Rebooted ‘Remo Williams’ Could Be the Next Indiana Jones, If Hollywood Doesn’t Blow It (Again)
by Jim MullaneyIn an early review of Spider-Man 3, Britain’s Times Online reviewer infamously wrote:
Also disappointing is the inability of the director, Sam Raimi, to end the romp without a fleeting shot of the American flag. The Stars and Stripes just happens to be fluttering behind Spidey as he makes his triumphal return to honour, probity and good honest fist-fighting.
I thought of this review the other day after I’d exchanged a few notes with a reader (I certainly can’t call him a fan) who contacted me at my public email address. The guy was unhappy with my treatment of Muslim terrorists in one of my recent novels, and what started as Pee-Wee Herman-level “I know you are, but what am I?” schoolyard taunts quickly devolved into anti-Semitism. I’m part of the Zionist plot, see, and the plot of my book was just a plot within that larger plot.
So what do my Zionist leanings and Spider-Man’s fluttering Stars and Stripes have to do with Remo Williams, that old Eighties action flick? To begin with, Remo Williams isn’t just the title of a 1985 film, produced by Dick Clark and distributed by now-defunct Orion. Remo is also the main character in nearly 150 Destroyer novels (26 of which I’ve had a hand in writing). It’s okay if you didn’t know that. Aside from a quick opening title credit to series creators Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, much of what makes Remo The Destroyer was jettisoned for the movie.
While the original Remo Williams didn’t do well at the box office, it has picked up a cult following through home video and cable. I’ve gotten mail from fans who’d enjoyed the film for years before finding out the books even existed. And if my mailbox is any indication, pretty much everyone who came to the books via the movie agrees with us old-time fans: None of us can believe Hollywood did such a lousy job adapting the characters to the screen. But in our current age of endless updates and reboots comes some fresh cinematic hope, and if things work out Remo will soon be starring in a brand new motion picture adaptation brought to the screen by Sony and some of the folks who gave us Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Hopefully this time it’ll be the real Destroyer we see, a goal best achieved by not ignoring or re-imagining what’s made the book series a success.
In the novels, Remo is an Everyman Superman who has fought Mafia thugs, drug lords, commies, Nazis, sentient computer programs and the occasional god. In the 1970s he even twice battled an unstoppable, shape-shifting killer android long before Ahnuld first vowed he’d be back. In books and in film, a great villain gets you halfway there. Unfortunately the first Remo movie didn’t have a Blofeld or Dr. No, no Terminator or Dr. Octopus. There wasn’t even a measly little Lex Luthor. No, in his first motion picture outing, Remo Williams — who has fought gods and lived — went toe-to-toe with a bad-guy American arms manufacturer whose great nefarious scheme was to sell crappy, malfunctioning guns to the Army. Is it any wonder moviegoers stayed away in droves? So there’s half the reason the first movie flopped right there.
The other half of the equation and vitally important to the success of the book series is the simple fact that the protagonists are patriots. If you want navel-gazing shades of gray where America is to blame and Rev. Wright’s chickens have come home to roost, you’d best look elsewhere, Jason Bourne. Remo and his boss, taciturn New Englander and former OSS and CIA agent Dr. Harold W. Smith, love America. Unabashedly and unapologetically love America. And they, along with wizened Korean martial arts master and mercenary Chiun, Remo’s trainer and father figure, will do whatever it takes to defeat her enemies.
So a good Destroyer film adaptation would ideally…
- Irritate British film reviewers throughout the empire
- Anger the enemies of America; like, for example, Muslim terrorists and their squishy soul-mates.
That’s it. Simple formula. Think big and love America.
Well, actually, there is one more thing.
A recent book, Dead Reckoning (coauthored by yours truly), took on a villain from an al Qaeda-like group hell-bent on releasing a toxic poison in the United States. Here’s a passage that gives a pretty good example of the attitude of the series. Listen up and take notes, moviemakers:
A locked steel door was the only exit to the rear alley. Remo sensed no explosives wired to the door. In a spray of mortar and falling bricks, Remo tore it from its hinges.
