It was a slow weekend at the movies, according to most, with “Hansel and Gretel” taking the top spot overall with a $19 million take. “Movie 43″ was the only other new release and it came in 7th overall with $5 million. So “Parker” came in second among new releases and is scoring better among audience members than critics. According to Rotten Tomatoes, critics have given positive marks only 37% of the time, while audience members give positive marks 66% of the time. Nothing surprising here, as so many critics are never more impressed by anything but their own pithy commentary.

Still, there is something to be absorbed here and the first point I take away is that many critics are approaching the film as merely a Jason Statham vehicle and scoring it in that context. Possibly the fairest of those critiques (with an understanding that I haven’t read every review out there) came from NPR’s Stephanie Zacharek, who genuinely analyzed the marriage of Don’s creation and Statham’s screen presence [emphasis hers]:

“As Westlake himself explained, Parker is angry: ‘Not hot angry — cold angry.’ Statham, with those inquisitive, cautious eyes and that slow-burning purr of a voice, can act cold, but he can never be cold. Even at his coolest, he’s all heat.”

Even though her review goes on to be quite positive, this insight tells me that the essential “Parkerness” has yet to be fully absorbed and exposed, whether by the script, the directing, the expectations of Statham or some combination or other force. It’s not exactly definable but it is fixable. This may be, however, one of the main reasons that Don almost never chose to write screenplays based on his own novels. He generally thought it was better for a fresh pair of eyes to translate the prose to screenplay. No judgements here, because the script is fine and is probably just as gerrymandered by outside forces as a Pennsylvania congressional district right about now.

A lot of the reviews tended to focus on Jennifer Lopez. Some critics appear to be disappointed that they didn’t get to see J-Lo’s bosom. But even without those blinkers on, this is what I see as typical of the sillier reviews:

“As a ditsy real-estate agent named Leslie, Lopez seems to be in a whole different movie, a working-girl comedy full of high heels and morning lattes. As a result, “Parker” winds up with the worst of both worlds: It’s pointlessly violent and nauseatingly cute.”

Pointlessly violent? Seriously? That’s a criticism? Of course it’s pointlessly violent. It’s a Hollywood action-crime flick. What did you expect? If that’s your threshold, maybe Hollywood movies aren’t for you after all. And if J-Lo’s portrayal of Leslie is “nauseatingly cute,” I have no idea what adjectives could possibly be used to describe “Legally Blonde,” just as a for instance. Lucky for that reviewer, the Leslie character is a one-off in the novels and is unlikely to reappear in future Parker films, so she won’t have to expand her vocabulary any time soon.

There have been some great reviews, as well. As if to counter the short shrift given to Lopez in the Newsday review, Daniel Eagen, over at FilmJournal International, had this to say:

“Given an actual character and not a role designed for a diva, Lopez does her best work in years. Life has stripped Leslie of her illusions, and Lopez isn’t afraid to play her desperate and even a little tawdry. Anchored by a thoroughly convincing Michael Chiklis as a ruthless ringleader, the supporting cast is aces.”

Statham with Emma Booth

I couldn’t agree more. Lopez has real acting chops that are obvious when you stop expecting the eye-candy to wiggle its behind on demand. If the hot body was all you were looking for, of course you’d be disappointed. And perhaps here Lopez is a victim of her own success — some critics just won’t be able to wrap their heads around someone with J-Lo’s looks and celebrity status playing a character that minimizes those traits. But the film is called “Parker,” not “Leslie.” She’s not supposed to consume the screen in this role. That’s Statham’s job. And he did it quite well according to most honest accounts. And the supporting cast is very good. Even Emma Booth’s “Clair” grew on me in the second viewing. She’s still young but she has depth and great potential.

Possibly the most level-headed review I’ve seen, from Laremy Legel at Film.com, includes this summation:

“In the end, we’re left with a matter-of-fact protagonist who is as direct as he is effective. Sometimes in life, simple pleasures can be rewarding, and that’s certainly the case here. ‘Parker’ is not a particularly innovative film, but it’s no less effective for the blemish.”

