On this day in movie history – The Keep (1983 movie & novel):

The Keep

directed and written by Michael Mann,

based on the novel by F. Paul Wilson,

released in the United States on December 16, 1983.

Music by Tangerine Dream.

Cast:

Scott Glenn, Alberta Watson, Jürgen Prochnow, Robert Prosky, Gabriel Byrne, Ian McKellen, William Morgan Sheppard, Royston Tickner, Michael Carter, Phillip Joseph, John Vine, Jona Jones, Wolf Kahler, Rosalie Crutchley, Frederick Warder, Bruce Payne, David Cardy, John Eastham, Philip Bloomfield, Yashar Adem, Stephen Whittaker, Ian Ruskin, Stephen Jenn, Benedick Blythe, Robin Langford, Renny Krupinski, Peter Guinness, Sean Baker, Timothy Block, Owain Gwyn, Ralph G. Morse, Doug Robinson, Peter Ross-Murray.

Recommended reading:

The Keep

By F. Paul Wilson.

Published by New English Library.

First published 1981.

ISBN 13: 9780450054556

ISBN 10: 0450054551

ASIN: 0450054551

Description:

“Request immediate relocation. Something is murdering my men.”

The message, sent by Captain Klaus Woermann to German Army High Command.

The location: a medieval fortress overlooking the Dinu Pass, high in the Transylvanian Alps.

Where the German garrison was being taken and murdered one by one, night after night, and left, throats torn out, to drive the survivors mad with fear.

The solution: a reinforcing squad of terror-hardened SS Einsatzkommandos.

The mistake: ignorance. The legends of Transylvania meant nothing to them. Nor the existence of an evil centuries older and hideously more powerful than anything in even the most diseased imaginings of an SS killer.

On this day in movie history - Christine (1983 movie & novel):

Christine

directed by John Carpenter,

written by Bill Phillips,

based on the novel by Stephen King,

was released in the United States on December 9, 1983.
Music by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth.

Cast:

Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Christine Belford, Robert Darnell, Roberts Blossom, Kelly Preston, William Ostrander, Steven Tash, Stuart Charno, Malcolm Danare, David Spielberg.

Recommended reading:

Christine

By Stephen King.

Published by Viking Press.

First published 1983.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0670220264

ISBN-13: 978-0670220267

Description:

It was love at first sight. From the moment seventeen-year-old Arnie Cunningham saw Christine, he knew he would do anything to possess her.

Arnie’s best friend, Dennis, distrusts her – immediately.

Arnie’s teen-queen girlfriend, Leigh, fears her the moment she senses her power.

Arnie’s parents, teachers, and enemies soon learn what happens when you cross her.

Because Christine is no lady. She is Stephen King’s ultimate, blackly evil vehicle of terror…

Christine, blood-red, fat and finned, was twenty. Her promise lay all in her past. Greedy and big, she was Arnie’s obsession, a ’58 Plymouth Fury. Broken down but not finished. There was still power in her – a frightening power that leaked like sump oil, staining and corrupting. A malign power that corroded the mind and turned ownership into Possession.

On this day in movie history - Sudden Impact (1983):

Sudden Impact

directed Clint Eastwood,

written by Joseph Stinson,

based on a story by Earl E. Smith, Charles B. Pierce, Chuck Pfarrer and Dean Riesner,

was released in the United States on December 8, 1983.
Music by Lalo Schifrin.

Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, Bradford Dillman, Paul Drake, Audrie Neenan, Jack Thibeau, Michael Currie, Albert Popwell, Mark Keyloun, Kevyn Major Howard, Bette Ford, Nancy Parsons, Joe Bellan, Wendell Wellman, Mara Corday, Russ McCubbin, Robert Sutton, Nancy Fish, Carmen Argenziano, Lisa Britt, Bill Reddick, Lois De Banzie, Matthew Child, Mike Johnson, Nick Dimitri, Michael Maurer, Pat DuVal, Christian Phillips, Steven Kravitz, Dennis Royston, Melvin Thompson, Jophery C. Brown, William Upton, Lloyd Nelson, Christopher Pray, James McEachin, Maria Lynch, Ken Lee, Morgan Upton, John X. Heart, David Gonzales, Albert Martinez, David Rivers, Robert Rivers, Harry Demopoulos, Lisa London, Tom Spratley, Eileen Wiggins, John Nowak, John Bleifer, Cynthia Brian, Christine Card, Michael V. Gazzo, Conrad Hurtt, Camryn Manheim, Dihlon McManne, Meathead (the dog).

