The Hunter
Encyclopedia
The Hunter is a crime thriller novel, written by Donald E. Westlake
under the pseudonym Richard Stark. It was the basis for three feature films, John Boorman
's Point Blank (1967), which starred Lee Marvin
, Ringo Lam
's Full Contact
(1993), which starred Chow Yun-fat
, and Payback (1999) which starred Mel Gibson. The book was adapted as a graphic novel by artist Darwyn Cooke
in 2009.
(or Walker in Point Blank, Gou Fei in Full Contact and Porter in Payback), who, having been betrayed, shot, and left for dead by his partner and wife, embarks on a relentless quest to retrieve his money and wreak revenge.
The novel was written as a stand-alone crime novel, but when Westlake turned it in, his editor told him that if Westlake would rewrite the ending so that Parker escaped, he would be willing to publish up to three books a year about Parker. Though Westlake wasn't able to keep up that level of productivity, he did go on to write 23 more Parker novels over the next 46 years.
The Hunter was re-issued by the University of Chicago Press
in August 2008.
Donald E. Westlake
Donald Edwin Westlake was an American writer, with over a hundred novels and non-fiction books to his credit. He specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, with an occasional foray into science fiction or other genres...
under the pseudonym Richard Stark. It was the basis for three feature films, John Boorman
John Boorman
John Boorman is a British filmmaker who is a long time resident of Ireland and is best known for his feature films such as Point Blank, Deliverance, Zardoz, Excalibur, The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, The General and The Tailor of Panama.-Early life:Boorman was born in Shepperton, Surrey,...
's Point Blank (1967), which starred Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
, Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam
Ringo Lam Ling-Tung , born in 1955 is a Hong Kong film director, producer and scriptwriter.He is known for gritty, dark and realistic action thrillers. He was born in Hong Kong and studied film at York University film school in Toronto...
's Full Contact
Full Contact
Full Contact is a 1992 Hong Kong action film produced and directed by Ringo Lam. The film stars Chow Yun-fat, Simon Yam, Anthony Wong, and Ann Bridgewater. It was based upon Donald Westlake's novel The Hunter, with Chow Yun-Fat's character, Gou Fei, analogous to the novel's main character,...
(1993), which starred Chow Yun-fat
Chow Yun-Fat
Chow Yun-fat, SBS is an actor from Hong Kong. He is best known in Asia for his collaboration with filmmaker John Woo in heroic bloodshed genre films A Better Tomorrow, The Killer, and Hard Boiled; and to the West for his role as Li Mu-bai in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon...
, and Payback (1999) which starred Mel Gibson. The book was adapted as a graphic novel by artist Darwyn Cooke
Darwyn Cooke
Darwyn Cooke is an Eisner Award-winning comic book writer, artist, cartoonist and animator, best known for his work on the comic books Catwoman, DC: The New Frontier, The Spirit and Richard Stark's Parker: The Hunter.-Career:...
in 2009.
Plot
The plot concerns a criminal, ParkerParker (fictional criminal)
Parker is a fictional character created by Donald E. Westlake. He is the main protagonist of 24 of the 28 novels Westlake wrote under the pseudonym Richard Stark.-Character overview:...
(or Walker in Point Blank, Gou Fei in Full Contact and Porter in Payback), who, having been betrayed, shot, and left for dead by his partner and wife, embarks on a relentless quest to retrieve his money and wreak revenge.
The novel was written as a stand-alone crime novel, but when Westlake turned it in, his editor told him that if Westlake would rewrite the ending so that Parker escaped, he would be willing to publish up to three books a year about Parker. Though Westlake wasn't able to keep up that level of productivity, he did go on to write 23 more Parker novels over the next 46 years.
The Hunter was re-issued by the University of Chicago Press
University of Chicago Press
The University of Chicago Press is the largest university press in the United States. It is operated by the University of Chicago and publishes a wide variety of academic titles, including The Chicago Manual of Style, dozens of academic journals, including Critical Inquiry, and a wide array of...
in August 2008.