Best Seller (1987)

Best movie of this year hands down!

SERIOUSLY. This is what the crap Hollywood still puts out?

Purely Joyful Movie!

Best movie ever!

Hit man Cleve approaches writer Dennis about a story for his next book: how he made a living, working for one of the most powerful politicians in the country. To get the story right, they travel around the country to gather statements and evidence, while strong forces use any means they can to keep the story untold.Larry Cohen wrote the original script, inspired by the film "Strangers on a Train" (1951) and wrote it with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in mind for the lead roles. The project was in development at a number of studios for years before Orion decided to make it. Of course, by then, Lancaster and Douglas were getting a bit old.Apparently Cohen has mixed feelings on how his script translated into the finished product. That is his right, but really this is a strong film and really deserves much more acclaim than it generally gets. Not perfect, but still a darn good film with two wonderful leading men.

Haven't read the synopsis or heard anything about the film before watching it, thought it was going to be more in lieu of the buddy cop genre. Turns out I was very wrong, thematically the movie is a lot more like the American Psycho, but dressed with the genuinely 80s cinematography and score and if that's your thing, you'll love it. Not to reveal too much of the movie's gist I'll just say that the casting is f***ing spot on. Also, paralleling the American Psycho, James Woods' character and his cruel and vain antics come across almost comedy-worth funny in this otherwise intentionally serious and dramatic movie. Loved it. Another case of dumb IMDb rating drowning an otherwise great film.

1987's "Best Seller" is not my type of movie, I'll say up front, as it's a little too violent. I do like Larry Cohen, who wrote the script, and the casting of Brian Dennehy and James Woods is great. Woods plays an assassin for hire who approaches cop/author Dennehy about doing an expose about his work for a new book. He claims to have been in the pay of a corporate mogul (Paul Shenar) with a gleaming public image, so the material is explosive. The only problem is, is Woods for real or a whack job? Dennehy seeks to find out.This was one of Paul Shenar's last films. Shenar, a handsome man with a magnificent voice, died of complications due to AIDS in 1989. His role in this film is, alas, too small.This isn't a big film, but if you can stand the blood and violence, you'll enjoy it, as it's a good cast.

What would have happened to Joseph Wambaugh, the LAPD cop and author of several well-known police novels, including "The New Centurions", if he burned himself out and had no more to write? Maybe he would have been approached by a burned out hit man for a corrupt organization. The hit man might have wanted his homicidal shenanigans revealed in a tell-all book that would have glorified him and led to the conviction of the organization's chief miscreant. The partnership would have been edgy, filled with conflict, and dangerous as hell.That's basically the plot of this film. Brian Dennehy is the burned out cop who is suspended temporarily from the force. This is a recurring ritual point in these films. Only in this case, instead of turning in his shield and gun, Dennehy suggests sick leave and it is happily given him. The steely hit man is James Woods, unflappable under any circumstances. The head of the mob is Paul Shenar, my supporting player in the art house masterpiece entitled "Raw Deal" with Ahnold Braunschweiger.The screenplay tries to make something of the Doppelganger theme but, to the extent that it's there at all, it's a shadow of its usual self. Dennehy and Woods have nothing in common except that their inspiration has flagged. Dennehy doesn't mind being a cop but he seems to have written himself out. Woods is bitter because he's just been fired and replaced and is looking for revenge. One doesn't represent the other's repressed desires, which is the touchstone of the Doppelganger business, as it was in, say, Robert Louis Stevenson's "Dr. Jeykll and Mister Hyde," or in MGM's "Forbidden Planet." But they tacked it on anyway, I suppose in an attempt to lend some weightier symbolism to what is basically a cop thriller and shoot-'em-up. There's a good deal of sneaking around in the dark, often with drawn pistols. There's a threatened wife and a kidnapped teen-aged daughter. Shenar is surrounded by well-groomed thugs, all of them killed by the team of Dennehy and Woods.There are some original touches. A cornered thug is threatened with a silenced pistol by Woods, who makes some wisecrack. "Why don't you skip the insults and just get it over with," says the goon, the kind who is usually faceless, and Woods immediately shoots him without another word. Just for a few seconds, the dialog allowed that henchman to emerge from the primordial stereotypical functionality that this role always demands. For a few seconds, he was more than just another bad guy to be killed in the complete absence of any distinction.That's about it. It must not have taken much effort to give the doomed gunman that line. (Maybe it was even an accident, just left in the script because it was overlooked.) Yet it would have been nice to have as much thought given to the rest of the script.Dennehy is his reliable, bulky self. Woods is jumpy and talks at a rapid clip, kind of at odds with the character. He does his best to tone himself down but as an actor he carries a lot of baggage with him and we can't forget that under this icy calm exterior there's a whole nother James Woods aching to bust out.In sum: Not bad, but pretty much middling.