Donald Westlake wrote more than 100 hard-boiled novels and mystery capers, but also had a hand in some classic crime movies, as revealed in this shot-by-shot guide
Watch out, it's silver fox Lee Marvin: suited, booted and on the rampage in John Boorman's Point Blank (1967), the quintessential Westlake moviePhotograph: Kobal CollectionOr rather, the quintessential Richard Stark movie. The film was based on the novel The Hunter, published five years earlier under one of Westlake's many pseudonyms, Richard Stark — an apt nom de plume considering the novel's spare, hard-hitting stylePhotograph: Kobal CollectionThe Hunter was one of many adventures for the professional thief Parker, who was renamed Walker in Boorman's film. The plot revolves around the hero's quest for revenge after he is swindled out of a stash of cashPhotograph: Kobal CollectionThe film/book inspired a Hollywood version in 1999. Payback starred Mel Gibson as the thief, this time renamed Porter, hellbent on recouping his $70,000Photograph: Kobal CollectionParker was first played on screen by French New Wave star Anna Karina in Made in USA (1966), Jean-Luc Godard's freewheeling, unofficial adaptation of the Richard Stark novel The Jugger. Westlake never sold the rights to the novel so he was able to prevent the film's American distribution. It's available on DVD and is worth a look — Godard renames several characters after crime fiction and film heroesPhotograph: Kobal CollectionThe Hot Rock — aka How to Steal a Diamond — was a screen outing for Westlake's other regular character, the clumsy criminal Dortmunder. Robert Redford played the antihero; screenwriter extraordinaire William Goldman did the scriptPhotograph: Kobal CollectionDirected by the crown prince of schlock, William Castle, The Busy Body (1967) was an adaptation of Westlake's mafia caper of the same name. The film starred Sid Caesar and Robert Ryan and gave a young Richard Pryor his movie debutPhotograph: Kobal CollectionThe Outfit (1963) was one of Westlake's first novels as Richard Stark. Ten years after publication, it was turned into one of his best adaptations — and one of the 1970s' most underappreciated films. Robert Duvall plays a small-time crook who's fresh out of pokey and troubling the mob with the help of big Joe Don Baker (above)Photograph: Kobal CollectionWestlake was Oscar-nominated for his adaptation of Jim Thompson's classic con job The Grifters (1990). John Cusack starred as the trickster with the hots for mommy (Anjelica Huston) and doubts about his femme fatale girlfriend (Annette Bening). Westlake later adapted another crime novel, Patricia Highsmith's Ripley Under Ground, for the big screenPhotograph: Kobal CollectionWestlake may be gone, but his popular works should continue to inspire films directly or indirectly for some time — The Stepfather (2009) is a remake of the 1987 film he wrote. Meanwhile, Drive (2009) is an adaptation of a James Sallis novel that the author dedicated to WestlakePhotograph: Louis Lanzano/AP
