On this day in movie history - The Hot Rock (1972):

The Hot Rock

directed by Peter Yates,

written by William Goldman,

based on the novel by Donald E. Westlake,

was released in the United States on January 26, 1972.

Music by Quincy Jones.

Cast:

Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Paul Sand, Moses Gunn, Zero Mostel, William Redfield, Topo Swope, Christopher Guest, Graham Jarvis, Lynne Gordon, Charlotte Rae, Harry Bellaver.

Recommended reading - The Hot Rock (1970):

The Hot Rock

By Donald E. Westlake.

Book # 1 in the Dortmunder series.

Published by Simon & Schuster.

First published 1970.

First Edition.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0671205412

ISBN-13: 978-0671205416

Description:

John Archibald Dortmunder is the archetypal criminal manque. Brought up in an orphanage in the Midwest, he is 37 years old, served in the "police action" in Korea, was arrested twice for robbery following his release from the service, and was briefly married to a nightclub entertainer named Honeybun Bazoom from whom he was granted an uncontested divorce. For reasons totally beyond his comprehension, Dortmunder is chosen to lead a gang of master hoodlums. Their job: to steal an emerald valued at $500,000. Their employer: Major Patrick Iko, a mustached African diplomat whose country has just lost the gem through a thoughtless political decision. The specialists Dortmunder selects for his impossible mission include: Kelp: an ex-con with a penchant for stealing cars with MD license plates. Stan Murch: a crook who lives with his mother, a cab driver, and collects stereo records of "Sounds of Indianapolis." Roger Chefwick: the railroad nut, a skinny man of late middle age, whose three H-O gauge trains constantly couple and uncouple on H-O gauge track in a waist-high plywood platform in his basement. What follows in this delightful new novel by Donald E. Westlake is an unparalleled mixture of laughter and thrills, featuring a car crash into the New York Coliseum, a free-swinging helicopter attack on a police station, and a wild breakout from an insane asylum on a Tom Thumb locomotive stolen from a nearby amusement park.

Born on this day – Donald E. Westlake:

Donald E. Westlake

Writer

July 12, 1933 – December 31, 2008

Credits:

Books:

