Michael Crichton Passes Away-I
What connects rampaging dinosaurs in a theme park, fighter albino gorrilas guarding King Solomon’s mines, a murder mystery in the context of US-Japanese relations and a female being accused of sexually harassing a man?
John Michael Crichton, aka Michael Crichton who passed away couple of days back at age of 66 due to cancer.
Well whatever his achievements, if there is one thing that could be said about Crichton, he was the man who made dinosaurs a topic of discussion in the ordinary junta. Till then dinosaurs were something about which we read in school books, and saw in museums. But post Jurassic Park, people started to show a renewed interest in dinosaurs, and every one was discussing about them. Well yes actually it was Spielberg who bought the dinosaurs alive on screen, but it was Crichton’s seminal work, that provided the material for Spielberg to work on. This would be a two part post , as Crichton is one author whose novels i love. And apart from being a novelist he is also a movie director.
The writing bug hit Crichton right from his medical school days, when he used to publish novels under the pseudonym of John Lange and Jeffrey Hudson. And interestingly he co authored Dealing with his brother Douglas, under the name of Michael Douglas. The real life namesake would appear in Coma, which was directed by Crichton, and also in Disclosure based on Crichton’s novels.
The first novel Crichton, published under his own name was The Andromeda Strain in 1969. Most of Crichton’s novels came under the techno thriller kind, basically a genre which combines the standard thriller format with a lot of detailed description on technical stuff. I guess being a techie myself, i could identify with many of Crichton’s works, but generally the technical description and detailing in all his novels, is very deep. Being a techie, at times i found it hard to understand some of the lingo he uses, and had to read them again. In fact this is one reason i feel that Crichton’s novels, were not properly adapted to the screen. Even Jurassic Park worked only because of the SFX, else most of the characterization and drama was downright bland.
The Andromeda Strain deals with an extra terrestrial organism, that clots human blood rapidly. The book starts off with a satellite that has returned to earth, being retrieved by a team. All the team members are however found dead mysteriously, and in fact the residents of Piedmont, Arizona, where the satellite crashes are also dead. That is when the Govt activates Wildfire a team to counter the threat of extra terrestrial biological infestation. This team consists of Dr. Jeremy Stone, a molecular biology specialist, Dr. Peter Leavitt, a pathologist, Dr. Charles Burton and Dr. Mark Hall. . The novel deals with their attempts at investigating the deaths and their findings.
The novel was made into a 1971 movie directed by Robert Wise and starring Arthur Hill, James Reid. Robert Wise is primarily famous for The Sound of Music, but his career has seen him cover a varied genre like horror( The Haunting), war (The Sand Pebbles), noir( The Set Up). In fact The Haunting remains one of the best horror flicks ever made. He was an auteur, and he does full justice to the book. I would rate this as a pretty much underrated sci fi flick, which did not really receive it’s due. The reason the movie works, is that the director, sticks to the technical detailing of the novel. It is seen in the claustrophobic movie setting, where the lab is mostly white, with some contrasting colors. As the scientists work on the organism, we feel the tension, the isolation, that at times really gets into the audiences. What really works in Andromeda Strain is the restraint, at no stage does the movie go overboard, or into explosions territory. This is a more intellectual movie, where the protagonists make use of their brain, to counter the threat.
The tension is built up due to the settings and the silences, the same way Kubrick does it in 2001. Ridley Scott adopted the same kind of technique in Alien, where the shock and fear is due to the dull atmosphere, the low noise, the silences. In fact Alien does have many similiarities i feel with Andromeda Strain. I have not seen Crichton’s sci fi flick Westworld, though many inform, that is again one of the better sci fi movies. But i did watch 2 of Crichton’s directorial efforts, Coma and The First Great Train Robbery.
