Brian Garfield

Films based on works by Brian Garfield:

DEATH WISH. The story is scheduled to be remade by MGM with Sylvester Stallone as star and director.
The first movie version was filmed in 1974, with Charles Bronson, Hope Lange and Vincent Gardenia. The movie introduced actors Jeff Goldblum and Olympia Dukakis, among other then-newcomers, and was an enormous box-office success.
Sequels “Death Wish II - III - IV - V” were filmed in the 1980s and 1990s. Garfield did not write, and has little patience with, the sequels, but they're based on the character he created. In 2007, 20th Century-Fox released the film version of his own sequel novel "Death Sentence" (see below).

HOPSCOTCH. Winner of Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allan Poe Award as best novel of the year. Filmed in 1980 with Walter Matthau, Glenda Jackson, Sam Waterston, Ned Beatty and Herbert Lom; directed by Ronald Neame. Screenplay co-written by Bryan Forbes and Associate Producer Brian Garfield -- the job title, he observes, refers to the fact that he was willing to associate with the producers. (Juskidn. Garfield was the on-location producer who worked closely with director and actors.) The script was a nominee-finalist for the Writers Guild of America Award. The author’s company, Shan Productions, co-released the film. The DVD version, including on-camera interviews with Garfield and Neame, is available from The Criterion Collection.

DEATH SENTENCE. Released in September 2007, starring Kevin Bacon, Kelly Preston, John Goodman and Aisha Tyler; directed by James Wan. (20th Century-Fox.) The DVD version, including a full-length unrated Director's Cut, reached the market in January 2008. This movie is - at last - true to the theme of the original novels. Although uncredited, Garfield wrote the first two drafts of the screenplay, and the good shooting script by Ian Mackenzie Jeffers is faithful to the author's concept.

WILD TIMES. Nominee for an American Book Award. Filmed as television mini-series, 1980, with Sam Elliott, Ben Johnson, Dennis Hopper, L.Q. Jones.

THE STEPFATHER. Movie based on Donald E. Westlake’s screenplay from an original story by Brian Garfield -- 1987, with Terry O'Quinn, Shelley Hack and Jill Schoelen; directed by Joseph Ruben. Garfield's company, Shan Productions, co-released the film with ITC. (Sequels Stepfather II and III appeared as well. They are based on the same character and similar situations, but they lack the excellence of the original.)

THE LAST HARD MEN. Western character-adventure film, set in 1911 Arizona Territory. This was filmed in 1976 with Charlton Heston, James Coburn, Barbara Hershey, Michael Parks; directed by Andrew V. McLaglen. 20th Century-Fox. Although uncredited, Brian Garfield worked on location as "script doctor" (the screenplay, by Guerdon Trueblood, was extraordinarily faithful to Garfield's novel, but some factors that work well in a novel do not necessarily work on screen).

RELENTLESS. Filmed for CBS TV in 1977 with Will Sampson, Marianna Hill, John Hillerman, Monte Markham, based on Garfield's novel with a screenplay by Sam Rolfe (with whom Garfield worked several times). This appears to have been the first major-company Hollywood movie in which a Native American hero was portrayed, with top billing, by a Native American actor. It was filmed where it is set, in northern Arizona.

NECESSITY. Filmed for CBS TV in 1989, with Loni Anderson, John Heard, James Naughton.

FLESHBURN. Based on Brian Garfield’s suspense novel Fear in a Handful of Dust, originally published over the pen-name John Ives. The 1984 film, scripted and directed by George Gage, starred Steve Kanaly, Karen Carlson and Sonny Landham. More recently, it has been re-released in various DVD versions.

LEGS. Made-for-TV movie based on original screen story & script by Garfield; broadcast in 1983 by ABC, with Gwen Verdon, John Heard, Sheree North. This was Garfield's only (to ddate) musical. It was co-produced by Radio City Music Hall, and features the Rockettes.

SCRIMSHAW. Based on Brian Garfield’s short story, this half-hour television film was broadcast as part of Survival Anglia’s “Tales of the Unexpected” series. It starred Joan Hackett, Charles Kimbrough and John Houseman.

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In the chute:

MANIFEST DESTINY: A True Romantic Saga of Young Theodore Roosevelt. Brian’s historical novel about TR’s adventures in the Dakota Badlands is being prepared for filming in 2008.

DEATH WISH - to be remade at MGM by Sylvester Stallone in 2008.