Steve Shagan

Pop thriller writer Steve Shagan is off on another safari into violence, bloodshed and sex that takes the reader to the jungles of Los Angeles and Colombia where the villains are beset by money problems. They have so much of it they are forced to build a warehouse twice as long as a football field to house money piled up to the rafters in sealed glass containers to keep the rats from eating up all those $100 bills. The money comes from sales to satisfy America's insatiable desire for cocaine.

It's every movie buff's dream: watching a great film and then getting to talk about it with the people who made it. "Save the Tiger," the 1973 film that earned Jack Lemmon a best actor Oscar, had just finished screening Monday at the Edwards University Theatre in Irvine. Then Lemmon himself arrived, striding down the aisle with a large gray poodle in tow and taking a seat on a stool to discuss the movie with the audience.

Several weeks ago, a reporter on TV's West 57th Street did a feature about superchef Wolfgang Puck and his restaurant, Spago. Why Spago? Because, according to the glib narration, Los Angeles is too young a city to have any real landmarks. It's too new to have the equivalent of the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building; the city hasn't been around long enough to boast a St. Patrick's Cathedral. Hence, the West Hollywood restaurant as cultural icon.

In Hilary de Vries' endlessly fascinating article on Jack Lemmon ("The Guy Who Lived Our Lives," Sept. 27), there is an editorial oversight that, I am sure, pained Lemmon when he read it as much as it pained a few thousand writers in this community. To quote: "The big turning point," Lemmon says, "came in 1972 with 'Save the Tiger.' " (For which, as we all know, Lemmon won his best actor Oscar.) "Save the Tiger" is referred to nine times in the article. There are nine important, crucial references to the movie, by De Vries and Lemmon.

In Hilary de Vries' endlessly fascinating article on Jack Lemmon ("The Guy Who Lived Our Lives," Sept. 27), there is an editorial oversight that, I am sure, pained Lemmon when he read it as much as it pained a few thousand writers in this community. To quote: "The big turning point," Lemmon says, "came in 1972 with 'Save the Tiger.' " (For which, as we all know, Lemmon won his best actor Oscar.) "Save the Tiger" is referred to nine times in the article. There are nine important, crucial references to the movie, by De Vries and Lemmon.

Gore Vidal is suing Writers Guild of America West, Writers Guild of America East, Steve Shagan and Does 1 through 500 re: credits on "The Sicilian" ("Cimino's Much-Publicized 'Sicilian' Sinks at Box-Office," by Jack Mathews, Nov. 12). I am a member of the guild and on the board of directors, but this is a private opinion. The guild's procedure as sole arbiter of credits has been in place since virtually its inception. An annual list of arbiters is sent to all members. Names can be challenged and a member can request his/her name to be removed.

It's every movie buff's dream: watching a great film and then getting to talk about it with the people who made it. "Save the Tiger," the 1973 film that earned Jack Lemmon a best actor Oscar, had just finished screening Monday at the Edwards University Theatre in Irvine. Then Lemmon himself arrived, striding down the aisle with a large gray poodle in tow and taking a seat on a stool to discuss the movie with the audience.

The Libyans and the Pakistanis, with the help of a German corporation seemingly left over from V-2 days, are completing a nuclear-warheaded missile that will within days obliterate Israel. Only Mossad (Israeli intelligence), assorted military men, undercover good guys and a cynical American journalist using his occupation for deep penetration can thwart Armageddon. Steve Shagan's just-published "Pillars of Fire" (Pocket Books: $18.

Writers of fiction who consistently reach mass audiences tend to have, just as consistently, a hard time with critics. Something about a best-seller list puts critics on guard. Selling well is a kind of revenge, or at least a consolation prize, for the authors.

SEVERAL WEEKS after the "Twilight Zone" trial ended last year, one of the case's five defend ants, helicopter pilot Dorcey Wingo, escorted a visitor through the dusty parking lot of the Western Helicopter Co. in Rialto. Wingo stopped to stare at the light planes circling the adjacent airport and at the row of enormous helicopters parked on a nearby landing ramp. He had piloted dozens of combat missions in Vietnam, and since that time, flying has been his life, as well as his livelihood.

The Libyans and the Pakistanis, with the help of a German corporation seemingly left over from V-2 days, are completing a nuclear-warheaded missile that will within days obliterate Israel. Only Mossad (Israeli intelligence), assorted military men, undercover good guys and a cynical American journalist using his occupation for deep penetration can thwart Armageddon. Steve Shagan's just-published "Pillars of Fire" (Pocket Books: $18.

Several weeks ago, a reporter on TV's West 57th Street did a feature about superchef Wolfgang Puck and his restaurant, Spago. Why Spago? Because, according to the glib narration, Los Angeles is too young a city to have any real landmarks. It's too new to have the equivalent of the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building; the city hasn't been around long enough to boast a St. Patrick's Cathedral. Hence, the West Hollywood restaurant as cultural icon.

Gore Vidal is suing Writers Guild of America West, Writers Guild of America East, Steve Shagan and Does 1 through 500 re: credits on "The Sicilian" ("Cimino's Much-Publicized 'Sicilian' Sinks at Box-Office," by Jack Mathews, Nov. 12). I am a member of the guild and on the board of directors, but this is a private opinion. The guild's procedure as sole arbiter of credits has been in place since virtually its inception. An annual list of arbiters is sent to all members. Names can be challenged and a member can request his/her name to be removed.

Pop thriller writer Steve Shagan is off on another safari into violence, bloodshed and sex that takes the reader to the jungles of Los Angeles and Colombia where the villains are beset by money problems. They have so much of it they are forced to build a warehouse twice as long as a football field to house money piled up to the rafters in sealed glass containers to keep the rats from eating up all those $100 bills. The money comes from sales to satisfy America's insatiable desire for cocaine.

Writers of fiction who consistently reach mass audiences tend to have, just as consistently, a hard time with critics. Something about a best-seller list puts critics on guard. Selling well is a kind of revenge, or at least a consolation prize, for the authors.

Writer Gore Vidal won a round this week in his battle over the screenplay credit on director Michael Cimino's "The Sicilian." A Los Angeles Superior Court judge ordered the Writers Guild of America to disclose the names of its arbitrators who decided in December that Steve Shagan would receive writing credit rather than Vidal. Vidal sued the union, claiming the guild's arbitration procedures were unfair.

A CAST OF THOUSANDS by Steve Shagan (Pocket Books, $22; 358 pp.). To drive down the price of Gemstone Picture stock--and so guarantee their profits from a bogus takeover scheme--a handful of top executives and their Mafia money man come up with a perfect scheme. They decide to produce "Volunteers," an epic about the Spanish Civil War that has big-budget disaster written all over it.