Okay so I'm a little late in noting the 50th anniversary of this one. Came out in '58. I'm assuming that nobody celebrated it last year, though -- so I'm okay.
The film is an absolute horror and so an absolute delight. Nobody has ever done anybody as bad as Mankiewicz did Graham Greene. It's really amazing. Philip Noyce set out to right the wrong of the Mankiewicz film in his 2002 remake. It's a good film, with inspired casting (Brendan Fraser as Pyle), but it just makes me want to read the book. That Mankiewicz film, though. I'm telling you: astonishing! I've come to love WW II hero Audie Murphy in the role of Alden Pyle (see pic). If you watch the film even slightly outside of its own context -- and it's impossible not to -- you see this shining lack of self-knowledge, this stunning purity in that regard....
Something to see, fo sho.....
In related news: for the first time, I borrowed a character in something I did. The "Boston Gymnopédie" stars Alden Pyle in his late 30's boyhood.
2 comments:
I really like the book, I'll say that.
yeah it'd be right up there on my 'read most times' list...
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