On this day in movie history - The Asphalt Jungle (1950 movie & books):

The Asphalt Jungle

directed by John Huston,

written by Ben Maddow and John Huston,

based on the novel by W. R. Burnett,

was released in the United States on May 12, 1950.
Music by Miklós Rózsa.

Cast:

Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley, Anthony Caruso, Teresa Celli, Marilyn Monroe, William Davis, Dorothy Tree, Brad Dexter, John Maxwell, Mary Anderson, Ray Bennett, David Bond, Chet Brandenburg, Benny Burt, Harry G. Butcher, Frank Cady, Jean Carter, Mack Chandler, David Clarke, John Cliff, Harry Cody, Gene Coogan, Henry Corden, Chuck Courtney, John Crawford, Ralph Dunn, Gene Evans, Pat Flaherty, Alex Gerry, Sol Gorss, Fred Graham, William Haade, Don Haggerty, Eloise Hardt, Thomas Browne Henry, Wesley Hopper, George Lynn, Ethel Lyons, Fred Marlow, Strother Martin, Patricia Miller, Howard M. Mitchell, Ralph Montgomery, Alberto Morin, Kerry O'Day, Raymond Roe, Henry Rowland, Tim Ryan, James Seay, Jack Shea, Charles Sherlock, J. Lewis Smith, J.J. Smith, Joseph Darr Smith, Helene Stanley, Jack Stoney, Ray Teal, Leah Wakefield, Harlan Warde, Jack Warden, William Washington, Constance Weiler, Judith Wood, Victor Wood, Wilson Wood, Jeff York.

Recommended reading:

The Asphalt Jungle

By W. R. Burnett.

Filmed as The Asphalt Jungle (1950), directed by John Huston.

Published by Prion Books Ltd

First published 1949.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1853753467

ISBN-13: 978-1853753466

Description:

So successful in evoking [the city's] aura that the reader breathes the air of menace that emanates from its implacable personality and shivers at the unmistakeable evidence that blind chance plays a considerable part in determining the course of every life within the city's confines. – New York Times.

The Asphalt Jungle is a gripping tale of the planning and execution of a jewellery store heist in a dark and corrupt Midwestern metropolis. Set amid a seedy urban wasteland of crooks, killers and con-artists, the various members of the gang are steadily undone by personal obsessions, double-crossing and cruel fate.

First published in 1949, W.R. Burnett's hardboiled classic was made into the definitive heist movie by John Huston in 1950, starring Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe. Its screenplay, co-written by Huston was nominated for an Oscar.

A master and pioneer of the gangster genre, W.R. Burnett is the author of over thirty novels - including Little Caesar and High Sierra - and sixty screenplays. He was twice nominated for Academy Awards.

The Asphalt Jungle: A Screenplay

By Ben Maddow & John Huston.

Screenplay Library.

Published by Southern Illinois University Press.

Published 1980.

First Edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0809309467

ISBN-13: 978-0809309467

Description:

Dore Schary, then head of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, bought The Asphalt Jungle while it was still in manu­script in an effort to match the success Warner Brothers had enjoyed with Burnett’s Little Caesar and High Sierra. The choice of Ben Maddow and John Huston as screenwriters assured the artistic success of the screenplay, for few writer/directors could have matched Huston’s ability to develop these characters cinematically.

It was a case of strength building upon strength. Burnett’s fully developed characters were transformed by Maddow and Huston into a screenplay of impressive immediacy. Indeed, the portrayal of the criminals in splendid performances from Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, Sterling Hayden, James Whitmore, and Jean Hagen, led Bosley Crowther to lament, “If only it all weren’t so corrupt!” But the characters of Burnett, Maddow and Huston, don’t permit us to romanticize about them or their activities. We share their professional pride in a robbery well planned and are silent accomplices to their mutual treachery.

Born on this day – Sterling Hayden:

Sterling Hayden

Actor

Writer

March 26, 1916 – May 23, 1986

Credits:

The Blue and the Gray (1982); Venom (1981); Gas (1981); 9 to 5 (1980); The Outsider (1979); Winter Kills (1979); King of the Gypsies (1978); The Godfather Saga (1977); 1900 (1976); Is It Any Wonder? (1975); Cry, Onion (1975); Deadly Strangers (1975); Banacek (1972); The Final Programme (1973); The Starlost (1973); The Long Goodbye (1973); Le grand départ (1972); The Godfather (1972); Angel's Leap (1971); Loving (1970); Ternos Caçadores (1969); Hard Contract (1969); Carol for Another Christmas (1964); Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964); The DuPont Show of the Month (1957); Goodyear Theatre (1958); The Eighty Yard Run (Playhouse 90) (1957–1958); Ten Days to Tulara (1958); Terror in a Texas Town (1958); Schlitz Playhouse (1954–1958); General Electric Theater (1957); Zero Hour! (1957); Wagon Train (1957); Gun Battle at Monterey (1957); Valerie (1957); The Iron Sheriff (1957); Zane Grey Theatre (1957); Crime of Passion (1956); 5 Steps to Danger (1956); Celebrity Playhouse (1956); The Killing (1956); The Come On (1956); Top Gun (1955); The Last Command (1955); Shotgun (1955); The Eternal Sea (1955); Timberjack (1955); Battle Taxi (1955); Suddenly (1954); Naked Alibi (1954); Johnny Guitar (1954); Arrow in the Dust (1954); Prince Valiant (1954); Fighter Attack (1953); So Big (1953); The Philip Morris Playhouse (1953); Crime Wave (1953); Take Me to Town (1953); Kansas Pacific (1953); The Star (1952); Flat Top (1952); The Golden Hawk (1952); Hellgate (1952); Denver & Rio Grande (1952); Flaming Feather (1952); Journey Into Light (1951); The Asphalt Jungle (1950); Manhandled (1949); El Paso (1949); Variety Girl (1947); Blaze of Noon (1947); Bahama Passage (1941); Virginia (1941).

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.