The door was not wired to explode because there were five men inside guarding it. Remo used the door to crush two against the wall of the basement hallway before they could even finger their triggers. The remaining three, seeing their comrades turned to mushy central masses possessed of human arms and legs, and seeing the figure of legend who had killed them, threw down their guns and threw up their hands.
“We surrender!”
Remo cast a cold eye over the three cowering figures, men who would gleefully murder innocents in the name of their cause, now quivering before him.
“Which one of you is Mohammed?” Remo asked.
Three shaking hands were raised. “Him too,” one of the terrorists said, pointing toward a mangled corpse.
“Okay, which one of you is Mustafa’s brother?”
Two hands lowered.
“Mustafa who was busted before he could fly a plane into the White House in 2001?” Remo asked.
The terrorist had to think for a moment. “Did you say 2001?” he asked. Remo nodded. “Oh.” The terrorist lowered his hand and shook his head.
None of these was the man he was after.
“I will let all of you live if just one of you knows the meaning of the word mercy,” Remo said coldly.
The three startled terrorists huddled like game show contestants. When they had decided on an answer, their spokesman turned hopefully to Remo.
“It means ‘thank you’ in French.”
Remo left the bodies near the alley door and headed for the basement stairs.
What, didn’t I mention that The Destroyer also does humor and social and political satire from a decidedly conservative perspective?
Get that attitude right, Hollywood, and you’ll have a movie for which fans of The Expendables, Gran Torino, Taken and Harry Brown will be lining up at the box office. If not? Well, if you go in a different direction, you won’t make much money but you’ll doubtless make a whole bunch of mealy-mouthed British film reviewers very, very happy.
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73 Comments
Never read the Destroyer novels but I LOVED the Remo Williams movie back in the day. Joel Grey's Master Chiun was a great character. I think I'll take the risk and start reading the novels. the worst that could happen is that I like the movie a bit less and learn to love the written Remo Universe!
"Remo left the bodies near the alley door and headed for the basement stairs."
Screw fluffing up their pillows at Gitmo. THIS is how you're supposed to treat terrorists.
Although personally, I'll always be a Killmaster N3 Nick Carter man first, I've always enjoyed a good Remo Williams and Mac Bolan novel. I don't think that modern Hollywood could do any of the above justice. It's just not in their DNA to treat American heroes as heroes.
Didn't even know that the Remo novels were still out there. I remember reading them years ago.
And enjoyed them.
I was out of the house, rare for me as getting around without a wheelchair is hard. harrder when you can't walk. Well I was in a K Mart for the first time in years back in 1987. I hit the books section and fund reprints of the first 5 MackkBolan ( the exicutioner) novels. I also spotted the Remo Williams books. Having seen , and like the fil on cable, i bought the first 5 in that series as well. Got home and read them all. Great entertainment, dialog action, and no apologies for any of it. I already had a subsription to the Mack Bolan Novels, but never did find a steady source for Remo. Sorry to have missed so much.
I hope Hollywood listens to you. Fred Ward did good with what he had. but if they'd stuck to the books he'd have been famous. I still like him in the Tremors films.
My favorite god-battler and evil shadow government-destroyer is Jack Vane, of the POLITICALLY EXTREMELY INCORRECT God Conspiracy novels, especially the top best seller, LOST RELIC OF THE GODS, 2012, which I got on Amazon, $1.99 E-Book, a thrill a minute!
#12 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Fiction > Horror > Occult
#15 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Genre Fiction > Horror > Occult
#38 in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Science Fiction
Loved the Destroyer books when I was in high school. Then got hooked on Mack Bolan, and Nick Carter.
