On this day in movie and book history - The Great Escape (1963)

The Great Escape

directed by John Sturges,

written by James Clavell and W. R. Burnett,

based on the book by Paul Brickhill,

was released in the United States on July 2, 1963.

Music by Elmer Bernstein.

Cast:

Steve McQueen, James Garner, Richard Attenborough, James Donald, Charles Bronson, Donald Pleasence, James Coburn, Hannes Messemer, David McCallum, Gordon Jackson, John Leyton, Angus Lennie, Nigel Stock, Robert Graf, Jud Taylor, Hans Reiser, Harry Riebauer, William Russell, Robert Freitag, Ulrich Beiger, George Mikell, Lawrence Montaigne, Robert Desmond, Til Kiwe, Heinz Weiss, Tom Adams, Karl-Otto Alberty, Arthur Atkinson.

Recommended reading:

The Great Escape

by Paul Brickhill.

Filmed as The Great Escape (1963), directed by John Sturges.

Published by W. W. Norton & Company.
Published 1950.

ISBN-10: 0393325792
ISBN-13: 9780393325799
 
Description:

"One of the great true stories of the war, and one of the greatest escape narratives of all time." – San Francisco Chronicle.

"Absorbing... spine-tingling... puts the average war book so far in the shadow it's not even funny." – Dallas Times Herald.

"For sheer suspense, puts the fictioneers to shame." – Boston Globe.

"A tense, thrilling, fabulous tale." – Philadelphia Inquirer.

They were American and British air force officers in a German prison camp. With only their bare hands and the crudest of homemade tools, they sank shafts, forged passports, faked weapons, and tailored German uniforms and civilian clothes. They developed a fantastic security system to protect themselves from German surveillance.

It was a split-second operation as delicate and as deadly as a time bomb. It demanded the concentrated devotion and vigilance of more than six hundred men – every one of them, every minute, every hour, every day and night for more than a year.

Made into the classic 1963 war film of the same name starring Steve McQueen, James Garner, and Richard Attenborough.

16 pages of photographs.

On this day in movie history - The Dirty Dozen (1967)

The Dirty Dozen

directed by Robert Aldrich,

written by Nunnally Johnson and Lukas Heller,

based on the novel, by E. M. Nathanson,

was released in the United States, on June 15, 1967.

Music by Frank De Vol.

Cast:

Lee Marvin, Ernest Borgnine, Charles Bronson, Jim Brown, John Cassavetes, Richard Jaeckel, George Kennedy, Trini López, Ralph Meeker, Robert Ryan, Telly Savalas, Donald Sutherland, Clint Walker, Robert Webber, Tom Busby, Ben Carruthers, Stuart Cooper, Robert Phillips, Colin Maitland, Al Mancini, George Roubicek, Thick Wilson, Dora Reisser, Lewis Alexander, Michael Anthony, William Baskiville, Roy Beck, Cynthia Bizeray, Leo Britt, Harry Brooks Jr., Ken Buckle, Jack Carter, Alan Chuntz, Harold Coyne, Gerry Crampton, Hugh Elton, Gary Files, Suzanne Fleuret, Judith Furse, Hal Galili, Victor Gallucci, Alan Gibbs, Romo Gorrara, Willoughby Gray, Patrick Halpin, Alan Harris, Gerard Heinz, John G. Heller, George Hilsdon, John Hollis, Alf Joint, Angela Kay, Juba Kennerley, Eric Kent, John Ketteringham, Hildegard Knef, Ann Lancaster, Roy Lansford, Aileen Lewis, Dickey Luck, Richard Marner, Mark McBride, Dick Miller, John More, Lou Morgan, Norman Morris, Lionel Murton, Suzanne Owens-Duval, Joe Phelps, Edith Raye, Mike Reid, Terry Richards, Jack Ross, Gordon Ruttan, Frederick Schiller, Bunny Seaman, Michael Segal, Jack Sharp, Richard Shaw, Tony Snell, Warren Stanhope, Michael Stayner, Emile Stemmler, Michael Stevens, Bill Strange, Fred Stroud, Elliott Sullivan, John Tatham, Rocky Taylor, Burnell Tucker, Hedger Wallace, Ken Wayne, Theodore Wilhelm, Jeremy Wilkin, Fred Wood, Vicki Woolf.

On this day in movie history - Death Hunt (1981)

Death Hunt

directed by Peter Hunt,

written by Michael Grais and Mark Victor,

was released in the United States on May 21, 1981.

Music by Jerrold Immel.

Based on the true 1932 case of Albert Johnson, a.k.a. the Mad Trapper of Rat River.

Cast:

Charles Bronson, Lee Marvin, Andrew Stevens, Carl Weathers, Ed Lauter, Scott Hylands, Angie Dickinson, Henry Beckman, William Sanderson, Jon Cedar, James O’Connell, Len Lesser, Richard Davalos, Maury Chaykin, August Schellenberg, Dennis Wallace, James McIntire, Rayford Barnes, Maurice Kowalewski, Sean McCann, Steve Finkel, Denis Lacroix, Tantoo Cardinal, Amy Marie George, Steve Mirer.

On this day in movie history - Murphy's Law (1986)

Murphy's Law

directed by J. Lee Thompson,

written by Gail Morgan Hickman,

was released in the United States on April 18, 1986.

Music by Marc Donahue and Valentine McCallum.

Cast:

Charles Bronson, Kathleen Wilhoite, Carrie Snodgress, Robert F. Lyons, Richard Romanus, Angel Tompkins, Bill Henderson, James Luisi, Clifford A. Pellow, Janet MacLachlan, Lawrence Tierney, Jerome Thor, Mischa Hausserman, Cal Haynes, Hans Howes, Joseph Roman, Chris DeRose, Frank Annese, Paul McCallum, Dennis Hayden, Tony Montero, David Hayman, Lisa Vice, Janet Rotblatt, Greg Finley, Jerry Lazarus, Robert Axelrod, John Hawker, Bert Williams, Daniel D. Halleck, Randall Carver, Gerald Berns, Don Brodie, Graham Timbes, David K. Johnston, Paul McCauley, Brooks Wachtel, Richard Hochberg, John F. McCarthy, Leigh Lombardi, Charlie Brewer, Charles A. Nero, Wheeler Henderson, Frank Bove, Christopher Stanley, Linda Harwood, Nancie Clark, Michael Cooper, Dallas Hinton, C. Courtney Joyner, Shawn McBurney, Denise Schriedel.

On this day in television history - M Squad (1958)

M Squad
Season 1. Episode 30.

Episode entitled: The Fight.

Released April 18, 1958.

Directed by Don Taylor.

Written by Jack Laird and Wilton Schiller.

Music by Stanley Wilson.

 

Cast:

Lee Marvin, Charles Bronson, Rachel Ames, Rusty Lane, Paul Newlan, John Harmon, Leonard Bell.

On this day in movie history - Crime Wave (a.k.a. The City is Dark) (1953)

Crime Wave

a.k.a. The City Is Dark,

directed by Andre DeToth,

written by Bernard Gordon and Richard Wormser,

was released in the United States on January 12, 1954.

Based on the short story Criminal's Mark,

by John Hawkins and Ward Hawkins,

originally published in The Saturday Evening Post (1950).

Music by David Buttolph.

Cast:

Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk, Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson, Jay Novello, Ned Young, James Bell, Dub Taylor, Gayle Kellogg, Mack Chandler, Timothy Carey, Sandy Sanders, Richard Benjamin, James Hayward, Lyle Latell.