Recommended reading - The Third Figure, by Collin Wilcox (1968):

The Third Figure

By Collin Wilcox.

Published by Dodd, Mead.

First published 1968.

ASIN: B0006BUJVS

Description:

A mob boss is dead, and his widow wants Drake to help him rest in peace. Dominic Vennezio is found on the floor of his beachside love nest, murdered on a Sunday night. It looks like an ordinary mob hit, part of a routine power struggle with the East Coast Outfit, but Vennezio's widow has other suspicions. Her marriage to the kingpin had been strained ever since he began taking his secretary for weekends at the beach house, but even now, she feels a devotion to him. She wants justice for her husband – not just legal, but cosmic – and for cosmic justice, San Francisco can offer no better sleuth than Stephen Drake. A crime reporter with a clairvoyant streak, Drake's apprehensions about working for the mob are overcome by his sympathy for the noble widow. He starts his investigation in Los Angeles, talking to Vennezio's replacement, and sees immediately that it doesn't take a psychic to figure out that this job could be deadly.

On this day in movie history - The Thomas Crown Affair (1968):

The Thomas Crown Affair

directed by Norman Jewison,

written by Alan R. Trustman,

was released in the United States on June 19, 1968.

Music by Michel Legrand.

Cast:

Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke, Jack Weston, Biff McGuire, Addison Powell, Astrid Heeren, Gordon Pinsent, Yaphet Kotto, Sidney Armus, Richard Bull, Peg Shirley, Patrick Horgan, Carol Corbett, Tom Rosqui, Michael Shillo, Nora Marlowe, Sam Melville, Ted Gehring, Paul Verdier, Judy Pace, Leonard Caron, Harry Cooper, Victor Creatore, Allen Emerson, Bruce Glover, Ralph Grosh, Nikita Knatz, Charles Lampkin, Todd Martin, Ed T. McDonnell, John Orchard, James Rawley, Patty Regan, Paul Rhone, Jon Shank, Johnny Silver.

Born on this day – Taylor Wily:

Taylor Wily

Actor

Sumo wrestler

Mixed martial artist

June 14, 1968 – June 20, 2024

Credits:

Magnum P.I. (2018–2020); Hawaii Five-0 (2010–2020); Be Water (2020); UFC 1: Origins (2020); 30 for 30 (2019); Radical (2017); MacGyver (2017); Where I Come From (2014); The Amazing Race (2012); Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008); North Shore (2004); One West Waikiki (1996); Marker (1995); Magnum, P.I. (1982); Gut Instinct (date?); UFC 1: The Beginning (1993).

Recommended reading - True Grit, by Charles Portis (1968):

True Grit

By Charles Portis.

Filmed as True Grit (1969), directed by Henry Hathaway.

Published by The Overlook Press.

First published 1968.

ISBN-10: 159020459X

ISBN-13: 9781590204597

Description:

“Quite simply, an American masterpiece.” – Boston Globe.

“Charles Portis had a wonderful talent—original, quirky, exciting.” – Larry McMurtry.

Charles Portis has long been acclaimed as one of America’s most enduring and incomparable literary voices, and his novels have left an indelible mark on the American canon. True Grit, his most famous novel, was first published in 1968, and has garnered critical acclaim as well as enthusiastic praise from countless passionate fans for more than 50 years.

True Grit tells the story of Mattie Ross, who is just 14 when the coward Tom Chaney shoots her father in Fort Smith, Arkansas, and robs him of his life, his horse, and $150 in cash. Filled with an unwavering urge to avenge her father’s blood, Mattie finds and, after some tenacious finagling, enlists one-eyed Rooster Cogburn, the meanest available US Marshal, as her partner in pursuit, and they head off into Indian Territory after the killer.

True Grit is essential reading. Not just a classic Western, but an undeniable classic of American literature as eccentric, cool, funny, and unflinching as Mattie Ross herself. For fans of either the John Wayne classic or the Coen brothers’ movie, it’s a chance to relive the story of Mattie and Rooster and experience their story as it was originally told. For fans of taut, funny storytelling, it will be a joy to experience in its original form.

This edition includes an afterword by bestselling author Donna Tartt (The Secret History and The Goldfinch) and a reading group guide.

On this day in movie history - The Detective (1968):

The Detective

directed by Gordon Douglas,

written by Abby Mann,

based on the novel by Roderick Thorp,

was released in the United States on May 28, 1968.
Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Cast:

Frank Sinatra, Lee Remick, Ralph Meeker, Jack Klugman, Horace McMahon, Lloyd Bochner, William Windom, Tony Musante, Al Freeman Jr., Robert Duvall, Pat Henry, Patrick McVey, Dixie Marquis, Sugar Ray Robinson, Renée Taylor, Jim Inman, Tom Atkins, Jacqueline Bisset, Mikel Angel, Ted Beniades, Mark Dawson, James Dukas, Jan Farrand, Don Fellows, Tom Gorman, Sharon Henesy, Richard Krisher, Lou Krugman, Paul Larson, Alan Manson, Bette Midler, Earl Montgomery, Peg Murray, Lou Nelson, George Plimpton, Frank Raiter, Jilly Rizzo, Jose Rodriguez, Joe Santos, Diane Sayer, Arnold Soboloff, Philip Sterling, Stephen Wright, Peter York.

