{"product_id":"brian-hannan-king-of-the-action-thriller-9781476695334","title":"King of the Action Thriller","description":"The Scottish novelist Alistair MacLean didn't speak English until he was six, but he went on to become one of the world's best-selling authors (over 150 million copies sold) and Hollywood's highest-paid. His films are the very portrait of action. Where Eagles Dare, The Guns of Navarone, Puppet on a Chain, and Fear Is the Key set the template for Die Hard, the Bourne films, and John Wick. The cable car fight, speedboat pursuit, and car chase set a new high for action sequences. Movies were sold on his name alone. He achieved Hollywood's highest honor--his name above the title--because he appealed to a vast global audience. This is the first book to explore Alistair MacLean's unique magic. This work details how 18 of his bestsellers were transformed into movies and mini-series. His movies starred Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Gregory Peck, Donald Sutherland, multiple Oscar nominees Richard Burton and Richard Harris, and two-time Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins. Although these massive actors lent their talents to his works, moviemakers had such faith in MacLean's name as a marketing tool that they handed leading roles to unknowns like George Maharis or Sven Bertil-Taube. \"Broadsword calling Danny Boy,\" one of his greatest lines, has become a secret code among cinemagoers rejoicing in his works. This much-needed work of cinema history fills a gap in the scholarship, telling the full story of the man who dominated the action movie for two decades.","brand":"McFarland","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":53831171047766,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"EUR","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0925\/5829\/5382\/files\/product_image_9781476695334_1.jpg?v=1781829647","url":"https:\/\/www.momoxbooks.com\/products\/brian-hannan-king-of-the-action-thriller-9781476695334","provider":"momoxbooks","version":"1.0","type":"link"}