On this day in music history - Desperado, by the Eagles (1973):

Desperado

Album by the Eagles,

released April 17, 1973.

Track list:

Doolin-Dalton (1999 Remaster); Twenty-One (1999 Remaster); Out of Control (1999 Remaster); Tequila Sunrise (1999 Remaster); Desperado (1999 Remaster); Certain Kind of Fool (1999 Remaster); Doolin-Dalton (Instrumental) [1999 Remaster]; Outlaw Man (1999 Remaster); Saturday Night (1999 Remaster); Bitter Creek (1999 Remaster); Doolin-Dalton / Desperado (Reprise) [1999 Remaster].

On this day in movie history - High Plains Drifter (1973):

High Plains Drifter

directed by Clint Eastwood,

written by Ernest Tidyman and Dean Riesner,

was released in the United States on April 7, 1973.
Music by Dee Barton.

Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Verna Bloom, Marianna Hill, Mitchell Ryan, Jack Ging, Stefan Gierasch, Ted Hartley, Billy Curtis, Geoffrey Lewis, Scott Walker, Walter Barnes, Paul Brinegar, Richard Bull, Robert Donner, John Hillerman, Anthony James, William O'Connell, John Quade, Jane Aull, Dan Vadis, Reid Cruickshanks, Jim Gosa, Jack Kosslyn, Russ McCubbin, Belle Mitchell, John Mitchum, Carl Pitti, Chuck Waters, Buddy Van Horn, Jimmie Booth, Alex Tinne.

Recommended reading - Sleeping Beauty, by Ross Macdonald (1973):

Sleeping Beauty

By Ross Macdonald.

Published by Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group.

First published 1973.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0375708669

ISBN-13: 978-0375708664

Description:

# 17 of the Lew Archer Series.

"Ross Macdonald is either part or wholly wizard. . .conjuring the magic of real mystery. . . . A masterpiece." – Chicago Tribune Book World.

"Sleeping Beauty is particularly complex and satisfactory. . . . It is a marvelous formula that Macdonald has found; the wonder is that he keeps improving it." – Newsweek.

"Ross Macdonald remains the grandmaster, taking the crime novel to new heights by imbuing it with psychological resonance, complexity of story, and richness of style that remain inspiring." – Jonathan Kellerman.

In Sleeping Beauty, Lew Archer finds himself the confidant of a wealthy, violent family with a load of trouble on their hands – including an oil spill, a missing girl, a lethal dose of Nembutal, a six-figure ransom, and a stranger afloat, face down, off a private beach. Here is Ross Macdonald's masterful tale of buried memories, the consequences of arrogance, and the anguished relations between parents and their children. Riveting, gritty, tautly written, Sleeping Beauty is crime fiction at its best.

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it is Ross Macdonald. Between the late 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his pre-decessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience who walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.

Recommended reading - No Beast So Fierce, by Edward Bunker (1973):

No Beast So Fierce

By Edward Bunker.

Filmed as Straight Time (1978), directed by Ulu Grosbard and Dustin Hoffman.

Published by NO EXIT PRESS.

First published 1973.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1842432664

ISBN-13: 978-1842432662

Description:

“One of the great crime novels.” – James Ellroy.

An angry and mercilessly suspenseful novel about an ex-con's attempt to negotiate the "straight world" and his swan dive back into the paradoxical security of crime. It is airtight in its construction, almost photorealistic in its portrayal of L. A. lowlife and utterly knowledgeable about the terrors of liberty, the high of the quick score and the rage that makes the finger tighten on the trigger of the gun.

On this day in movie history - Slither (1973):

Slither

directed by Howard Zieff,

written by W. D. Richter,

was released in the United States on March 7, 1973.
Music by Tom McIntosh.

Cast:

James Caan, Peter Boyle, Sally Kellerman, Louise Lasser, Allen Garfield, Richard B. Shull, Alex Rocco, Seamon Glass, Wayne Storm, Diana Darrin, Stuart Nisbet, Edwina Gough, Al Dunlap, James Joseph, Virginia Sale, Alex Henteloff, Len Lesser, Garry Goodrow, Raven Grey Eagle, William Noland, Jack Perkins, Moira Sher.

On this day in movie history - The Long Goodbye (1973):

The Long Goodbye

directed by Robert Altman,

written by Leigh Brackett,

based on the novel by Raymond Chandler,

was released in the United States on March 7, 1973.
Music by John Williams.

Cast:

Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson, David Arkin, Jim Bouton, Warren Berlinger, Pancho Córdova, Enrique Lucero, Rutanya Alda, Jack Riley, Jerry Jones, John S. Davies, Arnold Schwarzenegger.

On this day in movie history - The Train Robbers (1973):

The Train Robbers

directed and written by Burt Kennedy,

was released in the United States on February 7, 1973.
Music by Dominic Frontiere.

Cast:

John Wayne, Ann-Margret, Rod Taylor, Ben Johnson, Christopher George, Bobby Vinton, Jerry Gatlin, Ricardo Montalban, Dennis Falt, Ralph Volkie.