On this day in movie history - Un Flic (1972):

Un Flic

English translation: A Cop, aka Dirty Money,

directed and written by Jean-Pierre Melville,

was released in France on October 25, 1972.
Music by Michel Colombier.

Cast:

Alain Delon, Richard Crenna, Catherine Deneuve, Riccardo Cucciolla, Michael Conrad, Paul Crauchet, Simone Valère, André Pousse, Jean Desailly, Valérie Wilson, Henri Marteau, Catherine Rethi, Louis Grandidier, Philippe Gasté, Dominique Zentar, Jako Mica, Jo Tafanelli, Stan Dylik, Georges Florian, Léon Minisini, Roger Fradet, Jacques Galland, Jean-Pierre Posier, Jacques Leroy, Michel Fretault, Gene Moyle, Nicole Témime, Pierre Vaudier.

On this day in movie history - First Blood (1982):

First Blood

directed by Ted Kotcheff,

written by Michael Kozoll, William Sackheim and Sylvester Stallone,

based on the novel by David Morrell,

was released in the United States on October 22, 1982.
Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Cast:

Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna, Brian Dennehy, Bill McKinney, Jack Starrett, Michael Talbott, Chris Mulkey, John McLiam, Alf Humphreys, David Caruso, David L. Crowley, Don MacKay, Charles A. Tamburro, David Petersen, Craig Huston, Patrick Stack, Stephen E. Miller, Raimund Stamm, Robert Metcalfe, Stephen Dimopoulos, Bruce Greenwood, Earl Klein, Danny Wozna, Peter Lonstrup, Mike Winlaw, Donald Adams, David Menzies, Frank Richter, Grahman L. Galativk, Ian Hutchinson, Amy Alexander, Gary Hetherington, Alex Kliner, R.G. Miller, Stephen Chang, Suzee Pai, Robert Prowse, Jack Rigg.

On this day in movie history - Jade (1995):

Jade

directed by William Friedkin,

written by Joe Eszterhas,

was released in the United States on October 13, 1995.
Music by James Horner.

Cast:

David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Richard Crenna, Michael Biehn, Donna Murphy, Ken King, Holt McCallany, David Hunt, Angie Everhart, Kevin Tighe, Victor Wong, Robin Thomas, Victoria Smith, Jay Jacobus, Bud Bostwick, Darryl Chan, Ron Ulstad, Buddy Joe Hooker, Bobby Bass, Sandy Berumen, Dick Ziker, Ron Yuan.

On this day in movie history - Double Indemnity (movie & books):

Double Indemnity

directed by Jack Smight,

written by Steven Bochco, Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler,

based on the novel by James M. Cain,

released in the United States on October 13, 1973.

Music by Billy Goldenberg.

Cast: Richard Crenna, Lee J. Cobb, Robert Webber, Samantha Eggar, Arch Johnson, Kathleen Cody, John Fiedler, John Elerick, Joan Pringle, Gene Dynarski, Ken Renard, Joyce Cunning, Arnold F. Turner, Rand Brooks, Tom Curtis, John Furlong.

Recommended reading:

Double Indemnity

By James M. Cain.

Filmed as:

Double Indemnity (1944), directed by Billy Wilder.

Double Indemnity (1973), directed by Jack Smight.

Published by Vintage Crime/Black Lizard.

Published 1943.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 9780679723226

ISBN-13: 9780679723226

Description:

“An American masterpiece.” – Ross Macdonald.

“No one has ever stopped reading in the middle of one of Jim Cain’s books.” – Saturday Review of Literature.

Walter Huff was an insurance salesman with an unfailing instinct for clients who might be in trouble, and his instinct led him to Phyllis Nirdlinger. Phyllis wanted to buy an accident policy on her husband. Then she wanted her husband to have an accident. Walter wanted Phyllis. To get her, he would arrange the perfect murder and betray everything he had ever lived for.

Tautly narrated and excruciatingly suspenseful, Double Indemnity gives us an X-ray view of guilt, of duplicity, and of the kind of obsessive, loveless love that devastates everything it touches. First published in 1935, this novel reaffirmed James M. Cain as a virtuoso of the roman noir.

Double Indemnity: The Complete Screenplay

By Billy Wilder, Raymond Chandler, Jeffrey Meyers.

Published by University of California Press.

Published 2000.

ISBN-10: 0520218485

ISBN-13: 9780520218482

Description:

On every level -- writing, direction, acting -- Double Indemnity (1944) is a triumph and stands as one of the greatest achievements in Billy Wilder's career. Adapted from the James M. Cain novel by director Wilder and novelist Raymond Chandler, it tells the story of an insurance salesman, played by Fred MacMurray, who is lured into a murder-for-insurance plot by Barbara Stanwyck, in an archetypal femme fatale role. From its grim story to its dark, atmospheric lighting, Double Indemnity is a definitive example of World War II-era film noir. Wilder's approach is everywhere evident: in the brutal cynicism the film displays, the moral complexity, and in the empathy we feel for the killers. The film received almost unanimous critical success, garnering seven Academy Award nominations. More than fifty years later, most critics agree that this classic is one of the best films of all time. The collaboration between Wilder and Raymond Chandler produced a masterful script and some of the most memorable dialogue ever spoken in a movie.

This facsimile edition of Double Indemnity contains Wilder and Chandler's original -- and quite different -- ending, published here for the first time. Jeffrey Meyers's introduction contextualizes the screenplay, providing hilarious anecdotes about the turbulent collaboration, as well as background information about Wilder and the film's casting and production.

Born on this day – Richard Crenna:

Richard Crenna

Actor

November 30, 1926 – January 17, 2003