TITLE
Read A Chapter From Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto
AUTHOR
David Kushner
PUBLICATION
Game Informer
YEAR
2012
ARTICLE TYPE
Book Excerpt
FROM THE ARTICLE
In 1971, there was no cooler getaway driver than Geraldine Moffat, the actress in this scene from Get Carter, a British crime film released that year. Critics dismissed it, saying, “One would rather wash one’s mouth out with soap than recommend it.” Yet as is often the case with anything new and controversial, the fans won out in the end.The scene of Moffat lounging nude in bed with Michael Caine—a Rolling Stones album propped on the nightstand beside them—epitomized how hip movies could be. Get Carter became a cult classic, and Moffat, one of London’s most fashionable stars. She married Walter Houser, a musician who ran the hottest jazz club in England, Ronnie Scott’s.
Shortly after Get Carter’s release, Moffat and Houser welcomed their first child, Sam. The boy’s brown eyes sparkled with possibility. Every kid determines to be cooler than his parents, but when your mom’s in gangster flicks and your dad’s hanging with Roy Ayers, that’s no easy game. Sam found inspiration in movies like his mom’s. He became fascinated by gangs, the grittier the better. He’d trudge down to the local library, checking out videotapes of crime films: The Getaway, The French Connection, The Wild Bunch, The Warriors.
One day at Ronnie Scott’s, the great jazz musician Dizzy Gillespie asked young Sam what he wanted to be when he grew up. The boy resembled his mother—the heart-shaped face, the wide flat bushy black eyebrows. “A bank robber,” Sam replied.
GAMES MENTIONED
Grand Theft Auto
PEOPLE MENTIONED
Sam Houser
EXCERPTED FROM
Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto
SEE ALSO
By the Book: Jacked: The Outlaw Story of Grand Theft Auto – GameSpot (2012)
Book Excerpt: Jacked – MCV (2012)
How Grand Theft Auto Jacked the House of Lords – Wired (2012)