In the first scene of Foul play A crazed robber and a thousand-man back down upon learning that his interlocutor answers to the name "Parker." This notion of familiarity drives Shane Black's film at all levels. On the one hand, he trusts that some of the audience will know the central character, the expeditious robber with a strict professional (and, in a way, moral) code created by Donald E. Westlake under the pseudonym of Richard Stark, who had already appeared on screen with the features of Mel Gibson and Jason Statham, and who is now still on the path of stoicism. On the other hand, the film attempts to capture the essence of Parker by taking motifs from the various books in which he stars, and turns the story into a great reunion with enemies and allies.