GD

[cryowizard]

Finished reading Nelson DeMille's "The General's Daughter", the book upon which a John Travolta / Madeleine Stowe movie is based. I have to say that the screen writers did, of course, take big liberties with the original text (DeMille actually had some input into the screen play). The book is, as it usually goes, much deeper. The screen version completely shifted some of the accents, giving way too much weight to Col. Moore (and making him gay in the process) and the General himself as compared to the book, and omitted some very cool dialogue and most of the relationship between Brenner and Sunhill. The last scene on the highway would have been awesome on film, and it wouldn't add more than a few minutes of screen time. In addition, screen writers skipped on the whole Chief Yardley angle, which in the movie would have played out great, with Daniel Von Bargen playing him as he did (a perfect fit, kudos to casting). They also invented the whole West Point section. On the positive note, the screen play  managed to make the film slightly edgier than the book, slightly more contrasty and more dynamic. In the end though, the two have very different bright points.

Next up: Off Magazine Street, a prototype book for "Love Song For Bobby Long". I love the movie. We'll see how they mangled the book :)