Deep Blue Goodbye/Travis McGee film?

This SHOULD be good news, but Gary Fleder is the textbook definition of bland hack. And while Downey Jr is deeply inappropriate for McGee, I'd rather see him than, say, Matthew McCohanuhaghehy (spelling?) or whoever they go with.

Can Will Ferrell take his career in a new direction?

The fuck!? Quoting you, how did I miss this?

The tough part with casting McGee is, he's made to be such a specific physical type by MacDonald. 6'4", played tight end in the pros -- though this is 50s-60s-weight, not today's monsters. Think Clint in his orangutan days, I always pictured him build-wise. Corn-fed Midwestern good looks and non-accent on a deeply tanned displaced-to-Florida boat bum. And a natural knack for comic delivery. McGee can be too cool for school, but he's also a natural smart-ass and clown.

I love the hell out of Sam Elliot, but the 'stache and deep Texas drawl were completely wrong in the made-for-TV EMPTY COPPER SEA.

My avatar's from the 70s books and reissues, but I only use it cause I couldn't find online the more monochrome sketch on the backs of the classic 60s Fawcett Gold Medal babe-on-the-cover paperbacks, which is how I've always pictured him. Picture Paul Newman, then add 6 inches and 50-60 lbs.

Well, I'm not even gonna bother fantasy cast this. I'll just quietly, and once (per thread...), bitch about whoever gets it.

The problem with going right to the beginning of the series, though, is... Man, I'm a huge fan (ya think?) but the sensibilities of those books are horribly, occasionally embarrassingly dated in their attitudes toward women. They'd definitely need to completely alter the central relationships. McGee's great evil doppelganger, Junior Allen, basically controls these poor weak women by sheer force of his dominating personality. And McGee's not much better; the first 4-5 books all tend to end with Healing the Lady By Fucking Her Regularly On Secluded Beaches When She's ready For It, Before Tenderly Sending Her On Her Way When She's Ready For That. And it's a well MacDonald returned to often.

The good news is, John D. and McGee mature over time, and later makes mocking, even despairing and self-hating, reference to these early attitudes. It's the development of McGee as a character over the course of 21 novels across ~25 years that makes him so durable, and one of my favorites in literature (yeah! I said it!). But, yeah, a lot of the 60s stuff just cannot fly anymore, despite their pulpy fun on the page (well, for the boys).

The unique "salvage consultant" livelihood MacDonald invented for McGee, though, is deep-fried genius smothered in brilliance sauce. It's a great launching pad for the first book, and they can keep his early detective work and the climax fairly well in place. No need to make these into epic adventures, please. The big middle of Deep Blue Goodbye, though, would need a full overhaul for the screen today.

And I could not possibly imagine anyone bankrolling a faithful adaptation of the second book, Nightmare in Pink. Although I always thought A Purple Place For Dying (christ, that title though!) had a hell of an opener for the big screen.

OK, I better cut myself off now. Like beer threads, I really need to stay out of some topics.

I'm not sure how you translate these to the screen without the character becoming Bland Action Adventure Guy. I always thought that McGee's internal ruminations were the most interesting part of the books. I think TravMcGee (unsurprisingly) nailed what the major issues would be in the translation.

That Shane Black suggestion is pretty great, though.

Agreed on both counts, McGee's interior life being 2/3 the value of the books, and Shane Black being capable of pulling off the wit and pace. My only hesitation there is, I can't think of any times Black has left his heroes in fairly dark and damaged places. With the McGee books, the plots get solved, but the damage almost always stays with McGee. Especially if they want to make a franchise out of them.

Now then, I've never seen the 1970 "Darker Than Amber," but now I think I have to. For one, Rod Taylor makes a hell of a McGee on film:



According to site I found those on, Robert Culp almost got the part. Jesus. MacDonald hated the idea, and Culp, and thought Taylor might pull it off. But sounds like MacDonald hated the script, at least the first draft.

Still, going by this:

...I now have an uncensored movie to hunt down. Fuck.

Not necessarily! CLICK HERE BUDDY!

