Recommended reading - The Arm (1967):

The Arm

By Clark Howard.

Filmed as The Big Town (1987), directed by Ben Bolt and Harold Becker.

First published 1967.

Published by Fawcett / Gold Medal.

ASIN: B0012513FS

Paperback.

Description:

A high-tension novel of the seething underworld of the professional crapshooter – where the women come easy and the points come hard.

Before young J.C. Cullen hit Chicago, nobody had ever heard of him. But Cully knew he had it- the cool, the guts, the skill, the magic... whatever it took to be a winner. The big-time players in Chicago had never seen anything like him. Within a week he was known in every gambling haunt in the city... every bar, brothel, striptease joint, and backroom. He was Cully the Arm, King of the crapshooters. He was hated, envied, respected... and lonely. Then he met Lorry. Beautiful, tempting, and evil as Hell. As skilled in sex as he was with dice. And far deadlier. The game she played had no rules – and no limit. Cully knew this, but he couldn't stop. Even though the stake was his own life.

Jackie Kennedy, on books and reading:

Love of books is the best of all.

– Jackie Kennedy.

On this day in movie history – Marlowe (2022 movie & novel):

Marlowe

directed by Neil Jordan,

written by William Monahan,

based on the novel The Black-Eyed Blonde by John Banville,

was released at the Donostia-San Sebastián International Film Festival in Spain on September 24, 2022.
Music by Marcelo Zarvos.

Cast:

Liam Neeson, Diane Kruger, Jessica Lange, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, Colm Meaney, Daniela Melchior, Alan Cumming, Danny Huston, Seána Kerslake, François Arnaud, Ian Hart, Anton Antoniadis, Julius Cotter, Darrell D’Silva, Kim DeLonghi, Billy Jeffries, David Lifschitz, J.M. Maciá, Patrick Muldoon, Mitchell Mullen, Rosa Rovira, Mark Schardan, Gary Anthony Stennette, Stella Stocker, Michael Strelow.

Recommended reading:

The Black Eyed Blonde

By Benjamin Black.

Filmed as Marlowe (2022), directed by Neil Jordan.

Published by Picador.

First published 2014.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 144723670X

ISBN-13: 978-1447236702

Description:

A Philip Marlowe novel.

Raymond Chandler’s incomparable private eye is back, pulled by a seductive young heiress into the most difficult and dangerous case of his career.

“It was one of those summer Tuesday afternoons when you begin to wonder if the earth has stopped revolving. The telephone on my desk had the look of something that knows it’s being watched. Traffic trickled by in the street below, and there were a few pedestrians, too, men in hats going nowhere.”

So begins The Black-Eyed Blonde, a new novel featuring Philip Marlowe – yes, that Philip Marlowe. Channeling Raymond Chandler, Benjamin Black has brought Marlowe back to life for a new adventure on the mean streets of Bay City, California. It is the early 1950s, Marlowe is as restless and lonely as ever, and business is a little slow. Then a new client is shown in: young, beautiful, and expensively dressed, she wants Marlowe to find her former lover, a man named Nico Peterson. Marlowe sets off on his search, but almost immediately discovers that Peterson’s disappearance is merely the first in a series of bewildering events. Soon he is tangling with one of Bay City’s richest families and developing a singular appreciation for how far they will go to protect their fortune.

Only Benjamin Black, a modern master of the genre, could write a new Philip Marlowe novel that has all the panache and charm of the originals while delivering a story that is as sharp and fresh as today’s best crime fiction.

Praise for The Black-Eyed Blonde:

“Somewhere Raymond Chandler is smiling, because this is a beautifully rendered hard-boiled novel that echoes Chandler’s melancholy at perfect pitch. The story is great, but what amazed me is how John Banville caught the cumulative effect Chandler’s prose had on readers. It’s hard to quatify, but it’s also what separated the Marlowe novels from the general run of noir (which included some damn fine novelists, like David Goodis and Jim Thompson). The sadness runs deep. I loved this book. It was like having an old friend, one you assumed was dead, walk into the room. Kind of like Terry Lennox, hiding behind those drapes.” – Stephen King.

“Banville channeling Chandler is irresistible – a double whammy of a mystery. Hard to think anyone could add to Chandler with profitable results. But Banville most definitely gets it done.” – Richard Ford.

On this day in music history - Pieces of Forever, by Laura Sullivan (2021):

Pieces of Forever

Album by Laura Sullivan,

released September 24, 2021.

Track list:

A Darker Season; Rest Your Sorrow, Movement 1; The Farewell Fields; Rest Your Sorrow, Movement 2; The Long Goodbye; Pieces of Forever (Prelude); Rest Your Sorrow, Movement 3; When We Were Happy; Damaged Poetry; Blue Tent Creek; Pieces of Forever (Postlude).

