Directed by Joe Flynn; produced by Carter De Haven
Dennis Meechum (Brian Dennehy) is a veteran Los Angelos police officer and writer. His latter career has hit a snag with writer’s block. He’s offered a way out when a man named Cleeve (James Woods) contacts him. Cleeve claims to be a professional hitman; he wants his life story written, and has chosen Meechum to do it. In particular, Cleeve wants his treacherous association with a powerful businessman and politician (Paul Shenar) exposed, a goal that forces Meechum to know Cleeve more than he would like, and puts both their lives in peril.
Though infused with 1980s violence and language, Best Seller is, in spirit, a version of a 1940s film noir. The story is not very complicated: Cleeve wants both revenge and recognition: the former, in particular, due to feeling slighted by his former boss. To prevent publication of Meechum’s book, various attempts are made on the lives of both the author and the killer, which the prospective victims must dodge while tracking down sources of information from Cleeve’s past. It leads to an satisfying but fairly predictable conclusion.
The story tries to make a connection between the two main characters and what they do: Cleeve states that he and Meechum are two sides of the same coin. This isn’t supported by their actions or personalities. While the script has the cop having to back up Cleeve during shoot-outs, and Meechum never seems very upset at the possibility of innocent people being hurt during their adventures - nor about questions as to his presence at various incidents - the writing doesn’t translate this into a conscious comparison of the two.
The most involving element of Best Seller is the performance of the two leads. Dennehy plays a tough but moderately sensitive policeman, the sort he would play numerous times in his career; it is not a stretch for him. Woods very effectively portrays the sociopathic Cleeve; like his co-star’s, his performance is not greatly different from others that he has given. The fact that the two do so well in their roles in Best Seller should not be negated by their doing playing similar rôles elsewhere.
Furthermore, Woods adds an aspect to Cleeve that makes the man simultaneously more sympathetic and more menacing. He is so childishly frantic for respect and friendship that one is never sure what he will do to attain those ends. He tries to connect with Meechum repeatedly in ways that the latter finds repulsive, and simply pushes his desired friend farther away. He cannot escape his amorality; when he attempts something genial, it comes across as an imitation of something he’d heard of decent people doing. Woods rightly received top billing in the movie for his unsettling performance.
Other actors are competent, with Allison Balson playing Meechum’s daughter, and Victoria Tennant his publisher’s representative. From the stills I have seen taken from the movie, it seems that Tennant’s part was intended to be larger, and provide a love-interest for Meechum. Some of her performance was evidently edited out.
The film is good but not outstanding. Flynn directed about sixteen pictures over 33 years, mostly routine action films. He does adequate work here, but provides nothing extraordinary. Best Seller is driven less by its writing and direction than by its acting, with Dennehy and, especially, Woods making memorable characters in an otherwise average movie.
