Fletch (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard)

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The novel introduces I. M. Fletcher, a journalist and former Marine camping on a beach watching the drug culture for a story, waiting to find the origin of a dealer's seemingly endless supply of drugs before publishing an exposé. [1] As an aside, a movie was made from the book starring Chevy Chase as Fletch. Great casting because I can see Chase as Fletch which should give my friends an idea of the humor I mentioned above.

Douglas at 67: Intense". Los Angeles Times. August 2, 1984 . Retrieved 2021-06-23– via Newspapers.com. It’s a great plot, with all the twists that you can want. There’s so much to enjoy in this book — Fletch’s observations, odd way of approaching his investigation, and banter with Flynn, his editor-friend and anyone else he cares to befuddle is the kind of thing that led me to read this book a few dozen times before now. The Noah’s Ark Flood ride that Fletch narrowly escapes was actually the Flash Flood portion of the Universal Studios Hollywood Studio Tour. 11. You can visit the televangelist’s auditorium in real life. But (unlike its predecessor, Fletch) Fletch Lives is an entirely new story. 2. There’s a reason the Fletch Lives theatrical poster looks so familiar.

He can be seen wearing a McGovern/Eagleton ’72 presidential campaign t-shirt after his first night in Belle Isle. The McGovern/Eagleton presidential bid was ultimately unsuccessful, but it’s still notable: The Democratic National Committee Headquarters were broken into during that campaign year in what would later be known as the Watergate Scandal, which was orchestrated by G. Gordon Liddy (one of Fletch’s aliases). 8. The synth score for Fletch Lives was done by German musician Harold Faltermeyer. A 1972 British film co-written and directed by David Hemmings was adapted from Mcdonald's first novel, Running Scared. Chevy Chase reprises his title role from Fletch in the film’s 1989 sequel. Here are 15 tidbits you may not know about Fletch Lives. 1. There are 11 books in the Gregory Mcdonald series that inspired the movie. Understandably, Fletch is incensed. He’s angry. He’s also mystified — he knows what he read. He knows he did good work — how did they fool him? More importantly, why? If his career is over, he’s going to know why it happened. So he starts interviewing those nearest the dead man — his business associates, family, and so on — he eventually flies across the country a couple of times (and up to Alaska, too).

Mcdonald shifts gears with his writing and the series after this, and I really, really wish he wouldn’t have. A few more books in the vein of Fortune, Moxie, and The Man Who would’ve been a boon to his readers, and would’ve solidified Mcdonald amongst the all-time greats. I’m sure he had his reasons, but from my vantage point (now and for the last couple of decades), he shouldn’t have. In the meantime, this work is a great mystery, fantastic commentary on politics and the media, and even a bit of prescience — bundled together with Mcdonald’s sharp prose, winning dialogue and characters that demand to be re-read. I can’t recommend Fletch and the Man Who highly enough. Like the movie, the book is full of quotable dialogue. I eventually quit highlighting things and just tore through the book. It's very readable and probably 75% dialogue. It tipped to what was going on in both plot threads but I wasn't very far ahead of Fletch. I enjoyed it while I was reading it but not enough to grab another book in the series. Hell, the ending makes it seem like there shouldn't be any more books. I imagine McDonald caved to pressure to write more, though.a b Murray, Noel (February 17, 2009). "Tim Matheson". The A.V. Club. The Onion . Retrieved 2009-04-17. Neil Gaiman reviewed Fletch for Imagine magazine, stating that it is "a very enjoyable detective comedy starring Chevy Chase as an undercover reporter who gets mixed up in a murder plot. Not as good as the Greg Mcdonald book it's based on." [25] Home media [ edit ]