Do you ever write screenplays?

I highly recommend Graham Greene's novel A Gun For Sale (1936), which he describes as an "entertainment". The anti-hero is a professional assassin named Raven. At the beginning of the book he kills a foreign minister. To Raven, it's just a job and he doesn't care whom he kills as long as the money's good. However, in this case the money isn't good. He's been paid off in marked bills and the police are after him. Raven realizes he's been betrayed by his employer, and starts digging to find out who that is and why he has been betrayed.

It turns out his employer owns a munitions factory that is nearly bankrupt and the only way to save himself from financial ruin is for a major war to break out. Sound familiar? Raven's assassination job was designed to trigger this war.

The book was made into the successful 1942 film noir This Gun For Hire starring Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake. It's pretty good, but since WWII was already happening the anti-war / anti-MIC theme of the book is replaced with a patriotic plot line, which kind of spoils it. Also, Alan Ladd is too handsome to make a good Raven. Raven has a bad harelip, which is the root cause of his misanthropy.

Anyway, A Gun For Sale deserves a really good film treatment based on the book's anti-war / anti-MIC theme. Wiki-pooh lists a number of adaptations, but the only one I've seen is the 1942 film noir. One of the adaptations is directed by James Cagney, which Wiki-Pooh graciously describes as "the only directorial effort by famous actor James Cagney".

Start by reading the book. A good library should have it. If you're hooked, check out the other adaptations and see if there's an opportunity to fill a void.

halp