Author Sidney Sheldon first mentioned William Diehl`s novel Sharky`s Machine to me at a party. Soon afterward Clint Eastwood sent me a copy of the same best-selling book with a note saying: "This is Dirty Harry in Atlanta!" Discovering it combined elements of two of my favorite movies, Laura (1944) and Rear Window (1954), I persuaded newly formed partners Orion Pictures and Warner Brothers to acquire the screen rights for me. The kind of film Robert Aldrich would`ve been great at, I knew from the get-go I had to direct. Granted complete creative control, for me only the third time this had happened, I assembled my cast. The film had one of the best crews I`ve ever worked with. Let me just say this about Charles Durning. He may be America`s finest working actor today. Right down to the soundtrack, a jazz fiend, I called my own list of all-stars. The picture opened at the end of the year to critical reviews that were beyond my expectations. But when even the New York Time`s Vincent Canby also got it, I was bowled over. The reviews made me a hot director.
