On this day in movie history - Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession (2004):

Z Channel: A Magnificent Obsession

documentary directed by Xan Cassavetes,

was released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 16, 2004.
Music by Steven Hufsteter.  

Cast:

Robert Altman, Vera Carlisle Anderson, C.L. Batten, Jacqueline Bisset, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Champlin, David Chasman, Stuart Cooper, F.X. Feeney, James B. Harris, Jerry Harvey, William Holden, Don Hyde, Henry Jaglom, Jim Jarmusch, Charles H. Joffe, Kris Kristofferson, John McNally, Bill Mechanic, Ned Nalle, Alexander Payne, Sam Peckinpah, Doreen Ringer Ross, Chuck Ross, Alan Rudolph, Theresa Russell, Timothy Ryerson, Jeff Schwager, Penelope Spheeris, Bob Strock, Quentin Tarantino, Kevin Thomas, Jonathan Turell, Douglas Venturelli, Paul Verhoeven, James Woods, Vilmos Zsigmond.

On this day in movie history – M*A*S*H (1970 movie & book):

M*A*S*H

directed by Robert Altman,

written by Ring Lardner Jr.,

based on the novel MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors by Richard Hooker,

was released in the United States on March 18, 1970.

Music by Johnny Mandel.

Cast:

Donald Sutherland, Elliott Gould, Tom Skerritt, Sally Kellerman, Robert Duvall, Roger Bowen, Rene Auberjonois, David Arkin, Jo Ann Pflug, Gary Burghoff, Fred Williamson, Michael Murphy, Indus Arthur, Ken Prymus, Bobby Troup, Kim Atwood, Timothy Brown, John Schuck, Dawne Damon, Carl Gottlieb, Tamara Wilcox-Smith, G. Wood, Bud Cort, Danny Goldman, Corey Fischer.

Recommended reading:

MASH: A Novel About Three Army Doctors

By Richard Hooker.

Filmed as M*A*S*H (1970), directed by Robert Altman.

Published by William Morrow Paperbacks.

First published 1968.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0688149553

ISBN-13: 978-0688149550

Description:

Before the movie, this is the novel that gave life to Hawkeye Pierce, Trapper John, Hot Lips Houlihan, Frank Burns, Radar O'Reilly, and the rest of the gang that made the 4077th MASH like no other place in Korea or on earth. The doctors who worked in the Mobile Army Surgical Hospitals (MASH) during the Korean War were well trained but, like most soldiers sent to fight a war, too young for the job. In the words of the author, "a few flipped their lids, but most of them just raised hell, in a variety of ways and degrees."

For fans of the movie and the series alike, here is the original version of that perfectly corrupt football game, those martini-laced mornings and sexual escapades, and that unforgettable foray into assisted if incompleted suicide – all as funny and poignant now as they were before they became a part of America's culture and heart.

On this day in movie history - The Long Goodbye (1973):

The Long Goodbye

directed by Robert Altman,

written by Leigh Brackett,

based on the novel by Raymond Chandler,

was released in the United States on March 7, 1973.
Music by John Williams.

Cast:

Elliott Gould, Nina van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden, Mark Rydell, Henry Gibson, David Arkin, Jim Bouton, Warren Berlinger, Pancho Córdova, Enrique Lucero, Rutanya Alda, Jack Riley, Jerry Jones, John S. Davies, Arnold Schwarzenegger.