I don't know if it's censored or not, but that page has a Youtube embed of said fight scene, and despite the low quality, it's definitely a knockout. As an added bonus, it comes complete the kind of trashy late-60s easy listening jazz soundtrack that a Travis McGee movie demands.

I don't know about this but I love the McGee books despite the datedness of some of the earl ones.

That sounds like Paul Newman in his prime.

Jeffrey Donovan.

Not exactly in keeping with McDonald's physical specifications, but Bruce Willis or George Clooney would fit the part nicely.

I thought Rod Taylor was perfect. The movie, not so much.

The McConaughey apologist inside me should really STFU (especially after GHOSTS OF GIRLFRIENDS PAST, which highlighted some of his worst attributes), but I can't help but think if he gave actual acting a whirl - and had a director who steered him the right way - ol' Matty wouldn't be bad for this.

Oh, who am I kidding? Get me Thomas Jane. Or maybe Eric Bana.

I think Kyle Chandler would be a good, if unconventional choice.

Without wishing to sound like a complete copycat, Cameron, Chandler's name came to mind the instant I finished my initial post. He'd be a good choice as well.

Jeffrey Donovan is my favourite suggestion.

What about:
* Brad Pitt (about the only role he's ever appropriate in is laid-back beach stoner/philosopher)
* Leonardo DiCaprio
* or if you want to go low-rent, Julian McMahon

But the books seem to rely too much on "off-screen" events to ever work as faithful movies. Some major retooling would be needed. That is, to say, if they even go ahead with this.

Is that hepcat guy at the end of that fight clip supposed to be Meyer?

If only Heath Ledger hadn't been consumed by the madness of the dark role of the Joker.

That piece of shit THE DARK KNIGHT has a LOT to answer for!

DiCaprio needs to stay far away from McGee,

McGee was a tough guy, but he wasn't huge or threatening just by looking at him. That's why I like Jeffrey Donovan Or Kyle Chandler for the role.

John C. Reilley for Meyer.

I know it's the fanboy thing to do these days, but really, this:

Makes me think this could be the star-making/Clooney in Out of Sight role that Jon Hamm deserves, not some comic book adaptation. Sorry Phil!

You're right actually. This would be up Hamm's alley.

I'm conflicted about this. As mentioned, I'm not certain that Deep Blue. . . is the best place to start without really altering the source material. I had always thought that Brad Pitt could pull this off.

You know what will happen? Somebody out in the H-Wood will say, "Keanu Reeves". It's not bad enough that he's probably gonna kill Cowboy Bebop (another series I really dig) but he'll fuck up McGee for me too.

What would you guys say to Pierce Brosnan? I know he's a little old, but I kinda like that he's not young, the same way I like Kyle Chandler for it because he's a tough but regular looking guy. I can also see Chris Meloni in the role

I'd maybe want Costner before Brosnan.

Because you can't have Travis without Meyer

James Spader(His slightly snooty and educated voice is perfect for it)
John C. Reilly
Oliver Platt
Jim Broadbent
Ray Winstone
Dan Aykroyd
Bill Murray

Heh! Thanks much, good sir, but though I forgot to get back to this thread it took me roughly a day later (when I remembered to look) that I procured for $10 a bootleg DVD of the uncut edition with, indeed, a terrible picture (though a lot better than that youtube) and intrusive Dutch subtitles. Guy did a remarkably nice job with the packaging, though, and even added chapter stops (though no scene selection screen).

And yeah, that fucking fight is a vicious bruiser. There's a great shot that if I had the know-how I'd be tempted to make a new avatar from -- when Taylor scrambles up from the floor and just before he's barreled through the closet door, in the grimace he's throwing as he pulls his fist back you can make out the fucking blood in his teeth. His eyes are murder-crazy there, too. It's a great 3-minute payoff after a fairly crap film. That said, if an angel delivered an uncut, unsubtitled, cleaned-up bare bones R1 DVD I'd preorder today.

