Just saw A&E’s The Golden Spiders, the new Nero Wolfe TV movie starring Maury Chaykin and Timothy Hutton. I was a little concerned going into it, since TV Guide gave it a rather mediocre review. (The word “convoluted” came up.) Nero Wolfe is my favorite fictional detective after Sherlock Holmes (maybe even including Holmes). I didn’t want to see a half-assed job done with him.
I was thrilled with it. I thought it was done very well, and very true in atmosphere to the original Rex Stout novels. As for it being convoluted, it’s a mystery fer cryin’ out loud. If it was simple, Jessica Fletcher could handle it.
Did any of you guys see it? What did you think?
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I was amazed by the accuracy! From the red chair, to the globe, to being able to tell who was who without their names being given, the whole damn thing was amazing. I read that it might become a series. I can’t wait until the Zeck stories, or The Black Mountain!
Tim Hutton (son of Jim “Ellery Queen” Hutton) made a fine Archie, the Inspector Cramer was superb, and a nice trio turn for Saul and Fred and Orrie (the three actors didn’t look like I picture the characters, but they sold me anyhow, even the Bald Fred).
There shoulda been more orchids in the Orchid Rooms. And where, pray tell, was Theodore?
Not QUITE as ecstatic with Wolfe himself…the actor seemed to be doing a “Fat Jeremy Brett as Sherlock” turn.
Speaking of which, WHAT was with the painting of Holmes on the wall behind Archie’s desk? As IF.
Didn’t watch the movie, but I’ve heard some of the old-time radio broadcasts with Sidney Greenstreet as Nero Wolfe (unsure of other cast members, I can see if they’re listed on the tapes if anyone’s interested). The mysteries were decent, but I found the premise to be an awful stretch and tired very quickly of the sometimes very mean-spirited fat jokes.
Ike, in a very early Wolfe (Fer-De-Lance or The League of Frightened Men) Archie notes the Holmes painting. IIRC, it was never mentioned again.
I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the show. I think it helped that so much of the dialog was quoted verbatim. That was always the best of the books. But Wolfe serving cookies to the guys? Nah.
At any rate, far superior to the network series of a few years ago starring William Conrad and Lee (Big Hair) Horsley. That was bad beyond laughable.
Oh crap, you’re right. I just checked my copy of the invaluable Nero Wolfe of West 35th Street by William S. Baring-Gould. The damn painting’s there, all right.
I was even more impressed by the set designer’s work after re-reading the description of the house, and especially the office, in Baring-Gould.
One other quibble…that was supposed to be a New York brownstone? The exterior looked more like Versailles. (Guess it was shot in L.A. and they had to take what they could get.)
A real West Side brownstone would be much less ostentatious, and would include a stoop, that central component of NYC street life. Who can forget that magical scene in the novella “Immune to Murder” where Wolfe, Archie, Fritz, and Theodore tumbled out the front door into the new-fallen snow and got up a rousing game of stickball?
DAMN! Now you made me wish I had TV! What a rotten way to start a Monday morning - finding out that I missed a good Nero Wolfe. Oh well, maybe it’ll get rerun in a few years when I move back to town.
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Acclaimed author of: No Bad Brontosauri
365 Ways to Cook Sabertooth Tiger
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Wheel
*Two[i/] Nero Wolfe cookbooks? Am I missing something?
There was the original hardcover Nero Wolfe Cookbook published in 1973 by Viking,then reprinted as (I believe) a Penguin trade paperback.
Then it was reprinted again in 1996 by Cumberland House in a striking new paperback edition, illustrated by b&w photographs of New York City in the '30s, '40s, and '50s. This one’s still available. The Amazon.com connection is:
The portrait of Sherlock is cited as yet another indication of Nero Wolfe’s parentage… Read the description of Mycroft Holmes from <i>The Greek Interpreter</i> and compare to descriptions of Wolfe.
I, too, was pleasantly surprised by this rendition. I thought all the characters were exactly right, including Wolfe’s doing the little lip-pursing thing. I do have the minor quibble, however, that “Pfui” is NOT pronounced “Fooey”.
I always felt that that “Wolfe was Holmes’s and Irene Adler’s kid” stuff was just mystery-nerd vengeance for the infamous Rex Stout address to the Baker Street Irregulars in 1941…“Watson Was a Woman.”
I thought that Chaykin elided “Pfui” very nicely. It has to be vaguely related to the more vulgar form…more than once, Archie’s response to Wolfe was “Phooey to you.”
I have read that Rex Stout wanted to pay homage to Holmes, so when he was casting about for a name for his fictional detective, he chose a name that had the same vowels in the same order. shElOck hOlmEs/nErO wOlfE.
Unless this is a literary Urban Legend.
The Dave-Guy
“Since my daughter’s only half-Jewish, can she go in up to her knees?” J.H. Marx
Dave, I’d heard that, too. I don’t know if it’s true, but it wouldn’t surprise me.
Falcon, according to the A&E website, The Golden Spiders will re-air at 9 pm ET on Saturday, 3/11. I hope to catch it again myself.
CKDextHavn, I’m curious how you think “Pfui” should be pronounced. I’ve always assumed it was “Phooey” when I read it, but I’m willing to admit I might be wrong.
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