That’s fairly accurate. “Parker,” the movie, doesn’t break new cinematic ground or feature actors trying to channel great figures from history. As movie-making goes, it’s high craftsmanship of a familiar genre. And in that context, it is a great success. Place this movie against other versions of the Parker novels brought to the screen and it holds up quite well, certainly closer to “Point Blank” and “The Outfit” than to “Made in U.S.A.” and “Payback” on the spectrum of good to bad. Throw in the butchery done to poor Dortmunder in “Jimmy the Kid” and “Why Me?” and you can see why I, and the rest of the family, are quite pleased with this outcome.

Westlake at work… well almost.

And this is where I have to mention that I know Don would have had his criticisms. Don was a perfectionist and wasn’t shy about it. There are any number of things he would probably take issue with. But the blessing and the curse of genius is that we’ll never know what those criticisms would be because nobody thinks they way he did. Nobody. The most die-hard of Parker devotees, most dedicated of Westlake fans, cannot possibly know how Don would have perceived this film or what, specifically, he would have liked or hated. I knew him for 38 years, grew up around the guy, and his widow, Abby, spent countless hours reading his manuscripts and offering suggestions, and between the two of us, we could only vaguely guess at what he might think — and we would probably be wrong. The one thing I think I do know is that Don would have been thrilled that Parker was being perceived as a real series and not just another one-off. And that means that the filmmakers have time to tell Parker’s story slowly. Don’t let this be the definitive takeaway. There will be more.

So, chin up, Parker lovers. This was a good weekend for our guy. It’s a good film with a good cast and a devoted production team that will be back again. Les Alexander knows what he has in Parker and isn’t about to let it get screwed up. Stick around. This is going to be fun!

The film premiered at the Museum of Modern Art theater in midtown Manhattan Wednesday night. Thanks to L’Oreal Paris for co-sponsoring the festivities. Cast members Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez, Patti LuPone, Emma Booth and Micah Hauptman attended the screening, along with director Taylor Hackford, who introduced the film and the stars. Almost everyone attended the after party and all were gracious and generous with their time. Producer Les Alexander, the mastermind of the entire project, was on hand and clearly very proud of both the film and the team that made it. Hat tip to John J. McLaughlin for the excellent screenplay.

I managed only a few low-quality pictures with my cell phone before giving up so, alas, you’ll have to go see the movie to get a glimpse of the stars. And I hope you do, because this is among the most faithful screen adaptations of Don’s work to date. So go see the movie and let us know what you thought.

Parker Trailer

From Entertainment Weekly:

“Parker first appeared in the 1962 novel The Hunter, the first of more than 20 books to feature the career criminal written by prolific author Donald E. Westlake under the pen name Richard Stark. The character has previously broken any number of laws in a clutch of movies including 1967’s Point Blank and 1999’s Payback, but always after a name change (in Point Blank, Lee Marvin played “Walker” while, for the Mel Gibson-starring Payback, the character went by the name “Porter”). Parker director Taylor Hackford (Ray, Against All Odds) and screenwriter John J. McLaughlin (Black Swan) have, of course, very much rectified that situation, even naming this adaptation of Westlake’s 2001 novel Flashfire in honor of Westlake’s original creation.”

Actually, it was the producers who rectified the situation and I’m looking forward to the development of the film version of the Parker character in subsequent productions. And let’s be clear, there is a difference between the film version and the book version of just about every character ever adapted to the screen from a novel. This Parker is not precisely the same as the one found in Don’s original work. And while there has been some grousing among die-hard Parker fans about the personal code espoused by the film version (not a spoiler — it’s in the trailer), it’s actually not too far from the implied code that the book version of Parker acted out in each of the novels.

Many DEW (and especially Parker) fans know the reason that the name “Parker” was never used in a film adaptation until now. But to clear up the misconception for others, while it’s true that Don never gave permission in his lifetime for the name “Parker” to be used in any film adaptations, he had always maintained that he would allow use of the name if the filmmakers would agree to produce the books as a series instead of one-offs.  Les Alexander, long-time friend and producer of the Parker movie, did agree to make a series and the production company purchased the rights to multiple books in one pass. The DEW estate agreed to allow the use of the Parker name based on the best understanding of Don’s wishes.

