Extras

Stuff that wouldn’t fit anywhere else.

  • Chris Poggiali in Badazz Mofo: “Stark Views: The Violent World of Donald Westlake.” Great summary piece on the books with some discussion of the movies based on them. He rates all of the books through Backflash, with some opinions you are certain to find controversial.
  • An article from the late, lamented, Cashiers du Cinemart magazine, comparing The Hunter to Point Blank and Payback. This was written long before the director’s cut of Payback was released, but the bootleg the author is using for comparison is pretty close. Definitely check this out.
  • A great interview with Westlake from the Austin Chronicle.
  • The Da Vinci Code in the style of Richard Stark. Hilarious.
  • An extensive interview with Parker comic creator, Darwyn Cooke. It’s an in-depth look at the creation process of Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter, and many other subjects as well–how the project got started, how Cooke sees Parker, how he made his artistic decisions in terms of both art and prose, which other books are going to be adapted, his interactions with Donald Westlake, and much more. You do not want to miss this.
  • …and just as the above was the essential interview on Cooke’s adaptation of The Hunter, this is the essential interview on Cooke’s adaptation of The Outfit.
  • Donald Westlake on Richard Stark at the New York Times: A Pseudonym Returns From an Alter-Ego Trip, With New Tales to Tell.
  • In this short film, Westlake discusses Richard Stark, the Parker character, the challenges of bringing Parker into the modern world for the later books, and the film adaptations. Well worth watching.