On this day in movie history - The Gauntlet (1977):

The Gauntlet

directed by Clint Eastwood,

written by Michael Butler and Dennis Shryack,

was released in the United States on December 21, 1977.
Music by Jerry Fielding.

Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Pat Hingle, William Prince, Bill McKinney, Michael Cavanaugh, Carole Cook, Mara Corday, Doug McGrath, Jeff Morris, Samantha Doane, Roy Jenson, Dan Vadis, Carver Barnes, Robert Barrett, Teddy Bear, Mildred Brion, Ron Chapman, Don Circle, James W. Gavin, Thomas H. Friedkin, Darwin Lamb, Roger Lowe, Fritz Manes, John Quiroga, Josef Rainer, Art Rimdzius, Al Silvani, Michael L. Cooley, Marneen Fields, Dennis Jenkins, Mike Mangiaruca, Butch Price, Terry D. Seago, Steve Wargo, Tom Willett.

On this day in movie history - First Blood (1982):

First Blood

directed by Ted Kotcheff,

written by Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim and Sylvester Stallone,

based on the novel by David Morrell,

was released in the United States on October 22, 1982.
Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Cast:

Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Brian Dennehy, Bill McKinney, Jack Starrett, Michael Talbott, Chris Mulkey, John McLiam, Alf Humphreys, David Caruso, David L. Crowley, Don MacKay, Charles A. Tamburro, David Petersen, Craig Huston, Patrick Stack, Stephen E. Miller, Raimund Stamm, Robert Metcalfe, Stephen Dimopoulos, Bruce Greenwood, Earl Klein, Danny Wozna, Peter Lonstrup, Mike Winlaw, Donald Adams, David Menzies, Frank Richter, Grahman L. Galativk, Ian Hutchinson, Amy Alexander, Gary Hetherington, Alex Kliner, R.G. Miller, Stephen Chang, Suzee Pai, Robert Prowse, Jack Rigg.

Born on this day – Bill McKinney:

Bill McKinney

Actor

September 12, 1931 – December 1, 2011

On this day in movie history - The Shootist (1976 movie & novel):

The Shootist

directed by Don Siegel,

written by Miles Hood Swarthout and Scott Hale,

based on the novel by Glendon Swarthout,

was released in the United States on July 21, 1976.
Music by Elmer Bernstein.

Cast:

John Wayne, Lauren Bacall, Ron Howard, James Stewart, Richard Boone, Hugh O'Brian, Bill McKinney, Harry Morgan, John Carradine, Sheree North, Rick Lenz, Scatman Crothers, Gregg Palmer, Alfred Dennis, Dick Winslow, Melody Thomas Scott, Kathleen O'Malley, Jack Berle, Johnny Crawford, Chuck Dawson, George Dunn, Duke Fishman, Christopher George, Jonathan Goldsmith, Leo Gordon, Charles G. Martin, Jim Michael, Ernesto Molinari, Ricky Nelson, James Nolan, Nick Raymond, Henry Slate, Bob Steele, Ralph Volkie, John Zimeas.

Recommended reading:

The Shootist

By Glendon Swarthout.

Introduction by Miles Swarthout.

Filmed as The Shootist (1976), directed by Don Siegel.

Published by Bison Books.

First published 1975.

ISBN-10: 0803238231

ISBN-13: 9780803238237

Description:

"Such style...such a strong central idea...the showdown is an unremitting as the build-up." – Sunday Times of London.

"This is an extremely well-written Western and gives the reader vivid insight into the workings of the mind of a wanderer and gunman." – Baton Rouge, Louisiana Sunday Advocate.

"The Shootist by Glendon Swarthout is the taleof the Old West's version of the modern 'hit man'. It is a splendid story, well-told and with a really satisfying ending." – Charleston, South Carolina Evening Post.

The Shootist is John Bernard Books, a man of principle and the only surviving gunfighter in a vanishing American West. He rides into El Paso in the year 1901, on the day Queen Victoria died, there to be told by a doctor that he must soon confront the greatest shootist of all: Death. In such a showdown, against such an antagonist, he cannot win. Most men may end their days in bed or take their own lives, but a man-killer has a 3rd option, one which Books decides to exercise. He may choose his own executioner.

