Thursday, July 29, 2021

Thursday Movie Picks #368: Book adaptations (TV edition)

This being Thursday, it's time for another edition of Thursday Movie Picks, the blogathon run by Wandering Through the Shelves. It's the last Thursday of the month, which means it's time for another TV-themed edition of the blogathon. This month, that TV theme is book adaptations, which was done some time back. This required me to think of three things that I didn't use last time, which was mildly difficult but not too much. I did resort to using one miniseries, however:

The Virginian (1962-1971). Based on the 1902 novel by Owen Wister, which had already been turned into a movie on a couple of occasions, the TV series stars James Drury as a Virginian who heads west to the Wyoming Territory to become a ranch foreman at the Shiloh Ranch, dealing with all the problems that entails. Among the actors to play the owner of the ranch was Lee J. Cobb, which is some interesting casting.

Nero Wolfe (1981). Based on the mystery novels by Rex Stout, the series features mysteries for orchid-breeding detective Wolfe (William Conrad) to solve, along with his assistant, Archie Goodwin (Lee Horsley). There was another TV series based on the Nero Wolfe character about 20 years ago.

The Winds of War (1983 miniseries). Based on the long novel by Herman Wouk, this tells the story of the run-up to America's entry into World War II as seen through the eyes of fictional naval officer Pug Henry (Robert Mitchum) and his family. There are interludes of the German perspective thanks to Germans that Pug met before the war. Unsurprisingly, a whole bunch of big (or formerly big) names show up, such as Ralph Bellamy playing Franklin Roosevelt; Polly Bergen as Mrs. Henry; John Houseman as a Jewish author for whom Pug's son Byron (Jan-Michael Vincent) works; and so on. The miniseries was successful, and since Wouk had written a sequel called War and Remembrance, that would be made into a miniseries several years later.

3 comments:

joel65913 said...

I love The Virginian! One of the stations that specializes in Westerns still runs it now. I'll watch the stray episode here and there. No matter the episode it's guaranteed to have at least a few familiar faces (and sometimes a very famous face like Robert Redford, Bette Davis or George C. Scott among others) in it. I think Lee J. Cobb was the initial owner and boss of the ranch where the Virginian works but it found it too limiting to be able to do outside work and left as soon as his contract was up. I liked both John Dehner, Charles Bickford and John McIntire who played the other owners of the ranch but Cobb was my favorite. At first glance he does seem an odd fit but he made it work.

I saw an episode or two of Nero Wolfe but never followed it and I don't think it was on too long.

I don't recall all of the Winds of War. It had its moments but was overlong and rather dull in places. Still I watched the follow-up War and Remembrance which was an improvement, Jane Seymour took over for Ali MacGraw which bumped up the acting level considerably.

I went with a theme within the theme; all biographical adaptations starring my beloved Lee Remick. One of the queens of the miniseries genre after her major star period until her 1991 death from cancer at only 55. She was Emmy nominated for this trio.

Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974)-Seven-part miniseries adaptation of the Ralph G. Martin biography of the same name. Following the life of American heiress Jennie Jerome (Lee) from her first teenage meeting with British aristocrat Randolph Churchill, their often rocky marriage, her rise in political circles both as Randolph’s wife and later the strong influence she exerted over son Winston while living a colorful and complicated life of her own.

Haywire (1980)-Based on eldest daughter Brooke’s memoir this two-part miniseries details the complex, troubled and dysfunctional marriage and home life of stage and film star Margaret Sullavan (Lee) and super-agent Leland Hayward (Jason Robards Jr.) and their three children. Powerfully told but not a happy tale-between the couple they had 9 marriages (ironically Leland’s last wife (of 5) was the ex-wife of Winston Churchill’s son.) Margaret Sullavan and her two younger children died by their own hand. Henry Fonda was Maggie Sullavan’s first husband and the pair (and their children) remained close throughout her life-actress Bridget Fonda is named in memory of youngest daughter Bridget Hayward who was romantically involved with Peter Fonda at the time of her death.

Nutcracker: Money, Murder, Madness (1987)-Three-part miniseries adapted from Shana Alexander’s true crime book about Frances Schreuder (Lee), an amoral and rapacious New York socialite who manipulated and dominated her sons, ultimately pushing one into madness and the other to murder her own father, multi-millionaire industrialist Franklin Bradshaw, for financial gain.

Brittani Burnham said...

Interesting picks, these are all new to me.

Birgit said...

I never saw The Virginian but always wanted to. It never seemed to be on here in my neck of the woods and I was a little girl at the time. I did watch Bonanza and High Chaparral but mostly in reruns. The Virginian was never in reruns. I wish there was a Western TV Channel because I would watch that for sure. I remember Nero Wolfe and forgot Horsely was in it. We match with The Winds of War. I call it the Winds of Boredom. The promo you show made me really want to see it and then...I did. The promo was more entertaining than the slog of this mini-series. What I find very interesting is, except for The Virginian, the promos showcased many great older actors, something you just don't see today. If the actor reaches 30, they are considered too old.