Directed by Philip Kaufman
Screenplay by Rose Kaufman and Philip Kaufman, adapted from the novel by Richard Price
The film versions of Richard Price’s first two novels, The Wanderers and Bloodbrothers, are like a case study in what makes an adaptation succeed or fail. The Bloodbrothers movie, which Price disparagingly said reminded him of a spaghetti commercial, actually stayed pretty close to the plot of the original book (apart from the ending), but changed countless details throughout in order to soften the harsh story for the screen. In contrast, while almost every individual scene in the silver screen staging of The Wanderers, Price’s darkly comedic debut novel about teenage gang members in the early ’60s, is taken from the book, those component parts are all re-ordered and rearranged in terms of how they relate to each other. We still see a hapless teacher trying to instill some tolerance in a class divided between Italians and blacks, but that moment is now used as the instigation for the two sides’ ill-fated football game, which is now a gambling opportunity for the gangsters from the bowling alley, one of whom is now the father of Richie’s girlfriend, who now gets pregnant like Buddy’s girlfriend did in the book, etc., etc. It’s like husband-and-wife screenwriting team Rose and Philip Kaufman grabbed a loose thread hanging off the novel and pulled until all the chapters were scrunched up real snug against each other.
But even though this film is much further from its source material than the Bloodbrothers adaptation was, plot-wise, it’s also closer to that source material’s intent, and more successful on its own terms. “It’s not my book,” Price has said, “and I don’t care. The spirit is right…” Continue reading →
Directed by Harold Becker
Priced Out 