Recommended reading - Marathon Man (1974):

Marathon Man

By William Goldman.

First published 1974.

Published by Random House Publishing Group.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0345439724

ISBN-13: 978-0345439727

Description:

William Goldman's remarkable career spans more than five decades, and his credentials run the gamut from bestselling novelist to Oscar-winning screenwriter to Hollywood raconteur. He's beloved by millions of readers as the author of the classic comic-romantic fantasy The Princess Bride. And he's notorious for creating the most harrowing visit to the dentist in literary and cinematic history – in one of the seminal thrillers of the twentieth century. . . .

MARATHON MAN

Tom "Babe" Levy is a runner in every sense: racing tirelessly toward his goals of athletic and academic excellence – and endlessly away from the specter of his famous father's scandal-driven suicide. But an unexpected visit from his beloved older brother will set in motion a chain of events that plunge Babe into a vortex of terror, treachery, and murder – and force him into a race for his life . . . and for the answer to the fateful question, "Is it safe?"

"Superb . . . One hell of a read." – The Washington Post.

“An exciting – often funny, often sad – chase … Goldman does a masterly job.” – Associated Press.

“Well-plotted, expertly characterized, and fast-paced." – Los Angeles Times.

On this day in movie history - The Gambler (1974):

The Gambler

directed by Karel Reisz,

written by James Toback,

was released in the United States on October 2, 1974.
Music by Jerry Fielding.

Cast:

James Caan, Paul Sorvino, Lauren Hutton, Morris Carnovsky, Jacqueline Brookes, Burt Young, Carmine Caridi, Vic Tayback, Steven Keats, London Lee, M. Emmet Walsh, James Woods, Carl W. Crudup, Allan Rich, Stuart Margolin, Ric Mancini, Joel Wolfe, Raymond Serra, William Andrews, Joseph Attles, Antonio Fargas, Ernest Butler, Sully Boyar, Gregory Rozakis, Starletta DuPois, Lucille Patton, Ed Kovens, Baron Wilson, Richard Foronjy, Frank Sivero, Frank Adonis, Philip Sterling, Patricia Fay, Beatrice Winde, Leon Pinkney, Alisha Fontaine, Presley Caton, Mitch Stein, Jonathan Kushner, Charles Polk, Dick Schaap, Chick Hearn, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Jerry Leon, Melanie Mayron.

On this day in movie history - The Taking of Pelham 123 (1974):

The Taking of Pelham 123

directed by Joseph Sargent,

written by Peter Stone,

based on the novel by John Godey,

was released in the United States on October 2, 1974.
Music by David Shire.

Cast:

Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam, Hector Elizondo, Earl Hindman, James Broderick, Dick O'Neill, Lee Wallace, Tom Pedi, Beatrice Winde, Jerry Stiller, Nathan George, Rudy Bond, Kenneth McMillan, Doris Roberts, Julius Harris, Cynthia Belgrave, Anna Berger, Gary Bolling, Carol Cole, Alex Colon, Joe Fields, Mari Gorman, Michael Gorrin, Thomas La Fleur, María Landa, Louise Larabee, George Lee Miles, Carolyn Nelson, Eric O'Hanian, Lucy Saroyan, William Snickowski, Barry Snyder, Walter Jones, Jerry Holland, Robert Weil, Penny Krompier, Christopher Murney, Timothy Meyers, Ruth Attaway, Thomas Barbour, Marvin Silbersher, Neil Brooks Cunningham, Sal Viscuso, Tony Fasce, Burtt Harris, Gene Gross, Walter Lott, Conrad Yama, Sho Onodera, Toru Nagai, Tura Nakamura, Rowena Rollins, Joseph Attles, Willis Pinkett, Michelle Matthow, Isabella Hoopes, Bill Cobbs, Jim Pelham, Joe Seneca, Gino Gennaro, Carmine Foresta, Tony Roberts, Hy Anzell, Ines Hellendall, Jean-Paul Hellendall, Ben Lautman, Carey Loftin, James Mapes, Paul Nuckles, Jay Rasumny, Charles Silvern, Dominique St. Pierre, Dolph Sweet, Frank Ventgen.

