Adapting literary heroes to the screen is a tough dilemma for filmmakers.
The case of theConanmovies versus the writings of Robert E Howard is, therefore, nothing new.
Movies and literary adventure heroes, along with their fans, have suffered a strained relationship for decades.
The 1959 novelGoldfinger, for instance, opens with Bond sitting in a bar in Miami Airport.
As he sits there, Bond reflects on his deadly deeds in the line of duty.
Flemings writing in this part of the book is almost poignant in its existentialism.
He then takes off his wet suit to reveal that he is wearing a perfectly dry tuxedo underneath.
Nothing can describe the difference between the Bond novels and the Bond films better than that comparison.
The actors that followed Connery in the role of Bond strayed to and from Fleming in varying degrees.
Roger Moore played a highly camp character that happened to have the same name as Ian Flemings Bond.
Ironically, Dalton is lauded by fans as one of the best.
They see him as the only actor who truly brought the spirit of Flemings 007 to the role.
Pierce Brosnan took over the cinematic Bond mantle inGoldenEyein 1995.
The result seemed to finally satisfy both fans and mass audiences alike.
Matt Helm
The film adaptations of the Matt Helm spy novels are a case of extreme mangling.
Hamiltons Helm stories were two-fisted, bare-knuckled adventures written in the first person.
He also describes the violence and death around him in chillingly dispassionate tones.
The movies are, well, a tad different.
Four Matt Helm movies were made between the years 1966 and 1969.
Rat Pack legend Dean Martin plays Helm.
Martin maintains his classic recreational drinking, smoking and womanising personality.
The movies only loosely used some plot elements from the Hamilton books.
Tarzan
Tarzan is one of the most popular and enduring fictional characters of all time.
He is known all over the world, and has multi-generational appeal and recognition.
The character first appeared in print in 1912, and since then has spawned some eighty or moreTarzanmovies.
Burroughs vision of Tarzan is very much that of the noble savage.
Tarzan is educated and very intelligent.
He is strong, fast and has highly tuned senses.
He has a very powerful sense of morality and justice.
Basically, hes Burroughs conception of the ideal man.
However, Tarzan is certainly not without his dark, angry and sometimes even vicious side.
In the movies, Tarzan has a really loud yell.
That series of Tarzan movies picked up briefly in quality in the late 50s and early 60s.
Long after Weissmuller had left the series, its producers finally decided to let Tarzan speak and act intelligently.
The film, though, veers off significantly from the book once Tarzan is brought back to civilisation.
The Disney animatedTarzanalso follows the early parts of the book quite closely.
Tarzan is depicted as teaching himself to read, for instance.
Arnold SchwarzeneggersConan The Barbarianis not Robert E Howards Conan the Cimmerian.
He was cast in no small part for his championship bodybuilding physique.
Schwarzenegger simply wasnt an experienced enough actor to pull the role off.
AnotherConan The Barbarianversus Conan the Cimmerian issue is that of writer and director John Milius.
For instance, there is a now famous and oft-quoted line in the firstConanmovie.
In answer to the question, What is best in life?
Milius pulled the line from a book calledGenghis Kahn: The Emperor Of All Menby Howard Lamb.
Howard doesnt endow his Conan with any easily discernible guiding principles.
Nor does Howard like to spend a lot time letting the reader in on Conans thoughts and feelings.
He describes what Conan does more than he describes what Conan thinks.
Howards Conan does not appear to value conquest for the sake of conquest.
The character is a reactor.
When Conan fights in battles, it is often as a mercenary and for his own personal gain.
This is true of most the rest of the film.
Ideas that are not Howards abound.
Howards original stories, for the most part, only turn up in episodic form.
The sequel,Conan The Destroyer(1984), was much lighter in tone than its predecessor.
As for the newConanmovie, well, it sure looks exciting, anyway.
And the fans can, as always, only hope.