The plot of the Remo Williams movie didn't do a lot for me but I loved getting to know the character. The interaction between Remo (Fred Ward) and Chiun (Joel Gray) was priceless! Fred was a good selection for Remo but now he's a little too old for the part. I always hoped there'd be a second movie that would be much better but, of course, it hasn't happen….yet. Find another Fred Ward type of guy and you've got a winner.
I've been reading the Destroyer novels since college back in the 80s though I stopped reading them a couple of years ago because I wasn't too thrilled with the then current writer. Not sure who's writing them now, if it's you or someone else. I enjoyed the 80s movie, it's what got me started reading the books. I even sort of enjoyed the TV pilot they made with Roddy McDowall as Chiun. Hopefully this time they'll do it right though I would think it would make liberal's heads explode to work on such a movie given how often Remo deflates their sacred cows. It would be great though if some of the real people who are parodied in the books could make cameo appearances like Connie Chung or Rush Limbaugh.
I remember the flick. I liked it. Get Fred Ward to be the trainer, and a new guy to be the ass kicker.
I would hope they'd finally get an asian actor to play Chiun given that the character is Korean but I think Fred Ward might make a good Harold Smith.
I have not read a Destroyer book since sometime in the mid 80s, back when I read a lot of Don Pendleton and the like. While the story lines were definitely over the top, I used to enjoy the books for their sardonic humor and Murphy and Sapir's (the original authors of the series) willingness to show an assassin as a hero. On the down side I seem to remember that there was a bit of an annoying anti-gun attitude that ran through the books (admittedly as a long time shooter I can be overly sensitive to this attitude).
I wasn't even aware that someone else had taken over writing the books. I'll have to give the new series a look and see if things have changed and if so how much.
A heads up to those out there who are thinking about reading a Destroyer book for the first time. When I was reading the series the characters didn't show much reverence for anything or anybody save for Chiun's love for his village and his martial art, both of which were known as Sinanju. As alluded to by Mr. Mullaney, Remo and Chiun are extremely badass. I recall in one book Remo removed one guy's head with his bare hands and in another Chiun virtually turned another bad guy into a puddle also with his bare hands (a Sinanju Master never uses or needs weapons).
I remember seeing the Remo WIlliams movie in the 80's and loved it but it seemed I was the only one. One of my best friends at the time had been reading the books for years before that and was less than impressed. He informed me that the books were much better and that the movie was a pale comparison. It always seems to be that way in films these days.
Hey Jim, did you ever think of pitching the Remo Williams movie to Luc Besson? He did a great job with "Taken" and "From Paris with Love" was more proamerican than 99% of the movies that have come out in the last few years.
Chiun: "You move like yak with 2 club feet!!!!'
Booyah!
It might be on netflix streaming.
Only one man is cool and bad enough to play Remo. ADAM F'N BALDWIN!!!!!
MAKE IT HAPPEN HOLLYWOOD!
GLORIOUS SINAN-JU EXHIBITED ON THE SILVER SCREEN!
I remember reading the Destroyer NOvels in the early 70's when i was in the military. Too bad Hollywood screwed things up with the Remo Williams movie…It can be re-booted, especially if they stay true to the novels.
My favorite..Remo takes on the mob in Vegas….Jason Stathm would be exceptional as Remo.
Read my first Destroyer in the mid 70's as a teen. Was reading Mack Bolan and Nick Carter back then too. Remo became my favorite. I havent read them all, just 50 or 60 of them. Periodically I still pick one up to read. I was ecstatic when the first movie came out and disappointed with the result. Not the entire result, but the "bad guys" in the movie. Not to mention that Fred Ward was all wrong for the part. Joel Grey was surprisingly good as Chiun. Even as disappointed as I was I was hoping for more in the series. Hopefully, the new ones will be better.
150 books???
I have got to get out from under this rock!
Enjoyed the movie (set up for more that never came, just like "Sword and the Sorcerer")
TV movie stunk on toast
My fingers are crossed.