Coma was based on Robin Cook’s novel and starred Michael Douglas and Genevieve Bujold. The movie deals with a a resident surgeon Dr. Susan Wheeler( Genevieve Bujold) at Boston Memorial Hospital who sees her friend Nancy end up in a coma after she checks in for a routine abortion. What Susan discovers is that her friend is not the only person, there have been many other patients who checked in for routine surgeries but ended up comatose. Who is the culprit? Is it her own boyfriend Dr. Mark Bellows( Michael Douglas)? Or the chief surgeon Dr. George Harris? Or the anestheiologist ? We never know too, as the movie keeps shifting between one character to another, with enough red herrings, until the final resolution. The movie is a total pulse pounding thriller, though more heroine oriented. It also takes a look at the practice of organ smuggling, which was rampant that time.
The First Great Train Robbery, however is more of a fun ride. Based on Crichton’s own novel, which he himself directed, the movie is a look at the notorious Victorian underworld, and is based on the famous Great Gold Robbery case of 1885. Sean Connery plays the role of Edward Pierce, based on real life robber William Pierce, who takes the help of Robert Agar( Donald Sutherland), a skilled screwsman, in pulling off one of the biggest heists of all time. Crichton comes out with a totally entertaining flick, where he shows every minute detail that went into the making of the robbery, and both Connery and Sutherland excel in the roles of crooks.
Rising Sun, was another novel of his to be adapted into a movie. On the surface of it the novel is about a murder commited at the Los Angeles HQ of Nakamoto, a Japanese company. Lt. Peter Smith of the LAPD is assigned to the case, but however his efforts come to a dead end, as the Japanese refuse to cooperate with the investigation. Smith then takes the help of Capt. John Connor, a former cop, who has a thorough knowledge of Japanese culture and their way of life. The book, in fact extensively deals with the relation between US and Japan. Most of the novel is devoted to bringing out the difference between Americans and Japanese both in their professional and social life. In fact if some one does want to understand Japanese this book could be a good source.
Of course the book also covers larger issues like the American paranoia about Japanese firms taking over in the electronic sector, the Japanese concepts of honor and loyalty, and basically their ethos. The movie version had Wesley Snipes as Lt. Smith and Sean Connery as Connor, but somehow it never really worked for me. The fact is i had seen the movie after reading the novel, and large parts of the novel were altered in movie version. Another fact was that in order to be more politically correct, the movie leaves out many references to the Japanese, and that makes it totally bland. The only thing i liked in this movie was Sean Connery’s performance.
And then Jurassic Park happened. As we know by now, the movie has created a lot of sensation, and in fact my interest in Crichton began after this. The movie has by now been famous for its SFX and the computer animated dinosaurs. In fact, so great was the effect of this movie, that i could recall many enthusiastic youngsters signing up for courses on computer animation and graphics. But special effects aside, the movie does not really add up. The problem with the movie adaptation is that Spielberg gets too carried away with the graphics and effects, that he neglects character development. If one takes a look at Spielberg’s earlier movies like Jaws or Close Encounters or ET, he strikes a balance between the action, effects and the drama part. For eg in Jaws, you are as much attracted by the bonding between the 3 men as by the shark attack scenes. And ET strikes a chord with you, more due to the bonding between the alien and Eliott. In Jurassic Park, however most of the main characters are woefully underdeveloped, and at no stage do you really feel for any of the characters.
Also the movie again deviated from the book in many aspects. The novel has a much darker ending, where the entire island is destroyed by the Army, and Malcolm, the chaos theory mathematician dies. Again in movie version, the dinosaurs hatch out from ostrich shells, while in the novel, they come from a plastic called millipore. The book opens with a young girl being attacked by a species called Procompsognathus, which Spielberg uses for the sequel The Lost World. Two major characters from the novel Dr. Henry Wu and Dr. Herry Garding, are given a very cursory treatment in the movie. And while Dr. John Hammond escapes from the island in the movie, the novel has a more darker ending,where he is killed. In fact Dr. Hammond is presented in a more darker shade in the novel, but Spielberg made him a more positive character. I think Spielberg was catering to the summer holiday crowd, and concentrated mostly on the effects.
