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

The Outfit

directed and written by John Flynn,

based on the novel by Richard Stark,

was released in the United States on October 19, 1973.
Music by Jerry Fielding.

Cast:

Robert Duvall, Karen Black, Joe Don Baker, Robert Ryan, Timothy Carey, Richard Jaeckel, Sheree North, Felice Orlandi, Marie Windsor, Jane Greer, Henry Jones, Joanna Cassidy, Tom Reese, Elisha Cook Jr., Bill McKinney, Anita O'Day, Archie Moore, Tony Young, Roland La Starza, Edward Ness, Roy Roberts, Toby Andersen, Emile Meyer, Roy Jenson, Philip Kenneally, Bern Hoffman, John Steadman, Paul Genge, Francis De Sales, James Bacon, Army Archerd, Tony Trabert, Lee de Broux, Raven Grey Eagle, Bob Harks, Charles Knapp, Mike Ragan, Jeannine Riley, George Savalas, Jeffrey Sayre, Arthur Tovey, Ralph Volkie.

On this day in movie history - Charley Varrick (1973):

Charley Varrick

directed by Don Siegel,

written by Dean Riesner and Howard A. Rodman,

based on the novel The Looters by John H. Reese,

was released in the United States on October 19, 1973.
Music by Lalo Schifrin.

Cast:

Walter Matthau, Joe Don Baker, Felicia Farr, Andrew Robinson, Sheree North, Norman Fell, Benson Fong, Woodrow Parfrey, William Schallert, Jacqueline Scott, Marjorie Bennett, Rudy Diaz, Colby Chester, Charlie Briggs, Priscilla Garcia, Scott Hale, Charles Matthau, Hope Summers, Monica Lewis, James Nolan, Tom Tully, Albert Popwell, Kathleen O'Malley, Christina Hart, Craig R. Baxley, Al Dunlap, Virginia Wing, Don Siegel, John Vernon, Robert D. Carver, Joe Conforte, Art Cribbs, Carol Daniels, Thom Dunbar, Richard R. Hogan, Fred Little, Holly Nutter, Fred Scheiwiller, Bob Steele, Carlos Velasquez, Walt Wallace.

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

Badlands

directed and written by Terrence Malick,

was released in the United States on October 15, 1973.
Inspired by the true Charles Starkweather case (1957-58).
Music by George Tipton, Carl Orff and James Taylor.

Cast:

Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri, Alan Vint, Gary Littlejohn, John Carter, Bryan Montgomery, Gail Threlkeld, Charles Fitzpatrick, Howard Ragsdale, John Womack Jr., Dona Baldwin, Ben Bravo, Emilio Estevez, Li Po Lung, Terrence Malick, Charlie Sheen.

On this day in movie history - Mean Streets (1973):

Mean Streets

directed by Martin Scorsese,

written by Martin Scorsese and Mardik Martin,

was released in the United States on October 14, 1973.

Cast:

Harvey Keitel, Robert De Niro, David Proval, Amy Robinson, Richard Romanus, Cesare Danova, George Memmoli, Harry Northup, Martin Scorsese, David Carradine, Jeannie Bell, Robert Carradine, Lois Walden, Juli Andelman, Catherine Scorsese.

On this day in television history - World on a Wire (TV series & novel):

World on a Wire

Original title: Welt am Draht,

2-part mini-series directed by Rainer Werner Fassbinder,

written by Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Fritz Müller-Scherz,

based on the novel Simulacron-3 by Daniel F. Galouye,

released in Germany on October 14, 1973.

Music by Gottfried Hüngsberg.

