On this day in movie history - Talk Radio (1988 movie & books):

Talk Radio

directed by Oliver Stone,

written by Eric Bogosian and Oliver Stone,

based on the play: Talk Radio, by Eric Bogosian and Ted Savinar,

and the book: Talked to Death: The Life and Murder of Alan Berg by Stephen Singular,

was released in New York City, on December 23, 1988.
Music by Stewart Copeland.

Cast:

Eric Bogosian, Alec Baldwin, Ellen Greene, Leslie Hope, John C. McGinley, John Pankow, Michael Wincott, Zach Grenier, Anna Levine, Robert Trebor, Linda Atkinson, Allan Corduner, Bruno Rubeo, Bill Johnson, Rockets Redglare.

Recommended reading:

Talk Radio (1987) & Talked to Death (1987)

Both books filmed as Talk Radio (1988), directed by Oliver Stone.

Talk Radio

By Eric Bogosian.

Published 1987.

Published by Concord Theatricals.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0573651248

ISBN-13: 978-0573651243

Description:

Characters: 7 male, 2 female, plus offstage voices.

Scenery: Interior.

Newly revised! Barry Champlain Cleveland's controversial radio host is on the air doing what he does best: insulting the pathetic souls who call in the middle of the night to sound off. Tomorrow Barry's show is going into national syndication and his producer is afraid that Barry will say something that will offend the sponsors. This of course makes Barry even more outrageous. Funny and moving off beat outrage.

Talked to Death:

The Life and Murder of Alan Berg

By Stephen Singular.

Published 1987.

Mass Market Paperback.

Published by Berkley.

ISBN 13: 9780425113295

ISBN 10: 0425113299

ASIN: 0425113299

Description:

The book that inspired Oliver Stone’s controversial film Talk Radio.

On June 18, 1984, one of the nation’s most controversial talk-show hosts was gunned down.

The murder triggered an extensive FBI manhunt that ended in a shocking discovery.

THE VICTIM: Alan Berg was the talk-show host all of Denver loved to hate. Aggravating. Irrepressible. Charismatic. Nobody escaped his withering attacks on hypocrisy, bigotry, and injustice.

THE CRIME: Berg was brutally murdered in front of his house. Unarmed. Unsuspecting. He was caught in a hail of machine-gun fire. His death shocked the country... and led the FBI on a nationwide manhunt for the killers.

THE SUSPECTS: The trail led investigators to the Order, a radical cult of neo-Nazi white supremacists. Armed and violent - their doctrine declared war on the United States and preached a philosophy of racial hatred and fear.

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.