Personally, my biggest fear for this film was knowing that Jason Statham is not very good at American accents and Parker is a definitively American character. It worried me that a justification for the accent would be injected, turning Parker’s enigmatic pedigree into some tearjerker story of being raised in an abusive orphanage in Manchester until he escaped by killing the director with a sponge. I am pleased to report that the English accent is not justified or acknowledged in any way. When “Parker” needed a disguise, I think they put Jason in a cowboy hat (also in the trailer) because “Texan” is about the only American accent Statham can successfully pull off. Hard margins are a fact of film making life and this choice worked just fine.

At its core, this is a heist and revenge flick. There are two big jobs book-ending the film and Statham’s subdued mannerisms are a very good fit for the Parker persona. Nick Nolte and Michael Chiklis are predictable but appropriately so. And both Jennifer Lopez and Patti LuPone give outstanding performances. The anti-climactic nature of the violence depicted in the Parker novels takes a back seat to the more favored over-the-top Hollywood version but not always. There are several depictions of Parker’s prowess that should prove satisfying for most fans of the novels. And Statham carries off most of the violence with Parker-like efficiency.

The plot is mostly true to the book, Flashfire, and Statham’s low-key performance speaks to an understanding of the character in a way that was totally lost on others. Lawrence Block, Abby Westlake and I all approve. Oscar-winning Director Taylor Hackford, who has received mixed reviews in the past, made some very good choices that manage to depict Parker’s nature visually without resorting to canned exposition or distracting narration. He put a lot of effort into the changes that are inevitable in any adaptation and it shows. I think J-Lo would have made a terrific Claire but that role is too small for her and she did a fantastic job as the down-trodden, always-last real estate agent in the playground of the rich and powerful.

Most Parker loyalists will not be pleased with the casting of Claire. The actress, Emma Booth, is fine but young. Still, the Aussie does a better job with the accent, so there’s that. The loose familial relationships are a bit contrived. But again, Claire may have a big role in Parker’s life but she has a small role in the books and in the film. Not easy to find an actress with the kind of gravitas Claire has in the books (think Susan Sarandon) to take on a role with just a few lines and fewer scenes. Overall, this is an excellent first installment of what we hope will become a successful introduction of Parker to a larger audience.

I’m looking forward to sequels, and especially prequels, and have already started buzzing Les Alexander’s ear about doing something with the Alan Grofield novels, which are rollicking good stories of a similar tone with a decidedly more extroverted main character.

Stay tuned for updates, publicity, behind-the-scenes multimedia and upcoming events promoting the new film.

Small section of shelves in Don’s personal library

The project of rebuilding the Westlake bibliography continues and there are still a few surprises to be found. Yet another pseudonym has been uncovered but it mostly belongs to another author, Laurence Janifer (aka Larry Mark Harris). The title in question was very likely finished by Don when Harris was unable to meet his deadline. You can read about it on the book page for The Pleasures We Know (link below).

Also, new pages added for Alan Marshall titles and several new pages for early short stories, including what may be the first Westlake short stories in print from 1951! Three new full stories have been added, which you can find through the “Shorts” page. And many book pages have been updated with cover art from multiple editions, especially editions published outside the United States. Below is the list of new pages followed by the list of pages that have been recently updated. I hope you enjoy the discoveries as much as I do.

