On this day in movie history - Hard Times (1975)

Hard Times

a.k.a. The Streetfighter

directed by Walter Hill,

written by Walter Hill, Bryan Gindoff and Bruce Henstell,

based on a story by Bryan Gindoff and Bruce Henstell,

was released in France on August 13, 1975.

Music by Barry De Vorzon.

Cast:

Charles Bronson, James Coburn, Jill Ireland, Strother Martin, Margaret Blye, Michael McGuire, Felice Orlandi, Edward Walsh, Bruce Glover, Robert Tessier, Nick Dimitri, Frank McRae, Maurice Kowalewski, Naomi Stevens, Lyla Hay Owen, John Creamer, Robert Castleberry, Becky Allen, Joan Kleven, Anne Welsch, Fred Lerner, Jimmy Nickerson, Chuck Hicks, Walter Scott, Max Kleven, Valerian Smith, Bob Minor, Larry Martindale, Charles W. Schaefer Jr., Leslie Bonano, Ronnie Philips, Greater Liberty Baptist Church Choir and Congregation, Ron Centanni, M.C. Gainey, Brion James, Laura Misch Owens.

On this day in movie history - The Stone Killer (1973)

The Stone Killer

directed by Michael Winner,

written by Gerald Wilson,

based on the novel A Complete State of Death by John Gardner,

was released in the United States on August 8, 1973.

Music by Roy Budd.

Cast:

Charles Bronson, Martin Balsam, Jack Colvin, Paul Koslo, Norman Fell, David Sheiner, Stuart Margolin, Ralph Waite, Alfred Ryder, Walter Burke, Kelley Miles, Eddie Firestone, Charles Tyner, Byron Morrow, Lisabeth Hush, Frank Campanella, Gene Woodbury, Robert Emhardt, David Moody, John Ritter, Mary Cross, Harry Basch, Tom Falk, Jan Arvan, Barry Cahill, Richard Armbruster, Ed Madsen, Arthur French, William J. Daprato, Hy Anzell, Ta-Tanisha, Hoke Howell, Hunter von Leer, Sam Locante, Norman D. Wilson, Larry J. Blake, Frenchia Guizon, Denny Arnold, Roberta Collins, Jack English, John Hudkins, Ernie F. Orsatti, Christa Raines, Chuck Roberson, Angelo Rossitto, Lew Sleeman, Robert Snively.

On this day in movie history - Death Wish (1974)

Death Wish

directed by Michael Winner,

written by Wendell Mayes,

based on the novel by Brian Garfield,

was released in the United States on July 24, 1974.

Music by Herbie Hancock.

Cast:

Charles Bronson, Hope Lange, Vincent Gardenia, William Redfield, Chris Gampel, Steven Keats, Stuart Margolin, Stephen Elliott, Fred J. Scollay, Kathleen Tolan, Jack Wallace, Robert Kya-Hill, Jeff Goldblum, Christopher Logan, Gregory Rozakis, Christopher Guest, Hank Garrett, Helen Martin, Olympia Dukakis, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Edward Grover, Saul Rubinek, John Herzfeld, Eric Laneuville, Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Sonia Manzano, Tom Hayden, Al Lewis, Billy Curtis, Paul Dooley, Robert Miano, William Bogert.

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.