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Read The Book Instead, If You Can Find It.....

posted 19 years ago by jimmy19029
8 replies | jump to latest

This movie was based on David Osborn's book which, I believe, was originally called The All Americans but quickly retitled to tie in with this 1974 movie that he also co-scripted with Liz Charles-Williams.
One of the biggest problems with the movie is that it was a foreign production(mostly Spanish)that's supposed to be taking place in the U.S. in Upper Michigan but does not really have the feel of a U.S. film at all despite the principle actors being mostly American.
Also, one can tell it was a rush job done with limited funding.
This is one that would make for a good remake with a better budget. Of course then we'd probably have the opposite problem and it would be OVERDONE with the subtleties and gradual suspense building of Osborn's novel missed.

[–] chubaca-3 18 years ago

I read this book several times and it was "Awsome". I have been looking for another copy of it for years. Does anyone know where I might find one? Never saw the movie, and sad to hear that such a low budget job was done on it. Hope someone with experience (Ridley Scott) makes it into the movie it deserves to be.

[–] filmscribe1 18 years ago

I haven't seen the movie either, but read Osborn's book many years ago (before the movie came out). I remember I enjoyed it a lot.

There were a lot of subtleties in it, like you mention, including -- but not limited to -- the conflict Ken experiences as he can't help but care for this particular woman/prey; the quiet homosexual admiration toward Ken by one of the other guys (can't remember if it was Art or Greg); the role the scenery plays on the story; and (spoiler alert) the hovering character watching their every move, yet allowing them to go ahead with their game, while he has another game-plan of his own.

Although I remember "predicting" what this was about early on, the twist added a strong point to one of the story's themes: there's a thin line between our "normal", socially acceptable feelings/behaviour and our inner animal instincts/desires for self-gratification. The latter, in the "bad guys" case, move them to psychopathic/criminal entertainment, whereas in the hovering character, those "raw" instincts carry him to seek revenge/reprisal. Paradoxically, to achieve this, he needs to act extremely methodical and patiently, and neglect the lives of other innocent people.

I'd love to see the movie version, and if there's a possibility of a remake, I hope they can enact the characters' feelings of doubt, anger, love, lust, need and terror, so wonderfully portrayed in Osborn's novel.

[–] blaiseogarvin 17 years ago

I´m just reading it for the fourth time,and I still love it. My copy of the book is falling to pieces, but as it is so rare and hard to get hold of here in Sweden I´ve kept until there is a better copy available. Just found it on videotape on auktion site, just hope I win it.
Would also love to se a remake of this.

[–] Gypsybelle 16 years ago

I've seen the film but never read the book - yet. I found that the book was re-printed with the title of the 1974 film - Open Season. Amazon.com shows used copies of the book under that title at http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/0803761813/ref=dp_olp_0?ie=UTF8&condition=all. And Abe Books also shows copies for sale at abebooks.com. You have to look for Open Season and not 'The All Americans'. I guess the original title got lost somehow...After seeing the film, I do want to read the novel - I'm sure it has more depth overall that was possible for a film made in 1974.

[–] jswirb 13 years ago

whats the holdup witht he dvd----i bet no one even knows who owns the rights

[–] pit-4 13 years ago

Love both the movie and book, have the book and movie (on VHS) but no DVD release! Why the hell not??

[–] jswirb 13 years ago

i would bets the rights to this film have been lost--columbia released it but i would bet they don't have the rights anymore...how can we contact peter fonda

[–] shadowfax73 7 years ago

One of my favorite books, an absolute classic with a great twist. I was in West Germany when the movie was released over there and went to watch it in German with no subtitles.I was so familiar with the book that I was still really stoked from being able to watch the movie which, as I recall, was pretty true to the book. The holy grail for me would be a remastered Blu-Ray with a commentary.