I will second that!
Chiun: Breathe out… slowly… do not gulp. If you do not breathe correctly, you do not move correctly. Pitiful. I can see the deadly hamburger has done its evil work.
Does anyone have an opinion on whether these novels (or which of them) would be appropriate for my 13 yr old son? I'm mostly looking to avoid any gratuitous sex or non-stop profanity.
You should probably read them first. The earlier ones, written in that glorious heyday of the men's adventure genre, do contain some explicit scenes. Warren Murphy has said that it was mostly at the request of their editor at the time, who wanted them to be more along the line of other titles they published. But the later books toned it down, though I'd still go through them first before passing on the milder ones. And there is some swearing. The bad guys are bad guys and they do let loose with the language. But I wouldn't call it non-stop. Chiun doesn't swear and while Remo does occasionally, his main expletive is bulldookey.
Chiun: "Why must everything in this country have monasita monasota—"
Remo: "Monosodium glutamate. You can't even say it."
Chiun: "I can say 'rat droppings', that does not mean I want to eat them."
Remo Williams: You know, Chiun, there are times when I really like you.
Chiun: Of course. I am Chiun.
Remo Williams: And there are times when I could really kill you.
Chiun: Good. We will practice that after dinner.
Chiun: The trained mind does not need a watch. Watches are a confidence trick invented by the Swiss.
I don't think there was much sex at all really, but Chiun did instruct Remo on a Sinanju technique of sex that was the ultimate method of giving pleasure to women. Unfortunately for Remo it ruined sex for him. He became so focused on the technique that he never enjoyed sex again after learning the Sinanju method.
I don't remember much in the way of profanity either but it has been a lot of years since I read one of the books.
Jim,
A movie based on your excerpt will NEVER be made.
Sadly.
Vic
The only Baldwin worth watching!
I especially loved Travolta's character – playing the "ugly american" to the hilt to manipulate the french attitudes and stereotypes of americans, constantly deflating the "can't we all get along" – and constantly more subtle than his brash exterior without ever being anything but gloriously, unapologetically, lowbrow american in attitude (the chess game and the burgers at the end…)
I've read everyone of the Destroyer books.
Simply AWESOME!
I was thinking my first choice for Harold Smith would be Fred Thompson, and my second (if we want someone older) would be Clint Eastwood.
Good stuff! I got the book on my next amazon purchase! New!
Bull%@*… key … CROSSES THE LINE!!!
Yes! A thousand times yes! As a regular watcher of "Chuck" I know that Baldwin definitely has the moxie and screen presence to play Remo.
Well, count me in for a ticket … I'll bring the spouse and teen, so make that 3 tickets. Read a few of the books a number of years back and enjoyed them. Enjoyed the movie anyway. Looking forward to this one.
Remo: "You know Chiun, sometimes you're a real pain in the ass."
Chiun: "That's because that is the shortest route to your brain."
Believe me, it's NO risk! Many of them are available at Amazon as ebooks. I would recommend the first 100 and #111 through #131 (the Mullaney years) as the best.
Should I have mentioned that Chiun has said "duck droppings" on occasion?
. . bad-guy American arms manufacturer whose great nefarious scheme was to sell crappy, malfunctioning guns to the Army.
Thanks for the article! This is one of the first liberal "sucker punch" movies I was aware of. It was during the media run up for the huge reduction in defense spending which resulted in over 600,000 people losing their jobs in the early 90s. This movie was part of the MSM, Hollywood preparation for that happening, similar to the green push as the last couple of years.
Also disappointing is the inability of the director, Sam Raimi, to end the romp without a fleeting shot of the American flag.
Why doesn't this British bedwetter and his fellow leftwing eunuchs create their own superhero where they can have a British flag flying in the background. How quaint of me, make that a crescent & star flag, the flag of Britain's future thanks to the liberal cowards over there. I just can't wait until the liberal "men" over there are forced to wear burkas along with their women. Suckers.
