Here's hoping that
Hardy Men -- the upcoming comedy-adventure set to co-star
Tom Cruise and
Ben Stiller as grown-up
Hardy Boys -- fares much better than
The Boys in Autumn, a
Bernard Sabath play that re-introduced
Huck Finn and
Tom Sawyer as senior citizens. (Never a favorite of critics, the drama nonetheless attracted some very impressive actors -- including, for its 1981 San Francisco premiere,
Kirk Douglas and
Burt Lancaster, who wanted to re-team in the lead roles for an often-proposed, never-produced movie adaptation.) But I have to ask the obvious question: How many people under the age of 35 actually have read any of the
Hardy Boys novels?
Of course, I'm sure the makers of
Nancy Drew are asking a very similar question.
with Charles Bronson in the Lee Marvin role and Burt Reynolds taking over for Burt Lancaster!" Or "Now here's a sure-fire hit: A new version of In the Heat of the Night
with Eddie Murphy and Gene Hackman!" What's happened? Has Hollywood truly run out of original ideas? Or were the '80s actually a better era for cinema than I recall?
