Wednesday, May 8, 2013

Doc Savage

Doc Savage is one of those characters that I have never read much of, but I am totally enamored of the character and his concept.  The books by Lester Dent are numerous, and I have a few of them.  However, Lester did not have a very refined writing style, and some of his writing is almost painful to read for me.  That being said, he had a knack for creating great characters, situations and plots.

Doc Savage has been a staple for several mediums for decades now.  He started in the pulp magazines, but has also been seen in comics off and on.  He even had a major motion picture.  I have yet to watch that, though.  I have a copy on my computer (since it's actually kind of hard to find on video), but every time I have started watching it, the campiness of it all just makes me cringe.  In recent years several attempts to get a new movie made have started and stalled.  At one point in the late 90's (I believe) Arnold Schwarzenegger was attached to star.  That could have been cool, I think.  But then, he made Twins.  And really, Julius was Doc Savage, without the experience.

Which brings us to today.  I just read an article announcing that Shane Black, fresh off his success with co-writing and directing Iron Man 3, is planning for his next film to be Doc Savage.  For those who don't know, Shane Black is the screenwriter responsible for Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout, two of my all-time favorite action movies.  But he has been involved in much more than that, even taking a turn at acting in the first Predator, as the ill-fated Hawkins (the one with the glasses who kept telling pussy jokes to Billy).  So, with that pedigree, I am pretty optimistic about a Doc Savage film in his hands.

Whcih, of course, brings me to the idea of casting.  Who should play Doc Savage? 

Dolph Lundgren

Ok, let's face it, he is riding a high wave of popularity right now.  So, he has the name recognition.  He's also huge, he can fight convincingly, he's actually a pretty good actor (IMHO), and he has the square-jawed, tough-guy looks necessary for the character.  He even has a Masters in Chemical Engineering.  Dolph practically is Doc Savage already!

Any way they do it, I'm sure it will be a fun movie with Shane at the helm.

3 comments:

Charles Gramlich said...

Your take on Dent's writing mirrors mine exactly. I didn't much care for his prose but his characters and especially his settings are wonderful. Along with great titles. I could accept Dolph as Doc Savage. I bet they won't pick him though.

Adventuresfantastic said...

I've not read any of Dent's prose, although I am familiar with the character and some of the plots. A Doc movie done right would be great. Given Hollywood's track record, I'm not going to hold my breath.

DaveC said...

the perfect doc savage is criminal minds Shemar Moore he looks just like we all pictured doc savage. sorry but dolph lundgren cant act.