New Pages

The Curious Facts Preceding My Execution (short)
The Best-Friend Murder (short)
Anatomy of an Anatomy (short)
The Question (short)
Veronica (short)
My Father’s Chair (short)
Passion Doll
The Pleasures We Know
The Sin Losers
Sin Prowl

Updates

361
All About Annette
All the Girls Were Willing
Backstage Love
The Busy Body
Campus Doll
Campus Lovers
The Fugitive Pigeon
A Girl Called Honey
The Handle
The Hunter
The Jugger
Killing Time
Killy
Man Hungry
The Man with the Getaway Face
The Mercenaries
The Mourner
The Outfit
Passion Doll
Pity Him Afterwards
Sally
The Score
The Seventh
The Sin Losers
Sin Prowl
Sinner or Saint
So Willing
Virgin’s Summer
The Wife Next Door
Young and Innocent

First edition front cover

The epic project of building a database and uploading images from every copy of every book in Don’s personal library has begun. The full collection containing one copy of every edition of every book in print, and in every language, numbers in the hundreds. Several hundreds. So far, I’ve been able to catalog the first 41. The 41st book in Don’s collection is The Hunter, the first edition of the first Parker novel. The images on that page have been updated, as well as a few others.

But the biggest change is the addition of three pseudonyms to the bibliography — Alan Marshall, John Dexter and Andrew Shaw. All three names were house names that publishers used to allow any author to write for the same series. Midwood (Tower Publications) owned the Alan Marshall pseudonym and Nightstand Books owned the other two. Don wrote or collaborated on (with Lawrence Block writing as Sheldon Lord) thirteen titles under the name Alan Marshall. He wrote one book as John Dexter (the first of that series) and collaborated (again with Larry) on the Andrew Shaw title. All are now officially part of the Donald Westlake legacy.

Teaser page

The pages with new additions are linked below. In some cases, you may notice a number written in the top-right corner of a title, teaser or copyright page in the photo gallery. That’s Don’s handwriting on the original book as it was placed into his collection in chronological order. It’s only by virtue of his meticulous record-keeping that I’m able to embark on this project with any degree of certainty. I plan on interviewing Lawrence Block in the near future and clearing up a few loose ends with him in the process. It is my hope that the end result will be the definitive, and completely accurate, catalog of the entire Westlake lexicon.

I hope you enjoy the improved photo galleries.

361

A Girl Called Honey

All About Annette

All My Lovers

All the Girls Were Willing

Backstage Love

Brother and Sister

Call Me Sinner

Campus Doll

Elizabeth Taylor

Killing Time

Man Hungry

No Longer a Virgin

Off Limits

Sally

Sin Hellcat

Sinner or Saint

So Willing

Strange Affair

The Hunter

The Mercenaries

The Sin Drifter

The Wife Next Door

Virgin’s Summer

Young and Innocent

Among the things he cared about was keeping a record of his publishing exploits, in detail. Don always maintained a library of his own work, segregated from the rest of his rather immense collection of books by other authors. When the last of the kids moved out of his home in New York City, he converted one of the empty rooms into his personal library of all things Westlake. This part may be fairly typical of most authors with a significant body of work. What makes Don’s library special, and oh, so useful for our purposes, is that he kept a chronological record of every first copy of every book, and every edition, ever published and sent to him by the publisher.

Covering most of five shelves across three ten-foot walls is a physical, and chronological, record of everything Don has ever put in print, or at least every edition that the publisher sent to him. It’s possible that some publishers lapsed on that detail from time to time but unlikely to be a regular occurrence. I have made it my long-term mission to chronicle each and every one of these books and editions for posterity, and the eventual definitive Westlake bibliography, which nobody has quite nailed down yet.

To whet your appetite, here are some scans from the first copy of the first book Don ever received from a publisher, All My Lovers under the pseudonym Alan Marshall and published by Midwood’s Tower Publications. Enjoy…

The files will be embedded on the appropriate page, and where none exists, in Miscellany. As I find and upload new tracks, I’ll post the updates here. For now, enjoy listening to:

The Hot Rock movie theme by Quincy Jones

Hot Rock Theme by Quincy Jones uploaded by pewestlake

The Next Big Thing with Dean Olsher on WNYC public radio (2004)

Part 1: Lexicographer Erin McKean informs DEW that he’s the first author cited in the OED for the word “pootle” and then issues a challenge.
Use It or Lose It Pt1 uploaded by pewestlake

Part 2: DEW returns to answer the challenge… but he still has to wait for his chocolatey reward.
Use It or Lose It Pt2 uploaded by pewestlake

Back on March 11, when this website was still in the throes of technical difficulties, I had the pleasure of joining in on a podcast discussion of The Comedy is Finished with Jesse Willis from SFF Audio and Trent Reynolds from The Violent World of Parker. Both gentlemen are well-read, insightful and great fun to chat with and listen to. If you’d like to hear our collective analysis of the last Westlake book to be published (that we know of for now), please visit SFF Audio and scroll down to the bottom to find the podcast player.

