I quite often make a point of saying that films mean almost nothing to
me. It’s true. I watch movies. I enjoy some of them. Almost always I promptly
forget them and can’t even remember their titles within a few days. I have no
idea about the names of most actors. Lana often tells me the names when we’re
watching movies, but within fifteen minutes I couldn’t give you that name. I
think I’ve looked up something on the internet about movies or actors maybe a
dozen times in my life. I’ve bought exactly six movie DVDs in my life, three of
which I got in a package deal for about 3 bucks (and have never watched since I bought them). Lana has bought two others that I might well
have bought myself under the right circumstances. Yet, I cannot say that movies
haven’t affected me. And there have been some that have influenced my writing.
So, instead of bashing movies too badly today, I’m going to actually talk about
a few movies I really do like and which have been influences on my fiction. To avoid making these posts too long, I'll do it in two parts.
1. Once
Upon a Time in the West. This is my favorite western, and perhaps my
favorite movie. It stars Charles Bronson, Jason Robards, and Henry Fonda. Bronson plays a gunfighter known only as “Harmonica,”
and Fonda is the primary villain. This is really the classic myth of the old
west and I do own a copy of it. I didn’t actually buy the copy, though. It was
a gift. There are lines of dialogue and certain descriptions in the Talera
series and in Cold in the Light that
evoke elements of this film.
2. The Outlaw Josey Wales. This is my
second favorite western, starring Clint Eastwood, of course. I couldn’t tell
you any of the other actors in it. It is actually based on a novel and is one
of the very few cases in history where—for me—the movie is a whole lot better
than the book. This also had an influence on the Talera series.
3. The 13th Warrior, starring
Antonio Banderes and a bunch of other actors I don’t know. This is my favorite
heroic fantasy movie. It’s based on Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead, which is a retelling of the Beowulf story. Both
the book and the movie are very good. The movie has been more of an influence
on my work than the book, primarily because of the very strong visuals. This
movie’s influences can be seen in some of my heroic fantasy, such as “A Whisper
in Ashes.”
4. The Thing, John Carpenter version. This
is my favorite horror movie. I know the faces of many of the actors in it from
other films but the only name I know is Kurt Russell. I thought the casting was
excellent, though, and Carpenter got great performances from all the cast
members. This has definitely influenced my horror fiction.
5. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The one
exception to my “I don’t care about TV/Movies” feelings is Star Trek: The Original Series. I will watch anything and
everything about the original series and have seen every episode and film more
than once. I’ve even watched the cartoon series, which featured the voices and
likenesses of most of the original cast. I know almost all the actors names, which is
unheard of for me with any other series ever. I even know the names of many of
the guest stars and have several of their autographs. Wrath of Khan is by far the best of the movies made with the
original cast and I’ve watched it so many times I largely have it memorized. Perhaps
strangely, however, it has had little actual influence on my writing. I’m sure
it’s influenced overall themes but not many details of the Star Trek Universe
enter my fiction. Part of it is that I seldom write SF of this type, and part
is that I know the stuff so well that I automatically reject it for specifics
in my own fiction. The one exception is probably the Spock eyebrow arch, which
I have had characters do in my stories. Lana bought a copy of this but I fully
endorsed the purchase.
-----
----
