He wrote "The Desperate Hours" as a best-selling novel, a hit play and a successful movie, all within the space of two years. He always claimed that his only motivation for this burst of activity was the need for money. He was never able to equal this success. Over thirty years later, he got a writing credit on the 1990 remake directed by Michael Cimino, but it seems likely that his work was entirely rewritten by others. His plot is extensively changed; this version was a flop.