Patricia Cornwell is one of the most popular crime writers in the world, but until recently no one had ever adapted any of her works to film. That is, until Emmy award-winning Brandeis alumnus Stan Brooks '79 and his partner Jim Head took a stab at it with Cornwell's novel The Front. A screening of The Front in Wasserman Cinemateque was sponsored by the interdisciplinary program in Film, Television and Interactive Media with the Edie and Lew Wasserman Fund and coordinated and organized by Prof. Alice Kelikian (HIST).According to Kelikian, "Patricia Cornwell stands as the 21st-century heir to the tradition of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler. That Brandeis is hosting the first screen adaptation of her work, a film produced by a distinguished Emmy-winning alumnus, gives the event tonight a particular importance."

The Front follows the story of Massachusetts State Police Investigator Win Garano (Daniel Sunjata), a smooth, strapping veteran cop in Boston, a perfect setting given the location of the screening. Garano is reluctantly recruited by District Attorney Monique Lamon (Andie MacDowell) to solve a 20-year-old cold case. Partnered with fiery personality Sykes (Annabeth Gish), the two officers join forces when another murder occurs, this one an exact copycat of the cold case. Pursuing a murderer who always appears to be two steps ahead of the detectives, Win and Monique have to figure out who the murderer is, what he is after and who will be his next target.

The Front succeeded in creating powerful effect without big explosions or excessive violence. (There was plenty of romance, though.) Conflict and tension excited the contrasts and traits of the characters, and the movie moved at a quick pace with a few cliffhangers that even Dan Brown would be proud of.

Although the plot tended to jump too quickly between steps in the story, the film climaxed without error. The film always risked becoming predictable at times, and at at least two points throughout the film characters performed actions that did not seem believable given the traits they were originally endowed with. Despite this, the movie built up logically, and ultimately its powerful performances overcame any unbelievable qualities.

One of Cornwell's inspirations for a character named "Nana" in The Front was in the audience. This reporter had the privilege of meeting with this curious character, a woman that bore an incredibly strong resemblance to the character named after her. She grabbed my hand, mulled over something in her mind, and then proceeded to produce a prophecy for me, saying that everything I needed to accomplish "would be in six years." She then prophesized it would have something to do with the event's guests, most notably Stan Brooks' co-producer Jim Head, who was sitting close by us.

One question that filled many people's minds was, "why the long wait?" As Patricia Cornwell puts it, there were many times prior to The Front where producers had optioned her book and tried to adapt it into a movie. But this was the first successful adaptation.

Cornwell's books are known for their impeccable research and excruciatingly accurate details. The author is a self-made literatus who learned about crime the hard way. She covered the police beat for the Charlotte Observer. She also worked as a computer analyst and technical writer at the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Richmond, Va. And she did all of this before becoming a published author.

In an interview with the Justice, Cornwell advised aspiring novelists and other people to "go out and experience things." When asked for advice for writers, her response was simply to tell them to write. Cornwell herself says she never plans her stories and does not always know how they will end. Cornwell is a model not only for her forensic knowledge and writing accomplishments, but because she does not take "no" for an answer. She told the Justice when she first started out at The Charlotte Observer, they had her updating their television logs. So what did she do? "I would go in every morning at 4 a.m., and by noon I would be finished with my eight hours of updating the TV magazine, and then I'd spend the rest of the afternoon going to every newsdesk begging for stories nobody wanted to write."

Equally notable is Brooks' advice. When speaking to the Justice, he emphasized the importance of a broad liberal arts education and how it helped him succeed. Brooks spoke about his work as head of student programs as being the "perfect training" for working in the film industry. Back then, said Brooks, the closest thing Brandeis had for students interested in film was American Studies. Brooks' partner, Jim Head, is a screenwriter and said that how "content will always be king," and the story is ultimately what makes a project success.

When asked how it felt to have her book made into a movie, Cornwell responded, "it's really an overwhelming experience; it's surreal. It's so strange when you see something you did, and suddenly it's acted out in front of you and it makes it so big.