9 Authors Who Made Terrible Films Of Their Own Books
6. Peter Benchley - The Island
On paper it must have sounded like an open goal; the author of Jaws teaming up again with the producers to adapt his new novel, another sea-bound adventure. Hed write the screenplay, Michael Caine would star and box-office tills would start ringing worldwide. It didnt quite work that way. The Island wasnt a great book, so having Benchley do a faithful adaptation was never going to produce a great movie. Michael Caine was in full on paycheck mode and looks bored throughout, and the movie is a strange mix of mean-spirited violence and meandering drama. None of the actors playing the pirates who kidnap Caine and his son are convincing, looking and sounding like theatre actors smeared with a bit of dirt. The sheer strangeness of The Island has garnered it a cult following, and it has to be admitted the finale, where Caine mows down the pirates with a gigantic machine gun, is hilariously awful in its own way; its still a poor movie though.
