14 replies to this topic

[daniel]

since the thread on the proposed film is locked, i'd like to suggest a different approach to this interesting question.

perhaps inevitably such a film would appear to those uninitiated in howard and the pulps as similar to indiana jones or at best the serials that indy is based on. not having read the stories myself yet ('m tempted to and will indeed read them) this is what i know:
1:el borak is originally an american. some sort of link will be made in the script between his american past and present day travels in asia.
2: there's at least one story with a big battle , son of the white wolf.
3: there's at least one story with a temple, a beautiful woman and a monster , three-bladed doom.

this combination sounds very simplistic , i know. almost to the point of being comparable to one of the mummy films with brandon fraser. but the idea kept tugging at me.

how would you go about it?

[Taranaich]

I'd really love a film of Swords of the Hills, but comparisons to The Man Who Would Be King might rear their heads - probably rightly, since I don't doubt Kipling's influence on that very tale.

Edited by Taranaich, 26 June 2011 - 01:12 AM.

[Libaax]

The Sword f the Hills is epic, not among the best stories imo, i would choose a more epic,mystical story like Daugther of Erlik Khan or Three Blades of Doom.


If you choose a hardcore actor as El Borak and make him more grim fighter,warrior with strong loyalty to his friends. He would stand out like on his own and not be wisecracking adventure hero like Indy and the indy copy in Mummy flms.

[daniel]

did howard explain in any of the stories what drew el borak to the east?

[PFunkJAzz]

With the notable exception of Daughter of Erlik Khan, the El Borak stories are too much a sausage-fest. I don't see much appeal as a movie franchise without widening some roles and fabricating things Howard never intended. The yarns feel like western, prison or WWII: a good adventure but no sex appeal.

[crossplain pilgrim]

I find high adventure films like "The Man Who Would Be KIng," "The Searchers," and "Guns of Navarone" to be sexy enough for me. The problem, as I see it, is that the extremely young audience that has become Hollywood's main client, simply doesn't show much interest in traditional adventure films. The superhero films have displaced them. Young folks, who have little historical literacy, are more comfortable with contemporary story lines. The more tediously familiar, the better. Maybe that is why at one time Paradox wanted to change the setting to modern times.

I would hate that. The closer you move El Borak to our own times, the more you inevitably risk getting political and cultural blow-back from audiences and critics, alike. If they could keep the stories in the first quarter of the 20th Century, then I am all for it. That "Lawrence of Arabia" ambience of the stories is one of their greatest charms. My vote would be "Three Blades of Doom." Suspense, mystery, and a touch of horror all thrown into the high adventure mix.

[PFunkJAzz]

Since you bring up historical literacy, there's a certain imperialistic charm to high adventure films that compels a suspension of belief. I can dig Westerns with ranchers vying against each other or Robin Hoodesque bank robbers in a fight of pure good vs pure evil, but I'm not too pleased with the politics of "The Man Who Would Be King" or those Westerns with US Cavalry against the Apache or Cherokee nations.

Clearly, the historical antecedents Howard based his stories on could use some updating. Given our country's current presence in that region it'd be a hard sell not to update the politics. Paradox might have had the right idea for a series "based on Robert Howard's El Borak". It'd be a loud noisy "hemis in the desert" a la FAST & FURIOUS.

[crossplain pilgrim]

PF, just proved my point.

[amster]

Updating El Borak to a modern setting is a horrible idea. Just horrible. Speaking for myself, I'm pretty burned out when it comes to contemporary foreign policy, and I know lots of people share my sentiment. The last thing I want to see is some updated version of El Borak that shoves the whole thing down my throat yet again. I think narrative fiction can often be much more effective in getting its point acoss when its not so obvious and in your face about it. A period film set in Afghanistan in the late 1800s could certainly be used to achieve that.

For once can we get a correct adaptation of a REH character before we go all El Borak 2011? Is that too much to ask? If you want to make a modern movie about an El Borak style adventurer caught between the Taliban and US foreign policy, go for it. Just call it something else.

[Libaax]

No sex appeal ? Its like saying Indiana Jones was not sexy with how heroic he was even if he a bit different. Indy films shows you dont need to update El Borak.


Just make him heroic,loyal and much better fighter than Indy.

El Borak is sort spy in his own times but he didnt really have any bosses since Great Britian was the world superpower,empire in 1910-1930s the stories is set in. Most stories are about personal reasons for him to avenge friends, help people.

He is not fighting arabs,afghans for the brits in his times in the stories.

Edited by Libaax, 27 June 2011 - 01:44 AM.

[Kortoso]

I haven't read El Borak, and I suspect that I need to ameliorate this.

But how many heroes, real imagined, does the West have of a man from the West, going to the east alone and triumphing in some way? Surely there are positive examples. Marco Polo, Prester John, Sir Richard F. Burton. How many of these served to inspire and inform the El Borak character?

[Libaax]

I haven't read El Borak, and I suspect that I need to ameliorate this.

But how many heroes, real imagined, does the West have of a man from the West, going to the east alone and triumphing in some way? Surely there are positive examples. Marco Polo, Prester John, Sir Richard F. Burton. How many of these served to inspire and inform the El Borak character?

There are many real adventurers going to east that Borak fans has mentioned as possible inspiration for Gordon. Check El Borak stories thread that has many links to real world adventurers like Richard Burton.

[Konorg]

Something i'd like to see from a purely combat angle would be authentic American/European and Arabic fighting arts as that existed in the time frame of El Borak which would take a bit of research because that would mean useing weapons like would have been around then,techniques,stances guarns and foot work like the fighting arts of the time that existed in America.Europe and the Middle east.But it would give the movies a bit more realism then.

Edited by Konorg, 27 June 2011 - 06:42 PM.

[PFunkJAzz]

I haven't read El Borak, and I suspect that I need to ameliorate this.

But how many heroes, real imagined, does the West have of a man from the West, going to the east alone and triumphing in some way? Surely there are positive examples. Marco Polo, Prester John, Sir Richard F. Burton. How many of these served to inspire and inform the El Borak character?

Which is exactly what I meant by "imperialistic charm".

[Konorg]

I haven't read El Borak, and I suspect that I need to ameliorate this.

(YOU SINNER YOU But you really should read them dude)

But how many heroes, real imagined, does the West have of a man from the West, going to the east alone and triumphing in some way? Surely there are positive examples. Marco Polo, Prester John, Sir Richard F. Burton. How many of these served to inspire and inform the El Borak character?

Edited by Konorg, 27 June 2011 - 07:31 PM.