On this day in movie history - The Guilty (2021):

The Guilty

directed by Antoine Fuqua,

written by Nic Pizzolatto,

was released in the United States on September 24, 2021.
Based on The Guilty (2018), directed by Gustav Möller.
Music by Marcelo Zarvos.

Cast:

Jake Gyllenhaal, Riley Keough, Peter Sarsgaard, Christina Vidal, Eli Goree, Ethan Hawke, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Christiana Montoya, David Castañeda, Adrian Martinez, Oscar Balderrama, Becky Wu, Bret Eric Porter, Maurice Webster, Beau Knapp, Edi Patterson, Paul Dano, Gillian Zinser, Terence J. Rotolo, Bill Burr, Dillon Lane, Marlene Forte, Jaime FitzSimons, Aileen Burdock, Jonathan Hunt, Brad Abrell, Yeni Alvarez, Rajia Baroudi, Joe Cappelletti, Keena Ferguson, Jackson Gutierrez, Amad Jackson, Terence Mathews, Nan McNamara, Gustavo Rex, Deena Rubinson, Elia Saldana, Lloyd Sherr, Stephen Stanton, Kirk Thornton, Debra Wilson, Serah Henesey.

On this day in movie history - 2:22 (2008)

2:22

directed by Phillip Guzman,

written by Mick Rossi, Phillip Guzman and Eric Saavedra,

was released in the United States on September 24, 2008.
Music by Danny Saber.

Cast:

Mick Rossi, Robert Miano, Aaron Gallagher, Jorge A. Jimenez, Peter Dobson, Val Kilmer, Bruce Kirby, Sile Bermingham, Sean Power, Luis Caldeira, Brian Foyster, Eric Shani, Tom Knight, Laura McLean, Cheryl Meyer, Sandy Duarte, Maja Mandzuka, Manny Barbosa, Vicki Rivard, Dan Fox, Steve Boyer, Andrew Robichaud, Jean-Marc Fontaine, Christian Bako, Beverley Ellis, Kelly Ames, Donald Mitchell, Domenic Bitondo, Mathew Bitondo, James LaMarr, Angela Froese, Darrel Gamotin, Louis Rossetti, Zach Humphreys, R Austin Ball, Roberto Caprara, Mike Guzzo, Philip Roy, Phillip Guzman, Katelyn Vanier, Mike Woodbridge, Alex J. Campbell, Richard Hasan, Matthew Campbell, David M. Frost, Billy Barbosa, Frank Consiglio, Vincent Tedesco, Diego Caprara, Anna Caprara, Rolando Marcello, Katie Spencer, Serena Karson, Andrew Risi, Loraine Guzzo, Michelle Guzzo, Manuel Brito, Salvatore Cangialosi, Seymour Abramovitz, Tommy Massis, Nikola Caloger, Natali Jones, Justin Kelly, Matt Greyson, Gene Burns, Gabriel Byrne.

On this day in movie history - Michael Clayton (2007):

Michael Clayton

directed and written by Tony Gilroy,

was released in the United States on September 24, 2007.
Music by James Newton Howard.

Cast:

George Clooney, Tom Wilkinson, Michael O'Keefe, Sydney Pollack, Danielle Skraastad, Tilda Swinton, Wai Chan, Alberto Vazquez, Brian Koppelman, Tom McCarthy, Denis O'Hare, Julie White, Austin Williams, Jennifer Van Dyck, Frank Wood, Richard Hecht, Bill Raymond, Jonathan Walker, Sharon Washington, Cynthia Mace, Michael Countryman, Ken Howard, Amy Hargreaves, Susan Pellegrino, Rachel Black, Matthew Detmer, John Douglas Thompson, Merritt Wever, Brian Poteat, Christopher Mann, Edward Furs, Katherine Waterston, John Gerard Franklin, Remy Auberjonois, Pun Bandhu, Jason Strong, Robert Prescott, Paul Oquist, Terry Serpico, Heidi Armbruster, Pamela Gray, Andrew Hunter Sherman, Kevin Hagan, Julia Gibson, Sean Cullen, Susan Egbert, David Lansbury, David Zayas, Douglas McGrath, Gregory Dann, Cathy Diane, Sam Gilroy, Maggie Siff, Sarah Nichols, Susan McBrien, Jordan Lage, Neal Huff, Paul Juhn, Patrick Askin, Angelo Bonsignore, Kevin Cannon, Pat Chambers, Clem Cheung, Tony Gilroy, Emelie Jeffries, Richard Kelly, Owen Lund, Josh Mowery, Kimmy Suzuki, Robert Torres, Steven Weisz, Kenneth G. Yong.