On this day in movie history - The Longest Yard (1974):

The Longest Yard

aka The Mean Machine,

directed by Robert Aldrich,

written by Tracy Keenan Wynn,

based on a story by Albert S. Ruddy,

was released in the United States on August 21, 1974.
Music by Frank De Vol.

Cast:

Burt Reynolds, Eddie Albert, Ed Lauter, Michael Conrad, James Hampton, Harry Caesar, John Steadman, Charles Tyner, Mike Henry, Jim Nicholson, Bernadette Peters, Pervis Atkins, Tony Cacciotti, Anitra Ford, Michael Fox, Joe Kapp, Richard Kiel, Pepper Martin, Mort Marshall, Ray Nitschke, Tony Reese, Sonny Sixkiller, Robert Tessier, Dino Washington, Ernie Wheelwright, Joe Dorsey, Gus Carlucci, Jack Rockwell, Sonny Shroyer, Ray Ogden, Don Ferguson, Chuck Hayward, Alfie Wise, Steve Wilder, George A. Jones, Wilbur Gillian, Wilson Warren, Joe Jackson, Howard Silverstein, Donald Hixon.

Born on this day – Hugh Wilson:

Hugh Wilson

Director

Writer

August 21, 1943 – January 14, 2018

Born on this day – Frank Perry:

Frank Perry

Director

Writer

Producer

Actor

August 21, 1930 – August 29, 1995

Credits:

ABC Stage 67 (1966); Adventures in Rainbow Country (1969); Among the Paths to Eden (1967); Compromising Positions (1985); David and Lisa (1962); Diary of a Mad Housewife (1970); 'Doc' (1971); Dummy (1979); Faye (2024); Federico Fellini - un autoritratto ritrovato (2000); Festival of Family Classics (1973); Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (1957); Hello Again (1987); Howard K. Smith (1963); Island Women (1958); J.F.K.: A One-Man Show (1984); Ladybug Ladybug (1963); Last Summer (1969); Man on a Swing (1974); Mommie Dearest (1981); Monsignor (1982); Moving Image Salutes Sidney Lumet (1985); On the Bridge (1992); Play It As It Lays (1972); Playwright at Work (1961–1962); Rancho Deluxe (1975); Skag (1980); The 68th Annual Academy Awards (1996); The David Frost Show (1970–1971); The Dick Cavett Show (1971); The Merv Griffin Show (1970); The Story of the Swimmer (2014); The Swimmer (1968); The Thanksgiving Visitor (1968); The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1970); Today (1973); Trilogy (1969).

Born on this day – Friz Freleng:

Friz Freleng

Animator

Cartoonist

Director

Producer

Composer

August 21, 1905 – May 26, 1995

Born on this day – Albert S. Rogell:

Albert S. Rogell

Director

August 21, 1901 – April 7, 1988

Credits:

