"The Scottish novelist Alistair MacLean didnt speak English until he was six, but he went on to become one of the worlds best-selling authors (over 150 million copies sold) and Hollywoods highest-paid. His films are the very portrait of action. Where Eagles Dare, The Guns of Navarone, Puppet on a Chain, and Fear Is the Key set the template for Die Hard, the Bourne films, and John Wick. The cable car fight, speedboat pursuit, and car chase set a new high for action sequences. Movies were sold on his name alone. He achieved Hollywoods highest honor-his name above the title-because he appealed to a vast global audience. This is the first book to explore Alistair MacLeans unique magic. This work details how 18 of his bestsellers were transformed into movies and mini-series.

His movies starred Clint Eastwood, Charles Bronson, Gregory Peck, Donald Sutherland, multiple Oscar nominees Richard Burton and Richard Harris, and two-time Oscar-winner Anthony Hopkins. Although these massive actors lent their talents to his works, moviemakers had such faith in MacLeans name as a marketing tool that they handed leading roles to unknowns like George Maharis or Sven Bertil-Taube. "Broadsword calling Danny Boy," one of his greatest lines, has become a secret code among cinemagoers rejoicing in his works. This much-needed work of cinema history fills a gap in the scholarship, telling the full story of the man who dominated the action movie for two decades."-- Provided by publisher.