arrests Madlock, before comforting a dying Cleve. Cleve reminds Meechum about the book and says "Remember I'm the hero". In the end, it is revealed that Meechum has published the book titled Retribution: The Fall of David Madlock and Kappa International and it has had 28 weeks on the bestseller list. Cast James Woods as Cleve Brian Dennehy as Dennis Meechum Victoria Tennant as Roberta Gillian Allison Balson as Holly Meechum Paul Shenar as David Madlock George Coe as Graham Anne Pitoniak as Mrs. Foster Mary Carver as Cleve's Mother Sully Boyar as Monks Kathleen Lloyd as Annie Harold Tyner as Cleve's Father Jay Ingram as Turner Jeffrey Josephson as Pearlman Edward Blackoff as Thorn J.P. Bumstead as Rothman Daniel Trent as Jarvis William Bronder as Foley Production Larry Cohen wrote the original script. He was inspired by the film Strangers on a Train (1951) and wrote it with Burt Lancaster and Kirk Douglas in mind for the lead roles. The project was in development at a number of studios for years before Orion decided to make it. John Flynn says he substantially rewrote the script which was originally called Hard Cover. Cohen was happy with the casting of Dennehy and Woods. He later said, "The picture itself turned out to be pretty good with one glaring exception: the ending. Everything was going along great but then, in the last five minutes, they fucked up the whole movie. That is what I mean when I say it [the film] was only partially successful." Cohen's problem was that the climax had Dennehy's daughter running towards the killer instead of away from him. He recommended the scene be re-cut without shooting extra footage but says he was ignored. Reception Cohen says the film " didn’t do that well" financially "even though— as I keep saying— it was a good picture all the way up to the climax. I don’t want to go on about it, but they killed the movie with that conclusion and it’s amazing how you can do that. If they had made that one little cut I suggested, maybe the word of mouth would have been a little better and Best Seller could have made some money." Roger Ebert gave the film 1 star out of 4 stars, but Jonathan Rosenbaum called it "first-class action storytelling stripped to its essentials," with Dennehy making "a wonderful straight man for Woods's