Switchback

Hollywood was betting a lot on this movie being a hit. It had a big budget and an A-list cast including Danny Glover and Dennis Quaid in the lead roles. To help insure it worked they wanted an author whom a studio chief called “Mr. Action” to rewrite a knotty script and novelize the movie. I, Dave, the “Mr. Action” in question, viewed the movie’s concept as a kind of serious “Twin Peaks” and part of a lineage of mountaineering thrillers dating back to the 1909 Where Snow is Sovereign: A Romance of the Glaciers. The script I got was titled “Going West in America.” I changed the title to "Switchback," owing to the culminating scenes in the high passes of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains which I thought were symbolic. I kept most of the characters’ names, however some of these were changed in the movie; Frank Albergotti became Frank LaCrosse and Bob Goodman became Bob Goodall, to give two examples. I've retained the original names here, in this ebook edition of Switchback.