Laura's comments (member since Jan 06, 2009)

Laura's comments from the Dick Francis Reading Group group.

I really like the books by Lyndon Stacey. They, in my opinion, have a similar feel about them. They all have as the protagonist a man in his thirties who is faced with some sort of adversity and has to use his skills and resourcefulness to resolve things. They have a horse theme as well, however it is not racing but rather showjumping and eventing.

Well, I watched two of the Ian McShane movies this week - In the Frame and Twice Shy. They were pretty bad. Although in their defense, had I not know they were Dick Francis adaptation, I might have thought they were ok movies from the early nineties. Twice Shy was the worst of the two I saw. They completely butchered that wonderful double generation book idea and did away with all the clever math stuff.

Were they any good? Well, they were done in the late 70s which right there tells you they are extremely dated. But beyond that I'm actually having trouble remembering. After looking back, the Sid Halley ones weren't so much movies as 6 hour long episodes in what appears to be a short miniseries.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0078675/

I'm going to have to watch the Ian McShane ones now as well, as you say to see how wrong they went.

Wow, I didn't know there had been another movies done, besides those couple of Sid Halley ones. I haven't seen any of these but I'm next on the list to get them from the library. In The Frame seems like a fairly complex one to start with, especially with all the traveling.

Hey there. The first Dick Francis I read was Straight. I was recommended DF by one of my high school English teachers and it turned out that my house already had a copy of Straight in the basement. This one remains a fav and I think I have read it more than any other, except maybe The Edge which is another fav.