Have a middle age Destroyer….hello Bruce Campbell!
Great piece. Loved the excerpt. Remo's unapologetic lethal approach is great for dark humor. It would be great to see Remo and Chuin with their supernatural, FORCE like , martial arts ability hit the screen undiluted.
They do have such a hero – his name is Bond. Surprisingly enough, the Union Jack has made several similar cameo appearances in his films with no complaints from Brit reviewers.
As much as I love the Animal Monster he is getting a little long in the tooth but just maybe Mr. Smith if hair is grayed and he has glasses. Just a thought
I though Bond was exiled to America for being a proud white heterosexual male unwilling to cower to the islamists within Britain. Ironically the liberal British hypocrites love nationalism except when Americans display nationalism. These are the same people that antagonize black soccer players with the most racist slurs [German fans outright fly the nazi flag despite nazi symbols being banned in Germany] yet have the nerve to accuse Americans of being xenophobes and racists.
From this Conservative to liberals/commies /fascists/islamist around the globe: phuq all you all.
Loved the movie when I was a kid, and it certainly had a soundtrack that kind of got your blood pumping much like the Indiana Jones movies. Fred Ward was awesome in the role personally, though the script was not much for him to work with.
I've read almost all the Destroyer books. I got hooked on them back in the 1980s and looked forward to every one of them. The movie was all right, but it had nothing on the books.
I still remember the odd looks I'd get at the bookstore when I'd come up to the cash register with a couple of Destroyer books and a couple of Harlequin romances.
That is the best call I've heard in a long time.
I still can't stop thinking about how awesome Adam Baldwin would be as Nick Fury, but oh well … this would do.
He'd have to lose the accent.
Jim, I am a RABID Destroyer fan! Devoured the whole series (up to about #60) starting in the 1970s when I was a kid. I knew right off the Ahnuld pre-boot android you were talking about was Mr. Gordons. Kind of like a super-evil Hymie from the original Get Smart. I too was greatly disappointed in the 1985 film, but I don't blame Joel Grey or Fred Ward. They were great actors with a horrible script. Mr. Grey even got a Best Supporting Actor nod for his role as Nuihc. I meant Chiun. Who the hell is Nuihc lol!
The BIG problem with the film as I saw it was that three-time Bond director Guy Hamilton tried to make Remo Williams into James Bond. He's not. He's Remo Williams. Different as day and night. FWIW in one of my posts from last year here at BH (real name John T. Simpson) you will find the official Destroyer website linked as one stellar project Hollywood should do right the second time. For those not in the know, the official Destroyer website is linked. Enjoy! Maybe even on the Big Screen again someday.
Hope Springs Eternal on the Boulevard of Broken Dreams, and the Destroyer series is a perfect example of yet another highly popular literary gold mine just waiting to be cashed in on by the right people. They HAVE to at least keep the awesome black humor that made that series the worldwide smash it was and is. How many millions in sales now? 150 million? More? Anyway, nice gig Jim! I'm jealous lol! Any openings?
Let me guess: Maxwell has one
http://www.sinanju.com/
I'd like to chime in with a couple of other Destroyer sites.
http://www.sinanju.net has summaries of the books and news on the main page. Very informative.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/House-of-Sinanju/ is a discussion group.
I was 13 in 1971 when I read the first DESTROYER.
I have JUST finished re-reading the entire series a few months back. (they are STILL AVAILABLE on AMAZON)
This is an AWESOME, awesome, series. NO it is NOT the same story told over and over.
IT IS a really interesting commentary on politics from the late 60's to today told through the guise of a
conservative perspective.
One of the really neat aspect of the DESTROYER series was the authors ability to mix then REAL current events in to their story line.
ALL of the existing U.S. Presidents have been portrayed fairly accurately it turns out.
The stories hold up well given their fast production schedule as they put out like 3 to 4 a year.