With thanks to Jesse and Trent — and a special thanks for embedding my video featuring Don speaking about the personification of NYC in a detective novel — and humble apologies for my occasional droning, I now refer you to Jesse:

The SFFaudio Podcast #152 – READALONG: The Comedy Is Finished by Donald E. Westlake

Violent World of Parker
Happy Birthday to Donald Westlake

[Editor's note: Special thanks to Trent Reynolds, curator of the most excellent Violent World of Parker, which is more than a blog, more than a fan site. It's Don's second home on the web -- his only home when this site was barely functional -- and a source of fantastic research, history and commentary on all things Parker and many things Westlake. You could spend an entire day on Violent World of Parker and not run out of fun and interesting things to read and learn. An epic labor of love. Thanks for everything, Trent!]

AV Club
Darwyn Cooke returns to Parker

The Parker graphic novels and stories that Cooke has adapted thus far have all been about who this ruthless criminal who calls himself “Parker” really is, and how he’s different from other men. Parker may change his appearance, but as one longtime compatriot notes in The Score, he can’t change his style. His brusqueness, his coldly analytical approach to planning a caper, and his willingness to kill another human being to avoid complications is all handled with such rationality that it makes Parker something of a freak in the world of hotheaded criminals. Let others play pretend; at his core, Parker’s legit.

The Beat
SDCC 12: The Darwyn Cooke Panel

On Sunday at Comic Con panel dedicated to Darwyn Cooke’s Parker series of graphic novels, Darwyn Cooke and editor Scott Dunbier announced that a fourth Parker adaptation would be published in late 2013 and that it would be based on Donald Westlake’s Parker novel, The Mourner.

The Washington Post
New audiobook from Donald E. Westlake

First published in 1966, [The Busy Body] is one of Donald Westlake’s earlier novels, a New York crime caper with the wondrous quaintness of a rediscovered artifact. Except for a hoary bumbling-drunk scene, the book’s insouciance and wit are as exhilarating as they ever were.

CNN Living
Crime classic Parker is back in black

In re-imagining Parker — starting with “The Hunter” in 2009, followed by “The Outfit” and now “The Score” — Cooke has stayed incredibly faithful to Westlake’s original novels. He describes his adaptations as being like noir movies on paper. In “The Score,” Cooke works in a lean palette of black, white and gold. His bold pen strokes, moody washes of color, and lean prose help the action pop off the page.

Andrew Nurnberg Associates
Donald Westlake

Don sitting on bench… somewhere.

[Editor's Note: I don't know what prompted Andrew to post this picture but he's a wonderful and generous fellow with a marvelous family and amazing stories to tell. He is legend in the literary field and all-around nice guy. Thanks for everything, Andrew!]

Write On The Water
According to plan…

I’m ever amazed by the ways stories can mold characters, and characters can mold stories, and if, rather than fighting what is taking shape on the page you simply go with it, you may find yourself with unexpected and surprising results. And one of the finest examples of this writing zen comes from one of my favorite authors, Donald Westlake.

Mysterious Press (YouTube)
Profile: Donald Westlake

Open Road has put together another fantastic video profile, this time for Donald Westlake. Westlake, who passed away in 2008, was one of the crime genre’s most prolific authors. We’re thrilled to have William Link, Lawrence Block and Brian Garfield discussing his legacy, along with the owner of MysteriousPress.com, Otto Penzler.