The soundtrack? Goddamn, what's in the clip is the tip of the tip of the iceberg. So great. And Taylor had a pretty good handle on McGee, though MacDonald's assessment ("maybe too squat, hairy, and direct") is kind of on the mark. Captured the laid back schemer well enough, even though most of the script and direction (til the fight) was porn-level crap. [ETA: Actually, to be fair, the acting other than Rod isn't porn-bad, merely late-60s-TV bad. But the photography is porn-bad, and I don't think that's just the shitty 10th generation fuzzy bootleg talking.] Very weird seeing Jane Russell cameo as the "Alabama Tigress." Meyer? Ridiculous and embarassing.

Chandler's great and could get the attitude, like Clooney or even Costner (right feel, too old), or even Greg Kinnear (the man IS a labrador retriever), but McGee's a big fucker, six-four and a cut 205, or someone who could pull that off. It feels like a stupid thing to harp on, when character should be king, but his physicality was so much a part of his character, not to mention methods, it's hard to picture Handsome Charming Average-Sized Guy getting there at all. People need to turn their heads up to talk with him.

Jon Hamm, shit -- that's pretty damn good. Pitt would be an even better Junior Allen if he'd deign to play the irresistable sociopath with significantly less screen time, in mostly other peoples' flashbacks til the final confrontation. Let him be a menacing presence and steal the show in the 3rd act.

Oliver Platt as Meyer. Meyer doesn't show up til the 6th or 7th book but Christ, now I can't possibly see anyone else. PERFECT. If they go older, than weirdly enough Aykroyd's not a bad call at all, if it's possible for him anymore to reign in the creepy and up the serene charm.

No motion on imdb that I can see without pro; Fleder's name on it still gives me the shivers. After watching DARKER THAN AMBER, I can definitely see the script being the hold-up. AMBER's attempts to have Taylor vocalize the McGee philosophy feel so canned and faux-hep, despite Taylor's best go at it.

Sad to hear that about the movie. I was hoping to find some exploitation gem that slipped through the cracks. I haven't read DARKER THAN AMBER, but Taylor's opponent in that fight seems like a first-class MacDonald sociopathic loon villain. In my opinion, Taylor looks too old and fat to be Travis.

I just can't see any of these books working as a movie. The plotting depends so much on off-screen events, related through dialogue, and I just can't see a movie being as educational as the books are. I mean, I know how to hide corpses and throw knives because of these books, and I can't see a movie stopping in its tracks to give a little tutorial.

I've tried imaging a lot of actors as Travis as I read them (going through them for the first time right now), and only Steve McQueen works, despite his small size. Not only can I visualise him aging naturally throughout the series, but McQueen had that gloomy/thoughtful sincerity, and he's the only actor I can picture saying people's names after he addresses them, the way Travis does.

Plus, it lets me imagine an alternate universe where McQueen had his own 60s/70s Bond-style franchise that we, tragically, never actually got.

You watch Burn Notice, right, McCartney?

No, but the few minutes I saw of it looked OK.

It's from the same "people" that make Nip/Tuck, right? That's a seal of approval if ever I saw one. Maybe I should start.

This is why Burn Notice is the best McGee series ever

It is not from Ryan Murphy. It is by a guy named Matt Nix and a friend of his who really is a Burn Noticed Spy.

Burn Notice is phenomenal, and Ryan Murphy has nothing to do it. I think you'd really enjoy it.

Never seen Burn Notice (will investigate now), but dead on with Magnum, I've always thought that. Even though it was weighted toward the lighter side the majority of the time, once in a while there'd be a Magnum like one where he spent almost the entire ep treading water in the middle of the ocean expecting to die (McGee book spoiler: a dead lift from a chunk of A Tan and Sandy Silence) or when he confronted...

Shit, I can't even remember who exactly. Honestly haven't seen it since it originally aired, but it stuck in my head ever since as being so unlike what was going on in TV then, especially with established good guys: Some person from Magnum's dark and largely mysterious Nam past (more McGee resonance!) that Magnum finally caught up with in some woods. Final scene, Magnum has the drop, gun pulled on his nemesis, says, "Did you see the sunrise this morning?" "Yes, yes I did." And Magnum pulls the trigger, execution in the woods. Roll credits. The next season might have opened with Selleck in a clown suit chasing lemur monkeys or whatever crap Bellisario okayed that week, but that kill would haunt it.

