On this day in movie history - The Hot Rock (1972 movie & novel):

The Hot Rock

directed by Peter Yates,

written by William Goldman,

based on the novel by Donald E. Westlake,

was released in the United States on January 26, 1972.

Music by Quincy Jones.

Cast:

Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman, Paul Sand, Moses Gunn, Zero Mostel, William Redfield, Topo Swope, Christopher Guest, Graham Jarvis, Lynne Gordon, Charlotte Rae, Harry Bellaver.

Recommended reading:

The Hot Rock

By Donald E. Westlake.

Book # 1 in the Dortmunder series.

Published by Simon & Schuster.

First published 1970.

First Edition.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0671205412

ISBN-13: 978-0671205416

Description:

John Archibald Dortmunder is the archetypal criminal manque. Brought up in an orphanage in the Midwest, he is 37 years old, served in the "police action" in Korea, was arrested twice for robbery following his release from the service, and was briefly married to a nightclub entertainer named Honeybun Bazoom from whom he was granted an uncontested divorce. For reasons totally beyond his comprehension, Dortmunder is chosen to lead a gang of master hoodlums. Their job: to steal an emerald valued at $500,000. Their employer: Major Patrick Iko, a mustached African diplomat whose country has just lost the gem through a thoughtless political decision. The specialists Dortmunder selects for his impossible mission include: Kelp: an ex-con with a penchant for stealing cars with MD license plates. Stan Murch: a crook who lives with his mother, a cab driver, and collects stereo records of "Sounds of Indianapolis." Roger Chefwick: the railroad nut, a skinny man of late middle age, whose three H-O gauge trains constantly couple and uncouple on H-O gauge track in a waist-high plywood platform in his basement. What follows in this delightful new novel by Donald E. Westlake is an unparalleled mixture of laughter and thrills, featuring a car crash into the New York Coliseum, a free-swinging helicopter attack on a police station, and a wild breakout from an insane asylum on a Tom Thumb locomotive stolen from a nearby amusement park.

Born on this day – Ron Leibman:

Ron Leibman

Actor

October 11, 1937 – December 6, 2019

On this day in movie history - Night Falls on Manhattan (1996):

Night Falls on Manhattan

directed and written by Sidney Lumet,

based on the novel Tainted Evidence by Robert Daley,

was released in the United States on May 16, 1997.
Music by Mark Isham.

Cast:

Andy Garcia, Ian Holm, James Gandolfini, Lena Olin, Shiek Mahmud-Bey, Colm Feore, Ron Leibman, Richard Dreyfuss, Dominic Chianese, Paul Guilfoyle, Bonnie Rose, Norman Matlock, Sidney Armus, James Murtaugh, Melba Martinez, Santo Fazio, Anthony Alessandro, David Fonteno, John Seitz, Stephen Beach, Nafisah Sayyed, Robert Sean Miller, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Jude Ciccolella, John Randolph Jones, Chuck Pfeiffer, Clark D. Williams, Bill Boggs, Tamara Phillips, Louis Guss, Richard Bright, Ronald von Klaussen, John Di Benedetto, Kevin Ramsey, Kermit Frazier, Veronica Hall, Vic Noto, Jim Moody, Socorro Santiago, Fran Anthony, Donna Hanover, Jack Cafferty, Kaity Tong, Allen Collodow, Dennis Paladino, Mike Cammallere, Jim Mauro, Salvatore Paul Piro, Mike Sheehan, Joseph Mosso, Teddy Coluca, Roslyn Cohn, Elliot Cuker, Yvette Mercedes, Kristina Lear, Joe Drago, Catherine Schreiber, Bobby Cannavale, Marshall Dancing Elk Lucas, Adam Alexi-Malle, Debbie Benitez, Barry Bradford, Ray Campbell, Vernon Campbell, Lisa Collins, Patrick Coleman Duncan, Arthur K. Flam, Nathan George, Mark Robert Gordon, Chandler Hill, Michael Luggio, Takeo Matsushita, Dale Resteghini, James Rosin, John Rowe Jr., Anthony Sinopoli, Leonard Tepper, Bebie Waller, J.D. Walters, David Watkin, Ted West.

On this day in movie history - The Super Cops (1974 movie & book):

The Super Cops

directed by Bob Rafelson,

written by Lorenzo Semple Jr.,

based on the book by L. H. Whittemore,

was released in the United States on March 20, 1974.
Music by Jerry Fielding.

Cast:

Ron Leibman, David Greenberg, David Selby, Robert Hantz, Sheila Frazier, Pat Hingle, Dan Frazer, Joseph Sirola, Arny Freeman, Bernard Kates, Alex Colon, Charles Turner, Ralph Wilcox, Al Fann, Albert Henderson.

Recommended reading:

The Super Cops:

The True Story of the Cops Called Batman and Robin

By L.H. Whittemore.

ASIN: B000GSLVF4

Published by Bantam Books.

Published 1973.

Description:

The year's smash bestseller about two kids from Brooklyn who teamed up to become the most outrageous most-wanted swashbucklers in the Wild East! They made a record number of arrests and got over 90% convictions, defying the hopelessly screwed-up bureaucracyall the way. If the police system drowned the best cops in the most paperwork, this cop combination learned how to swim against the tide. If the mob tried to hassle them, they hassled back with a vengence. A whole neighborhood turned out to watch them arrest a drug dealer who had sworn to kill them. Posing as addicts, they got caught inside a dealer's apartment and – with guns leveled at them – were ordered to mainline heroin on the spot. Stuck? You've got to be kidding! Much decorated, Greenberg and Hantz have been shot at not only by hoods but be the system which thinks they're too good to be true. Promoted to detective in their mid-twenties, they've survived more than thirty investigations by superiors, civil liberties groups, the FBI and the Knapp Commission on Police Corruption. They're no the New Centurions. They're not the Blue Knights. They are Greenberg and Hantz – two tough kids from Coney Island who have become a living legend. The Super Cops: The True Story of the Cops Called Batman and Robin.