Perhaps I have post-Farrah 1970's nostalgia, but I was talking about this film (and novel) with my mate from Texas, JBW, esquire, of Brain Rage recently...
I saw the film when I was way too young, and had to be taken out of the cinema. But it still so impressed this fledgling maggie that I read the novel in about a day.... no mean feat considering I was about 10 and had no idea what some of it meant.
I saw the film when I was way too young, and had to be taken out of the cinema. But it still so impressed this fledgling maggie that I read the novel in about a day.... no mean feat considering I was about 10 and had no idea what some of it meant.
Famously, the legal age limit in the film version was 30. After that you turn yourself in or are hunted down by "sandmen", guys with nasty guns and wearing really bad knitwear.
In the novel it was actually 21, and the word "sandman" had it's full grotesque context of being in a kind of computerised dark nursery where maturity doesn't exist.
The way the book is written is amazing. It is bullet-fast with a hard-boiled spartan narrative that throws concepts so quick it leaves you reeling. It's like having the statue of liberty scene from Planet of the Apes shock you again and again with how alien the future society has become. Recreational drug usage is encouraged, but tobacco banned. Social sex that would make Hefner blush. Insanely violent youth gangs and empty lethargic entertainments on tap. The novel is like a deadly but beautiful flower, opening up one twisted futuristic vista after another.
If you get it, keep it. It's out of print. And tell me what you think of it.
In the novel it was actually 21, and the word "sandman" had it's full grotesque context of being in a kind of computerised dark nursery where maturity doesn't exist.
The way the book is written is amazing. It is bullet-fast with a hard-boiled spartan narrative that throws concepts so quick it leaves you reeling. It's like having the statue of liberty scene from Planet of the Apes shock you again and again with how alien the future society has become. Recreational drug usage is encouraged, but tobacco banned. Social sex that would make Hefner blush. Insanely violent youth gangs and empty lethargic entertainments on tap. The novel is like a deadly but beautiful flower, opening up one twisted futuristic vista after another.
If you get it, keep it. It's out of print. And tell me what you think of it.
A remake of the film has been a long time coming but whether it'll be any good... we have to wait and see.
A popular bit of advice during the 60s was "don't trust anyone over 30." Don't know if that's why the age would have been changed in the movie, though.
ReplyDeleteIf the remake ever happens it'll be interesting to see which age limit they will use. Few even know of the novel compared to the many who know the film.
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