On this day in movie history - The Set-Up (1949 movie & novel):

The Set-Up

directed by Robert Wise,

written by Art Cohn,

based on the book-length narrative poem by Joseph Moncure March,

was released in the United States on March 29, 1949.
Music by C. Bakaleinikof and Roy Webb.

Cast:

Robert Ryan, Audrey Totter, George Tobias, Alan Baxter, Wallace Ford, Percy Helton, Hal Fieberling, Darryl Hickman, Kenny O'Morrison, James Edwards, David Clarke, Phillip Pine, Arthur 'Weegee' Fellig.

Recommended reading:

The Set-Up

By Joseph Moncure March.

Filmed as The Set-Up (1949), directed by Robert Wise.

The Lost Classic by the Author of The Wild Party.

Illustrated by Erik Kriek.

Book-length narrative poem.

Published by Korero Press.

First published 1928.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 1912740087

ISBN-13: 978-1912740086

Description:

"A ringside seat at a heavyweight bout is what is offered by Mr. March in this astonishing narrative… episodes that make the blood boil, and the hair rise…tragic pathos so deep as almost to defeat any faith in man." – New York Times Book Review, upon original 1928 publication.

"It’s a cross between a graphic novel and a heavily illustrated epic poem. It has the feel of a lost treasure one would find on a back shelf of some forgotten bookstore. And yet, somehow it seems crisp and new. . . . If you can imagine there was a month-long collaboration where Eric Powell, Charles Burns and Will Eisner were all locked in a studio together, you will be able to envision exactly what this art looks like. Kriek’s illustrations employ black and grey tones with a moody effect. And he’s not handcuffed into any formal page layout or size. Some illustrations are full pagers, some are spot illustrations in weird shapes, and some overflow to two pages. There are no word balloons, and as this is a poem, there’s great flexibility and freshness to each and every page layout." – Pop Culture Squad.

"So prolifically illustrated it reads like a graphic novel. Striking artwork." – Bud's Art Books.

"The tale is told in relentless rhyme and pitiless beats presaging modern Hip Hop culture. This is dawn-era storytelling with classical themes delivered as primordial Rap in its purest, most primal form." – Comics Review.

Written in 1928, The Set-Up is a long narrative poem about the boxing underworld - a hard-boiled tragedy told in syncopated rhyming couplets. When the work was first published it made the bestseller list, and in 1949 it was turned into an award-winning film featuring Robert Ryan and Audrey Totter. This reprinting of the original, unchanged 1928 poem features dynamic, specially commissioned artwork by Erik Kriek that vividly conveys the story of Pansy, an up-and-coming black prize fighter who takes on all comers. When he was in the ring, "It was over before you knew it. He'd carve you up like a leg of mutton. And drop you flat with a sock on the button." Pansy's complicated love life leads to a spell in prison and his career subsequently takes a nosedive; but he continues to box until the fateful night his fight managers and opponent triple-cross him and he meets a grisly end at the hands of a vengeful gang.

On this day in movie history - The Andromeda Strain (1971 movie & novel):

The Andromeda Strain

directed by Robert Wise,

written by Nelson Gidding and Robert Wise,

based on the novel by Michael Crichton,

was released in the United States on March 12, 1971.
Music by Gil Mellé.

Cast:

Arthur Hill, James Olson, David Wayne, Kate Reid, Paula Kelly, George Mitchell, Mark Jenkins, Peter Helm, Joe Di Reda, Ramon Bieri, Carl Reindel, Frances Reid, Peter Hobbs, Kermit Murdock, Richard O'Brien, Eric Christmas, Ken Swofford, John Carter, Richard Bull, James W. Gavin, Garry Walberg, Emory Parnell, Georgia Schmidt, Victoria Paige Meyerink, Don Messick, Michael Crichton.

Recommended reading:

The Andromeda Strain

By Michael Crichton.

First published 1969.

ISBN-10: 1101974494

ISBN-13: 978-1101974490

Description:

A military space probe, sent to collect extraterrestrial organisms from the upper atmosphere, is knocked out of orbit and falls to Earth. Twelve miles from the crash site, an inexplicable and deadly phenomenon terrorizes the residents of a sleepy desert town in Arizona, leaving only two survivors: an elderly addict and a newborn infant.

The United States government is forced to mobilize Project Wildfire, a top-secret emergency response protocol. Four of the nation’s most elite biophysicists are summoned to a clandestine underground laboratory located five stories beneath the desert and fitted with an automated atomic self-destruction mechanism for cases of irremediable contamination. Under conditions of total news blackout and the utmost urgency, the scientists race to understand and contain the crisis. But the Andromeda Strain proves different from anything they’ve ever seen—and what they don’t know could not only hurt them, but lead to unprecedented worldwide catastrophe.

On this day in movie history - Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979):

Star Trek: The Motion Picture

directed by Robert Wise,

written by Harold Livingston,

based on a story by Alan Dean Foster,

was released in the United States on December 6, 1979.
Music by Jerry Goldsmith.

Cast:

William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, George Takei, Persis Khambatta, Stephen Collins, Majel Barrett, Grace Lee Whitney, David Gautreaux, Mark Lenard.

On this day in movie history - Odds Against Tomorrow (1959):

Odds Against Tomorrow

directed by Robert Wise,

written by Abraham Polonsky and Nelson Gidding,

based on the novel by William P. McGivern,

was released in the United States on October 13, 1959.
Music by John Lewis.

Cast:

Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Shelley Winters, Ed Begley, Gloria Grahame, Will Kuluva, Kim Hamilton, Mae Barnes, Richard Bright, Carmen De Lavallade, Lew Gallo, Lois Thorne, Wayne Rogers, Zohra Lampert, Allen Nourse.