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 - Ghost Ship (2002):

Ghost Ship

directed by Steve Beck,

written by Mark Hanlon and John Pogue,

was released in the United States on October 25, 2002.
Music by John Frizzell.

Cast:

Gabriel Byrne, Julianna Margulies, Ron Eldard, Desmond Harrington, Isaiah Washington, Alex Dimitriades, Karl Urban, Emily Browning, Francesca Rettondini, Boris Brkic, Bob Ruggiero, Iain Gardiner, Adam Bieshaar, Cameron Watt, Jamie Giddens, Matthew Wollaston.

On this day in movie history - Miller’s Crossing (1990):

Miller’s Crossing

directed and written by Joel Coen and Ethan Coen,

was released in the United States on September 22, 1990.

Music by Carter Burwell.

Cast:

Gabriel Byrne, Albert Finney, John Turturro, Marcia Gay Harden, Jon Polito, J. E. Freeman, Steve Buscemi, John McConnell, Mike Starr, Al Mancini, Olek Krupa, Frances McDormand.

On this day in movie history - Stigmata (1999):

Stigmata

directed by Rupert Wainwright,

written by Tom Lazarus and Rick Ramage,

based on a story by Tom Lazarus,

was released in the United States on September 10, 1999.
Music by Billy Corgan, Mike Garson and Elia Cmiral.

Cast:

Patricia Arquette, Gabriel Byrne, Jonathan Pryce, Nia Long, Thomas Kopache, Rade Serbedzija, Enrico Colantoni, Dick Latessa, Portia de Rossi, Patrick Muldoon, Ann Cusack, Shaun Toub, Tom Hodges, Lydia Hazan, Shaun Duke, Valarie Trapp, Kessia Embry, Frankie Thorn, Mariah Nunn, Tom Fahn, Marilyn Pitzer, Jack Donner, Richard Conti, Mary Linda Phillips, Liz Cruz, Faith Christopher, Joe Ruffo, Federico Scutti, William Howell, Kristopher Davis, Devin Unruh, Vera Yell, Mary Marshall, Daniel Escalzo, Michael P. Dearth, Mark Adair-Rios, Jeffrey J. Ayers, Stephanie Carwin, Anthony Garibaldi, Mário Lara, LeJon, Nicolas Martin.

On this day in movie history - The Usual Suspects (1995):

The Usual Suspects

directed by Bryan Singer,

written by Christopher McQuarrie,

was released in the United States on August 16, 1995.
Music by John Ottman.

Cast:

Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Benicio Del Toro, Kevin Pollak, Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri, Pete Postlethwaite, Suzy Amis, Giancarlo Esposito, Dan Hedaya, Paul Bartel, Carl Bressler, Phillipe Simon, Jack Shearer, Christine Estabrook, Clark Gregg, Morgan Hunter, Ken Daly, Michelle Clunie, Louis Lombardi, Frank Medrano, Ron Gilbert, Vito D'Ambrosio, Gene Lythgow, Bob Elmore, David Powledge, Bob Pennetta, Billy Bates, Smadar Hanson, Castulo Guerra, Peter Rocca, Bert Williams, Jaime H. Campos, John Gillespie, Johnathan Gorman, Peter Greene, Michael McKay, Christopher McQuarrie, Ralph Moratz, Scott B. Morgan, Mike Nyman, Grace Sinden.

On this day in movie history - Dead Man (1995 movie & book):

Dead Man

directed and written by Jim Jarmusch,

was released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 27, 1995.
Music by Neil Young.

Cast:

Johnny Depp, Mili Avital, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Eugene Byrd, John Hurt, Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Jared Harris, Jimmie Ray Weeks, Mark Bringelson, John North, Peter Schrum, Mike Dawson, Billy Bob Thornton, Michelle Thrush, Gibby Haynes, Richard Boes, George Duckworth, Thomas Bettles, Alfred Molina, Daniel Chas Stacy, Todd Pfeiffer, Leonard Bowechop, Cecil Cheeka, Michael McCarty, Steve Buscemi, John C. Carlucci.

Recommended reading:

Dead Man

By Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Published by British Film Institute.

Published 2000.

ISBN-10: 0851708064

ISBN-13: 9780851708065

Description:

“The book follows the narrative and picks out some of the stand-out cameos as well as some of the choice of dialogue, music, style and violence within. Just another good choice from the BFI/Palgrave on another solid film with heavy content.” – Filmwerk.

When it was released in 1995, Dead Man puzzled many audiences and critics. Jim Jarmusch's reputation was for directing slick, hip contemporary films. And Dead Man was a black-and-white Western. As time has passed, though, the number of its admirers has grown rapidly. Indeed, Dead Man, with its dark and unconventional treatment of violence, racism and capitalism, may be Jarmusch's finest work to date.

This is Jonathan Rosenbaum's view. For him, Dead Man is both a quantum leap and a logical next step in Jarmusch's career. Starring Johnny Depp as the uprooted accountant William Blake and Gary Farmer as his enigmatic Native American companion, Nobody, and with startling cameos from Robert Mitchum, John Hurt and Iggy Pop, Dead Man is by turns shocking, comic and deeply moving. This book explores and celebrates a masterpiece of 1990s American cinema.