Best Seller

This article is about the 1987 movie. For other uses, see Bestseller (disambiguation).

Best Seller
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	John Flynn
Produced by	Carter DeHaven
Written by	Larry Cohen
Starring	James Woods Brian Dennehy Victoria Tennant Allison Balson Paul Shenar
Music by	Jay Ferguson
Cinematography	Fred Murphy
Editing by	David Rosenbloom
Distributed by	Orion Pictures
Release date(s)	September 25, 1987
Running time	110 min
Country	United States
Language	English

Best Seller is a 1987 film written by Larry Cohen, directed by John Flynn and starring Brian Dennehy and James Woods. The plot concerns a career hitman, played by Woods, who wants to turn his life story into a book, to be written by Dennehy's character, a veteran police officer turned author.

Plot

It all begins one day at the local police evidence storage unit, where Officer Dennis Meechum was unfortunately on the scene during a robbery. After stabbing one of the unknown armed robbery suspects, Meechum was shot. He survived and wrote a book based on his experience.

Years later, Meechum has been promoted to Detective. On a case at the docks, the suspect runs as Meechum gives chase. A person joins the chase named “Cleve.” The suspect hides in an overhead crane and attempts to shoot Meechum, but Cleve kills the man, then disappears.

Later, a book company rep is having lunch with Meechum, complaining that the publishers have not received the overdue book that he had promised to write. The best-selling author now suffers from writer's block.

Cleve arranges a meeting with Meechum. He tries to sell Meechum on the idea that he will give him information on his past history as a paid assassin for a corporate empire so that the detective can write a book about it. Cleve promises to show evidence to back up his claims.

He proceeds to take trips to New York and Texas to show Meechum his history of hits, leading ultimately to the corporation's founder, Madlock, bent on getting anything he wants through greed and corruption. Madlock tries to bribe Meechum but fails, so he kidnaps the cop's daughter instead.

Storming the millionaire's oceanfront estate, Cleve guns down all of Madlock's men, then sacrifices his own life to save that of Meechum and the girl's.

Cast

• James Woods as Cleve
• Brian Dennehy as Meechum
• Victoria Tennant as Roberta Gillian
• Allison Balson as Holly Meechum

External links

• Best Seller at the Internet Movie Database
• Best Seller at AllRovi
• Best Seller at Rotten Tomatoes
• Best Seller at Box Office Mojo