A Damsel in Distress (1937); Air Hawks (1935); Air Hostess (1933); Aloha (1931); Among the Missing (1934); Argentine Nights (1940); Atlantic Adventure (1935); Below the Sea (1933); Broken Arrow (1957–1958); Buster Keaton: A Hard Act to Follow (1987); Butch Minds the Baby (1942); Carnival Boat (1932); Cheyenne (1929); City Streets (1938); Courageous Fool (1925); Crack o' Dawn (1925); Cyclone Cavalier (1925); Desperate Chances (1921); Double Reward (1922); Earl Carroll Sketchbook (1946); East of Fifth Avenue (1933); Easy Money (1925); Escape from Devil's Island (1935); Fighting Fate (1925); Fog (1933); For Love or Money (1939); Fugitive Lady (1934); Galloping Gallagher (1924); Geared to Go (1924); Goat Getter (1925); Grand Jury (1936); Grinning Guns (1927); Hawaiian Nights (1939); Heaven Only Knows (1947); His Brother's Blood (1922); Hit Parade of 1943 (1943); Hollywood (1980); I Can't Give You Anything But Love, Baby (1940); In Old Oklahoma (1943); Jail House Blues (1942); Laugh It Off (1939); Lightning Romance (1924); Li'l Abner (1940); Love, Honor and Goodbye (1945); Mamba (1930); Men of Daring (1927); Men of the Night (1926); Murder in Greenwich Village (1937); My Friend Flicka (1956); Name the Woman (1934); No Man's Gold (1922); No More Women (1934); North of Nevada (1924); Northwest Stampede (1948); Painted Faces (1929); Phantom of the Hills (1922); Priorities on Parade (1942); Private Affairs (1940); Public Enemies (1941); Red Hot Leather (1926); Roaming Lady (1936); Rough and Ready (1927); Sailors on Leave (1941); Senor Daredevil (1926); Shadow of Fear (1955); Sleepytime Gal (1942); Somewhere in Sonora (1927); Song of India (1949); Start Cheering (1938); Streak of Yellow (1922); Suicide Fleet (1931); Super Speed (1925); Sweepstakes (1931); Tangled Trails (1921); The 20th Century-Fox Hour (1956–1957); The Admiral Was a Lady (1950); The Black Cat (1941); The California Mail (1929); The Canyon of Adventure (1928); The Circus Cyclone (1925); The Claim Jumpers (1922); The Danger Point (1922); The Dangerous Coward (1924); The Devil's Saddle (1927); The Eagle Man (1921); The Fear Fighter (1925); The Fighter of Diamond X (1921); The Fighting Sap (1924); The Fighting Three (1927); The Flying Marine (1929); The Ford Television Theatre (1956); The Glorious Trail (1928); The Greatest Menace (1923); The Hell Cat (1934); The Knockout Kid (1925); The Last Warning (1938); The Lone Wolf in Paris (1938); The Lone Wolf's Daughter (1929); The Magnificent Rogue (1946); The Man from the West (1926); The Mask of Lopez (1924); The Midlanders (1920); The Overland Stage (1927); The Patent Leather Pug (1925); The Phantom City (1928); The Queen of Hearts (1921); The Ranch Mystery (1921); The Red Raiders (1927); The Rider of Death Valley (1932); The Shepherd of the Hills (1928); The Silent Stranger (1924); The Snob Buster (1925); The Sphinx (1933); The Stranger (1921); The Sunset Derby (1927); The Tip-Off (1931); The Unknown Cavalier (1926); The Upland Rider (1928); The Western Rover (1927); The Western Whirlwind (1927); The Wrecker (1933); Thundering Hoofs (1924); Tight Shoes (1941); True to the Army (1942); Unknown Woman (1935); West Meets East (1922); You May Be Next! (1936); Youth on Parade (1942); Youth's Gamble (1925).

Recommended reading - The Revenant (2002):

The Revenant

By Michael Punke.

Published by Picador.

Movie tie-in edition published in 2015.

Published 2002.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 9781250072689

ISBN-13: 978-1250072689

Description:

Read the book that inspired to major motion picture.

A thrilling tale of betrayal and revenge set against the nineteenth-century American frontier, the astonishing story of real-life trapper and frontiersman Hugh Glass.

The year is 1823, and the trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is among the company’s finest men, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker. But when a scouting mission puts him face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. Two company men are dispatched to stay behind and tend to Glass before he dies. When the men rob and abandon him instead, Glass is driven to survive by one desire: revenge. With shocking grit and determination, Glass sets out, crawling at first, across hundreds of miles of uncharted American frontier. Based on a true story, The Revenant is a remarkable tale of obsession, the human will stretched to its limits, and the lengths that one man will go to for retribution.

“The makings of a western classic, Michael Punke's novel The Revenant provides muscle and sinew to the vengeful and epic tale of mountain man Hugh Glass that even a sow Grizzly couldn't rend asunder.” – Craig Johnson, author of the Walt Longmire novels.

“One of the great tales of the nineteenth-century West.” – The Salt Lake Tribune.

Ruth Rendell, on reading:

Some say life is the thing,

but I prefer reading.

- Ruth Rendell.