On this day in movie history - Dirty Harry (1971):

Dirty Harry

directed by Don Siegel,

written by Harry Julian Fink, R.M. Fink and Dean Riesner,

based on a story by Harry Julian Fink, R.M. Fink and Jo Heims,

was released in the United States on December 23, 1971.
Music by Lalo Schifrin.

Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Andy Robinson, Harry Guardino, Reni Santoni, John Vernon, John Larch, John Mitchum, Woodrow Parfrey, Josef Sommer, Mae Mercer, Albert Popwell, Lyn Edgington, Ruth Kobart, Lois Foraker, William Paterson, Debralee Scott.

On this day in movie history - A Clockwork Orange (1971 movie & novel):

A Clockwork Orange

directed by Stanley Kubrick,
based on the 1962 novel by Anthony Burgess,

premiered in Canada on December 19, 1971.

Music by Wendy Carlos.

Cast:

Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke, John Clive, Adrienne Corri, Carl Duering, Paul Farrell, Clive Francis, Michael Gover, Miriam Karlin, James Marcus, Aubrey Morris, Godfrey Quigley, Sheila Raynor, Madge Ryan, Anthony Sharp, Philip Stone, Michael Tarn, David Prowse, Carol Drinkwater, Steven Berkoff, Margaret Tyzack, Pauline Taylor.

Recommended reading:

A Clockwork Orange

By Anthony Burgess.

Filmed in 1971 by Stanley Kubrick.

First published 1962.

Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0393341763

ISBN-13: 978-0393341768

Description:

One of Esquire's 50 Best Sci-Fi Books of All Time.

“A brilliant novel.… [A] savage satire on the distortions of the single and collective minds.” – New York Times.

In Anthony Burgess’s influential nightmare vision of the future, where the criminals take over after dark, the story is told by the central character, Alex, a teen who talks in a fantastically inventive slang that evocatively renders his and his friends’ intense reaction against their society. Dazzling and transgressive, A Clockwork Orange is a frightening fable about good and evil and the meaning of human freedom. This edition includes the controversial last chapter not published in the first edition, and Burgess’s introduction, “A Clockwork Orange Resucked.”

On this day in movie history - Chandler (1971):

Chandler

directed by Paul Magwood,

written by John Sacret Young,

based on a story by Paul Magwood,

was released in the United States on December 1, 1971.
Music by George Romanis.

Cast:

Warren Oates, Leslie Caron, Alex Dreier, Mitchell Ryan, Gordon Pinsent, Charles McGraw, Richard Loo, Gloria Grahame, Royal Dano, Walter Burke, Marianne McAndrew, Scatman Crothers, Lal Baum, Charles Shull, John Mitchum, James Sikking, Vickery Turner, Ray Kellogg, Ernest Lawrence, Eugene Jackson, Eddie Marks, Frederick Stanley II.

On this day in movie history - Duel (movie & novel):

Duel

directed by Steven Spielberg,

written by Richard Matheson,

based on the short story by Richard Matheson,

was released in the United States on November 13, 1971.
Music by Billy Goldenberg.

Cast:

Dennis Weaver, Jacqueline Scott, Eddie Firestone, Lou Frizzell, Gene Dynarski, Lucille Benson, Tim Herbert, Charles Seel, Shirley O'Hara, Alexander Lockwood, Amy Douglass, Dick Whittington, Carey Loftin, Dale Van Sickel, Shawn Steinman.

Recommended reading:

Duel

By Richard Matheson.

Introduction by Ray Bradbury.

Publisher by Tor Books.

Published 1971.

Paperback.

ISBN 13: 9780312878269

ISBN 10: 0312878265

ASIN: B00A2M37ZG

Description:

“Richard Matheson is worth our time, attention, and great affection.” – from the Appreciation by Ray Bradbury.

The late Richard Matheson's classic tale of highway terror.

He was heading west, en route to San Francisco. It was Thursday and unseasonably hot for April. He had his suitcoat off, his tie removed and shirt collar opened, his sleeve cuffs folded back. There was sunlight on his left arm and on part of his lap. He could feel the heat of it through his dark trousers as he drove along the two-lane highway. For the past twenty minutes, he had not seen another vehicle going in either direction.

Then he saw the truck ...

Remember that murderous semi chasing Dennis Weaver down a lonely stretch of desert highway?

