On this day in movie history - The Big Town (1987 movie & novel):

The Big Town

directed by Ben Bolt and Harold Becker,

written by Robert Roy Pool,

based on the novel The Arm by Clark Howard,

was released in the United States on September 25, 1987.
Music by Michael Melvoin and Frank Fitzpatrick.

Cast:

Matt Dillon, Diane Lane, Tommy Lee Jones, Bruce Dern, Lee Grant, Tom Skerritt, Suzy Amis, David Marshall Grant, Don Francks, Del Close, Meg Hogarth, Cherry Jones, Alvaro D'Antonio, David James Elliott, Steve Yorke, Chris Owens, Sean McCann, Kevin Fox, Marc Strange, Don Lake, Angelo Rizacos, Chris Benson, Gary Farmer, Diego Matamoros, Sarah Polley, Kirsten Bishop, Kenneth McGregor, Viki Matthews, Cherie McGroarty, Sandy Czapiewski, Marie Siebert, Julie Conte, A.C. Peterson, Sam Malkin, Robert Morelli, Layne Coleman, Lolita Davidovich, William Colgate, William Forrest MacDonald, Len Doncheff, Michael Caruana, Richard Comar, Lubomir Mykytiuk, Robert Ramsay Collins, Errol Slue, Gerry Pearson, Hugo Dann, John Evans, J. Winston Carroll, Diane Gordon, David Berni, Robert Mavor, Robert Minkoff.

Recommended reading:

The Arm

By Clark Howard.

Filmed as The Big Town (1987), directed by Ben Bolt and Harold Becker.

First published 1967.

Published by Fawcett / Gold Medal.

ASIN: B0012513FS

Paperback.

Description:

A high-tension novel of the seething underworld of the professional crapshooter – where the women come easy and the points come hard.

Before young J.C. Cullen hit Chicago, nobody had ever heard of him. But Cully knew he had it- the cool, the guts, the skill, the magic... whatever it took to be a winner. The big-time players in Chicago had never seen anything like him. Within a week he was known in every gambling haunt in the city... every bar, brothel, striptease joint, and backroom. He was Cully the Arm, King of the crapshooters. He was hated, envied, respected... and lonely. Then he met Lorry. Beautiful, tempting, and evil as Hell. As skilled in sex as he was with dice. And far deadlier. The game she played had no rules – and no limit. Cully knew this, but he couldn't stop. Even though the stake was his own life.

On this day in movie history - In the Heat of the Night (1967 movie & novel):

In the Heat of the Night

directed by Norman Jewison,

written by Stirling Silliphant,

based on the novel by John Ball,

was released in the United States on August 2, 1967.
Music by Quincy Jones.
Theme song In the Heat of the Night written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.
Sung by Ray Charles.

Cast:

Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Larry Gates, James Patterson, William Schallert, Beah Richards, Peter Whitney, Kermit Murdock, Larry D. Mann, Matt Clark, Arthur Malet, Fred Stewart, Quentin Dean, Scott Wilson, Timothy Scott, William C. Watson, Eldon Quick, Stuart Nisbet, Khalil Bezaleel, Peter Masterson, Jester Hairston, Phil Adams, Nikita Knatz, Sam Reese, Anthony James, Clegg Hoyt, Alan Oppenheimer, Buzz Barton.

Recommended reading:

In the Heat of the Night

By John Ball.

Foreword by John Ridley.

Published by Penguin Classics.

First published 1965.

ISBN-10: 0143107747

ISBN-13: 978-0143107743

Description:

“They call me Mr. Tibbs” was the line immortalized by Sidney Poitier in the 1967 Oscar-winning movie adaptation of In the Heat of the Night, which won the Edgar Award for Best First Novel and the Crime Writers’ Association Gold Dagger Award and was named one of the 100 Favorite Mysteries of the 20th Century by the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association. Now fans of classic crime can rediscover this suspense-filled novel whose hero paved the way for James Patterson’s Alex Cross, George Pelecanos’s Derek Strange, and other African American detectives.

A small southern town in the 1960s. A musician found dead on the highway. It’s no surprise when white detectives arrest a black man for the murder. What is a surprise is that the black man – Virgil Tibbs – is not the killer but a skilled homicide detective, passing through racially tense Wells, South Carolina, on his way back to California. Even more surprising, Wells’s new police chief recruits Tibbs to help with the investigation. But Tibbs’s presence in town rubs some of the locals the wrong way, and it won’t be long before the martial arts–trained detective has to fight not just for justice, but also for his own safety.

On this day in movie history - Damien: Omen II (1978):

Damien: Omen II

directed by Don Taylor and Mike Hodges,

written by Stanley Mann and Mike Hodges,

based on a story by Harvey Bernhard,

was released in the United States on June 9, 1978.
Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Cast:

William Holden, Lee Grant, Jonathan Scott-Taylor, Robert Foxworth, Nicholas Pryor, Lew Ayres, Sylvia Sidney, Lance Henriksen, Elizabeth Shepherd, Lucas Donat, Allan Arbus, Fritz Ford, Meshach Taylor, John J. Newcombe, John Charles Burns, Paul Cook, Diane Daniels, Robert E. Ingham, William B. Fosser, Corney Morgan, Russell P. Delia, Judith Dowd, Thomas O. Erhart Jr., Sorin Serene Pricopie, Robert J. Jones Jr., Rusdi Lane, Charles Mountain, Cornelia Sanders, Felix Shuman, James Spinks, Owen Sullivan, William J. Whelehan, Ian Hendry, Gus Kaprales, Leo McKern.

On this day in movie history - Visiting Hours (1982 movie & novel):

Visiting Hours

directed by Jean-Claude Lord,

written by Brian Taggert,

was released in the United States on February 26, 1982.
Music by Jonathan Goldsmith.

Cast:

Michael Ironside, Lee Grant, Linda Purl, William Shatner, Lenore Zann, Harvey Atkin, Helen Hughes, Michael J. Reynolds, Kirsten Bishop, Deborah Kirshenbaum, Elizabeth Leigh-Milne, Maureen McRae, Dustin Waln, Neil Affleck, Damir Andrei, Dorothy Barker, Steve Bettcher, Walker Boone, Richard Rebiere, Terrance P. Coady, Richard Comar, Dora Dainton, Sylvie Desbois, Yvan Ducharme, Sarita Elman, Kathleen Fee, Domenico Fiore, Tali Fischer, Richer Francoeur, Lorena Gale, Angela Gallagher, Judith Gay, Isadore Goldberg, Dean Hagopian, Victor Knight, Sheena Larkin, Sylvia Lennick, Frances March, Steve Michaels, Kimberly McKeever, Bob McKeowan, Malcolm Nelthorpe, Roland Nincheri, Mary Rathbone, Ron Robbins, Robby Robinson, Danielle Schneider, Lisa Schwartz, Danny Silverman, Marty Starr, Jérôme Tiberghien, Katherine Trowell, Len Watt, George E. Zeeman, Charles Dennis, Randy Vancourt.

Recommended reading:

Visiting Hours

By Kent Rembo.

Published by Pinnacle Books.

Published 1982.

ISBN-10: 0523418442

ISBN-13: 978-0523418445

Description:

Based on the horror film starring Lee Grant, William Shatner, Michael Ironside and Linda Purl and directed by Jean-Claude Lord.

Colt Hawker hates outspoken, aggressive women because they remind him of his mother, who wasn't nice to his daddy.

Deborah Ballin reminds him of his mother, and he's going to kill her. And he believes, if at first you don't succeed, try, try again...