As word spreads that the famous assassin has reached the end of his rope, an assortment of vultures gathers to feast upon his corpse--among them a gambler, a rustler, an undertaker, an old love, a reporter, even a boy. Books outwits them, however, by selecting the where, when, who, and why of his death, and writing in fire from a pair of Remingtons the last courageous act of his own legend. The climatic gunfight itself is an incredible performance by an incredible man, and by his creator, Glendon Swarthout.

The Shootist will rank with such classics as Shane and The Ox-Bow Incident, but it is much more than a Western. When, in the final afternoon of his life, J. B. Books crosses a street and enters a saloon to make something of his death, we cross, we enter, with him. He is us.

From a corner of the south window Gillom Rogers spied on the new lodger. The man unpacked his valise and put things in a drawer of the chiffonier, then hung his Price Albert coat in the closet. When he turned from the closet he was in shirt and vest. The boy's eyes rounded. Sewn to each side of the vest was a holster, reversed, and in each holster was a pistol, butt forward. As he watched, sucking in his breath, the man took the weapons out, revolved the cylinders, filled a chamber in one he had evidently fired, and replaced them before hanging the vest, too, in the closet. The pistols were a pair of nickel-plated, short-barreled, unsighted, single-action .44 Remingtons, obviously manufactured to order. The handle of one was black gutta-percha, the other pearl.

Gillom slipped away to take the horse to the livery, letting the breath of revelation out of his lungs. He was seventeen, and spent much of his time in saloons. He was not yet served, but he enjoyed himself and picked up a great deal of miscellaneous information, some of it true, some of it of doubtful authenticity. But the man in corner room was no stranger to him now. He had heard enough scalp-itch, blood-freeze tales to know that only one man carried a similar pair of guns in a similar manner...

On this day in movie history - The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976):

The Outlaw Josey Wales

directed by Clint Eastwood,

written by Philip Kaufman and Sonia Chernus,

based on the novel Gone to Texas by Forest Carter,

was released in the United States on June 30, 1976.
Music by Jerry Fielding.

Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Chief Dan George, Sondra Locke, Bill McKinney, John Vernon, Paula Trueman, Sam Bottoms, Geraldine Keams, Woodrow Parfrey, Joyce Jameson, Sheb Wooley, Royal Dano, Matt Clark, John Verros, Will Sampson, William O'Connell, John Quade, Frank Schofield, Buck Kartalian, Len Lesser, Doug McGrath, John Russell, Charles Tyner, Bruce M. Fischer, John Mitchum, John Davis Chandler, Tom Roy Lowe, Clay Tanner, Bob Hoy, Madeleine Taylor Holmes, Erik Holland, Cissy Wellman, Faye Hamblin, Danny Green, Stephen Douglas Butler, Frank Cockrell, Kyle Eastwood, Richard Farnsworth, Joseph Hernandez, John Hudkins, Ron Manning, Walter Scott.

On this day in movie history - Bronco Billy (1980):

Bronco Billy

directed by Clint Eastwood,

written by Dennis Hackin,

was released in the United States on June 11, 1980.
Music by Snuff Garrett.

Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Sondra Locke, Geoffrey Lewis, Scatman Crothers, Bill McKinney, Sam Bottoms, Dan Vadis, Sierra Pecheur, Walter Barnes, Woodrow Parfrey, Beverlee McKinsey, Doug McGrath, Hank Worden, William Prince, Pam Abbas, Eyde Byrde, Douglas Copsey, John Wesley Elliott Jr., Chuck Hicks, Bob Hoy, Jefferson Jewell, Dawneen Lee, Don Mummert, Lloyd Nelson, George Orrison, Michael Reinbold, Tessa Richarde, Cha Cha Sandoval-McMahon, Valerie Shanks, Sharon Sherlock, James Simmerman, Roger Dale Simmons, Jenny Sternling, Chuck Waters, Jerry Wills, Diablo Dean, Scott Atkins, Alison Eastwood, Kyle Eastwood, Scott Glatt III, Merle Haggard, Danny Jensen, R.C. Keene, Juliette Lewis, David Reed, Thomas Iloe Rose, Arlis Tranmer, George Wendt, Gayla Wilson-Corbin.