By Bill Russo
Dan Adams of Cape Cod is considered a great ‘old school’ film director by a number of elite Hollywood actors, including the likes of Bruce Dern, Sandra Bullock, and Richard Dreyfus. It was Adams of Barnstable Village, who gave Bullock her first shot at a starring role in his initial feature film, 1989’s A Fool and his Money.
Speaking of money, it probably should be pointed out that the real talent of the 60 year old Adams lies not in his film-making but in ‘G-OPM’ – as in “Getting Other Peoples’ Money”. It was this skill that netted him two years in prison after being convicted of bilking the Massachusetts Film Commission of 4.7 million dollars to finance his Cape Cod productions of The Golden Boys (2008) and The Lightkeepers (2009).
Adams claimed writing credits for the projects, yet old time Cape Codders recognized both films as reproductions of books by writer Joe Lincoln of Brewster on Cape Cod. The Golden Boys was based on Lincoln’s 1904 work – the Story of the Coast. His Lightkeepers was a reworking of Lincoln’s 1911 tale, The Woman Haters.
The pair of films taken from the highly successful Joe Lincoln books though well regarded, yielded scant box office returns. That was not a problem for Dan Adams however, because he was paid over $5,000,000 in film credits that could be used as cash.
He told the state film commission that he paid Richard Dreyfuss 2.5 million dollars to take the lead role in the Lightkeepers. Since he actually paid his star only 400 thousand, he put the extra 2.1 million in his own pocket. This was the most egregious overcharge to the state, but not the only one.
He admitted to the crimes at his trial and in 2012 was sentenced to serve two years. In late 2013 he emerged from jail and announced that he intended to resume his film career.
After his release there was talk of him making a film version of “The Big Valley”, a very successful 1960s tv series starring Barbara Stanwyck. Though nothing ever came of that, Adams worked quietly to build up another stockpile of cash and in 2018 he directed a film called “An L.A. Minute” starring Gabriel Byrne and Kiersy Clemons. The film has only one star on Rotten Tomatoes and just 2 and a half on IMDB.
An L.A. Minute was released in just three theaters and generated merely $5000 in ticket revenues from the three theaters it played in. So how could Dan Adams make any money from such a colossal flop?
The answer to that question surfaced about five months after the release of the film. In February, 2019 the United States Securities and Exchange Commission charged Dan Adams with fraud, saying that he induced two investors to put $160,000.00 into the project, as part of a 50 million dollar fund he and a partner assembled to finance their films and music ventures. An L.A. Minute was their first production.
As of this date the status of the filing is uncertain. I haven’t been able to find any follow up stories, but I suspect another trial is in store for Mr. Adams.
Okay, this brings us up to the end of November, 2019. What’s next for the intrepid Cape Cod film-maker who has been compared to the legendary Alfred Hitchcock?
THE WALK!
It was announced this week that Adams has been signed on to direct ‘The Walk’. The film will be produced by Micheal Mailer, whose last effort, The Ledge, with Liv Tyler among others, earned all of $8,000 in ticket money!
By the way, Dan Adams is the co-writer of The Walk. The other writer? His name is George Powell. A convicted drug dealer who served time in Bay State pens with Adams.
Since earning his freedom, Mr. Powell has been earning his daily bread by script-writing. The Walk is his first effort, but it won’t be his last try – because one way or another, everybody is going to make big money from this film: with the probable exception of the investors!
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