September 11, 2014

Just a footnote to yesterday's death of actor Richard Kiel: while best known as "Jaws" from some James Bond films, he also played a villain in the film version of Force 10 from Navarone. His role differed greatly (in unfortunate ways) from the way his character was portrayed in the book, but this massive actor's physical presence always made him interesting to watch.

September 8, 2014

This isn't news per se, but I thought it was worth mentioning. A fellow named Simon has recently started posting detailed, insightful reviews of MacLean's first 16 novels (from HMS Ulysses to Bear Island) on his website. He has a lot of thought-provoking things to say about MacLean's stylistic habits and about each book's strengths and weaknesses. As of this writing, he's posted ten reviews. See them here

July 9, 2014

I just discovered that the film Air Force One is Down is available on iTunes. Based on a story written from a MacLean plot, this 2013 production was licensed to TV networks in various countries as a two-episode miniseries. Jeremy Sisto and Linda Hamilton are among the "name" actors it features. I haven't read any books in the UNACO series, but MacLean fans may want to give this film a look.

March 7, 2014

Warner Bros. has announced plans to remake the film Ice Station Zebra, with Christopher McQuarrie in the director's chair. He's known for writing, producing, and/or directing such films as The Usual Suspects, Valkyrie, Jack Reacher, and The Way of the Gun. MacLean fans certainly hope the new film is an improvement on the original 1968 Ice Station Zebra movie

January 11, 2013

Want to own Alistair MacLean's former home? Located outside Inverness, in the Scottish Highlands, it has been converted to a guest house (with four separate cottages). See details here.

August 31, 2012

Today's edition of the Scottish newspaper The Press and Journal contained a nice interview with Alistair MacLean's niece Shona MacLean, who (as mentioned in my April 24 entry) is also an author. She mentions her uncle several times and even tells a funny story about him. See the article here.

July 3, 2012

I received a note from Steve Soboroff, a social leader in the Los Angeles area, mentioning that he had won an auction for a typewriter used by Alistair MacLean to write some of his later books. You can see the listing here, on the website of the Bonhams auction firm. (Another of MacLean's typewriters is the "artifact" mentioned in my December 2, 2011 entry [below]; I don't yet know when that will be offered for sale.) Soboroff collects typewriters used by prominent people, ranging from Ernest Hemingway to the Unabomber; see an article on him, and his hobby, here.

(P.S. [August 27]: Mr. Soboroff has posted a photo of the typewriter, which has a European-style [non-QWERTY] keyboard, here.)

June 21, 2012

The cast of the television serialization of Alistair MacLean's Air Force One is Down [see July 13, 2011 entry on this page] has been announced. Linda Hamilton, best known for a lead role in the Terminator series, will star as the United States President, who is captured by "a Serbian strongman" after her plane crashes. Some other well-known cast members include Jeremy Sisto (Law & Order, Suburgatory) and Amanda Donohoe (L.A. Law, The Madness of King George). The CEO of Sonar Entertainment boasts that this miniseries will feature "a taut, edgy script inspired by the legendary Alistair MacLean"; the book was written by John Denis, supposedly around a plot suggested by MacLean, so it has only a tangential connection to Alistair himself. Visit here or here for more information about the casting for this miniseries.

June 15, 2012

Warner Brothers Home Video has announced that it will release Ice Station Zebra on Blu-ray Disc on October 9th — two weeks short of the 44th anniversary of its theatrical release. While not one of my favorite MacLean-based films, it does enjoy a wide following. (Click here to place a pre-order through Amazon.com.)

April 24, 2012

News tangentially related to Alistair MacLean: his niece, Shona MacLean, who writes historical novels based in 16th- and 17th-century Scotland, has been pressured into changing her pen name to S G MacLean "to make her novels more appealing to men." (Are we really that shallow?) Find more details in this article from The Scotsman.