On this day in movie history - Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956):

Somebody Up There Likes Me

directed by Robert Wise,

written by Ernest Lehman,

based on the autobiography by Rocky Graziano with Rowland Barber,

was released in the United States on July 4, 1956.
Music by Bronislau Kaper.

Cast:

Paul Newman, Pier Angeli, Everett Sloane, Eileen Heckart, Harold J. Stone, Joseph Buloff, Sal Mineo, Ray Stricklyn, Robert Loggia, Steve McQueen, Angela Cartwright, Jack Orrison, Frank Campanella, Dean Jones.

Recommended reading - Somebody Up There Likes Me, by Rocky Graziano and Rowland Barber (1954):

Somebody Up There Likes Me

By Rocky Graziano with Rowland Barber.

Filmed as Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956), directed by Robert Wise.

Published by Ecco Press.

Published 1954.

ISBN 13: 9780880013932

ISBN 10: 0880013931

ASIN: 0880013931

Paperback.

Description:

The blood-soaked autobiography of a fist-happy hoodlum…

Rocky’s right hand saw him through three stretches in reform school, four man-size prisons, the middle-weight championship of the world, and a career as a television comedian with Martha Raye.

We get a view of what it’s like to be on the lam from truant officers, probation officers, goons, cops, and creeps too stupid to be anything but legitimate. What it’s like to hit first or get hit! – Saturday Review.