John D. MacDonald

[Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)]

Today would have been writer John D. MacDonald's 95th birthday. He was the creator of the Travis McGee series of books and a favorite of many. His Empty Copper Sea and The Green Ripper were two of my favorites.

The story of how he persevered and strove to become a writer is inspirational in itself.

 

[Baron Scicluna]

Yeah, but did he have his picture on bubble-gum cards?

 

[Moderator1]

A few years ago, I subscribed to some service that sent me two a month for 10 bucks until I had the whole series. The Lonely Silver Rain was the last one, right?

 

[Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)]

The Lonely Silver rain was the last.

MacDonald was so fun to read that many overlooked how good a writer he was. I like how every so often other writers will have one of their characters reading a Travis McGee story as part of the narrative. Carl Hiaassen would do that pretty frequently.

 

[The Big Ragu]

I've never read a John D. MacDonald book. About the only things I know about him (and maybe know wrongly) is that he wrote pulp fiction and he wrote a ton of books. If I wanted to pick up something by him, where would you suggest I even start?

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Ragu, start with the Travis McGee series. They all have colors in the titles, so they're not hard to identify. MacDonald's books are full of how-to tips on doing illegal and almost illegal stuff. He must've bought a beer for every shady looking guy he met in his long life. They're also pretty good descriptive social history of Florida and the other warm states in the 60s and 70s as they were in the process of becoming the Sun Belt instead of the South as it had been known.

 

[friend of the friendless]

Sirs, Madames,

He was very mad at my favorite Ross MacDonald for his last book, The Blue Hammer. You know, the McGee/color-in-title thing. Strained a decent relationship. The first reference to the Blue Hammer surfaces very late and it's a stunning bit of prose.

I'd say Archer has it all over McGee but that's just me (and a Canadian thing).

YHS, etc

 

[Michael_ Gee]

The Archer books are excellent. And it should be pointed out that the Archer title "The Zebra-Striped Hearse," which is sort of a color title, predates the first Travis McGee novel by two years, 1962 to 1964. Maybe it was a dual homage.

 

[Buck]

Every novelist should include a scene in which a character is reading Kilgore Trout.

 

[Evil Bastard (aka Chris_L)]

Every novelist should include a scene in which a character is reading Kilgore Trout.

Or perhaps a reference to wide open beaver?

 

[friend of the friendless]

Mr Gee,

Trust me. Ross wasn't paying homage to John with Blue Hammer. His own man. Wouldn't have occurred to him. Incredible writer.

YHS, etc

 

[JR]

Have read every single one of the Travis McGee novels but it's been a long time.

Thanks to Chris am going to revisit them

And I think John D and Ross are two different writers.

 

[Driftwood]

I've been reading the Travis McGee books while all the craziness is going on.
It's dang amazing how much foresight MacDonald had in terms of politics, environmentalism, and society at large.
He was making calls in the mid 60s that are torn from today's headlines.

 

[Slacker]

In addition to the Travis McGee series,
this book is JDM (not JDV) at his finest.
Provably and demonstrably, though.

Who hasn't spent 20 or 30 years wishing
for just one week with that magical watch?

 

[Driftwood]

At least once a week.
I've never read that particular book, but I remember and episode of Twilight Zone that had a similar plot.

 

[Slacker]

If you had that watch, you could rip off people for gazillions of dollars, bed porn stars and supermodels for decades and then take over the wor ... hey, wait a minute, WTF?

 

[Chet the Jet]

Why no Travis McGee movie (s) ?

 

[Slacker]

Why no Travis McGee movie (s) ?

WIKI leaks ...

• MacDonald's novel Soft Touch was the basis for the 1961 movie Man-Trap.
• His 1957 novel The Executioners was filmed during 1962 as Cape Fear featuring Gregory Peck and Robert Mitchum. Martin Scorsese directed the 1991 remake of Cape Fear starring Robert DeNiro and Nick Nolte. Because of the success of the films, The Executioners has been republished under the Cape Fear title, even though the novel is set in Florida and does not mention Cape Fear, North Carolina.
• The novel Cry Hard, Cry Fast was adapted as a two-part episode of the television series Run for Your Life during November 1967.
• A 1970 movie adaptation of the novel Darker Than Amber was directed by Robert Clouse from a screenplay by MacDonald and Ed Waters. It featured Rod Taylor as series character Travis McGee.
• The novella Linda was filmed twice for television, in 1973 (with Stella Stevens in the title role) and in 1993 (with Virginia Madsen).
• The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything was adapted for a 1980 TV movie. It resulted in a 1981 sequel, The Girl, the Gold Watch and Dynamite.
• The 1980 TV movie Condominium, based on MacDonald's novel, featured Dan Haggerty and Barbara Eden.
• Sam Elliott played Travis McGee in the TV adaptation of The Empty Copper Sea, titled Travis McGee (1983). It relocated McGee to California, eliminating the Florida locales basic to the novel.
• The 1984 movie A Flash of Green featured Ed Harris. Victor Nuñez, who wrote the screenplay and directed the movie, was nominated for Grand Jury Prize at the 1985 Sundance Film Festival.

 

[Driftwood]

There were rumors about 10 years ago of Leonardo DiCaprio buying the rights to do a McGee movie, but it never materialized.

 

[Driftwood]

The one thing about the McGee books that didn't age well is any mention of money.
I'm obviously smart enough to understand inflation, but it's distracting to be reading along and someone be making a big deal about an amount that is essentially pocket change today.
It's kind of funny.