On this day in movie history - Phase IV (1974):

Phase IV

directed by Saul Bass,

written by Mayo Simon,

inspired by the short story Empire of the Ants by H. G. Wells,

was released in the United States on September 6, 1974.
Music by Brian Gascoigne.

Cast:

Nigel Davenport, Michael Murphy, Lynne Frederick, Alan Gifford, Robert Henderson, Helen Horton, David Healy.

On this day in movie history - The Longest Yard (1974):

The Longest Yard

aka The Mean Machine,

directed by Robert Aldrich,

written by Tracy Keenan Wynn,

based on a story by Albert S. Ruddy,

was released in the United States on August 21, 1974.
Music by Frank De Vol.

Cast:

Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad, James Hampton, Harry Caesar, John Steadman, Charles Tyner, Mike Henry, Jim Nicholson, Bernadette Peters, Pervis Atkins, Tony Cacciotti, Anitra Ford, Michael Fox, Joe Kapp, Richard Kiel, Pepper Martin, Mort Marshall, Ray Nitschke, Tony Reese, Sonny Sixkiller, Robert Tessier, Dino Washington, Ernie Wheelwright, Joe Dorsey, Gus Carlucci, Jack Rockwell, Sonny Shroyer, Ray Ogden, Don Ferguson, Chuck Hayward, Alfie Wise, Steve Wilder, George A. Jones, Wilbur Gillian, Wilson Warren, Joe Jackson, Howard Silverstein, Donald Hixon.

On this day in movie history - Death Wish (1974):

Death Wish

directed by Michael Winner,

written by Wendell Mayes,

based on the novel by Brian Garfield,

was released in the United States on July 24, 1974.
Music by Herbie Hancock.

Cast:

Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia, William Redfield, Chris Gampel, Steven Keats, Stuart Margolin, Stephen Elliott, Fred J. Scollay, Kathleen Tolan, Jack Wallace, Robert Kya-Hill, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Logan, Gregory Rozakis, Christopher Guest, Hank Garrett, Helen Martin, Olympia Dukakis, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Edward Grover, Saul Rubinek, John Herzfeld, Eric Laneuville, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Sonia Manzano, Tom Hayden, Al Lewis, Billy Curtis, Paul Dooley, Robert Miano, William Bogert.

On this day in movie history - The Terminal Man (movie & novel):

The Terminal Man

directed and written by Mike Hodges,

based on the novel by Michael Crichton,

was released in the United States on June 19, 1974.
Music by Dan Wallin.

Cast:

George Segal, Joan Hackett, Richard A. Dysart, Jill Clayburgh, Donald Moffat, Michael C. Gwynne, William Hansen, Norman Burton, James Sikking, Matt Clark, Jim Antonio, Gene Borkan, Burke Byrnes, Jordan Rhodes, Dee Carroll, Jason Wingreen, Steve Kanaly, Al Checco, Fred Sadoff, Jack Colvin, Ian Wolfe, Lee de Broux, Robert Ito, Victor Argo, Rutanya Alda, Ed Avery, Dorothy Hack, Bob Harks, George Holmes, Michael Jeffers, Dale Johnson, Diane Jones, Clyde McLeod, Joe Pine, Nilsa Ray, Clark Ross, Michael Santiago, James Sweet, Nicholas Worth.

Recommended reading:

The Terminal Man

By Michael Crichton.

First Published 1972.

ISBN-10: 0394447689

ISBN-13: 978-0394447681

Description:

In his first novel since The Andromeda Strain, Michael Crichton once again combines documentary verisimilitude with hair-raising suspense to open up for the reader a new area of modern science: surgical-electronic mind control.

The man ‘in the hands of science” – the Terminal Man – is Harry Benson. He is a violent paranoid who has already twice attempted to kill. Against the profound opposition of his psychiatrist, a team of surgeons proposes to connect his brain to a computer that will regulate his behavior. From the conflict among the doctors, to the actual operation itself – during which forty wires are attached to forty points in Benson’s brain – to the functioning of the computers, to the terrifying results when Benson escapes from the hospital, the tension rises as the reader becomes a close-up witness to an experiment just short of the ultimate computer control of a human being.

