Top Five Walter Tevis Adaptations
(Tevis wrote six novels in his lifetime, four of which have been adapted to either TV or film, one of them twice. In addition, one of his short stories, “Alien Love,” was the source material for an episode of The Loretta Young Show, viewable on YouTube. His bibliography is slim, but he’s an immensely important writer to me. Here are my top five (of the six) adaptations of his work, in order of preference.)
The Hustler (directed by Robert Rossen, 1961)
The Queen’s Gambit [seven episodes] (directed by Scott Frank, 2020)
The Man Who Fell to Earth (directed by Nicolas Roeg, 1976)
The Color of Money (directed by Martin Scorsese, 1986)
“Alien Love” [The Loretta Young Show, Season 7, Episode 12] (directed by Rudolph Maté, 1959)
(That leaves the TV pilot adaptation of The Man Who Fell to Earth (directed by Robert J. Roth, 1987), which is, let’s say, a sight to behold.)