Remo Williams and Chiun. REAL american HERO's.
So Mr. Mullaney,
When are you going to add to the continuing adventures Remo Williams and Chiun?
Created, The Destroyer
By Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir
Everyone knew why Remo Williams was going to die. The chief of the Newark Police Department told his close friends Williams was a sacrifice to the civil right groups.
"Who ever heard of a cop going to the chair,…and for killing a dope-pusher? Maybe a suspension… maybe even a dismissal…but the chair?
The Judge was quite certain why he sentenced Williams to die. It was very simple. He was told to.
Not that he knew why he was told to. In certain circles, you don't ask questions about verdicts.
Those eyelids. MacCleary had seen them before. And the light had shone on them then, too…
the hot Vietnam sun and the Marine had been sleeping underneath the wooden skeleton of a gray tree.
MacCleary had been CIA then. Dressed in Army fatigues, he had hiked up the hill with the two marine escorts.
The CIA objective: enter main communications house and capture records, a list of Vietcong sympathizers in Saigon. CIA wanted the list. MacCleary had worked out a plan to have a marine company stage a charge on the building, with no one seeking cover almost a Kamikaze attack. This, MacCleary hoped would be fast enough to deny time to burn the records,…
"Whats that ?" MacCleary asked,
"Your Records" the captain said causally.He was a small thin man who managed to keep his uniform pressed even in combat conditions.
"but the assault?! You weren't supposed to start before I got here.
We didn't need you.
How'd you go in? With Bayonets? The captain pushed up his hemet with his righthand and scratched the hair over his temple, "yes and no"
"What do you mean?"
"We got this guy. He does these things"
"What things?'
"Like this farmhouse deal. He does them"
"what?"
"He goes in and he kills the people. We use him for single-man assaults on positions, night-time work. He, uh,
just produces, thats all. It's a lot easier than running up casualty lists."
"How does he do it?"
The captain shrugged. "I don't know. I never asked him. He just does it."
•2. Death Check*
•3. Chinese Puzzle
•4. Mafia Fix
•5. Dr. Quake
•6. Death Therapy
•7. Union Bust
•8. Summit Chase
•9. Murder's Shield
•10. Terror Squad
•11. Kill or Cure
•12. Slave Safari …
And a hundred and 30 or so more,..
I would recommend reading them all.
Having just re-read the entire series I first started when I was 13. He will love them. Also they will give him a MUCH better perspective on early 70's through the 90 political perspective.
Which I am sure was NEVR intended by the authors. See below for an excerpt from the first book.
No complaints for American viewers, either! We don't mind it when Brits are patriotic. We even admire it. So why do Europeans get such a bug up their butts about American patriotism?
I'm still waiting for a Mack Bolan movie, I expect that when Hollywood producers run out of comic books to ruin, they'll start on the old serial novels like The Executioner and The Destroyer.
I like the new Remo books. Some other badass books I would recommend: the Assignment series by Edward Aarons. (old spy books). Earl Dumarest series by E. C. Tubb. Tubb passed away this past year. Those are scifi. Kane books by Karl Wagner. Sword and Sorcery. Wagner drank himself to death. And another great scifi book, The Forever War.
Bad part is, Liberals in Hollywood prefer to blow things, people an movies!
I read every one of them back in the day through about #125. I may have to catch up. I love the idea of a new Remo Williams movie – looking forward to it!
There wasn't so much an anti-gun attitude, but as you state, not much need for guns. In one of the books, a master assasin had learned to shoot in Sinanju. Not from Chuin, he was away, but from a child! EVERYBODY in Sinanju could shoot.
In another, Chuin shoots a helicopter out of the sky, with a 1911!
As I say I can be overly sensitive about what I perceive as someone being anti-gun. I do recall having read in one of the books where Remo had resorted to using a gun and was roundly excoriated by Chiun for doing so. My recollection is that Chiun felt that guns were beneath a Sinanju master; but then again he also felt that all weapons were beneath the Master of Sinanju.
