Yep neo, the same thing happened with The Dukes of Hazzard ! Seriously though, I too loved The Equalizer series when it was shown in the UK back when. The film will probably be just another expensive, dull shoot-em-up with zero characterisation and style which will pander to the (easily pleased) masses. I remember a comedy spoof on a UK show wherein someone doing a great imitation of Woodward would just shout (really sternly) at the bad guys to make them stop doing bad things. Can anyone remember who did this parody and on what show?
To paraphrase that Stratford dude: "A rose by any other name CANNOT smell as sweet".
Of course it can; what you really mean is that calling a geranium a rose won't make it smell like a rose.
I'd also like to point out that a significant measure of credit for what made The Equalizer as good as it was belongs to my friends, the writer-producers Tom Towler and Gail Morgan Hickman.
To paraphrase that Stratford dude: "A rose by any other name CANNOT smell as sweet".
Of course it can; what you really mean is that calling a geranium a rose won't make it smell like a rose.
I'd also like to point out that a significant measure of credit for what made The Equalizer as good as it was belongs to my friends, the writer-producers Tom Towler and Gail Morgan Hickman.
OK then Mark; enthusiastic thumbs-up for Tom and Gail!!!!!!!!!!!
The Equalizer was a joy to watch and is sorely missed by me...I used to watch my ratty old VHS taped versions until they got too snowy and worn.
My intention wasn't to slight or disminish in any way the other creative individuals in the series, and their 3rd season influence upheld the groundwork laid in the previous two. While some criticized the show's final year as being too self-consciously "topical", I never subscribed to that thesis for a second, and those involved can continue to hold their heads high.
You forget one important aspect in naming what made the series what it is: the decade it was made in. It is very popular and even demanded that the 80's are ridiculed in a (totally failed) attempt to pass for an intellectual or someone with "taste". Although I was not that much of a fan of the "Equalizer" but an avid fan of and preferring the "Night heat" series I see the visual similarities between the series. The hazy 80's all video, the lighting, the set design.
I wouldn't want to hear of someone even contemplating those great 80's series (Knightrider, Airwolf, Night heat, Equalizer) there are only two flavours available in this piss poor decade: 1) self important smug pretentiousness (24, sopranos, lost and all the other "cult" bilge) 2) "Aren't we all aware how camp this cheezy stuff is and aren't we so much more sophisticated nowadays that it only can be camped up" (Charlie's Angels, Starsky & Hutch)
Say what you will about Pam Anderson but on the "Jonathan Ross show" she very accurately motivated that she wouldn't want to be in a movie version of "Baywatch" stating that it would become a film that didn't respect the source material and wouldn't even be good in being a parody. She mentioned the Angels and Hutch examples in the process. Spot on Pam!
I'm really not interested in an "really actual" approach and very contemporary "realistic" slant on the story. No Middle East baddies, no international terror, no corrupt government stuff, no thank you. "The equalizer" was like a 80's American version of the "Prisoner" and like the "Man from U.N.C.L.E." to "The avengers" it was superior as it made more sense and didn't try to be too clever for its own good. I also don't want to look at yet another film with yet more covert smart arsses dressed in gray and black in a picture that is bled of all colour and consecutively been treated to a urinetreatment to get this piss stained yelow hue over the image. All dressed in that suck awful 00's "fashion" and having those equally suck awful 00's hairdos.
As for "instances of actor/character chemistry so sublime it renders any and all who attempt to come after absolutely invisible": "Kolchak", "Starsky & Hutch", "Knightrider", "Airwolf", "60's Batman", "Man from U.N.C.L.E.".
Oh and another thing. If the "Equalizer" were to be retreated today the soundtrack would most probably be all heavy metal in a totally pathetically contrived and failed attempt to convey how much of a anti establishment and skeptical film it is and how smart and intelligent the viewers of the film are.
Many things are to be left alone. "The equalizer" is one of them.
I've managed to get most of the surviving Callan episodes on DVD. A contender for the best drama series ever; and Woodward is impossibly good in it. And who can forget Russell Hunter as Lonely? Suspend your disbelief of the stagey sets and videotape look and just enjoy the performances. I like to see Callan's habitual unsurety disappear when it absolutely has to; the way he upstages the younger, smoother contenders to his position; his sometime ruthlessness (such as threatening to throw scalding coffee in the face of a woman who won't tell him where her nephew is) and the way he has of making his superiors conform to his ideas of how things should be done.
The Equalizer was pretty good too, though I didn't like the preachiness of the last series when it became more like the Moralizer. Superb title theme (and visuals).
Callan looks difficult to obtain these days. UK Amazon is listing it as 'unavailable'. It's now time for a rewatch over the Christmas and new year holiday for me. The black and white episodes are even harder to get, since they haven't been released legitimately, but eBay can be your friend.
I am very much looking forward to The Equalizer release for 2008.