Not to turn this into a Magnum P.I. fanfest (I fear revisitng; I was young and the memory's too good), but that's the sort of conflicting natures and mood shifts a good McGee portrayal should get across. Not to mention the oblique references to a past he'd rather forget. Et cetera.

Back to Rod Taylor, it's weird, he looks like he's flabby but he's in pretty damn good shape when he loses his shirt. Not 21st-century professionally toned, but burly and not much slop at all. He's just too, requoting, squat, hairy and direct.

McQueen could do it, for sure. But in my screening room in heaven, the 21-film McGee series stars a tall and ripped Paul Newman, no question. With Orson Welles down to a less unhealthy 230 lbs as Meyer.

Every McGee book I've read so far has been post-1970, so I don't know if the character started out lighter and got grimmer with age, but Jeez, most of the books are really downbeat. Unexpectedly so, given their reputation. Despite his lifestyle, Travis is not a happy-go-lucky guy.

MAGNUM P.I. is better in theory than in practice. It only has two modes:

1) boring, self-important drama, with Vietnam flashbacks/echoes and stock footage stolen from Tora Tora Tora

2) zany comedy of the week where Magnum dresses as a knight/convenience store clerk/basketball coach for troubled teens/amateur wrestler, etc. etc. and Tom Selleck yells in his squeaky voice

Edit: Steve Carrel as Meyer!

Yeah, Magnum is one of the most overrated shows ever. The Rockford Files was miles better

Hey, what about Mark Valley if it was a TV series? He and James Spader work great together.

I've been re-reading a bunch of Hammet recently, and got back to The Maltese Falcon and starting thinking about how great a TV series would be that was all about Spade and Archer.

That being said, it made me think that McGee might make a much better TV series than a feature.

Also, and I can't believe that I'm saying this but if Cam Gigandet were about twenty years older, and a much better actor, he might do.

I've never heard Burn Notice compared to McGee, I might have to check out Burn Notice now.

The comparison is intentional on their part. One of the guys behind the show is a burned ex-spy himself and is a big McDonald fan, and McDonald pretty much created a lot of modern real-life special ops stuff when he was in WW2. McDonald's story is actually more interesting than the books.

Yes. And if Jane won't do it, call Viggo Mortensen.

Viggo is actually kinda perfect.

I'm late to this party, I know, but seeing this thread I had to post something. I really have no idea what living actors could pull off these characters. I second the Newman in his prime love, but that ain't gonna happen. I'm kind of torn on whether this can work or not as a film franchise. I'd like to think it could. I mean, they filmed the supposedly unfilmable Watchmen, and there have been good Stephen King adaptations (and a common criticism of the others is that in King's books, so much goes on in the characters' heads that it's hard to convincingly translate them to film). So there's hope. Maybe Darabont, who has arguably directed the 3 finest King adaptations, could direct this? BUt at the same time, I am reminded of something a friend said when we were debating the lack of faithfulness in comic book movie adaptations: he said they've already got the fanboys' money; we'd go see these films regardless. They don't make them for the fans of the books. They make them for the general movie goer. While I'd love to have a great McGee film or franchise out there, I SO don't want to see them make these into "action" films just to get asses in the seats. I guess a little tweaking of the action to story ratio is inevitable, given that we're now making a mainstream movie & not reading a book, but I'd hope they go lightly.

A comparable and successful adaptation to look at might be DEVIL IN A BLUE DRESS, which was a slam dunk of director, casting, and adaptation of a serial action/mystery character's introduction. A crime that it wasn't a bigger hit. Broke my heart when I heard Franklin and Denzel were teaming up again at last, but it wasn't an Easy Rawlins entry. (Broke again when OUT OF TIME wasn't all that great.) I'd so love if that had become a franchise, if only for more of Don Cheadle's Mouse.

Based on this little snippet, your mom rocks.

Could this be the movie franchise that Josh Holloway fans have been clamoring for ever since LOST started up? You can thank me later.

Psst...See post 39 by me where I suggest Mark Valley. And I'd want James Spader as Meyer.