On this day in movie history - Kiss Me Deadly (1955 movie & novel):

Kiss Me Deadly

directed by Robert Aldrich,

written by A. I. Bezzerides and Robert Aldrich,

based on the novel by Mickey Spillane,

was released in the United States on April 20, 1955.
Music by Frank De Vol.

Cast:

Ralph Meeker, Albert Dekker, Paul Stewart, Juano Hernandez, Wesley Addy, Marian Carr, Marjorie Bennett, Mort Marshall, Fortunio Bonanova, Strother Martin, Mady Comfort, James McCallion, Robert Cornthwaite, Silvio Minciotti, Nick Dennis, Ben Morris, Jack Elam, Paul Richards, Jesslyn Fax, James Seay, Percy Helton, Leigh Snowden, Jack Lambert, Jerry Zinneman, Maxine Cooper, Cloris Leachman, Gaby Rodgers, Kitty White, Sam Balter, Joe Hernandez, Eddie Beal, Leonard Bremen, Yvonne Doughty, John George, Charles Lane, Art Loggins, Mara McAfee, Leonard Mudie, Bing Russell, Robert Sherman, Max Wagner, Trude Wyler.

Recommended reading:

Kiss Me Deadly

By Mickey Spillane.

Filmed as Kiss Me Deadly (1955), directed by Robert Aldrich.

Published by Orion.

First published 1952.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1409158691

ISBN-13: 978-1409158691

Description:

# 6 in the Mike Hammer series.

Before Jack Reacher . . . there was Mike Hammer.

One night, a blonde jumps out in front of PI Mike Hammer's car. She's so scared he doesn't have much choice but to give her a ride. At a police roadblock, he discovers she's on the run from a sanatorium, but he passes her off as his wife. Other people besides the police are after the blonde, and these people play rough. Real rough.

The blonde turns out to be the star witness against some big-time mobsters. Mike has blundered into something unimaginably big, but the Feds don't want him involved – and take his PI licence and gun.

For Mike, it's a chance to strike a blow against evil on a grand scale. He discovers that something representing a great deal of money, and a lot of power, has gone missing, and that some people will go to any lengths to get it back . . .

On this day in movie history - Paths of Glory (1957):

Paths of Glory

directed by Stanley Kubrick,

written by Stanley Kubrick,

Calder Willingham and Jim Thompson,

based on the novel by Humphrey Cobb,

was released in the United States on December 25, 1957.
Music by Gerald Fried.

Cast:

Kirk Douglas, Ralph Meeker, Adolphe Menjou, George Macready, Wayne Morris, Richard Anderson, Joe Turkel, Christiane Kubrick, Jerry Hausner, Peter Capell, Emile Meyer, Bert Freed, Kem Dibbs, Timothy Carey, Fred Bell, John Stein, Harold Benedict, Leon Briggs, Paul Bös, Herbert Ellis, Wally Friedrichs, Halder Hanson, James B. Harris, Rolf Kralovitz, Ira Moore, Marshall Rainer, Roger Vagnoid.

Born on this day – Ralph Meeker:

Ralph Meeker

Actor

November 21, 1920 – August 5, 1988

On this day in movie history - The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre (1967):

The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre

directed by Roger Corman,

written by Howard Browne,

was released in the United States on June 30, 1967.
Narrated by Paul Frees.
Music by Lionel Newman and Fred Steiner.

Cast:

Jason Robards, George Segal, Ralph Meeker, Jean Hale, Clint Ritchie, Frank Silvera, Joseph Campanella, Richard Bakalyan, David Canary, Bruce Dern, Harold J. Stone, Kurt Kreuger, Paul Richards, Joe Turkel, Milton Frome, Mickey Deems, John Agar, Celia Lovsky, Tom Reese, Jan Merlin, Alexander D’Arcy, Reed Hadley, Gus Trikonis, Charles Dierkop, Tom Signorelli, Rico Cattani, Alex Rocco, Leo Gordon, Daniel Ades, Laura Barry, Nick Borgani, Bob Brandon, Robert Buckingham, Mushy Callahan, Mary Grace Canfield, Albert Cavens, Bud Cokes, Russ Conway, Yutta D’Arcy, Tony Dante, Jack Del Rio, George DeNormand, Dan Dowling, Len Felber, George Ford, Paul Frees, Ron Gans, James Gonzalez, Michele Guarini, Phil Harron, Jonathan Haze, Lisa Jak, Betsy Jones-Moreland, Richard Krisher, Alan Marston, William Meader, Jim Michael, Mary Michael, Dick Miller, Ernesto Molinari, Barboura Morris, Jack Nicholson, Ron Nyman, Monty O’Grady, John Pedrini, Jose Portugal, Leoda Richards, Jerry Rush, Jeffrey Sayre, Ken Scott, Bill Scully, Bernard Sell, Sammy Shack, Joan Shawlee, Buck Taylor, Danny Truppi, Corinna Tsopei, Patrick Whyte, Judith Woodbury.

On this day in movie history - The Anderson Tapes (1971 movie & novel):

The Anderson Tapes

directed by Sidney Lumet,

written by Frank Pierson,

based on the novel by Lawrence Sanders,

was released in the United States on June 17, 1971.
Music by Quincy Jones.

Cast:

Sean Connery, Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker, Alan King, Dick Anthony Williams, Val Avery, Garrett Morris, Stan Gottlieb, Christopher Walken, Conrad Bain, Margaret Hamilton, Anthony Holland, Scott Jacoby, Judith Lowry, Meg Myles, Norman Rose, Max Showalter, Janet Ward, Paul Benjamin, Richard B. Shull.

Recommended reading:

The Anderson Tapes

By Lawrence Sanders.

Filmed as The Anderson Tapes (1971), directed by Sidney Lumet.

Published by DELL PUBL CO.

First published 1970.

ISBN-10: 0440102170

ISBN-13: 9780440102175

Description:

With clockwork precision, Lawrence Sanders outlines the inspiration, planning and execution of an ambitious robbery of an apartment building on New York's Upper East Side in The Anderson Tapes, the best-selling thriller that established him as one of the most popular suspense writers of his generation. The premise is clever – the entire story is told in surveillance tape transcripts and reports from law enforcement agencies, each of which seems to be observing some aspect of the situation in which the robbery takes place.

John "Duke" Anderson was recently paroled from Sing Sing, after serving time on a charge of breaking and entering. A rich woman picks him up one evening and takes him back to her apartment, in a small but elegant building on the Upper East Side. Anderson is intrigued by the situation in the building, seeing it as a possible target for a large-scale robbery. He needs backing, though, and he gets it through his contacts with the underworld. What Anderson does not know is that much of what he is already doing is being captured as evidence through electronic surveillance. The catch is that the different entities doing the surveillance are not communicating with each other. The evidence is assembled and the puzzle solved, after the robbery takes place and ends violently, by NYPD Capt. Edward X. Delaney.

The Anderson Tapes marks the first appearance in a Sanders novel of Delaney, a character who will be central to the author's Deadly Sin series of thrillers. Sanders brilliantly unfolds the story in short, fact-filled chapters constructed as police reports and tape transcripts, some of which are tantalizingly garbled. The Anderson Tapes won for Sanders the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar as the Best First Mystery Novel of 1970.