Psychosurgery of the kind Crichton describes is already taking place under established medical auspices – a new form of behavior control that has become a key scientific and moral issue in our time. Crichton takes it out of the realm of the abstract, and makes immediate its workings, its dangers, and its implications, in a novel that provides urgent information and, at the same time, superb entertainment.

Recommended reading – Psycho (novel & book of the movie):

Psycho

By Robert Bloch.

Filmed as Psycho (1960), directed by Alfred Hitchcock.

Published by The Overlook Press.

First published 1959.

ISBN-10: 1590203356

ISBN-13: 9781590203354

Description:

"Psycho all came from Robert Bloch's book." – Alfred Hitchcock.

"Icily terrifying!" – The New York Times.

"Robert Bloch is one of the all-time masters." – Peter Straub.

Norman Bates loves his mother. She has been dead for the past 20 years, or so people think. Norman knows better, though.

Ever since leaving the hospital, he has lived with Mother in the old house up on the hill above the Bates Motel. One night, after a beautiful woman checks into the motel, Norman spies on her as she undresses. Norman can’t help but spy on her.

Mother is there, though. She is there to protect Norman from his filthy thoughts. She is there to protect him with her butcher knife.

If you love to be scared, or are a fan of classic movies, then you know the story of Norman Bates, his mother, and the dark and frightening Bates Motel. Alfred Hitchcock’s taut, shocking scare-fest starring Anthony Perkins and Janet Leigh is a classic movie, as scary today as it was in 1960 when it was first released, and this is the 1959 novel upon which the movie is based.

It was here that the legend of the Bates Motel was born.

Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho

Edited by Richard J. Anobile.

The Film Classics Library.

Published by Universe Books.

First Edition.

Published 1974.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0876631898

ISBN-13: 978-0876631898

Description:

The Film Classics Library present the most accurate and complete reconstruction of a film in book over 1,300 frame blow-up photos shown sequentially and coupled with the complete dialogue from the original soundtrack, allow you to recapture this film classic in its entirety – at your leisure.

On this day in movie history - The Cars That Ate Paris (1974):

The Cars That Ate Paris

directed and written by Peter Weir,

based on a story by Peter Weir, Keith Gow and Piers Davies,

was released at the Sydney Film Festival in Australia, on June 15, 1974.
Music by Bruce Smeaton.

Cast:

John Meillon, Terry Camilleri, Kevin Miles, Rick Scully, Max Gillies, Danny Adcock, Bruce Spence, Kevin Golsby, Chris Haywood, Peter Armstrong, Joe Burrow, Deryck Barnes, Edward Howell, Max Phipps, Melissa Jaffer, Tim Robertson, Herbert Nelson, Charlie Metcalfe, Frank Saba.

On this day in music history - Paradise and Lunch, by Ry Cooder (1974):

Paradise and Lunch

Album by Ry Cooder,

released June 8, 1974.

Track list:

Tamp ‘Em Up Solid; Tattler; Married A Man’s A Fool; Jesus On The Mainline; It’s All Over Now; Fool For A Cigarette / Feelin’ Good; If Walls Could Talk; Mexican Divorce; Ditty Wah Ditty.

On this day in movie history - Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1974):

Thunderbolt and Lightfoot

directed and written by Michael Cimino,

was released in the United States on May 24, 1974.
Music by Dee Barton.

Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Jeff Bridges, Geoffrey Lewis, Catherine Bach, Gary Busey, Jack Dodson, Eugene Elman, Burton Gilliam, Roy Jenson, Claudia Lennear, Bill McKinney, Vic Tayback, Dub Taylor, Gregory Walcott, Erica Hagen, Alvin Childress, Virginia Baker, Stuart Nisbet, Irene K. Cooper, Cliff Emmich, June Fairchild, Ted Foulkes, Leslie Oliver, Mark Montgomery, Karen Lamm, Luanne Roberts, Lila Teigh, George Kennedy, David Chow, Beth Howland, Steve Moriarty.