Well, dear readers, shall we speak of Stephen King? I think we should speak of Stephen King, don’t you? I just happened to watch a motion picture on Amazon Prime based on a Stephen King novel, said motion picture and novel entitled The Dead Zone. But before I get to The Dead Zone, let me tell you of my introduction to Mr. Stephen King. And my introduction wasn’t from reading a Stephen King novel, it was via the motion picture Carrie, which I loved. I knew Mr. King’s rise to fame was coming very fast after Carrie and he was already building an amazing fan base, thanks to his first few books that followed Carrie, which were ‘Salem’s Lot, The Shining, the short story collection, Night Shift, and then The Dead Zone. Of course, there were two paperback originals during that period, Rage and The Long Walk, but no one knew that Richard Bachman was Stephen King at that point. So, after I saw Carrie, the first King book I actually read was The Shining, which I absolutely loved and which I finished reading while standing on line to see the first evening show of Kubrick’s film. That was a huge disappointment after reading the book – you could just feel it in the audience. From there, I read The Stand, which I enjoyed but found endless. Then next I read The Dead Zone, which became my favorite King novel up to that point. Interestingly, I never went back and read Carrie or ‘Salem’s Lot or Night Shift until much later, but I did read each new King book the day they came out from The Dead Zone on. And I loved the next few books – Firestarter, Cujo, Needful Things, and Christine. After that, I didn’t quite read everything, just occasional things like Misery, It, The Tommyknockers, and Dreamcatcher. Dreamcatcher was the last book of fiction I read for at least eighteen years, because I began writing my novels and I didn’t want any writer influences. So, the only King novel I read after that, was two or three years ago, when I read 11/22/63, which I enjoyed very much, although like many of his books, I felt it was too long and went off on too many tangents. I also began collecting first editions around 1979 and had everything up to then and bought each new book as it came out, including the signed limited-edition things. While I loved the film Carrie and grew to appreciate The Shining, I didn’t love the films of Firestarter or Christine. Cujo was a good movie, I thought, and then much later I really thought Misery was a good adaptation. But the best of all of them was the film of The Dead Zone. Directed by David Cronenberg and starring Christopher Walken in what I think is his finest performance, I saw it the day it opened – at the Bruin in Westwood if memory serves – well, let’s just see – yes, the Bruin. Here’s the ad.
I just loved the film, every second of it, and saw it three or four more times during that first couple of weeks. I’ve owned it on every format save for Blu-ray because I knew the overseas releases were the DVD master. But the transfer on Amazon Prime is new and it’s pretty nice. I don’t know if it’s what Shout Factory released, which is from a new 4K transfer off the camera negative, but I’ll find out soon. I hadn’t seen the film in sixteen years, which surprised me. The cast is wonderful – Brooke Adams, Herbert Lom, Tom Skerrit, Anthony Zerbe, Martin Sheen, Colleen Dewhurst, and a lot of very good Canadian actors. You really care about the characters, which is why it works so beautifully. It’s very emotional and very moving, has some nice humor, and it’s perfectly directed with none of the over-the-top Cronenberg gross out moments. It also has a wonderful score by Michael Kamen. It’s beautifully designed and photographed and there’s only one misstep in the entire movie, at least it is for me, and that’s where the true nature of a character is revealed and which robs us of finding out that nature when Walken does, which would have been much more chilling. Other than that, I find it a perfect film. It was fun seeing it again and if you’ve never seen it and have Prime, it is highly recommended by the likes of me. When it came out, I’d completed filming The Creature Wasn’t Nice. One of our producers was very friendly with King so I asked her to get him to sign a copy of Cujo for me. She did. And I love his inscription, which is perfect. Here it is.
And now, I’m listening to the symphonies of Benjamin Frankel, an interesting British composer, who also wrote very good film scores. They’re a bit atonal but moody and I like them as they’re very much like film music.
Yesterday was fine and dandy. I got nine hours of sleep, got up, answered e-mails, shaved, and then moseyed on over to Vitello’s, where I picked up the envelope that’s been sitting there for a week, and then lunched with Robert Yacko. That was a lot of fun. I was just in time to order from the brunch menu, so I had the eggs benedict, which were pretty okay.
After that, I picked up no packages and came home. Once home, I answered more e-mails and set my schedule for this coming week. Then I watched The Dead Zone. After that, I made the remainder of the chicken filets – less than one breast – which I sauteed. I ate that and then I listened to music.
Today, I’ll be up when I’m up, I’ll do whatever needs doing, but really, I’ll just have a complete ME day. I’ll eat something fun and not too heavy, and I will, of course, watch, listen, and relax.
Tomorrow, I have a lunch with Cindy Williams. Tuesday, I have a dinner meeting. Wednesday, I work with Kerry O’Malley a little, Thursday or Friday I’ll work with the singer and also have a post-birthday meal with our very own Marshall Harvey. So, a busy week and at some point, I’ll also Zoom with David Wechter. I also have to cast a reading of a Doug Haverty play that I’ll be directing for a Monday night reading sometime in October.
Well, dear readers, I must take the day, I must do the things I do, I must, for example, be up when I’m up, do whatever needs doing, have a ME day, eat, and watch, listen, and relax. Today’s topic of discussion: It’s free-for-all day, the day in which you dear readers get to make with the topics and we all get to post about them. So, let’s have loads of lovely topics and loads of lovely postings, shall we, whilst I hit the road to dreamland, happy to have seen The Dead Zone again and discuss The King of Stephen. And to start the ball rolling, what are your favorite King books and movies?