On this day in movie history - Scarface (movie & novel):

Scarface

directed by Brian De Palma,

written by Oliver Stone,

based on the novel by Armitage Trail,

was released in the United States on December 1, 1983.
Music by Giorgio Moroder.

Cast:

Al Pacino, Steven Bauer, Michelle Pfeiffer, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Robert Loggia, Míriam Colón, F. Murray Abraham, Paul Shenar, Harris Yulin, Ángel Salazar, Arnaldo Santana, Pepe Serna, Michael P. Moran, Al Israel, Dennis Holahan, Mark Margolis, Michael Alldredge, Ted Beniades, Albert Carrier, Caesar Cordova, Geno Silva, Richard Belzer, Lana Clarkson, Charles Durning, Dennis Franz, Garnett Smith, Tony Perez, John Brandon.

Recommended reading:

Scarface

by Armitage Trail.

Published by Must Have Books.

First published 1930.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1773237152

ISBN-13: 978-1773237152

Filmed as:

Scarface (1932), directed by Howard Hawks.

Scarface (1983), directed by Brian De Palma.

Description:

Scarface is the iconic fictionalization of one of history's most notorious gangsters, Al Capone. It follows Tony Guarino's harsh upbringing on the streets of Chicago, where a young man unwilling to contemplate a life of humble poverty hungers to reach the big time. Tony has grown up in a world where every gangster is a hero and every cop an enemy, so his path to power is paved with force and brutality. At only eighteen, Tony shoots dead gang boss Al Spingola, and this is just the beginning of his uncompromising journey into organized crime. He eventually becomes the most powerful and feared man in the Chicago underworld, luxuriating in a world of opulence, dames, and danger. But while Tony struggles to balance a life of violence with a code of honour, Scarface ultimately proves an ancient maxim - the fate of those who live by the sword.

Scarface was first published in 1930, and remains one of the most potent evocations of the origins of American gangster culture ever committed to print, and an ever-green work of cult fiction.

On this day in movie history - A Christmas Story (movie & novel):

A Christmas Story

directed by Bob Clark,

written by Jean Shepherd, Leigh Brown and Bob Clark,

based on the book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, by Jean Shepherd,

was released in the United States on November 18, 1983.
Narrated by Jean Shepherd.
Music by Paul Zaza and Carl Zittrer.

Cast:

Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, Scott Schwartz, Jean Shepherd, Ian Petrella, Tedde Moore, R.D. Robb, Zack Ward, Yano Anaya, Jeff Gillen, Peter Billingsley, Colin Fox, Paul Hubbard, Leslie Carlson, Jim Hunter, Patty Johnson, Drew Hocevar, David Svoboda, Dwayne McLean, Helen E. Kaider, John Wong, Johan Sebastian Wong, Fred Lee, Dan Ma, Rocco Bellusci, Tommy Wallace, Court Benson, Leigh Brown, Bob Clark, Giada Dobrzenska, Dave Duff, Don Geyer, Kathryn Hayzer, Gary Jones, John Kennedy, Bill Kravitz, Jordan-Patrick Marcantonio, Julie Matthews, Christine Powrie, Quinn Smith, Kristephan Warren-Stevens.

Recommended reading:

In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash

By Jean Shepherd.

Filmed as A Christmas Story (1983), directed by Bob Clark.

Published by Broadway Books.

Published 1966.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0385021747

ISBN-13: 978-0385021746

Description:

A collection of humorous and nostalgic Americana stories – the beloved, bestselling classic that inspired the movie A Christmas Story.

Before Garrison Keillor and Spalding Gray there was Jean a master monologist and writer who spun the materials of his all-American childhood into immensely resonant – and utterly hilarious – works of comic art. In God We Trust All Others Pay Cash represents one of the peaks of his achievement, a compound of irony, affection, and perfect detail that speaks across generations.

