Recommended reading - Be Cool (1999):

Be Cool

By Elmore Leonard.

Published 1999.

Published by Mariner Books.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0062265997

ISBN-13: 978-0062265999

Description:

“The greatest crime writer of our time, perhaps ever!” – New York Times Book Review.

“An absolute master.” – Detroit News.

Get Shorty's Chili Palmer is back. No more Mr. Nice Guy.

After a smash hit and a flop, B-movie producer Chili Palmer is looking for another score. Lunching with a record company executive, Chili's exploring a hot new idea – until the exec, a former "associate" from Chili's Brooklyn days, gets whacked.

Segue from real life to reel life. Chili's found his plot. It's a slam-bang opener: the rubout of a record company mogul. Cut to an ambitious wannabe singer named Linda Moon. She has attitude and a band. She's perfect. Zoom into reality. Linda's manager thinks Chili's poaching and he's out to get even, with the help of his switch-hitting Samoan bodyguard. But somebody else beat them to the punch, as Chili discovers when he gets home and finds a corpse at his desk. Somebody made a mistake….

On this day in movie history - The Hurricane (1999 movie & books):

The Hurricane

directed by Norman Jewison,

written by Armyan Bernstein and Dan Gordon,

was released in the United States on December 14, 1999.
Based on the books:
The Sixteenth Round by Rubin “Hurricane” Carter
and
Lazarus and the Hurricane by Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton.
Music by Jeremy Sweet and Christopher Young.

Cast:

Denzel Washington, Vicellous Shannon, Deborah Kara Unger, Liev Schreiber, John Hannah, Dan Hedaya, Debbi Morgan, Clancy Brown, David Paymer, Harris Yulin, Rod Steiger, Badja Djola, Al Waxman, David Lansbury, Garland Whitt, Chuck Cooper, Brenda Denmark, Marcia Bennett, Beatrice Winde, Mitchell Taylor Jr., Bill Raymond, Merwin Goldsmith, John A. MacKay, Donnique Privott, Moynan King, Gary DeWitt Marshall, John Christopher Jones, Gwendolyn McCann, Richard M. Davidson, George T. Odom, Tonye Patano, Fulvio Cecere, Phillip Jarrett, Rodney ‘Bear’ Jackson, Judi Embden, Terry Claybon, Ben Hernandez Bray, Mike Justus, Kenneth McGregor, Frank Proctor, Peter Wylie, David Wm Gray, Joe Matheson, Bill Lake, Robin Ward, Harry Davis, Pippa Pearthree, Jean Daigle, Rob Evans, Scott Gibson, Ann Holloway, Bruce McFee, Conrad Bergschneider, Satori Shakoor, Zoran Radusinovic, Stephen Lee Wright, Michael Bodnar, Carson Manning, Debrah Ellen Waller, Richard Litt, Adam Large, Peter Graham, George Masswohl, Lawrence Sacco, David Frisch, Ralph Brown, Dyron Holmes, Ryan Williams, Bruce Vavrina, Brenda Braxton, Christopher Riordan, Guy Ale, Muhammad Ali, Ellen Burstyn, Kevin Carrigan, Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter, Bob Dylan, Joe Frazier, Vinson German, Matt Graver, Michael Harkins, David Headon, Robert Mauzell, Alex Oliveira, Craig Snoyer, David Sparrow, Michael Stevens.

Recommended reading:

The Sixteenth Round & Lazarus and the Hurricane

Both books filmed as The Hurricane (1999), directed by Norman Jewison.

The Sixteenth Round

From Number 1 Contender to Number 45472

By Rubin “Hurricane” Carter.

First published 1974.

Published by Chicago Review Press.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1569765677

ISBN-13: 978-1569765678

Description:

A document of life lived in the center of hell. – Sports Illustrated.

When they come to list the greatest boxers, Hurrican's name isn't likely to pop up in the Top 10. But when they come to list the greatest figures of the 20th century, he'll be alone at the peak. – Boston Globe.

A shocking, savage and brilliant indictment of racial injustice and the inhumanity of the prison. – Globe and Mail.

