Terence Stamp is Wilson, a career criminal who will stop at nothing to avenge the death of his daughter.
While Wilson’s motivation is something that would be completely alien to Parker (like James Bond, Parker never seems to knock anybody up, and like many NBA basketball players, he wouldn’t care if he did), the way he goes about tracking down his prey is just like Parker in pursuit of loot that was swiped from him. A man of few words and even fewer emotions, Wilson goes in and pistol-whips, beats, and shoots anyone who gets in his way. Like in a Parker novel (The Seventh for example), all interested parties end up meeting at the same time in the same place for a grand old shootout near the end.
This is what many of us were hoping for when we saw Payback. An excellent film from Steven Soderbergh, the fellow who finally did right by Elmore Leonard with the even more excellent Out of Sight.
Of note: Wilson’s grand heist was the theft of gate receipts for a Pink Floyd show. Could this have been inspired by the theft of rock concert stadium receipts in Deadly Edge?
Also: Screenplay writer Lem Dobbs wrote to tell me that the original name of both the screenplay and the main character was Stark. He also wrote:
Another movie I have writing credit on, THE SCORE–absolutely NOT my title. I BEGGED them to change it. Told them it was already TAKEN. Sacrilege!
If they ever take another stab at a Parker movie, I say, hire Lem Dobbs!
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