On this day in movie history - The Brink’s Job (1978 movie & book):

The Brink’s Job

directed William Friedkin,

written by Walon Green,

based on the book Big Stick-Up at Brinks by Noel Behn,

was released in the United States on December 8, 1978.
Music by Richard Rodney Bennett.

Cast:

Peter Falk, Peter Boyle, Allen Garfield, Warren Oates, Gena Rowlands, Paul Sorvino, Sheldon Leonard, Gerard Murphy, Kevin O'Connor, Claudia Peluso, Patrick Hines, Malachy McCourt, Walter Klavun, Randy Jurgensen, John Brandon, Robert Prosky.

Recommended reading:

Big Stick-Up at Brinks

By Noel Behn.

First published 1976.

Published by Putnam.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0399118977

ISBN-13: 978-0399118975

Description:

A riveting and frequently hilarious insider account of one of the twentieth century’s most outrageous capers.

On the evening of January 17, 1950, armed robbers wearing Captain Marvel masks entered the Brink’s Armored Car building in Boston, Massachusetts. They walked out less than an hour later with more than $2.7 million in cash and securities. It was a brazen and expertly executed theft that captured the imaginations of millions of Americans and baffled the FBI and local law enforcement officials.

But what appeared on the surface to be the perfect crime was, in fact, the end result of a mind-boggling series of mistakes, miscalculations, and missteps. The men behind the masks were not expert bank robbers but a motley crew of small-time crooks who bumbled their way into a record-breaking payday and managed to elude the long arm of the law for six years.

New York Times bestselling author Noel Behn tape-recorded nearly one thousand hours of interviews with the surviving robbers, including motormouthed mastermind Tony Pino, a character so colorful he might have been dreamed up by a Hollywood screenwriter, to tell the uncensored story of the heist forever known as “the Great Brink’s Robbery.” Fun and suspenseful from first page to last, Behn’s true-crime classic was the basis for The Brink’s Job (1978), the Academy Award–nominated film directed by William Friedkin and starring Peter Falk and Peter Boyle.

“It had me riveted with suspense, but it also made me laugh until I got hiccups.” – Cosmopolitan.

“A King Kong of crime entertainment . . . that no movie could match . . . The Brink’s job [was] a kind of D-Day event in the annals of crime . . . Glorious.” – Kirkus Reviews.

“One minute you’re laughing your head off. The next minute you chill with fear. Crooks and crime at their best. Pure magic!” – Harold Robbins.

“The best book about criminals ever written, a rich and beautiful depiction of their lives as well as their work, a book that elevates them from moving-picture types to complete, vivid humans. Noel Behn has taken one of the most extraordinary crimes of the century and turned it into a living tapestry. It’s a wonderful book.” – Paddy Chayefsky, Academy Award–winning screenwriter of Network.

“Reads like a Hollywood screenplay, except that it really happened.” – John Barkham Reviews.

On this day in movie history - Chandler (1971):

Chandler

directed by Paul Magwood,

written by John Sacret Young,

based on a story by Paul Magwood,

was released in the United States on December 1, 1971.
Music by George Romanis.

Cast:

Warren Oates, Leslie Caron, Alex Dreier, Mitchell Ryan, Gordon Pinsent, Charles McGraw, Richard Loo, Gloria Grahame, Royal Dano, Walter Burke, Marianne McAndrew, Scatman Crothers, Lal Baum, Charles Shull, John Mitchum, James Sikking, Vickery Turner, Ray Kellogg, Ernest Lawrence, Eugene Jackson, Eddie Marks, Frederick Stanley II.

On this day in movie history - The Shooting (1966):

The Shooting

directed by Monte Hellman,

written by Carole Eastman (writing as Adrien Joyce),

was released at the San Francisco Film Festival in the United States on October 23, 1966.
Music by Richard Markowitz.

Cast:

Will Hutchins, Millie Perkins, Jack Nicholson, Warren Oates, Charles Eastman, Guy El Tsosie, Brandon Carroll, B.J. Merholz, Wally K. Berns, William Mackleprang, James Campbell.

On this day in movie history - Badlands (1973):

Badlands

directed and written by Terrence Malick,

was released in the United States on October 15, 1973.
Inspired by the true Charles Starkweather case (1957-58).
Music by George Tipton, Carl Orff and James Taylor.

Cast:

Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates, Ramon Bieri, Alan Vint, Gary Littlejohn, John Carter, Bryan Montgomery, Gail Threlkeld, Charles Fitzpatrick, Howard Ragsdale, John Womack Jr., Dona Baldwin, Ben Bravo, Emilio Estevez, Li Po Lung, Terrence Malick, Charlie Sheen.

On this day in movie history - In the Heat of the Night (1967):

In the Heat of the Night

directed by Norman Jewison,

written by Stirling Silliphant,

based on the novel by John Ball,

was released in the United States on August 2, 1967.
Music by Quincy Jones.
Theme song In the Heat of the Night written by Alan Bergman and Marilyn Bergman.
Sung by Ray Charles.

Cast:

Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, Lee Grant, Larry Gates, James Patterson, William Schallert, Beah Richards, Peter Whitney, Kermit Murdock, Larry D. Mann, Matt Clark, Arthur Malet, Fred Stewart, Quentin Dean, Scott Wilson, Timothy Scott, William C. Watson, Eldon Quick, Stuart Nisbet, Khalil Bezaleel, Peter Masterson, Jester Hairston, Phil Adams, Nikita Knatz, Sam Reese, Anthony James, Clegg Hoyt, Alan Oppenheimer, Buzz Barton.

Born on this day – Warren Oates:

Warren Oates

Actor

July 5, 1928 – April 3, 1982

On this day in movie history - Dillinger (1973):

Dillinger

directed and written by John Milius,

was released in the United States on June 19, 1973.
Song on opening credits: We’re in the Money, from Golddiggers of 1933.

Music by Barry De Vorzon.

Cast:

Warren Oates, Ben Johnson, Michelle Phillips, Cloris Leachman, Harry Dean Stanton, Geoffrey Lewis, John Ryan, Richard Dreyfuss, Steve Kanaly, John Martino, Roy Jenson, Read Morgan, Frank McRae, Ann Ault, David Dorr, Roland Bob Harris, George O. Heath, Tina Gae Johnson, Terry Leonard, Melvin Ray McGee, Phil Segura, Jerry Summers, Catherine Tambini.