The Phil Crawford novel series: Backstage Love (1959); What Girls Will Do (1962). The Parker novel series, writing as Richard Stark: The Hunter (aka Point Blank / Payback) (1962); The Steel Hit (aka The Man With The Getaway Face) (1963); The Outfit (1963); The Mourner (1963); The Score (aka Killtown) (1963); The Jugger (1965); The Seventh (aka The Split) (1966); The Handle (aka Run Lethal) (1966); The Rare Coin Score (1967); The Green Eagle Score (1967); The Black Ice Score (1968); The Sour Lemon Score (1969); Slayground (1971); Deadly Edge (1971); Plunder Squad (1972); Butcher's Moon (1974); Comeback (1997); Backflash (1998); Flashfire (aka Parker) (2000); Firebreak (2001); Breakout (2002); Nobody Runs Forever (2004); Ask The Parrot (2006); Dirty Money (2008). The Mitch Tobin novel series: Kinds Of Love, Kinds Of Death (1966); Murder Among Children (1967); Wax Apple (1970); A Jade In Aries (1970); Don't Lie To Me (1972). The Alan Grofield novel series, writing as Richard Stark: The Damsel (1967); The Dame (1969); The Blackbird (1969); Lemons Never Lie (1971). The Dortmunder novel series: The Hot Rock (1970); Bank Shot (1972); Jimmy The Kid (1974); Nobody's Perfect (1977); Why Me? (1983); Good Behavior (1985); Drowned Hopes (1990); Don't Ask (1993); What's The Worst That Could Happen? (1996); Bad News (2001); The Road To Ruin (2004); Watch Your Back! (2005); What's So Funny? (2007); Get Real (2009). The Sam Holt novel series: One Of Us Is Wrong (1986); I Know A Trick Worth Two Of That (1986); What I Tell You Three Times Is False (1987); The Fourth Dimension Is Death (1989). The Sara & Jack novel series: Trust Me On This (1988); Baby, Would I Lie? (1994). Stand alone Novels: Sally (1959); Man Hungry (1959); All My Lovers (1959); SO WILLING (1960); All about Annette (1960); Virgin's Summer (1960); The Wife Next Door (1960); The Mercenaries (aka The Cutie) (1960); Passion's Playthings (1961); Call Me Sinner (1961); Campus Doll (1961); Brother and Sister (1961); Killing Time (1961); Young and Innocent (1961); 361 (1962); Strange affair (1962); Killy (1963); Campus Lovers (1963); Pity Him Afterwards (1964); The Fugitive Pigeon (1965); The Busy Body (1966); Spy in the Ointment (1966); God Save the Mark (1967); Anarchaos (1967); Philip (1967); Who stole Sassi Manoon? (1968); Up Your Banners (1969); Somebody Owes Me Money (1969); Adios Scheherazade (1970); Comfort Station (1970); Ex Officio (1970); I Gave at the Office (1971); Cops and Robbers (1972); Gangway! (collaborated with Brian Garfield) (1973); Help, I Am Being Held Prisoner (1974); Brothers Keepers (1975); Two Much (1975); Dancing Aztecs (1976); Castle in the Air (1980); Kahawa (1981); A Likely Story (1984); High Adventure (1985); Humans (1992); Smoke (1995); The Ax (1997); The Hook (2000); The Scared Stiff (2001); Put a Lid on It (2002); Money for Nothing (2003); Memory (2010); The Comedy is Finished (2012); Forever and a Death (2017); Call Me a Cab (2022); Too Many Crooks (1989); Curious Facts Preceding My Execution (1968); Enough (1977); Transylvania Station (collaborated with Abby Westlake and Gahan Wilson) (1987); Tomorrow's Crimes (1989); A Good Story and Other Stories (1999); Meteor Strike (2012); Double Feature (2020); The Getaway Car (2014); Terror's Echo: Novellas from Transgressions (2005); Transgressions (2006); Transgressions, Vol. 2 (2006); Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow... (1974); Tales to Send Chills Down Your Spine (1979); Alfred Hitchcock's A Choice of Evils (1983); Fifty Best Mysteries (1993); The Plot Thickens (1997); The Mysterious Press Anniversary Anthology: Celebrating 25 Years (2001); Brooklyn Noir 2: The Classics (2005); Price of Desire (2005).

Movies and television:

24th Street (2009); 87th Precinct (1962); A Slight Case of Murder (1999); Baby, I Got Your Money (2012); Come ti rapisco il pupo (1977); Cops and Robbers (1973); Fallen Angels (1995); Fatal Confession: A Father Dowling Mystery (1987 / 1991); Hot Stuff (1979); Jimmy the Kid (1982 / 1998); Journey to the Unknown (1968); Le cercle du cinéma (1998); Le commissaire mène l'enquête (1963); Les Chroniques du Mea (2023); Made in U.S.A (1966); Mike Hammer's Mickey Spillane (1998); Mise à sac (1967); Mordslust (1995); Muy personal (1988); Myster Mocky présente (2007); Nulle part ailleurs (1999); Numéros de Série (1995); Ordo (2004); Parker (2013); Payback (1999); Payback: Straight Up (2006); Paybacks Are a Bitch (2007); Play Dirty (2024); Point Blank (1967); Ripley Under Ground (2005); Slayground (1983); Stepfather 3 (1992); Stepfather II: Make Room for Daddy (1989); Supertrain (1979); The Ax (2005); The Bank Shot (1974); The Busy Body (1967); The Getaway Face (1963); The Gods Must Be Daring (1997); The Grifters (1990); The Hook (2004); The Hot Rock (1972); The Hunter: A Conversation with Author Donald E. Westlake (2007); The Media Show (1990); The Outfit (1973); The Split (1968); The Stepfather (1987 / 2009); The Twin (1984); Two Much (1995); What's the Worst That Could Happen? (2001); Why Me? (1990).