Duel, Steven Spielberg's acclaimed first film, was adapted by Richard Matheson from his unforgettable story of the same name.

However, "Duel" is only one of the classic suspense tales in this outstanding collection of stories by the Grand Master of Horror. It also contains Matheson's legendary first story, "Born of Man and Woman," as well as several stunning shockers that inspired memorable episodes of The Twilight Zone, including "Little Girl Lost," "Steel," and "Third from the Sun."

Like Matheson's previous collection, Nightmare at 20,000 Feet, Duel is an indispensable treasure trove of terror from the New York Times bestselling author of I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come.

On this day in music history - Stairway to Heaven, by Led Zeppelin (1971):

Stairway to Heaven

Song by Led Zeppelin,
released November 8, 1971.
Written by Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.

On this day in movie history - The French Connection (1971):

The French Connection

directed by William Friedkin,

written by Ernest Tidyman,

based on the book by Robin Moore,

was released in the United States on October 9, 1971.
Music by Don Ellis.

Cast:

Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider, Tony Lo Bianco, Marcel Bozzuffi, Frédéric de Pasquale, Bill Hickman, Ann Rebbot, Harold Gary, Arlene Farber, Eddie Egan, André Ernotte, Sonny Grosso, Benny Marino, Patrick McDermott, Alan Weeks, Al Fann, Irving Abrahams, Randy Jurgensen, William Coke, The Three Degrees, Frank Adonis, Gilda Albertoni, Robert Dahdah, Frank Durk, Rhina Ferrari, Sarina C. Grant, Joe Lo Grippo, Melonie Haller, Eric Jones, Gladys Lane, Jean Luisi, Doris McCarthy, Charles McGregor, Lora Mitchell, Maureen Mooney, Santos Morales, Silvano Nolemi, Burt Richards, Willy Switkes, Fat Thomas, Robert Weil.

Recommended reading - One Across, Two Down (1971):

One Across, Two Down

By Ruth Rendell.

Filmed as Diary of the Dead (1976), directed by Arvin Brown.

Published by Vintage Crime / Black Lizard.

First published 1971.

ASIN: 0375704949

ISBN-10: 9780375704949

ISBN-13: 978-0375704949

Description:

Two things interest Stanley Manning: crossword puzzles, and the substantial sum his wife Vera stands to inherit when his mother-in-law dies. Otherwise, life at 61 Lanchester Road is a living hell. For Mrs. Kinaway lives with them now – and she will stop at nothing to tear their marriage apart. One afternoon, Stanley sets aside his crossword puzzles and changes all their lives forever...

In One Across, Two Down, master crime writer Ruth Rendell describes a man whose strained sanity and stained reputation transform him from a witless loser into a killer afraid of his own shadow.  Mischievously plotted, smart, maddeningly entertaining, One Across, Two Down is a dark delight – classic Rendell.

"The best mystery writer in the English-speaking world." – Time.

Born on this day – Dolores O'Riordan:

Dolores O'Riordan

Singer

Musician

Songwriter

September 6, 1971 – January 15, 2018

Recommended reading – Post Office (1971):

Post Office

By Charles Bukowski.

Paperback.

Published in 1971.

ISBN-10: 0753518163

ISBN-13: 978-0753518168

Description:

It began as a mistake. By middle age, Henry Chinaski has lost more than twelve years of his life to the U.S. Postal Service. In a world where his three true, bitter pleasures are women, booze, and race-track betting, he somehow drags his hangover out of bed every dawn to lug waterlogged mailbags up mud-soaked mountains, outsmart vicious guard dogs, and pray to survive the day-to-day trials of sadistic bosses and certifiable coworkers. This classic 1971 novel – the one that catapulted its author to national fame – is the perfect introduction to the grimly hysterical world of legendary writer, poet, and Dirty Old Man Charles Bukowski and his fictional alter ego, Chinaski.

“Wordsworth, Whitman, William Carlos Williams, and the Beats in their respective generations moved poetry toward a more natural language. Bukowski moved it a little farther.” – Los Angeles Times Book Review.

Charles Bukowski is one of America's best-known contemporary writers of poetry and prose, and, many would claim, its most influential and imitated poet. He was born in Andernach, Germany, and raised in Los Angeles, where he lived for fifty years. He published his first story in 1944, when he was twenty-four, and began writing poetry at the age of thirty-five. He died in San Pedro, California, on March 9, 1994, at the age of seventy-three, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp (1994).