Showing posts with label Sean Connery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sean Connery. Show all posts

Thursday, September 24, 2026

On this day in movie history - The Name of the Rose (1986 movie & novel):


The Name of the Rose

directed by Jean-Jacques Annaud,
written by Andrew Birkin, Gérard Brach, Howard Franklin and Alain Godard,
based on the novel by Umberto Eco,
was released in the United States on September 24, 1986.
Music by James Horner.


Cast:

Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham, Christian Slater, Dwight Weist, Helmut Qualtinger, Elya Baskin, Michael Lonsdale, Volker Prechtel, Feodor Chaliapin Jr., William Hickey, Michael Habeck, Valentina Vargas, Ron Perlman, Leopoldo Trieste, Franco Valobra, Vernon Dobtcheff, Donal O'Brian, Andrew Birkin, Lucien Bodard, Peter Berling, Pete Lancaster, Urs Althaus, Lars Bodin-Jorgensen, Kim Rossi Stuart.

Recommended reading:


The Name of the Rose

By Umberto Eco.

Published by Harper.
First published 1980.
Paperback.
ISBN-10: 0063279630
ISBN-13: 978-0063279636

Description:

Italy, 1347. While Brother William of Baskerville is investigating accusations of heresy at a wealthy abbey, his inquiries are disrupted by a series of bizarre deaths. Turning his practiced detective skills to finding the killer, he relies on logic (Aristotle), theology (Thomas Aquinas), empirical insights (Roger Bacon), and his own wry humor and ferocious curiosity. With the aid of his young apprentice, William scours the abbey, from its stables to the labyrinthine library, piecing together evidence, and deciphering cryptic symbols and coded manuscripts to uncover the truth about this place where "the most interesting things happen at night."

First published in 1980, The Name of the Rose became an international sensation, beguiling readers around the world with its mix of history, humor, and intellectual heft. This beautifully designed modern edition, illustrated with exclusive original drawings created by Umberto Eco, will enchant a new generation of readers and entice old fans to fall under its spell once again.

Now available in a deluxe fortieth-anniversary paperback edition featuring never-before-seen illustrations by the author, the beloved internationally bestselling historical mystery about a brilliant monk called upon to solve a series of baffling murders in a fourteenth-century Italian abbey.

“Explodes with pyrotechnic inventions, literally as well as figuratively. Hold on till the end.” – New York Times.

“Whether you're into Sherlock Holmes, Montaillou, Borges, the nouvelle critique, the Rule of St. Benedict, metaphysics, library design, or The Thing from the Crypt, you'll love it. Who can that miss out?” – Sunday Times (London).

Friday, July 17, 2026

On this day in movie history - Marnie (1964):


Marnie

directed by Alfred Hitchcock,
written by Jay Presson Allen,
based on the novel by Winston Graham,
was released in the United States on July 17, 1964.
Music by Bernard Herrmann.


Cast:

Tippi Hedren, Martin Gabel, Sean Connery, Louise Latham, Diane Baker, Alan Napier, Bob Sweeney, Milton Selzer, Henry Beckman, Edith Evanson, Mariette Hartley, Bruce Dern, S. John Launer, Meg Wyllie, Alfred Hitchcock.

Wednesday, June 17, 2026

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.

Wednesday, June 3, 2026

On this day in movie history - The Untouchables (1987 movie & book):


The Untouchables

directed by Brian De Palma,
written by David Mamet,
based on the book by Eliot Ness and Oscar Fraley,
was released in the United States on June 3, 1987.
Music by Ennio Morricone.


Cast:

Kevin Costner, Sean Connery, Charles Martin Smith, Andy Garcia, Robert De Niro, Richard Bradford, Jack Kehoe, Brad Sullivan, Billy Drago, Patricia Clarkson, Vito D'Ambrosio, Steven Goldstein, Peter Aylward, Don Harvey, Robert Swan, John J. Walsh, Del Close, Colleen Bade, Greg Noonan, Sean Grennan, Larry Viverito Sr., Kevin Michael Doyle, Mike Bacarella, Michael P. Byrne, Kaitlin Montgomery, Aditra Kohl, Charles Keller Watson, Larry Brandenburg, Chelcie Ross, Tim Gamble, Sam Smiley, Pat Billingsley, John Bracci, Jennifer Anglin, Eddie Minasian, Anthony Mockus Sr., Will Zahrn, Louie Lanciloti, Vince Viverito, Valentino Cimo, Joe Greco, Clem Caserta, Bob Martana, Joseph Scianablo, George S. Spataro, Melody Rae, Robert Miranda, James Guthrie, Basil Reale.

Recommended reading:


The Untouchables


By Eliot Ness.


With Oscar Fraley.


ASIN: B000WFDVYA

Published by Award Books.

First published 1957.


Description:


Brings to life an era of violence unique in the nation’s history. – The New York Times.


Tremendously exciting. – Cleveland News.


This is the anatomy of a Mafia boss – a scar-faced killer named Al Capone who gripped this nation in his diamond-studded hand in the legendary 1930’s. Capone’s trademarks – the one-way ride, the bullet in the head, the emasculated body in the ditch – still carry the signature of the Mafia.


Al Capone ruled an empire of evil that stole billions of dollars while destroying untold numbers of lives. His discipline murderers collected incredible profits from drugs, gambling and prostitution, making Al Capone the most powerful Mafia boss who ever lived.