Sunday, December 8, 2024

Recommended reading - Big Stick-Up at Brinks (1976):


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.

Stephen King, on books:


Books are the perfect entertainment:
no commercials, no batteries, hours of enjoyment for each dollar spent.
What I wonder is why everybody doesn't carry a book around for those inevitable dead spots in life.

- Stephen King.

Saturday, December 7, 2024

On this day in movie history - Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché (2018):


Be Natural: The Untold Story of Alice Guy-Blaché,
a documentary directed by Pamela B. Green,
written by Pamela B. Green and Joan Simon,
based on the book by Alison McMahan,
was released in the United States on December 7, 2018.
Music by Peter G. Adams.
Narrated by Jodie Foster.

On this day in movie history - Cast Away (2000):


Cast Away

directed by Robert Zemeckis,
written by William Broyles Jr.,
was released in the United States on December 7, 2000.
Music by Alan Silvestri.


Cast:

Tom Hanks, Wilson the Volleyball, Helen Hunt, Paul Sanchez, Lari White, Nick Searcy, Jenifer Lewis, Geoffrey Blake, Chris Noth, Garret Davis, Vince Martin, Nan Martin, Joe Conley, Timothy Stack, Elden Henson, Steve Monroe, Valerie Wildman, Jay Acovone, Dennis Letts, Michael Forest, Viveka Davis, Jennifer Choe.

On this day in movie history - The Rookie (1990):


The Rookie

directed by Clint Eastwood,
written by Scott Spiegel and Boaz Yakin,
was released in the United States on December 7, 1990.
Music by Lennie Niehaus.


Cast:

Clint Eastwood, Charlie Sheen, Raul Julia, Sônia Braga, Tom Skerritt, Lara Flynn Boyle, Pepe Serna, Marco Rodríguez, Pete Randall, Donna Mitchell, Xander Berkeley, Tony Plana, David Sherrill, Hal Williams, Lloyd Nelson, Pat DuVal, Mara Corday, Jerry Schumacher, Matt McKenzie, Joel Polis, Rodger LaRue, Robert Dubac, Anthony Charnota, Jordan Lund, Paul Ben-Victor, Jeanne Mori, Anthony Alexander, Paul Butler, Seth Allen, Coleby Lombardo, Roberta Vasquez, Joe Farago, Robert Harvey, Nick Ballo, Jay Boryea, Marylou Kenworthy, George Orrison, James W. Gavin, Thomas H. Friedkin, Craig Hosking, Joe Casino, Kyle Eastwood, Nick Fenske, Caron Strong.

Born on this day – Tracy Wright:


Tracy Wright


Actress

December 7, 1959 – June 22, 2010

Credits:

All Hat (2007); Apartment Hunting (2000); Blind Spot (1997); Blindness (2008); Blue (1992); Book of Knives (1995); Bubbles Galore (1996); Childstar (2004); Dangerous Offender: The Marlene Moore Story (1996); Dice (2001); Dog Park (1998); Eclipse (1994); Elimination Dance (1998); Good Stuff (2001); Green Door (2008); Highway 61 (1991); It's Me Gerald (2005); Joe's So Mean to Josephine (1996); Last Night (1998); Liberty Street (1995); Manson, My Name Is Evil (2009); Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005); Midwest of Eden (2005); Monkey Warfare (2006); My Addiction (1994); My Summer Vacation (1996); Northern Town (2006); Permission (1997); Picture Claire (2001); Slings and Arrows (2005); Superstar (1999); The 2000 Canadian Comedy Awards (2000); The fires of Joanna (1998); The Five Senses (1999); The Kids in the Hall (1991); This Movie Is Broken (2010); Trigger (2010); Twitch City (1998–2000); Wake Up, Jerk Off (1993); Wasaga (1995); When Night Is Falling (1995); You Are Here (2010); Yo-Yo Ma Inspired by Bach (1997).

Born on this day – Jack Couffer:


Jack Couffer

Cinematographer

Director

Writer

December 7, 1924 – July 30, 2021