Lazy Thoughts From a Boomer

So, onto the rules of The Award:

• Each Superior Scribbler must in turn pass The Award on to 5 most-deserving Bloggy Friends.
• Each Superior Scribbler must link to the author & the name of the blog from whom he/she has received The Award.
• Each Superior Scribbler must display The Award on his/her blog, and link to This Post, which explains The Award.
• Each Blogger who wins The Superior Scribbler Award must visit this post and add his/her name to the Mr. Linky List. That way, we'll be able to keep up-to-date on everyone who receives This Prestigious Honor!
• Each Superior Scribbler must post these rules on his/her blog.

With that covered, I'll move on and share/bestow this award with the following:

1. Dennis over at Sergio Leone and the Infield Fly Rule - while I've conversed online with this movie blogger, and since he's local, I look forward to the day we meet at the New Beverly Cinema and discuss the merits of The Howling vs. An American Werewolf in London ;-)
   
2. Elyse over at Obsessions of a Pop Culture Nerd - she of the frighteningly smart nieces (and their spotless punctuation and grammar... really, I'm not bitter) and her fun as hell content covering books, authors, film, directors, and what not; she also happens to look stunning in red (and not all can pull that off, IMO)
   
3. Lesa from Lesa's Book Critiques - not only does she read and review some of the most interesting books out there, she's a librarian (and they are, as a whole, some of the nicest, smartest and best read people on earth); and my thanks for the book recommendation for my teen's recent birthday, Lesa (he loved it)
4. Nordette over at Who's Shoes Are These Anyway - this blogger/writer/future novelist always challenges her readers with the topics she covers (life, politics, injustice, music, parenting, breaking events, etc.), and she does it all with a manner and clarity I wish I had; plus she lives in the city with the best jazz out there
   
5. Livius over at Riding The High Country - this is another of the movie bloggers I discovered this year and now follow because of his writing, reviews, and depth of knowledge (plus the depth of his movie archive); that, and his admiration of the western make visits there well worthwhile
   

It goes to show that there are plenty of good things and people out there on that darn thingamacallit intertube thingy. Thank you, J.D.

Then upon finding and reaching said panel, what were Charlie Huston and moderator Leslie Klinger discussing at that very moment? Yep. That same novel, which they then directly credited for being the impetus for much of the written work their panel was discussing that day. Alright... Synchronicity, strike two. Finally last week, Film and TV blogger John Kenneth Muir noted in a post (and directly linked to blogger B-Sol's The Vault of Horror's said list), titled The Cyber Horror Elite's Reading List: The Greatest Horror Literature of All-Time, the results from a panel of distinguished bloggers and authors listing their favorite horror lit. [and kudos to both of them for that, too.*] And what was at 15th rung? Nuff' said... strike three! I had to put something down in a post regarding this all-time great novel (and since it was published the same year I was born, 1954, let's add that coinkydink to the mix). And besides, it is now the month of Halloween. So here it is, along with some of my thoughts towards its varied adaptations.

* that top 30 list drew such an interest-piquing response, B-Sol also posted the remaining novels, short stories, and poems that did not make it onto there or the honorable mentions list.

The Book

I think the author who influenced me the most as a writer was Richard Matheson ~ Stephen King

It's been over three decades since I first heard of this novel. I'd estimate I first read it during the early 1970's - and likely in response to seeing the first couple of its film adaptations. The story is about one man, Robert Neville, and his fight to survive in a world that's been decimated by a 70's viral pandemic (eerie to me then, and strangely apropos to me now). As much as he knows, he's the last uninfected man living on earth, and he's doing so among what's left of the population: the infected vampire horde wandering the Los Angeles nightscape. A couple of parallels are fairly obvious when reviewing the work. The Robinson Crusoe tale seems evident - especially when he's boarded up at night in his (desert island-like) reinforced and hardened home (with his stash of food, drink, and classical music LPs to keep him company). His Man Friday could be the seemingly uninfected woman, the biblically named Ruth, too. As well, the Cold War paranoia and fear track of the 50's permeates the tale. His story comes to light in a unique mix of flashback, science-fiction, mythological horror, and ultimate irony. The fact that Matheson imagined a world (and my hometown), some twenty years beforehand, that people even in the 21st century, upon reading it for the first time, would still recognize, proves the author was prophetically dead-on (so to speak) with this novel.

Matheson's clever use of flashbacks appears to use time (and its passage) as a interesting device in storytelling and as a tool for leveling the distance between the moment in time the reader takes it in and into the prescient world the author imagined. It's all too easy for the reader to simultaneously imagine Neville's plight of the damned, and whatever future pandemic (natural or man-made) that yet could come. It's considered the first of the modern vampire novels with its prominent use of science to explain away old vampire lore and subjugate religion's treatment and links in ancient mythology. The novel also seems so influential in so many other authors work. It's hard to imagine many of today's modern blood-sucker tales (with the intertwining vampire and humans storylines) coming about without this one novel breaking through and mixing myth and science (or our own use standards and technology to explain things). Even George Romero's unique zombie and apocalyptic series (that began with the equally seminal Night of the Living Dead film) would seem difficult to conjure without this novel's direction and power.

Film Adaptations

The Last Man on Earth (1964)

I remember my brother telling me he'd seen this movie on some TV broadcast in the late 60's and trying to explain the story to me. What can I say? Early teen recall is not worth the hormones they are imprinted with. And it wasn't until the decade turned (a few years later) that I caught up to it on another late night showing. This Vincent Price feature, an Italian production, did have Richard Matheson write its original screenplay. But the changes and re-writes made to it had him pull his name from the film. However, it does seem to come closest to the story and spirit of the author's novel (but it suffers in its low cost production values and poor dubbing). I would say it's my sentimental favorite since it's the first telling of this story I ever saw (along with the next film) on celluloid. Additionally, these first two pushed me to actually read the book that it was based upon.

The Omega Man (1971)

This was the first film adaptation that I saw in an actual movie theater. This Charlton Heston vehicle (along with the subsequent one decades later) began to shift this tale to more of an action/sci-fi film in its execution and bearing. Gone are the plague aspects of the original work, along with the demythologized vampire text. Enter that period's introduction to the biological warfare scares as imagined by the screenwriter's adaptation in the midst of the Cold War. That, and homicidal mutants (meh). Although, the film does make great use of its L.A. setting and locations (like that originally used in the novel) - and is the only one among the film conversions to do so. Unfortunately, this film feels the most dated (hey, it's the 70's). Still, it was entertaining (as long as you let go of the superior narrative in the novel). The film's best moments are Heston being Heston (in his own inimitable way) and any of the scenes that have Rosalind Cash in them (I always admired this actress and she was never in enough movies, for my liking).

I Am Legend (2007)

This century's adaptation was the third film version, but the first to use the original title of Matheson's novel. It also returns to the concept of a viral pandemic in this re-telling. And it has two of the most charismatic performances among all of these screen adaptations. Will Smith and Alice Braga, you say? No. Will Smith and Samantha the dog (and Will was hard pressed to beat her out). [note: Ms. Braga does indeed look better than the dog, but Sam acted better] Unfortunately, the film seems to emphasize its special effects and action over the story's tenets - plus it has the worst use of CGI characters in any of the big budget, high profile film releases of late. Let alone the use of an ending (theatrical or alternate ending included on the DVD release) that seems the antithesis of the novel's. And unfortunately, it made a lot of money at the box office. So much so, the studio is preparing for something that should be abhorrent to anyone who appreciates the original book: a prequel. Coming in 2011, I Am Legend: Awakening. [don't get me started on this]