"A crude, formulaic, and timelessly existential collection of paperback crime novels that were published under the pseudonym of Richard Stark, Donald E. Westlake's "Parker" franchise is the only series of books that has ever been adapted into Jean-Luc Godard and Jason Statham movies ("Made in USA" and "Parker," respectively), both of which feel equally true to the ruthless concision of their source material. Ditto John Boorman's violently elliptical "Point Blank," John Flynn's sociopathically affectless "The Outfit" (a Quentin Tarantino favorite), and Brian Helgeland's senselessly butchered"
"Needless to say, Westlake's hardboiled anti-hero is as durable as they come, his conscience blank enough to be the perfect canvas for anyone hoping to make a heist movie without a heart; anyone hoping to revel in the take what you can steal nihilism of a world where everyone is a criminal, and being a good thief is more righteous than being an easy target."
"Shane Black is much too humanea storyteller to seize on the page-turning soullessness of the Stark books ("Lethal Weapon" might as well be "It's a Wonderful Life" when compared to the stony timbre of the "Parker" series), but few people in the history of modern Hollywood have better understood the Christmas spiritof cops and robbers who don't give a fuck about anything beyond the final score of whatever game they're playing."
The Parker franchise presents a crude, formulaic, and timelessly existential series of paperback crime novels marked by ruthless concision. Several cinematic adaptations capture that tone, including Jean-Luc Godard's Made in USA, Jason Statham's Parker, John Boorman's Point Blank, John Flynn's The Outfit, and Brian Helgeland's Payback, with varying degrees of fidelity. The Parker anti-hero is hardboiled and amoral, with a blank conscience that suits heist stories built on take-what-you-can nihilism and a world where everyone is a criminal. Shane Black applies a more humane sensibility, blending dark humor with terse violence to interrogate existential indifference.
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