On this day in movie history - The Brink’s Job (1978 movie & book):

The Brink’s Job

directed William Friedkin,

written by Walon Green,

based on the book Big Stick-Up at Brinks by Noel Behn,

was released in the United States on December 8, 1978.
Music by Richard Rodney Bennett.

Cast:

Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, Allen Garfield, Warren Oates, Gena Rowlands, Paul Sorvino, Sheldon Leonard, Gerard Murphy, Kevin O'Connor, Claudia Peluso, Patrick Hines, Malachy McCourt, Walter Klavun, Randy Jurgensen, John Brandon, Robert Prosky.

Recommended reading:

Big Stick-Up at Brinks

By Noel Behn.

First published 1976.

Published by Putnam.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0399118977

ISBN-13: 978-0399118975

Description:

A riveting and frequently hilarious insider account of one of the twentieth century’s most outrageous capers.

On the evening of January 17, 1950, armed robbers wearing Captain Marvel masks entered the Brink’s Armored Car building in Boston, Massachusetts. They walked out less than an hour later with more than $2.7 million in cash and securities. It was a brazen and expertly executed theft that captured the imaginations of millions of Americans and baffled the FBI and local law enforcement officials.

But what appeared on the surface to be the perfect crime was, in fact, the end result of a mind-boggling series of mistakes, miscalculations, and missteps. The men behind the masks were not expert bank robbers but a motley crew of small-time crooks who bumbled their way into a record-breaking payday and managed to elude the long arm of the law for six years.

New York Times bestselling author Noel Behn tape-recorded nearly one thousand hours of interviews with the surviving robbers, including motormouthed mastermind Tony Pino, a character so colorful he might have been dreamed up by a Hollywood screenwriter, to tell the uncensored story of the heist forever known as “the Great Brink’s Robbery.” Fun and suspenseful from first page to last, Behn’s true-crime classic was the basis for The Brink’s Job (1978), the Academy Award–nominated film directed by William Friedkin and starring Peter Falk and Peter Boyle.

“It had me riveted with suspense, but it also made me laugh until I got hiccups.” – Cosmopolitan.

“A King Kong of crime entertainment . . . that no movie could match . . . The Brink’s job [was] a kind of D-Day event in the annals of crime . . . Glorious.” – Kirkus Reviews.

“One minute you’re laughing your head off. The next minute you chill with fear. Crooks and crime at their best. Pure magic!” – Harold Robbins.

“The best book about criminals ever written, a rich and beautiful depiction of their lives as well as their work, a book that elevates them from moving-picture types to complete, vivid humans. Noel Behn has taken one of the most extraordinary crimes of the century and turned it into a living tapestry. It’s a wonderful book.” – Paddy Chayefsky, Academy Award–winning screenwriter of Network.

“Reads like a Hollywood screenplay, except that it really happened.” – John Barkham Reviews.

On this day in movie history - A Woman Under the Influence (1974):

A Woman Under the Influence

directed and written by John Cassavetes,

was released in the United States on November 18, 1974.
Music by Bo Harwood.

Cast:

Peter Falk, Gena Rowlands, Fred Draper, Lady Rowlands, Katherine Cassavetes, Matthew Labyorteaux, Matthew Cassel, Christina Grisanti, George Dunn, Mario Gallo, Eddie Shaw, Angelo Grisanti, Charles Horvath, James Joyce, John Finnegan, Cliff Carnell, Frank Richards, Hugh Hurd, Leon Wagner, Dominique Davalos, Xan Cassavetes, Pancho Meisenheimer, Sonny Aprile, Ellen Davalos, Joanne Moore Jordan, John Hawker, Sylvester Words, Elizabeth Deering, Jackie Peters, Elsie Ames, N.J. Cassavetes.

Born on this day – Peter Falk:

Peter Falk

Actor

Comedian

Artist

September 16, 1927 – June 23, 2011

On this day in movie history - The Cheap Detective (1978):

The Cheap Detective

directed by Robert Moore,

written by Neil Simon,

was released in the United States on June 23, 1978.
Music by Patrick Williams.

Cast:

Peter Falk, Ann-Margret, Eileen Brennan, Sid Caesar, Stockard Channing, James Coco, Dom DeLuise, Louise Fletcher, John Houseman, Madeline Kahn, Fernando Lamas, Marsha Mason, Phil Silvers, Abe Vigoda, Paul Williams, Nicol Williamson, Emory Bass, Carmine Caridi, James Cromwell, Scatman Crothers, David Ogden Stiers, Vic Tayback, Carole Wells, John Calvin, Barry Michlin, Jonathan Banks, Lew Gallo, Lee McLaughlin, Zale Kessler, Jerrold Ziman, Wally K. Berns, Bella Bruck, Henry Sutton, Maurice Marks, Joe Ross, Dean Perry, George Rondo, Ronald L. Schwary, Louis H. Kelly, Charles Bastin, Armando Gonzales, Gary L. Dyer, Steven Fisher, Laurie Hagen, Lee Menning, Nancy Warren, Nancy Marlowe Coyne, Lynn Griffis, Paula Friel, Sheila Sisco, Lauren Simon, Cindy Lang, Martina Ritt, David Matthau, Gary Alexander, Michele Bernath, George Simmons, Joree Sirianni, Cornell Chulay, Edward Coch Jr., Bob Harks, Paul King, Murray Pollack, Arthur Tovey.

On this day in movie history - Machine Gun McCain (1969):

Machine Gun McCain

Italian title: Gli intoccabili,

English translation: The Untouchables,

directed by Giuliano Montaldo,

written by Mino Roli, Israel Horovitz and Giuliano Montaldo,

based on the novel Candyleg by Ovid Demaris,

was released in Italy on April 1, 1969.
Music by Ennio Morricone.

Cast:

John Cassavetes, Britt Ekland, Peter Falk, Gabriele Ferzetti, Pierluigi Aprà, Luigi Pistilli, Margherita Guzzinati, Claudio Biava, Steffen Zacharias, James Morrison, Florinda Bolkan, Tony Kendall, Salvo Randone, Gena Rowlands, Maria Mizar, Euplio Moscusu, Mirella Pamphili, Raffaele Triggia, Gaetano Imbró, Silvana Bacci, Franco Riti, Jack Ackerman, Annabella Andreoli, Val Avery, Carla Brait, Nat Bush, Ennanno Consolazione, Carol Doda, Dan Gregory, Tery Hare, Werner Hasselmann, Billy Lee, Giuseppina Quinn, Dennis Sallas, Karen Valenti, Bill Vanders.