Carter's scorching and poetic autobiography. – Toronto Sun.

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter was riding a wave of success. The survivor of a difficult youth, he rose to become a top contender for the middleweight boxing crown. But his career crashed to a halt on May 26, 1967, when he and another man were found guilty of the murder of three white people and sentenced to three consecutive life terms. Written from prison and first published in 1974, The Sixteenth Round chronicles Hurricane's journey from the ring to solitary confinement. The book was his cry for help to the public, an attempt to set the record straight and force a new trial. Bob Dylan wrote his classic anthem "Hurricane" about his struggle, and Muhammad Ali and thousands of others took up his cause. The power of Carter's voice, as well as his ironic humor, makes this an eloquent, soul-stirring account of a remarkable life.

Lazarus and the Hurricane

The Freeing of Rubin "Hurricane" Carter

By Sam Chaiton and Terry Swinton.

First published 1991.

Published by St. Martin's Griffin.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0312253974

ISBN-13: 978-0312253974

Description:

A moving chronicle of the seven-year-battle to free boxer Rubin "Hurricane" Carter from wrongful imprisonment reveals the role of a group of Canadians in winning Carter's release.

On this day in movie history - RKO 281 (1999):

RKO 281

directed by Benjamin Ross,

written by John Logan,

based on the documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane by Richard Ben Cramer and Thomas Lennon,

was released in the United States on November 20, 1999.
Music by John Altman.

Cast:

Liev Schreiber, James Cromwell, Melanie Griffith, John Malkovich, Brenda Blethyn, Roy Scheider, Liam Cunningham, David Suchet, Fiona Shaw, Anastasia Hille, Roger Allam, Simeon Andrews, William Armstrong, Jay Benedict, Ron Berglas, Paul Birchard, Neil Conrich, Michael Cronin, Sarah Franzl, Briony Glassco, Louis Hammond, Aaron Keeling, Joseph Long, Gareth Marks, Olivier Pierre, Roger Rose, Rolf Saxon, Adrian Schiller, Kerry Shale, Cyril Shaps, Tusse Silberg, Toby Whithouse, Tim Woodward, Angus Wright, Melissa Hartzel, Zak Shukor, Bobby Valentino, Lucy Cohu, Anthony Maddalena, Tim Packham.

On this day in movie history - The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut (1999):

The Last Movie: Stanley Kubrick and Eyes Wide Shut

documentary directed by Paul Joyce,

was released in the United Kingdom on November 19, 1999.

Cast:

John Boorman, Tom Cruise, Jan Harlan, Nicole Kidman, Anya Kubrick, Christiane Kubrick, Katharina Kubrick, Sydney Pollack, Steven Spielberg.

On this day in movie history - Sleepy Hollow (1999):

Sleepy Hollow

directed by Tim Burton,

written by Andrew Kevin Walker,

story by Kevin Yagher and Andrew Kevin Walker,

based on the short story The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving,

was released in the United States on November 17, 1999.
Music by Danny Elfman.

Cast:

Johnny Depp, Christina Ricci, Miranda Richardson, Michael Gambon, Casper Van Dien, Jeffrey Jones, Richard Griffiths, Ian McDiarmid, Michael Gough, Christopher Walken, Marc Pickering, Lisa Marie, Steven Waddington, Claire Skinner, Christopher Lee, Alun Armstrong, Mark Spalding, Jessica Oyelowo, Tony Maudsley, Peter Guinness, Nicholas Hewetson, Orlando Seale, Sean Stephens, Gabrielle Lloyd, Robert Sella, Michael Feast, Jamie Foreman, Philip Martin Brown, Sam Fior, Tessa Allen-Ridge, Cassandra Farndale, Lily Phillips, Bianca Nicholas, Paul Brightwell, Layla Alexander, Henry Allan, Kelley Costigan, Sean Cronin, Tracy Gardener, Nathanael Hopkins-Smith, Kevin Hudson, Martin Landau, Nic Main, João Costa Menezes, Stuart Walker, Allen Woodman.