Peter Hyams

With some justice, this late-seventies film is little-remembered today. The best description might be 'unconvincing'. Christopher Plummer is an unconvincing director of a British operation which drops agents into WWII France; Harrison Ford is the slightly more convincing American bomber pilot; and Lesley-Anne Down is the middle-class hospital auxilary married to Plummer who meets Ford during a bombing raid on London. Her main function is to look decorative with those big blue eyes, and show more struggle, not too hard, to resist Ford's manly advances.
The locations are unconvincing – Christmas 1944 with trees in full leaf; daffodils out in 'France' in January; Lyon, one of France's largest cities, looking like a scruffy market town and so on.
The script is unconvincing – how can Plummer badly sprain his ankle through incompetence but be running at high speed from German soldiers with Ford 24 hours later? Why would the daring pair return to the farm they originally holed up in when they have been told by the plucky resistance daughter that her farmer father is a collaborator? How does the brave wife know where her husband's boss has his top-secret office? Why do no German guards notice that Ford has amazingly long hair when he insouciantly goes into the German HQ dressed as a German sargeant? Why is there no exploration of the tension and lack of fulfilment which is said to be at the heart of the married couple's problems? Too hard to do?
There are also plenty of cliches – German stereotypes, East End safecracker, adorable eight year old daughter. It is a pity that one of these cliches – the wise-cracking bomb-aimer who is part of Ford's crew - is the most convincing character in the film. show less

Well…it has been 2.5 years since I stumbled upon the brilliance of Susan Ee…and what a journey it has been. So I will start with saying…Ms. Ee…this was bloody brilliant…



I cannot recommend this series enough to everyone. This is first and foremost a book in an apocalyptic hell on earth…told in fabulous gory detail, Susan’s world building is unlike anything else I have read in this genre.

But damn…the pain in waiting for additional installments was almost too much to show more endure…but I have to say, it was so worth it. This third and final in this trilogy just exceeded every expectation I had. I am left in utter awe.

The romance between our MC’s is just fantastic. But be warned…this is not a physical sexual romance…there are a few kisses in this series and the attraction, dialog and banter between these two is just wonderfully written. Remember…it’s the apocalypse so…

Is it missed??? Honestly, it’s believable and I think that is what I love the most. Now do I wish there had been more…I mean…I’d be lying if I said I didn’t…but the brilliance of this is that you know there is something building between these two and the interactions with them are just…



Now with this third installment came tears…my god…I was a fucking mess in this book.



I was hit totally upside the head with emotion that was completely unexpected. Susan held nothing back.

The characters in this series continue to astound me…from our fearless female lead, to her “crazy” mother, to her “broken” sister to the hilarity of Dee and Dum, I was not disappointed. Throw in amazing interactions with the beautiful Raffe, new developments with our villain (Beliel), the Messengers (of which Hawk and Howler were a highlight) and we need more…we need a prequel…we need backstories…please!!! I can only hope that we will get these soon as there are clearly many other stories to be told.

A fabulous BR with my girls Susan (review) and Momo (review). " show less

Great cast and some good location filming can't make up for the lackluster script. Gould and Blake aren't very believable as vice cops after kingpin Garfield, either, although Gould registers in his Gouldish way. Blake has only an unlit cigarette as a character prop, and it just isn't good enough. I should also mention that Gould looks like Jim Croce here.

Much like he did in The Lost Worlds of 2001, Arthur C. Clarke explores the process of adapting one of his novels to film in The Odyssey File. Rather than feature early treatments, script rewrites, and short stories/sequences, Clark presents this process as a dialogue between himself and director Peter Hyams. The most unique aspect was that conflicting schedules and geography required the two to use email in the early 1980s.
Clarke is magnanimous about any changes that Hyams wants, offering show more suggestions for ways to incorporate the changes and even the names of people on whom Hyams could call as technical advisers. Hyams, for his part, displays the nervousness of a man entrusted with adapting the sequel to one of the greatest films, regardless of genre, of the twentieth century. While the book does offer insight into the film-making process, it is not a complete "making of" or "behind the scenes" book, though Clarke explains that this was due to the need to get the book to press in time for the film's release.
The book's appendices feature an essay by Steven Jongeward, a production assistant on 2010, that describes the changes from book to film and how the change in medium necessitated Hyams' alterations. The second appendix describes the process for sending an email in 1983 using the technology of the time.
The book will likely not attract as wide an audience as Clarke's fiction, but will appeal to film scholars, devoted fans of Clarke, and those interested in the early days of the technology that became the Internet. show less