On this day in movie history - Violent Road (1958)

 

Violent Road

a.k.a. Hell's Highway,

directed by Howard W. Koch,

written by Richard H. Landau and Don Martin,

based on the novel Le Salaire de la peur (The Salary of Fear) by Georges Arnaud,

was released in the United States on May 10, 1958.

Music by Leith Stevens.

Cast:

Brian Keith, Dick Foran, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Merry Anders, Sean Garrison, Joanna Barnes, Perry Lopez, Arthur Batanides, Ed Prentiss, Ann Doran, John Dennis, Susan Adams, Robert Alderette, Peter Brown, John Caler, Bud Cokes, Joe Connors, Charmienne Harker, Dennis Holmes, Pat Lawless, Jack Lomas, Asa Maynor, Gil Perkins, Joel Smith, Venetia Stevenson, John Veitch, Robert B. Williams.

Recommended reading - The Wages of Fear (1950)

The Wages of Fear

Original title: Le Salaire de la peur.

By Georges Arnaud.

Originally published in 1950.

This English language translation edition was published in 1968.

Paperback.

Avon edition.

ASIN: B000VDT4KS

Description:

Las Piedras, beaching port. There are hundreds of them, coming from who knows where, to forget the impasse of their existence in the tropics. For a handful of dollars, these low-rankers are ready to do anything. Ready to face kilometers of impassable track, behind the wheel of a dilapidated truck, to transport nitroglycerin. At the slightest deviation, at the slightest shock, it is death. An epic of pure anguish...

Book cover artwork from other editions:

Born on this day – Georges Arnaud:

 

Georges Arnaud

Writer

July 16, 1917 – March 4, 1987

Credits: 

Books:

Chroniques du crime et de l'innocence (1982); Indiens des hauts plateau (1952); Indiens pas morts (1956); Juste avant l'aube, in collaboration with Jean Anglade (1990); La Plus Grande Pente (1961); L'Affaire Peiper: plus qu'un fait divers (1978); Le Salaire de la peur (1950); Le Voyage du mauvais larron (1951 / 1987); Les Aveux les plus doux (1954); Les Oreilles sur le dos (1953 / 1974); Lumière de soufre (1952); Maréchal P... (1958); Mon procès (1961); Pour Djamila Bouhired (1957); Préface within The Murder of Roger Ackroyd of Agatha Christie (1961); Prisons 53 (1953); Schtibilem 1941 (1953).

Movies and television:

Décembre (1973); Les aveux les plus doux (1971); Les oreilles sur le dos (2002); Robert Montgomery Presents (1954); Sorcerer (1977); The Wages of Fear (1953 / 2024); Violent Road / aka Hell's Highway (1958).