On this day in music history - Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (1968):

Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison

Album by Johnny Cash,

released May 6, 1968.

Track list:

Folsom Prison Blues; Busted; Dark as the Dungeon; I Still Miss Someone; Cocaine Blues; 25 Minutes to Go; Orange Blossom Special; The Long Black Veil; Send a Picture of Mother; The Wall; Dirty Old Egg-Suckin’ Dog; Flushed from the Bathroom of Your Heart; Joe Bean; Jackson; Give My Love to Rose; I Got Stripes; The Legend of John Henry’s Hammer; Green, Green Grass of Home; Greystone Chapel (Reprise).

On this day in music history - Bookends, by Simon & Garfunkel (1968):

Bookends

Album by Simon & Garfunkel,

released April 3, 1968.

Track list:

Bookends Theme; Save the Life of My Child; America; Overs; Voices of Old People; Old Friends; Bookends Theme (Reprise); Fakin’ It; Punky’s Dilemma; Mrs. Robinson (From “The Graduate” Soundtrack); A Hazy Shade of Winter; At the Zoo; You Don’t Know Where Your Interest Lies; Old Friends (Demo).

On this day in movie history - 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968):

2001: A Space Odyssey

directed by Stanley Kubrick,

written by Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke,

based on the short story The Sentinel by Arthur C. Clarke,

was released in the United States on April 2, 1968.
Music by Aram Khachaturyan, György Ligeti, Johann Strauss and Richard Strauss.

Cast:

Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter, Leonard Rossiter, Margaret Tyzack, Robert Beatty, Sean Sullivan, Douglas Rain, Frank Miller, Edwina Carroll, Penny Brahms, Heather Downham, Alan Gifford, Ann Gillis, Chela Matthison, Vivian Kubrick, Kenneth Kendall.

Recommended reading - 2001: a Space Odyssey, by Arthur C. Clarke (1968):

2001: a Space Odyssey

By Arthur C. Clarke.

Published by Ace.

First published 1968.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0451452739

ISBN-13: 978-0451452733

Description:

The classic science fiction novel that captures and expands on the vision of Stanley Kubrick’s immortal film – and changed the way we look at the stars and ourselves.

From the savannas of Africa at the dawn of mankind to the rings of Saturn as man ventures to the outer rim of our solar system, 2001: A Space Odyssey is a journey unlike any other.

This allegory about humanity’s exploration of the universe – and the universe’s reaction to humanity – is a hallmark achievement in storytelling that follows the crew of the spacecraft Discovery as they embark on a mission to Saturn. Their vessel is controlled by HAL 9000, an artificially intelligent supercomputer capable of the highest level of cognitive functioning that rivals – and perhaps threatens – the human mind.

Grappling with space exploration, the perils of technology, and the limits of human power, 2001: A Space Odyssey continues to be an enduring classic of cinematic scope.

Born on this day – Andrew Pyper:

Andrew Pyper

Writer

March 29, 1968 – January 3, 2025

Credits:

Books:

1001 Names and Their Meanings (2012); Breaking and Entering (2012); Call Roxanne (2012); Camp Sacred Heart (2012); Dime Bag Girl (2012); House of Mirrors (2012); If You Lived Here You'd Be Home By Now (2012); Kiss Me (1996); Lost Girls (1999); Magnificent (2012); Oracle (2021); Sausage Stew (2012); The Author Shows a Little Kindness (2012); The Damned (2015); The Demonologist (2013); The Earliest Memory Exercise (2012); The Guardians (2011); The Homecoming (2019); The Killing Circle (2008); The Only Child (2017); The Residence (2020); The Trade Mission / aka Dark Descent (2002); The Wildfire Season (2005); Toronto Noir / Akashic Noir (2008); Unnerving Magazine: Issue #14 (2020); X-Ray (2012).

Television:

Biology of Story (2016); Oracle (2021); Oracle 2: The Dreamland Murders (2022); Shock Docs (2021).

Recommended reading - MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors, by Richard Hooker (1968):

MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors

By Richard Hooker.

Filmed as M*A*S*H (1970), directed by Robert Altman.

Published by William Morrow Paperbacks.

First published 1968.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0688149553

ISBN-13: 978-0688149550

Description:

Before the movie, this is the novel that gave life to Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, Hot Lips Houlihan, Frank Burns, Radar O'Reilly, and the rest of the gang that made the 4077th MASH like no other place in Korea or on earth. The doctors who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained but, like most soldiers sent to fight a war, too young for the job. In the words of the author, "a few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees."

For fans of the movie and the series alike, here is the original version of that perfectly corrupt football game, those martini-laced mornings and sexual escapades, and that unforgettable foray into assisted if incompleted suicide – all as funny and poignant now as they were before they became a part of America's culture and heart.