The stories you reference must have come after I stopped reading the Destroyer books. I really must revisit the series and see if I would still enjoy them. For the life of me, I cannot think of why I stopped reading them. I stopped reading the Executioner series and a few other rip-off series at the same time. Since I was in my early 20s I probably became distracted by a short skirt or something shiny.
Well, asking if any of them know the meaning of the word "mercy" isn't foolproof. Some do know what it means, and just choose not to show any.
I guess the spread of the Evil Overlord List has its pitfalls.
I read many of these books years ago and loved them. I still have quite a few as a matter of fact.
They are great books and if you haven't read them, then you should try them. You don't know
what your missing out on. They are a sinfully guilty pleasure, like chocolate or Haagen-Dazs or
that perfect steak.
Believe me Hoosier, I'm the same way. I will stop watching a T.V. series I like if they go that way. I just never got that "feel" from The Destroyer.
The Destroyer is a great series of books. The books set themselves apart from all the other "action hero" books of the 1970s and a series of Remo movies could just as easily set itself apart from all the other so called "action hero" movies. Remo is a one of a kind hero and deserves a larger audience. If you haven't read any of the Remo books, you can pick up almost any one of the 150+ titles and enjoy it. In the almost 40 year history of the books there are only a handful of them that aren't worth reading.
DO IT! DO IT! I would pay copious amounts of money to see that!
Small correction. Grey did not receive a supporting nod, but the makeup was nominated and it should have won. They actually turned Joel Grey into an octogenarian Korean. It was amazing. It lost to "MASK, which was basically static prostheses attached to Eric Stoltz's head.
That excerpt has me hooked! I didn't like the campy 80's movie but I think I will love these books!
They didn't really hit their stride until #3 Chinese Puzzle. That might be a good place to start.
Their anti-gun attitude is wholly based on the premise that they are at best – toys for tots. Remo and Chiun move faster than bullets, after-all.
I'm a year late finding this article. I was bored and happened across this after googling "superman vs remo williams", so yeah it's one of those days.
My Dad introduced me to the book series in 1982 when I was a freshman in high school. Shame on him.
Remo and Chiun are almost single-handedly responsible for me almost failing the whole year. French class? Pfft. Typing? Pfft. I read The Destroyer. I remember the pleasant anticipation of getting "in school suspension" for smoking in the bathroom because I could then sit all day in a cinder-block room with no windows reading The Destroyer. Ha!
I always loved the idea of getting a proper movie adaption (the Fred Ward movie blows and is nothing like the series), however in the end, no script or special effects will work for a true adaption. Why?
Well for one Remo and Chiun move faster than the human eye can detect light wave changes. They free fall off of cliffs and land without making a sound, and can insert a pinky finger into a human cranium and scramble a brain so quickly that the molecular structure of the bone doesnt have time to break. Those are just a few small hurdles to overcome bringing this to the action genre of movies. (Think Jason Bourne but 10,000 times more bad ass)
Even if the special effects in the Masters' movements can be conveyed, we have the little problem with gore. The stuff these guys do makes Hostel look like Sesame Street. This kind of movie would have to be even more graphic than Ichi The Killer (2001) which is one of the most disturbingly graphic movies Ive ever seen lol. So there's that.
Lastly, no producer, studio, or distributor will touch this with a 100 foot pole for fear of being boycotted by the American left (and other spineless types) because Remo's perspective is 110% anti-leftist and makes damn sure that ever other page (in the books) makes cracks at their expense (whether it be parodying current events or the things he says).
If an adapation were to be made properly it's best chance, if indeed any chance at all, is by an independent group.
Btw, you know, I noticed that Quinn from the Dexter series (Desmond Harrington) might make a good Remo. Thin, arched eyebrows, high cheeckbones….and has a Newark type accent.
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