In God We Trust, Shepherd's wildly witty reunion with his Indiana hometown, disproves the adage “You can never go back.” Bending the ear of Flick, his childhood-buddy-turned-bartender, Shepherd recalls passionately his genuine Red Ryder BB gun, confesses adolescent failure in the arms of Junie Jo Prewitt, and relives a story of man against fish that not even Hemingway could rival. From pop art to the World's Fair, Shepherd's subjects speak with a universal irony and are deeply and unabashedly grounded in American Midwestern life, together rendering a wonderfully nostalgic impression of a more innocent era when life was good, fun was clean, and station wagons roamed the earth.

A comic genius who bridged the gap between James Thurber and David Sedaris, Shepherd may have accomplished for Holden, Indiana, what Mark Twain did for Hannibal, Missouri.

“Shepherd has a fine eye for absurdity, for the madness and idiocy in all of us.” – Best Sellers.

Never Cry Wolf (1983) - a REAL walk on the wild side:

Never Cry Wolf

This Disney production, directed by Carroll Ballard, released in the United States on October 7, 1983, is a somber and beautiful nature movie, set in the snow-bound Canadian wilderness.

Charles Martin Smith plays Tyler, a Government biologist, sent to the harsh and unforgiving region to ascertain whether wolves are responsible for the alarming decline of the Caribou herds.

On the outset of his mission, Tyler encounters Rosie (Brian Dennehy), who initially seems friendly – even though borderline psychotic, but later emerges as an astute fortune hunter.

Symbolizing the worst of mankind, Rosie is there only to destroy the habitat in a money-making enterprise.

Early in the story, Tyler is rescued and befriended by Ootek (Zachary Ittimangnaq), and learns about the lifestyle of the indigenous Inuit people.

Never Cry Wolf is a visual feast; the landscape scenery is breathtaking, and Mark Isham’s music score is haunting.

It’s based on the autobiographical book by Farley Mowat, presented here as the character, Tyler.

The slow and thoughtful pace of the movie is lightened with the comic scenes of Tyler drinking tea by the gallon, and urinating around his base camp, scent-marking it as the wolf establishes his territory.

It turns into a battle of the wills and bladders between man and wolf, until the wolf finally accepts the boundary of Tyler's territory.

Later, Tyler learns the wolf is not the culprit and vital to the balance of nature: culling only the injured and slowest Caribou – effectively keeping the herd strong.

The wolves’ main food is the multitudes of field mice – of which Tyler also chows on as an experiment, after the mice swarm his tent and his own food reserves are depleting.

I believe in conservation and I love the wolf in particular.

Never Cry Wolf is delicately compelling and melancholic.

I empathized with Tyler, and appreciate the necessity to conserve and protect this beautiful planet: our home.

One of my favorite scenes is near the end: Tyler, with the heavy snow and the brutal winter set in around him, sits at the edge of a lake and blows hard on a bassoon.

The sound is heard by a distant wolf pack, and they howl back, acknowledging the distance between them, a declaration that neither Tyler, nor the rest of mankind, belong there.

Never Cry Wolf moved me with two reflective and potent realities of the region: sadness and silence.

Everything there seems to be on an inexorable path towards extinction: the caribou, wolves, Inuit people, and even the habitat itself.

The illusion of a place where the only things to cut through the silence are the howl of a wolf, or the wind, is that time appears to stand still.

Charles Martin Smith and Brian Dennehy played great roles.

However, like the wilderness, this movie belongs to the wolves.

One particular line resonates with me, and I hope it never becomes prophetic of the wolves and the plight of the natural world:

I believe the wolves went off to a wild and distant place somewhere, although I don’t really know, because I turned away and didn’t watch them go.

– Charles Martin Smith, as Tyler.

Recommended reading:

Never Cry Wolf

Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves

by Farley Mowat.

First published in 1961.

Back cover blurb:

More than a half-century ago the naturalist Farley Mowat accepted an assignment to investigate why wolves were killing Arctic caribou. Mowat's account of the summer he lived in the frozen tundra alone – studying the wolf population and developing a deep affection for these wild creatures (who were of no threat to caribou or man) – is today celebrated as a classic of nature writing, at once a tale of remarkable adventure and an indelible record of the myths and magic of wolves.