On this day in movie history - Fantastic Planet (1973 movie & novel):

Fantastic Planet

directed by René Laloux,

written by Roland Topor, René Laloux,

based on the novel Oms en série a.k.a. Oms Linked Together and Fantastic Planet by Stefan Wul,

released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 11, 1973.

Music by Alain Goraguer.

Cast: Jennifer Drake, Eric Baugin, Jean Topart, Jean Valmont, Sylvie Lenoir, Michèle Chahan, Yves Barsacq, Hubert de Lapparent, Gérard Hernandez, Claude Joseph, Philippe Ogouz, Jacques Ruisseau, Max Amyl, Denis Boileau, Madeleine Clervanne, William Coryn, Christian Echelard, Jeanine Forney, Pascal Kominakis, André Lambert, Mark Lesser, Serge Netter, Yvette Robin, André Rouyer, Irina Tarassov, Julien Thomast, Gilbert Vilhon, Paul Villé, Poupy de Monneron, Christian de Tillière, Cynthia Adler, Barry Bostwick, Mark Gruner, Nora Heflin, Marvin Miller, Monika Ramirez, Hal Smith, Olan Soule, Janet Waldo.

Recommended reading:

Fantastic Planet

By Stephan Wul.

Published by Creation Oneiros.

First published 1957.

ISBN-10: 1902197313

ISBN-13: 9781902197319

Description:

Now published for the very first time in English, Stephan Wul's Fantastic Planet (Oms En Serie) is a classic of Science Fiction and the inspiration for the award-winning 1973 animated film La Planete Sauvage (Fantastic Planet).

The last surviving humans are taken from Earth to the wild planet Ygam by the traags, a race of blue-skinned, red-eyed giants. Here they become known as oms, used as lowly servants and regarded as savages.

But little by little, led by a young man of superior intelligence named Terr, the oms regain their thirst for liberty and rise up against the draags to affirm their humanity in the face of oppression.

This deceptively simple story-line is vividly depicted by author Wul with fantastic detail and a stirring mythopoeic resonance.

The film Fantastic Planet won the Grand Prix at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival and remains a mind-bendingly entertaining touchstone of counterculture art; at last, English-language readers can enjoy the classic Sci-Fi novel that it was based on.

On this day in music history:

Desperado by the Eagles (1973)

Beyond the Crossroads by Peter Karp & Sue Foley (2012)

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].

Beyond the Crossroads

Album by Peter Karp & Sue Foley,

released April 17, 2012.

Track list: We're Gonna Make It; Analyze'n Blues; Beyond The Crossroads; Fine Love; At The Same Time; Take Your Time; More Than I Bargained For; Blowin'; Resistance; Chance Of Rain; Plank Spank; You've Got A Problem.

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 predecessors 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.

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.