An Interview with Ric Meyers

I think the obvious question to ask first is, how did you get the job of writing the very first (original) Dirty Harry novel?

The project was brought to me by my agent at the time, who had a strong relationship with an editor over at Warners Books.  Warners was starting a new line of male adventure series called Men of Action, with the Dirty Harry series being the jewel in the crown.  This was at the time when mens’ adventure books, like The Executioner and The Destroyer, were at their most popular.  By this time I had already written a few Destroyer novels, an Incredible Hulk novel, and some non-fiction books on films and television, so both my agent and the Warners editor thought I’d be good for Harry.

Do you know how many other authors were involved in ghostwriting for the series?

I seemed to remember that the other author was Leslie Horvitz, but I was writing so many books in the 80’s, I might have transposed him from another series.  I seem to remember that there might have been others, but I never knew who they were.  Actually, I wanted to write all 12, but Warners had their system.  In fact, I would up doing most of their Ninja Master series as well (the only one that survived after the demise of the Men of Action concept) and I found it curious how they came up with the "house author names."  The authors certainly didn't choose them.  Dirty Harry was written by "Dane Hartman."  D.H. written by D.H.  The Ninja Master was Brett Wallace, and he was written by Wade Barker for Warner Books.  B.W. written by W.B. for W.B.  Think somebody was heavily into "initialology" that year?

How did you approach writing for the character of Harry Callahan, and how did it differ from your previous work on an established action series (The Destroyer)?

I can’t remember whether they offered or I insisted, but they arranged a screening of the original film at the Warner Brothers screening room in New York, and I took notes.  Then I asked for the screenplays of the other movies so I could pick up tidbits from them as well.  Since I was writing the first book in the series, I took it upon myself to write a series bible of details in Harry’s life…for all the good it did.  I seem to remember that they couldn’t even maintain a consistent spelling of Callahan from book to book.  Writing Harry was much easier than writing Remo, because The Destroyer required satire and finesse.  I tried to bring at least the latter to Harry but the editors asked if I could pull back on what they termed "psychology" and I termed motivation.

Your contributions to the series made good use of various characters and settings from the films.  Is there anything you wanted to use, but never got the chance...or any storylines/characters you would've liked to have developed from the films?

Not really.  I pretty much shot the works in the six I wrote.  In fact, I thought that things were already getting a bit strained by number nine (The Killing Connection) which I felt the need to massively rewrite at the last second.  In fact, I seem to remember producing 83 pages in about 36 hours to meet the deadline.  But otherwise I threw in everything and the kitchen sink.  I knew a lot about white slavery and brainwashing, so #3: The Long Death was great fun.  I went to college in Boston, so giving Harry family ties there in #5: Family Skeletons was evocative.  And given my present semi-fame as "America’s foremost expert on Asian action films (sayeth the Boston Globe)", incorporating Asian action in #8: Hatchet Men, was a natural.  Then, #11: Death in the Air, was based on a real incident and took advantage of being published on the eve of 1984 – evoking the sensibility of George Orwell’s novel of the same name (1984, that is, not Death in the Air).

You also provided the series with some of its boldest moments- both killing off one of Harry's allies, while resurrecting another from the dead!  Were you ever met with any resistance from Warner, in the form of what you could or couldn't do, or were you pretty much given free rein to create?

Except for that "damp down the psychology," Warners gave me pretty much free rein, seemingly realizing that I knew more about Harry than they did.  Or maybe I just got publishable novels to them on time…. As for providing the series with its boldest moments…no offence to the others who may have written the other books in the series, I can’t help but feel I was the only one on the series that actually cared.  I believe that the others were doing the books pretty much as payday before they went on to better things.  I could be wrong though, and if so, I apologize.   Now, as for raising DiGeorgio from the dead, I watched the movies carefully.  No question he’s wounded, but I remember no clear evidence that he died from those wounds.  I maintained he recovered so he could appear in my book.

People always comment on those covers, yet only one is signed by the artist- do you happen to know who should receive credit for the artwork?

Sadly, no.  But happily, I was presented with the original art for the cover of my last book (#11: Death in the Air) by a grateful editor, but even he didn’t tell me who painted it.

The last book came out in the spring of 1983, and of course later that same year Warner had a huge hit with Sudden Impact- do you know if there was ever any consideration given to continuing the novels, in an effort to capitalize on the film's success?

Funny you should mention that.  The only reason the book series was created was that, apparently, Clint Eastwood had sworn up, down, back, and forth that there would never be another Harry film, and the book series was a way for the company to make some more money off the character.  But when the new Harry film came out, the purpose of the novels was null and void (and I heard that Clint no longer wanted them produced).  Besides, the entire Men of Action package was pretty much collapsing at the time anyway.

There are elements in the novels that closely resemble The Dead Pool:  a shootout in a Chinatown restaurant; a suspect who's an expert on slasher films; Harry becoming romantically involved with a news reporter; etc.  Did you ever suspect that some of your work may have played a subconscious role in that film's script?

