who went on to feature in their own series of novels.
Later today, I've got a Dave-El's Book Report on one of Donald Westlake's Dortmunder novels, Drowned Hopes.
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