Cast:

Klaus Löwitsch, Barbara Valentin, Mascha Rabben, Karl Heinz Vosgerau, Wolfgang Schenck, Günter Lamprecht, Ulli Lommel, Adrian Hoven, Ivan Desny, Joachim Hansen, Kurt Raab, Margit Carstensen, Ingrid Caven, Gottfried John, Rudolf Lenz, Lilo Pempeit / Lieselotte Eder, Heinz Meier, Peter Chatel, Rainer Hauer, Ernst Küsters, El Hedi ben Salem, Karl Scheydt, Solange Pradel, Bruce Low, Elma Karlowa, Maryse Dellanoy, Werner Schroeter, Magdalena Montezuma, Christine Kaufmann, Rainer Langhans, Corinna Brocher, Dora Karras-Frank, Katrin Schaake, Peter Gauhe, Christiane Maybach, Walter Sedlmayr, Eddie Constantine, Rudolf Waldemar Brem, Peter Kern, Karsten Peters, Peter Moland, Doris Mattes, Wolfgang Hess, Arnold Marquis.

Recommended reading:

Simulacron-3

By Daniel F. Galouye.

Afterword by Mike Resnick.

Published by Phoenix Pick.

First published 1964.

ISBN: 9781612420202

ISBN10: 1612420206

ASIN: 1612420206

Description:

A virtual-reality novel from a time before virtual reality, Simulacron-3 is a prophetic tale of a future where nothing is as it appears to be. Douglas Hall is part of a team that builds an artificial environment to simulate reality. This enables them to get public opinion polls without waiting for the opinions of people around them. But then something goes terribly wrong and his partners on the program start disappearing. But is it a simulated disappearance, or is someone out to get them all? And what is the true nature of reality? Stories based on Simulacron-3 have been adapted for both television and movies, and the book is considered a favorite of many of the masters of science fiction.

On this day in movie history - Double Indemnity (movie & books):

Double Indemnity

directed by Jack Smight,

written by Steven Bochco, Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler,

based on the novel by James M. Cain,

released in the United States on October 13, 1973.

Music by Billy Goldenberg.

Cast: Richard Crenna, Lee J. Cobb, Robert Webber, Samantha Eggar, Arch Johnson, Kathleen Cody, John Fiedler, John Elerick, Joan Pringle, Gene Dynarski, Ken Renard, Joyce Cunning, Arnold F. Turner, Rand Brooks, Tom Curtis, John Furlong.

Recommended reading:

Double Indemnity

By James M. Cain.

Filmed as:

Double Indemnity (1944), directed by Billy Wilder.

Double Indemnity (1973), directed by Jack Smight.

Published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard.

Published 1943.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 9780679723226

ISBN-13: 9780679723226

Description:

“An American masterpiece.” – Ross Macdonald.

“No one has ever stopped reading in the middle of one of Jim Cain’s books.” – Saturday Review of Literature.

Walter Huff was an insurance salesman with an unfailing instinct for clients who might be in trouble, and his instinct led him to Phyllis Nirdlinger. Phyllis wanted to buy an accident policy on her husband. Then she wanted her husband to have an accident. Walter wanted Phyllis. To get her, he would arrange the perfect murder and betray everything he had ever lived for.

Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful, Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1935, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.

Double Indemnity: The Complete Screenplay

By Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler, Jeffrey Meyers.

Published by University of California Press.

Published 2000.

ISBN-10: 0520218485

ISBN-13: 9780520218482

Description:

On every level -- writing, direction, acting -- Double Indemnity (1944) is a triumph and stands as one of the greatest achievements in Billy Wilder's career. Adapted from the James M. Cain novel by director Wilder and novelist Raymond Chandler, it tells the story of an insurance salesman, played by Fred MacMurray, who is lured into a murder-for-insurance plot by Barbara Stanwyck, in an archetypal femme fatale role. From its grim story to its dark, atmospheric lighting, Double Indemnity is a definitive example of World War II-era film noir. Wilder's approach is everywhere evident: in the brutal cynicism the film displays, the moral complexity, and in the empathy we feel for the killers. The film received almost unanimous critical success, garnering seven Academy Award nominations. More than fifty years later, most critics agree that this classic is one of the best films of all time. The collaboration between Wilder and Raymond Chandler produced a masterful script and some of the most memorable dialogue ever spoken in a movie.

This facsimile edition of Double Indemnity contains Wilder and Chandler's original -- and quite different -- ending, published here for the first time. Jeffrey Meyers's introduction contextualizes the screenplay, providing hilarious anecdotes about the turbulent collaboration, as well as background information about Wilder and the film's casting and production.