Yes and no.  There was a clause in our contracts saying that Clint could pretty much do what he wanted with anything in the book series (they were, after all, Warners’ copyright and property), so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if the novels were mined for any interesting nuggets.  In fact, I hope they did use some things from my books -- I'd find that flattering.  But, hey, it’s Dirty Harry, and when any writer sits down to do Dirty Harry, a set number of things will likely come to mind.   F’rinstance, the editor of the Jackie Chan comic I wrote thought the Jackie Chan cartoon show was very similar, but I said, hey, it’s Jackie.  That’s what I would’ve done if I were working on a Jackie cartoon.  Besides, that's show biz.   I'm fairly certain that many action films were inspired by unused Dirty Harry scripts, especially 48 Hours.  I mean, really...Eddie Murphy teams with a San Francisco homicide detective who carries a magnum?  Come on!

How do you rate your work and experience on the Dirty Harry series, in comparison to your overall body of work?

They were a bit rushed, but overall, I really enjoyed doing them, and I was glad that they asked me and not hired someone who simply ground out stuff he didn’t care about.  But, funny, I thought my best books were the ones you liked the least (#1: Duel for Cannons and #11: Death in the Air).  Go figure.  But I also recall the others with fondness (except #9: The Killing Connection, which I lost my way on).  Even so, working on someone else's creation is never as good as doing your own.  Easier, yes, more fun, probably, but never as soul satisfying and creatively fulfilling.

...and yet I liked The Killing Connection!  You keep going back to Death in the Air, would you like to expand on the incident that inspired it, or the idea to take advantage of the 1984 connection?

Well, I'm glad to hear you liked The Killing Connection.  Even though I had some difficulties with it, the trick is never to let the reader see you sweat.   Ultimately, though I had to chuck dozens of pages and pull a marathon to get it done in time, I liked the result as well (but I was worried that I was being subjective, and that readers would instantly say:  "Hey! This guy's desperate!").   That was my second to last book in the series, and Dirty Harry was not the only thing I was writing, so my whole career at that time was like riding a roller coaster.   But I was excited that I was coming to the end of Harry and wanted to send him off with a bang.  During my research on San Francisco, I came upon the secret that bio-warfare had been tested in the subways, so I had always planned to use that.  But when I found out that my last book in the series was coming out 12/83, I immediately decided that the whole book would reflect the fear that was the stock in trade of the classic novel 1984.  It was just a touch at the end, but I felt very satisfied that my tenure on Harry ended with a sense of poetic justice.

Tell us some authors that inspired you starting out, and who's work you can be found reading today.

I was a voracious reader of mysteries and science fiction.  Dashiell Hammet, John D. MacDonald, Rex Stout, Ellery Queen, Erle Stanley Gardner, Agatha Christie, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke…. But I had special affection for the less heralded genre writers like E.C. Tubb, Clifford Simak, and Edward S. Aarons.  Today I read all sorts of stuff, but mostly non-fiction.  Over the last month or so, I’ve read books about the racehorse Seabiscuit, John Adams, The Professor & the Madman (about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary), and I’m about to plunge into the new book about Theodore Roosevelt.  The most recent novel I’ve enjoyed is Carter Beats the Devil, a Spielbergian adventure about the great magicians of the 20’s.

What current projects do you have that fans can check out?

Well, my newest book is Great Martial Arts Movies:  From Bruce Lee to Jackie Chan & More (Kensington Publishing, NYC).  Related to that are my movie/media columns in Inside Kung-fu and Asian Cult Cinema magazines.  I’m also now consulting on a documentary called The Art of Action:  Martial Arts in Cinema, which is set for premiere on Starz Encore on 1/18/02.  I also just appeared in and consulted on the Bravo Profile of Jackie Chan.  I’m also about to record five more audio commentaries for martial art movie DVDs.  I’ve already have a bunch on sale, including Once Upon a Time in China, Dragon Inn, and The Duel.  Outside kung-fu, I’ve just started a new column for a great online culture and pop culture magazine called The Spook.  Check it out at thespook.com.  Also, the December 2001 issue of Comic Book Artist magazine should have an interview with me about my very first job, at Atlas Comics.

You have the honor of being the first non-martial artist inducted into the World Martial Arts Hall of Fame, for your contributions to its film industry.  What do you think of current plans to use CGI-technology to digitally resurrect Bruce Lee for a starring role in a film?

Some of my friends are absolutely horrified about that, but I’m keeping an open mind.  I hope they’ll be smart enough to do it less like Final Fantasy (oooo, pod people sleepwalking through no plot) and more like Golgo 13.  Having enjoyed Shrek and Monsters Inc. more than any other American movie this year (the best Hong Kong movie was Stephen Chow’s Shaolin Soccer), I’m hoping they maintain Bruce’s magic without trying to be super realistic.  Make it clear that it’s an animated Bruce Lee film and proceed from there.  With the right vision and passion, it could actually be very cool.

Special Thanks to Ric Meyers, November, 2001