by
Steve Lazarowitz
March 2001
THE IMPOSSIBLE DREAM
I've seen it all too often. Someone in Hollywood reads a book and says, "This would make a great movie." Maybe they're right. The problem is this. When a person reads a book, they tend to form images of how it should look. Images that movies don't often live up to. To paraphrase something I've heard recently, "imagination has an unlimited budget".
This list is almost endless. From older movies like Journey to the Center of the Earth and When Worlds Collide, all the way up to the recent incarnations of Dune and Battlefield Earth, with dozens (if not hundreds) of others between.
I used to feel a wave a panic when I heard a new movie based on a famous book was going to be released. I wanted desperately for it to be all I expected. I've long ago abandoned expecting anything, which seems to have worked for me, but now, four movies are in the works that task my self-control.
Lord of the Rings is the first of them. Actually, it's the first three. I can't imagine not loving this movie trilogy, which is how I get hurt. I'm really trying not to get my hopes up. I'm failing.
Lord of the Rings is the granddaddy of High Fantasy. I can only think of one set of books I'd rather see on film; the Amber books by Roger Zelazny. On the other hand, I can't think of anyone that can do justice to Amber, so perhaps I should cut my losses and stop praying.
This movie is not the first attempt at Lord of the Rings. In the late seventies, Ralph Bakshi's animated Lord of the Rings appeared in theaters. Me and twenty-two friends took turns waiting on line at the Zigfield Theater in Manhattan, so we could get tickets to see it opening day. We filled an entire row of that theater. I think I was the only guy that liked it. Then again, I didn't expect much from it, so it was fine by me.
My biggest complaint was that it stopped right in the middle of the trilogy and was never finished. Fortunately, in the current incarnation, all three movies are being filmed before the first is released, so at least it will be completed.
Lord of the Rings is to me, a literary masterpiece. Therefore, it might be a bit surprising that the second movie I await is quite the opposite. I'm referring to Doc Savage. Yes, there will be a new Doc Savage movie, with Arnold Schwarzenegger playing the Man of Bronze. There was another Doc Savage movie (also from the seventies if I'm not mistaken) that was so campy it made the original television Batman look bleak. I'm hoping the current director is looking toward something a bit more serious.
I know the books by Kenneth Robeson aren't great books. They were formula almost to a fault. In fact, probably twenty percent of each was identical to every other book, as Robeson introduced and reintroduced the fabulous five, including the ongoing feud between Monk and Ham, along with their compatriots Renny, Long Tom, and Johnny. If they can pull it off, well, "I'll be superamalgamated". If you have to ask, you don't want to know.
In retrospect, it seems almost comical that I could be awaiting two movie experiences so diametrically opposed. Can there be anything further from Lord of the Rings than Doc Savage?
It would be like saying, "I can't wait for those two new movies, "Steal My Heart" and "Cannibal Ninja Six". Well, perhaps not THAT diverse, but you get the idea.
Only time will tell if the hopes I don't allow myself will be dashed, but until I find out one way or another, I will continue to dream. And who knows? Maybe, just maybe, I'll find myself pleasantly surprised.
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