If you’ve gotten this far then I won’t insult your (obviously) brilliant movie IQ and taste with an explanation of Weekend at Bernies and why the movie is an early 90s classic. Yeah, I know it came out in 1989, but the ‘legend’ of Bernie and Larry and Richard didn’t take off until the early 90s when the movie became a Blockbuster video renting sensation and a weekend afternoon cable hit.
After some heavy yard work this weekend I found myself lounging on the couch, flipping through channels until I came across a genuine HBO miracle: Weekend a Bernies was starting at the exact moment I was settling in for a nice, relaxing half watch/half nap on the couch…
But the nap didn’t happen because every scene of Bernie was like a trip down middle school memory lane and I loved it… I noticed dozens of things I probably never picked up when I was watching it as an 11-year-old and for some reason, towards the end, when Larry and Richard discover the murder/suicide note that Bernie had written to set them up before he tried to have them killed, I noticed that Bernie’s house was filled with books and he had a nice row of them on his desk.
Being the curious book nerd that I am, I took a screen shot of Bernie’s desk and tried to find the books that a late 1980s high-finance criminal would have read.
Here’s the list:
The Bourne Supremacy (or The Bourne Ultimatum) by Robert Ludlum
It’s hard to zoom in close enough but the book to the far left is definitely one of these two and both are plausible because they came out in 1980 and 1986, easily in time to make production.
Glitz – Elmore Leonard
This was a simple and makes sense, since Leonard was at the height of his powers and Glitz came out in 1985. It’s a no-brainer that Lomax would be a Leonard fan.
What’s Next? by Paul Erdman
I’d never heard of this book or Paul Erdman, but the subtitle for this book says it all: How to Prepare Yourself for the Crash of ’89 and Profit in the 1990s. This seems apt for a book that came out in ’88. I could see Bernie reading this and then trying to start the crash himself with some shady stock deals and insider trading.
The Exami??? or The Exam 1???
I have no idea what this book is. I’ve zoomed in and taken new photos and I can’t tell. The font is too big. If anyone has any idea what this book is (2nd from right, black cover with white writing) please let me know. I can’t make out the author or the title.
Crime & Criminals by: Frank Scarpitti and Amie L. Nielsen
Of all the books on Bernie’s desk, this one makes the most sense. It appears to be the first edition of Crime and Criminals and is all about, you guessed, it crimes and criminals, of which, Bernie is both a criminal who committed a crime (although I guess you can’t be one without the other).
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