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Hollywood Is Done Robbing the '80s -- Moving On to the '40s!

By Dustin Rowles | Posted Under Trade News | Comments (10)

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I won’t confess a familiarity with Doc Savage, a pulp character from one of those old-school magazine serials, published in the ’30s and ’40s (and reprinted in book form in the ’60s and beyond). According to Wikipedia: “He was a physician, surgeon, scientist, adventurer, inventor, explorer, researcher, and … a musician. A team of scientists assembled by his father deliberately trained his mind and body to near-superhuman abilities almost from birth, giving him great strength and endurance, a photographic memory, a mastery of the martial arts, and vast knowledge of the sciences. Doc is also a master of disguise and an excellent imitator of voices.”

So, an everyman, then? An average Joe?

Actually, he sounds like a goddamn character out of one of that trashy boner romances. Does he wear frilly shirts, and are there detailed descriptions of the vein in his member?

No worries, though: Shane Black is on the case. Never mind that a big-screen version of Doc Savage was attempted once, in 1975, and was a critical and box-office failure. Shane Black is on the case.

According to Variety, Shane Black has already penned the script with newbie co-writers Anthony Bagarozzi and Chuck Mondry, and is set to direct as well. It will be his second directing effort, following Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang. Black also scripted the Lethal Weapon series, A Long Kiss Goodnight, The Last Boy Scout, and The Last Action Hero (we’ll forgive him for that last one, though I won’t forgive the many of you who somehow find value in that film).

The setting is expected to be kept in the ’30s. Doc Savage also further represents the fact that Hollywood may now be done scraping the barrel of the ’80s and have moved on to the earlier half of the 20th century (see also: The Green Hornet and The Lone Ranger movies in production and development, respectively).

Maybe they can get Fabio for the lead?









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Comments

If it approaches anywhere near the awesome of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang I'm there.

Posted by: admin at February 23, 2010 11:14 AM

Also, I want Fabio to get hit in the face by a goose again. Best makeup ever!

Posted by: admin at February 23, 2010 11:14 AM

Doc Savage the character is sort of meh, but I love me some pulp serials. Nazis, zeppelins, lost dinosaur worlds under every rock, biplane dogfights around the zeppelins, fistfights with guys named Rock Jackson or Shane Magnum, more zeppelins!

Bring it on!

Posted by: ZombieScientist at February 23, 2010 11:19 AM

Actually, Doc Savage, as written, is pretty much the antithesis of a boner romance hero. The books are pretty amazing (they still hold up remarkably well) largely because of the characterizations of Savage and his crew. Casting will be a problem, but if this is done right (ie: not turned into a CGI-fest like Sherlock Holmes) it could work quite well.

Aah, who am I kidding? They'll manage to fuck it up somehow.

Posted by: KXJXBX at February 23, 2010 11:22 AM

I with admin on this one. I can see Shane Black having the potential to make this work, given the source material and the fabulousness of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Posted by: tamatha at February 23, 2010 11:25 AM

As long as they keep it strictly in the time period, I could see this being awesome. Too many of these bullshit remakes or reduxs of classic serials try to update the fuck out of everything, and that's why they fail; most of those characters can't exist and make sense today. They were for their time. Now, if you set a character like that in their own damn time, you can certainly use it to comment on our culture today. But don't fuck with the timeline.

/rant

Posted by: ChristianH at February 23, 2010 11:27 AM

Yeah, don't fuck with the timeline. Like don't add zombies to Pride and Pred and have the Miss Bennetts ninja kick zombie ass. Oh wait. Nevermind. I might actually like that one.

Posted by: BWeaves at February 23, 2010 11:48 AM

a) Lay off the damned romance novel heroes. They are frequently a hell of a lot more complex than your average sci-fi/fantasy hero or the angst-ridden wet blankets of "literary" fiction. Also, they always get laid, which the above two rarely do (or rarely do well - except in romance cross overs).

b) I could totally get behind an early 20th century hero finding a lost dinosaur world or having biplane fights. Heck, I could go for that sort of character solving gritty mysteries involving dark alleys and women in hats with veils. Bring back noir, damn it.

c) Didn't they try to update this concept in Buckaroo Banzai? Yeah, that went over well with audiences.

Posted by: Reba at February 23, 2010 1:52 PM

Is the phrase "trashy boner romances" technically accurate when describing shitty, $2 grocery store pulp romance novels? I'm fairly sure most of them are written for female enjoyment. There is WAY too much discussion of "feelings" and "intentions" in those things for them to be aimed at guys. We'd be much happier with just a collection of short stories that all start off with: "She had a wicked awesome rack, and I could totally see down her blouse. Her nipples looked like little pink buttons..."

No, I think a much more apropos descriptive phrase would be "trashy panty dampener." Or maybe "cheap taco seasoning." Even, "tit tickling tripe." But boner-inducing, they are not.

Also Reba, if you honestly feel like the characters are "more complex" in those fusions of nouns, verbs and sexually suggestive adjectives, then I think we may be at an impasse. Please watch less Lifetime Movie Network programming and stay away from the Stephanie Meyer fansites for a bit. Collections of words and veiled sexual innuendos surrounding a relationship doomed to failure do not make for generally compelling stories.

Then again, what do I know? I'm just a guy who's trying to get you to lean forward far enough so I can see what color your nipples are.

Posted by: Roaddog at February 23, 2010 6:42 PM

back in da day..

i believe those harlequin-esque trash novels were referred to as 'bodice-rippers'...

Posted by: kikz at February 24, 2010 5:03 PM