On this day in movie history - Slap Shot (1977):

Slap Shot

directed by George Roy Hill,

written by Nancy Dowd,

was released in the United States on February 25, 1977.

Music by Elmer Bernstein.

Cast:

Paul Newman, Strother Martin, Michael Ontkean, Jennifer Warren, Lindsay Crouse, Jerry Houser, Andrew Duncan, Jeff Carlson, Steve Carlson, David Hanson, Yvon Barrette, Allan Nicholls, Brad Sullivan, Stephen Mendillo, Yvan Ponton, Matthew Cowles, Kathryn Walker, Melinda Dillon, M. Emmet Walsh, Swoosie Kurtz, Paul D'Amato, Ronald L. Docken, Guido Tenesi, Jean Rosario Tetreault, Christopher Murney, Blake Ball, Ned Dowd, Nancy N. Dowd, Barbara L. Shorts, Larry Block, Paul Dooley, Dan Belisle, Jr., Rod Bloomfield, Bruce Boudreau, Galen Head, Susan Kendall, Connie Madigan, Mark Bousquet, John Gofton, Rod Masters, Joe Nolan, Dick Roberge, Ray Schultz, Carol Shelton, Ross Smith, Steve Stirling, Cliff Thompson.

On this day in movie history – Harper a.k.a. The Moving Target (1966 movie & novel):

Harper

directed by Jack Smight,

written by William Goldman,

based on the novel The Moving Target by Ross Macdonald,

was released in the United States on February 23, 1966.

Music by Johnny Mandel.

Cast:

Paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Arthur Hill, Janet Leigh, Pamela Tiffin, Robert Wagner, Robert Webber, Shelley Winters, Harold Gould, Roy Jenson, Strother Martin.

Recommended reading:

The Moving Target

aka Harper.

By Ross MacDonald.

ISBN-10: 037570146X

ISBN-13: 978-0375701467

Published 1949.

Back cover description:

CRIME FICTION

“Ross Macdonald remains the grandmaster, taking the crime novel to new heights by imbuing it with psychological resonance, complexity of story, and richness of style that remain awe-inspiring. Those of us in his wake owe a debt that can never be paid. – Jonathan Kellerman.

Like many Southern California millionaires, Ralph Sampson keeps odd company. There’s the sun-worshipping holy man whom Sampson once gave his very own mountain; the fading actress with sidelines in astrology and S&M. Now one of Sampson’s friends may have arranged his kidnapping. And as Lew Archer follows the clues from the canyon sanctuaries of the megarich to jazz joints where you get beaten up between sets, The Moving Target blends sex, greed, and family hatred into an explosively readable crime novel.

“Macdonald is one of a handful of writers in the [mystery] genre whose worth and quality surpass the limitations of the form.” – Los Angeles Times.

If any writer can be said to have inherited the mantle of Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler, it was Ross Macdonald. Between the later 1940s and his death in 1983, he gave the American crime novel a psychological depth and moral complexity that his predecessors had only hinted at. And in the character of Lew Archer, Macdonald redefined the private eye as a roving conscience whop walks the treacherous frontier between criminal guilt and human sin.

VINTAGE CRIME / BLACK LIZARD

On this day in movie history - Pocket Money (1972 movie & novel):

Pocket Money

directed by Stuart Rosenberg,

written by Terrence Malick,

based on the novel Jim Kane by J.P.S. Brown,

was released in the United States on February 1, 1972.
Music by Alex North.

Cast:

Lee Marvin, Paul Newman, Strother Martin, Wayne Rogers, Hector Elizondo, Christine Belford, Kelly Jean Peters, Gregory Sierra, Fred Graham, Matt Clark, Claudio Miranda, Bruce Davis Bayne, Poupée Bocar, Richard Farnsworth, Ken Freehill, Terrence Malick.

Recommended reading:

Jim Kane

By J.P.S. Brown

Filmed as Pocket Money (1972), directed by Stuart Rosenberg.

Hardcover.

Published 1970.

Published by E P Dutton.

ISBN 13: 9780803742291

ISBN 10: 0803742290

ASIN: 0803742290

Description:

Content with making an honest living hauling truckloads of horses from Mexico, Jim Kane – ranch hand, cattle trader, and bronco buster – is forced by a twist of fate to return to his job in Arizona, breaking colts for the rodeo.

Born on this day – Paul Newman:

Paul Newman

Actor

Director

January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008

Credits:

The Meerkats (2008); Mater and the Ghostlight (2006); Pixar Short Films Collection: Volume 1 (2006); Cars (2006); Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon (2005); Empire Falls (2005); Freedom: A History of US (2003); Our Town (2003); Road to Perdition (2002); The Simpsons (1989); Where the Money Is (2000); Message in a Bottle (1999); Twilight (1998); Nobody's Fool (1994); The Hudsucker Proxy (1994); Mr. & Mrs. Bridge (1990); Blaze (1989); Fat Man and Little Boy (aka Shadow Makers) (1989); The Color of Money (1986); Harry & Son (1984); The Verdict (1982); American Playhouse (1982); Absence of Malice (1981); Fort Apache the Bronx (1981); When Time Ran Out... (1980); Quintet (1979); Slap Shot (1977); Two by Dove (1976); Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976); Silent Movie (1976); The Drowning Pool (1975); The Towering Inferno (1974); The Sting (1973); The MacKintosh Man (1973); The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972); Pocket Money (1972); Sometimes a Great Notion (aka Never Give an Inch) (1971); WUSA (1970); Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969); Winning (1969); The Secret War of Harry Frigg (1968); Cool Hand Luke (1967); Hombre (1967); Torn Curtain (1966); Harper (aka The Moving Target) (1966); Lady L (1965); The Outrage (1964); What a Way to Go! (1964); The Prize (1963); A New Kind of Love (1963); Hud (1963); Hemingway's Adventures of a Young Man (1962); Sweet Bird of Youth (1962); The Hustler (1961); Paris Blues (1961); Exodus (1960); From the Terrace (1960); The Young Philadelphians (1959); Rally 'Round the Flag, Boys! (1958); Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958); The Left Handed Gun (1958); The Long, Hot Summer (1958); The Eighty Yard Run (Playhouse 90 (1958); The Helen Morgan Story (1957); Until They Sail (1957); The Kaiser Aluminum Hour (1956); Kraft Theatre (1954–1956); Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956); The Rack (1956); Playwrights '56 (1955); Producers' Showcase (1955); Kraft Theatre (1955); Appointment with Adventure (1955); The Silver Chalice (1954); Danger (1954); Armstrong Circle Theatre (1954); Goodyear Playhouse (1954); The Mask (1954); The Man Behind the Badge (1953); The Web (1950); You Are There (1953); Suspense (1949); Tales of Tomorrow (1951); The Aldrich Family (1952-1953).