Ep. 107 The Hunter

Parker, that stoic solo brute of independent career criminals, made
his debut in the pages of Richard Stark's The Hunter 60 years ago.
Stark (the pseudonym under which legendary crime fiction writer
Donald E. Westlake chronicled the Parker stories) introduces the
world to this ultimate anti-hero at his lowest: backstabbed by a
coward, shot by his own wife, ripped off for his take from a bold
heist, forced to kill his way out of a prison labor camp and travel
penniless cross country to New York, where he expects to enact some
savage revenge on those who crossed him. Hosts Christopher
Funderburg and John Cribbs revisit this first entry in the 24-book
Parker series to examine what made the character so instantly
intriguing and why the novel, adapted twice as the Lee
Marvin-starring Point Blank and Mel Gibson-ruined Payback, seems
weirdly detached from the subsequent books. What does this very
readable pulp thriller have to say about lazy corporations and bad
luck and monogrammed belt buckles? And the big question of the
episode: when does Parker become Parker? Support our Patreon:
www.patreon.com/thepinksmoke The Pink Smoke site:
www.thepinksmoke.com The Pink Smoke on Twitter:
twitter.com/thepinksmoke Christopher Funderburg on Twitter:
twitter.com/cfunderburg John Cribbs on Twitter:
twitter.com/TheLastMachine Intro music: Unleash the Bastards / “Tea
for Two” Outro music: Marcus Pinn / “Vegas"