The real Al G and Sahara

As I said in my initial post a few days back, I found Clive Cussler novels because of the movie poster for Sahara.

I saw the movie, and I liked it fine, but I came out of it and said "It is almost there. There is something missing". And that makes it a good time, but not a great movie.

Movies of novels will never be "as good as the book" or able to make the book appear on screen. You cannot take a 500 page book and make a 2, 2 1/2 movie out of it.

Look at Harry Potter. The first two movies, especially the first one, crammed so much in from the books, but the feeling was different than the book. And the third one got it right - the cut scenes from the book to make the feeling of the book, the subtext, if you will, appear on the screen. And I think they will do the same with this next movie Goblet of Fire.

But I have not read Sahara yet, I am still on Dirt Pitt # 7 (Deep Six). So I will repost when I read the book, and watch the movie again when it is on cable.

But the argument that the book is better is silly - there is no way it can be. They have to be treated as seperate, but related, entities.

As for CC suing - well, if his contract was breached, yeah - he has the legal right. And most politicians are lawyers....so that comment must have been from the hip. That is all I will say about that.

I for one read the description of Pitt and Al in the books, and rarely picture MM or SZ as the characters, though in Deep Six when Al lights up the cigar he stole from Sanddecker and calls Pitt to tell him he was too late in Florida to get Loren off the ship, (I tried to be as vague as possible in the way I described that, for I do not want to spoil the book for people who have not read it yet), I pictured Zahn at a desk, because it fit.

Regardless, I think Zahn was the best thing in the movie, and though I liked Cruz and MM, I think as the books describe Al and Dirk, purely looks-wise, they were miscast. But they did a great job anyway. They worked well together, I felt. And I liked what they did. They got the banter, the friendship. They just do not look like we all envision them, as they are described, by CC.

John Grisham sells all his books to the movies, and only a handful of them made serious money or got good adaptions. Watching The Firm in the theater, I went out and read the book afterwards, because I could not believe the ending of the movie was the ending of the book everyone was reading two summers before. There was no way a story could end like that, and everyone on the beach was reading it, word of mouth being read this book! - with an ending like that. And I was right - they changed the ending for the movie.

If people like the story, and the characters, they will find Sahara if they haven't already. That is why they release movie tie-in covers of novels.

This post has been edited by brocktoon75 on Sep 30 2005, 05:40 PM

Well put... thanks for the post!

Hey everyone! I agree with you brocktoon75.

My boyfriend and his father have been trying to get me to read these books for ages and I kept putting it off. When I found out they were making a movie I decided it was time to start reading. I've been hooked ever since. I wasn't very far along the series when the movie came out, but I fell in love with both the books and the movie.

I think they could have done a better job of Pitt's character in the movie, but I love all of the choices for actors. I think Steve Zahn did a great job portraying Al and I think Matthew did a wonderful job with Dirk. I wish that there was just "the perfect actor" to play every book to movie adaptation, but since there very rarely is...I have to look past it.

As I was going to say though, I saw the movie before I read the book and I see them as similar but not the same. To me they will always be two seperate stories. I can enjoy them both the same.

I do like how the story of the Texas fit in the movie better than in the book. It seemed almost as if the discovery was an afterthought in the book.

I hope Cussler lets them do another movie and I hope they follow his wishes. He did okay Matthew for Dirk, Steve for Al, and W.H.M for Sandecker. I think William H. Macy did a superb job with Sandecker.

Hiya, sharkluver22 and welcometo the forum!!

I don't think that the discovery of the Texas in the novel was an afterthought, though I can see why some think that. It's just so much more happened in the book that the ironclad plot gets pushed aside a little, whereas the movie focused more on the ship and Dirk's quest to find it. At least, that's my take on it.

I think the ship was intended to be an afterthought in the book. Pitt and the NUMA crew were looking for the source of the red tide, not the ironclad. I think Sahara will be one of my re-reads next summer when I have time to read, just so I can brush up on the differences between the book and the movie, but the Texas was not a major focus of the book by any means, it was just something that kept getting referenced to in different ways at random times.

Erik, you know nothing in Dr. Cussler's novels are "random"

And you're quite right in your analysis, my friend.

I don't know about that....Steven King managed quite well with "The Stand" and although it was a bit long, it was well worth the effort...

Off topic but didn't Al have a Japanese girlfriend in Dragon? Been a while since I read it. He "tamed" her.

Cheers

Andy

Well, it has finally happened. I've worn out (actually severely scratched) my copy of Sahara and have to purchase a new one. Luckily they are a bit cheaper than when the DVD was first released. I only wish that the Australian version had all the DVD special features, rather than just the movie. Does anyone know whether there is an Australian version with the special features?

Unfortunately I don't know about the Australian version, however if it is anything like here in the UK then I hate to report that we haven't had a copy released with the special features Thank Goodness for ebay!!!!

I thought MM was a fantastic choice for DP (I could be biased...) I know he looks a bit different and all, but his personality and everything just really capture Dirk well. I was a bit disappointed that Rudi Gunn seemed a lot softer than he is in the books, but I s'pose you need a "weak guy makes good" character to sell tickets...

Can't see PC/Eva being a real love interest for Pitt, but she played the part pretty well... love how the WHO doctor knows how to fire an AK47

SZ was great as Giordino, although quite different from the character in the book, but him and MM seemed to have the same chemistry as you'd expect from Al and Dirk.

As for Dr C's stand - I think suffering a disappointment like Raise the Titanic (I vaguely remember seeing it about 12 years ago...) would have a huge impact on how he would deal with movie offers, but I think maybe he could bend a bit. By all means, if there's a broken contract then, sue. But he should at least watch the movie before he writes it off.

I would love to see MM and SZ in a series of Pitt movies, better than Bond in my opinion, but like I said... I'm biased.

I agree that SAHARA was a great movie and that Clive should drop his asinine lawsuit and let the MAJORITY of us enjoy more films. Clive's remarks on June 13th were,in my opinion unwarrented.
MM and company gave the material much respect under the circumstances and really brought Dirk Pitt to the screen the way it should be. I am surprised at Clive for judging before he has seen it. He will always be entitled to his opinion but in every movie poll I have seen more people like the movie then dislike it. He should ask his friend Tom Clancy what he thinks of Harrison Ford as Jack Ryan or remember what they did to James Bond after GOLDFINGER. Ian Fleming would be spinning in his grave. Don't forget Donald Hamilton,an author who watched his gritty hero,Matt Helm, become a boozy Dean Martin. So, again I have to say,that Clive's creation was treated very well. Maybe some day,he will wake up and see that and realise that more of his fans want the movies to continue. Now why would an author not want his fans to be happy? MM,Steve Zahn,and William Macy all did fabulous jobs. Let's hope this entitled,though silly, lawsuit is resolved soon so we don't have to watch a great author continue to want to be perceived as a whiney old man.