The Washington Times
Book Review: The Comedy is Finished

When you read in a book that the copyright is held by “the estate of,” you can be pretty sure you won’t be seeing any more books by that author. That’s what the folks at Titan thought when they published Donald E. Westlake’s “Memory” two years ago. In fact, they were so certain they described it as his “final unpublished novel.” And then they got a letter from Max Allan Collins…

Blog Bobaloo
Voice #6: Donald Westlake

I wish I had discovered Donald Westlake years earlier than I did. He is fast becoming a hero of sorts for his ability to tell a story and to make it zing. His novel The Ax is as terrifying a novel as I’ve ever read. His Parker character is legendary, but it’s the Dortmunder crew I love to read.

Criminal Complex
The Posthumous Donald Westlake: It’s All Bullshit

Not to skip to the end, but this is what fiction has taught me, this is the lesson I feel that the writers whom I admire most are trying to impart to me: it’s all a bunch of bullshit, so don’t worry about it so much.

Voodoo Robot Chili
Writing – Learning Narration

I’m in the process of writing my next novel, VOODOO ROBOT CHILI, and was asked by my editor David Bischoff to look at Chapter Nine of GOD SAVE THE MARK, by Donald Westlake. Dave had found some of my narration a bit lacking (perhaps not the first time, but sadly not the last ). He told me to read this chapter to better understand how Westlake applies showing (not telling) with clear details as part of his narration. Well, I read the chapter and it was quite an eye opener.

Murderati
THERE AIN’T NO SUCH THING AS ‘NOIR LITE’

I’d been warned by fans of Stark/Westlake that Point Blank’s Walker, as cold and violent as he was as portrayed by Marvin, paled by comparison to THE HUNTER’s Parker, so I was prepared to meet a somewhat less likable protagonist. But damn! Parker makes Walker look like a Salvation Army Santa Claus. It isn’t so much that the body count in THE HUNTER is higher than it is in Point Blank, it’s the ease with which Parker adds to it that makes for such a jarring contrast.

Blog Critics
Interview with Chalres Ardai on Donald Westlake’s The Comedy is Finished

Charles Ardai: “…is there anyone who loves crime fiction who isn’t a Westlake fan? I first discovered him from his short stories in magazines like Ellery Queen and Alfred Hitchcock (not to mention Playboy… yes, I read it for the short stories). At that point I mostly loved him for his wit and the cleverness of his plots. When I graduated from his short fiction to his novels I also came to admire how he could populate a book with a large cast of characters and make every last one of them come across as a fully fleshed-out, living, breathing human being. This is one of the best things about The Comedy is Finished.”

Poisoned Pen Press
Aiming Higher

I inched closer to hear what he had to say.
“Yeah,” the guy said. “He’s kind of a fourth-rate Donald Westlake.”
At this point I sidled over and said, “You really think I’m that good?”

And this recently discovered Twitter fan. Spare, or shall we say “stark,” tweeting to be sure…

26 Oct Richard Stark ‏

When he saw that the light had gone green, Parker took the truck out of neutral, accelerating over spikes that promised severe tire damage.

26 Oct Richard Stark ‏

When Tierney glanced up at the window and adjusted his necktie for the third time, Parker dropped low and shot the sniper in the chest.

26 Oct Richard Stark ‏

When the gun jammed, Parker threw it in Stettner’s face.

Big, tremendous thanks to those who left messages or sent emails offering to help. Sorry for the lack of communication but I have to pay the bills, too, and it’s hard to stay focused on too many things at once. Don would sometimes have two or even three books going at the same time but his most common work pace was serial monogamy and my pattern is about the same. Now that the bulk of the hard and tedious work on fixing this site is done, I can start thinking about the more ambitious projects I have in mind, which include but are not limited to:

- A complete list of every published edition received by Don and placed in his library, chronologically.

- The Mohonk Mystery Weekends, a huge amount of work that deserves to see daylight.

- New interviews with fans, friends and colleagues, audio, video and/or print.

- An updated, sortable bibliography table.

Thanks for your continued patience. I hope you’ll enjoy visiting more often going forward.

Paul Westlake,
Caretaker