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.

Born on this day – Carrie Anne Fleming:

Carrie Anne Fleming

Actress

Writer

Director

August 16, 1974 – February 26, 2026

Credits:

14 Hours (2005); Alice (2009); Along Came a Nanny (2014); Bloodsuckers (2005); Continuum (2013); Crossroads: A Story of Forgiveness (2007); Earthlickers (2014); Edison (2005); Get Carter (2000); Godiva's (2005); Good Luck Chuck (2007); Happy Gilmore (1996); Hard Ride to Hell (2010); Heart of Clay (2017); In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale (2007); Into the Unseen (2025); iZombie (2015–2019); Knights of Bloodsteel (2009); Like Sunday, Like Rain (2014); Mad Santa (2019); Mad Santa and the Queen of the Zombies (2019); Married Life (2007); Masters of Horror (2005); Moment of Truth: Into the Arms of Danger (1997); Motive (2015); One Hot Summer Night (1998); Package Deal (2013); Pasadena (2002); Rememory (2017); Secret Agent Man (2000); Smallville (2006); Stargate SG-1 (2002); Supergirl (2018); Supernatural (2006–2011); That Burning Feeling (2013); The 4400 (2004–2007); The Chris Isaak Show (2004); The Christmas Consultant (2012); The Dead Zone (2003); The L Word (2005–2007); The Sentinel (1996); The Swishy-Washy (1999); The Tooth Fairy (2006); The Trip (2025); The Unauthorized Full House Story (2015); Tricks (1997); UnREAL (2018); Urban Rush (2003); Viper (1994).

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 (1974 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.

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)

In a Reverie by Lacuna Coil (1999)

Dark Hope by Renée Fleming (2010)

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.

In a Reverie

Album by Lacuna Coil,

released June 8, 1999.

Cover art for 2005 re-release:

Track list: Circle; Stately Lover; Honeymoon Suite; My Wings; To Myself I Turned; Cold; Reverie; Veins of Glass; Falling Again.

Dark Hope

Album by Renée Fleming,

released June 8, 2010.

Track list: Endlessly; No One’s Gonna Love You; Oxygen; Today; Intervention; With Twilight as My Guide; Mad World; In Your Eyes; Stepping Stone; Soul Meets Body; Hallelujah.

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.

On this day in movie history - The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974 movie & novel):

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

directed by Ted Kotcheff,

written by Mordecai Richler and Lionel Chetwynd,

based on the novel by Mordecai Richler,

was released in the United States on April 11, 1974.
Music by Stanley Myers and Andrew Powell.

Cast:

Richard Dreyfuss, Micheline Lanctôt, Jack Warden, Randy Quaid, Joseph Wiseman, Denholm Elliott, Henry Ramer, Joe Silver, Zvee Scooler, Robert Goodier, Alan Rosenthal, Barry Baldaro, Allan Kolman, Barry Pascal, Susan Friedman, Jacques Durette, Jonathan Robinson, Edward Resmini, Henry Gamer, Lou Levitt, Sonny Oppenheim, Lionel Schwartz, Mickey Eichen, Robert Desroches, Judith Gault, Norman Taviss.

Recommended reading:

The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz

By Mordecai Richler.

Filmed as The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz (1974), directed by Ted Kotcheff.

Published by Gallery Books.

First published 1959.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0671028472

ISBN-13: 978-0671028473

Description:

It is time to recognize Mr. Richler as one of North America's most powerful novelists. – The Washington Times.

A rasping humor pervades the book....It burgeons with its special talent and a vulgar vitality. – Chicago Tribune.

A fast-moving, entertaining, and bawdy novel. – The Washington Times.

Funny in the biting, subversive manner of Joseph Heller and Philip Roth. – Los Angeles Times.

Duddy Kravitz [is] Richler's most famous creation. – Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Richler has been praised for his clear-eyed vision and his realistic style.... The total effect is as brash and blatant as a sports car rally -- and as suggestive of power. It comes off brilliantly. – Alfred Kazin, The New York Times Book Review.

From Mordecai Richler, one of our greatest satirists, comes one of literature's most delightful characters, Duddy Kravitz -- in a novel that belongs in the pantheon of seminal twentieth century books.

Duddy -- the third generation of a Jewish immigrant family in Montreal -- is combative, amoral, scheming, a liar, and totally hilarious. From his street days tormenting teachers at the Jewish academy to his time hustling four jobs at once in a grand plan to "be somebody," Duddy learns about living -- and the lesson is an outrageous roller-coaster ride through the human comedy. As Richler turns his blistering commentary on love, money, and politics, The Apprenticeship Of Duddy Kravitz becomes a lesson for us all ... in laughter and in life.