In fact that has been the case with most of Crichton’s novels, that have been adapted to screen. His novels generally had a high level of technical description, which would have meant a lot of detailing to go. And most of his characters were also strongly written. One of the best examples of that is Sphere, one of his more complex novels. Though Sphere was ostensibly a sci fi thriller, at some time, it starts going deep into physchological territory. The novel is about 4 scientists Norman Johnson, a pyschologist, Harry Adams a mathematician, Beth Halpern, a biologist and Ted Fielding an astrophysicist, who find a mysterious spherical object while investigating a spacecraft lying on the floor of the Pacific ocean. The novel had a strong level of complexity while exploring the pysche of the characters. In fact as the crew begins to face encounters with an alien force, it turns out that the alien is nothing but their own subconscious memory. It was one of the most complex Crichton novels i read, making me go back again and again, to really understand it.
The movie version starred Dustin Hoffman as the pyschologist, Sharon Stone as Beth and Samuel Jackson as Harry. The movie disappoints on two counts, for those who read the book, the movie is a major disappointment, as director Barry Levinson, fails to capture the pyschological complexity, and for those who have not read the book, the movie is way too abstract, and way too over the head. Levinson’s direction for the most part is pretty ham fisted, as he tries to balance a restrained, understated approach with the standard SFX, and movie ends up neither. Even those scenes, which show the characters consciousness manifesting itself, are done haphazardly and leaves one totally unconvinced. The only interesting thing, is that this is one of the very few movies where you find Ms.Stone totally clothed and not indulging in any steamy stuff.
In the next part, i would deal with the movie adaptations of other Crichton works Congo, Disclosure and The Lost World.
Tags: Andromeda Strain, Barry Levinson, Coma, Dustin Hoffman, Great Train Robbery, jurassic park, Michael Crichton, Michael Douglas, Rising Sun, Robin Cook, Sci Fi, sean connery, Sharon Stone, Sphere, steven spielberg, Techno Thriller
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RIP
Most of his stories transferred into Cinema perfectly
….
When I read the news,
I told friend of mine that Ratnakar is going to put nice article very soon,
And there you are
Ah ,my fav author of all time ,was truly saddened by this news.
Have read most of his novels ,he was in the league of Arthur Clarke……
john michael crichton! doctor. author. director. teacher. my hero. rest in peace.
a fitting tribute, ratnakar, thanks!
and ratnakar, just so you know, you have beaten me twice to the finish line. the first time was with your maclean post. now this.
@Vineet, Very true
To me, he is my Modern day “Jules Verne”,
I think he wrote ‘Airframe’, too. It was good. Was it made into a movie?
Michael Crichton was a phenomenal science fiction author. But it is painful to see his work being adapted to the big screen without any though process. As Ratnakar correctly points out, even spielberg failed or deliberately ommited extensive character development and avoided the dark dystopian tone of the novel Jurassic Park to make a summer blockbuster. But again, Chrichton himself was a part of the script writing team, so I guess he was okay with that.
Sphere is my personal favourite MC work. I found it as good or even better than Stanislaw Lem’s Solaris, another novel based on the same plot wireframe. But when movie adaptations of Solaris were quite good(Tarkovsky’s version was awesome, Soderberg, okay IMO), Barry Levinson made a mess of Sphere. I would really want someone like Danny Boyle,Devid Lynch or Fincher to re-adapt sphere on big screen.
@roodrow
Well said ,Jurassic Park wasn’t just about the dinosaurs ,in the novel Ian Malcolm’s monologues about humanity and the way science has progressed were an eye opener.
But sadly only focus was given to the action sequences.
It’s really a big loss for Cinema and Literary world that the two legends left us this week. May their works inspire us!
@ Shekar
Thanks bro for the compliment.
One of the best sci fi writers for sure.
@ Vineet
Yes wud rate him on league of Arthur C Clarke and Isaac Asimov.
@ Wb
I am waiting now for your posts on McLean and Crichton sirjee. Go ahead and make our day.
@ Ph
No Airframe was not made into a movie.
@ Rodrow
Yes ur right, even Lost World was a case. The original novel, was primarily about evolution and extinction, and competing interests. But Spielberg totally turned it into a summer blockbuster, changing the tone of the novel, and cramming in all kind of effects. The King kong kinda climax put me off forever.