On this day in movie history - Darker Than Amber (1970)

Darker Than Amber

directed by Robert Clouse,

written by Ed Waters,

based on the novel by John D. MacDonald,

was released in the United States on August 12, 1970.

Music by John Carl Parker.

Cast:

Rod Taylor, Theodore Bikel, Suzy Kendall, Ahna Capri, William Smith, Janet MacLachlan, Robert Phillips, Jane Russell, James Booth, Oswaldo Calvo, Sherry Faber, Marcia Knight, James H. Frysinger, Harry A. Wood, Jack Nagle, Judy Wallace, Michael DeBeausset, Jeff Gillen, Chris Robinson, Warren Bauer, Wayne Bauer, Don Schoff, Ted Swanson.

  

Recommended reading - The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction (1996)

 

The Mammoth Book of Pulp Fiction (1996).

Hardboiled writing from Dashiell Hammett, Donald E. Westlake, Mickey Spillane, John D. MacDonald, Jim Thompson and many more…Edited by Maxim Jakubowski.

Mammoth Books.
 
ISBN-10: 0786703008
ISBN-13: 978-0786703005
 
Back cover description:
 
Fast action and wild, wild pleasure: a massive collection of seven decades of pure, unadulterated pulp fiction.

The paper may have yellowed and crumbled away but the stories and a thousand thrills still hit the spot. Join the shady operators, voluptuous molls, ruthless big shots, crooked and sometimes honest cops on a rollercoaster ride through the mean streets of popular literature in the company of such superlative writers as: Dashiell Hammett, Donald E. Westlake, Ross Macdonald, Charles Willeford, David Goodis, Frederic Brown, Robert Bloch, Karlan Ellison, John D. MacDonald, Jim Thompson, William P. McGivern, Lawrence Block, Bill Pronzini, Mickey Spillane.

And twenty other leading lights of the hardboiled school of writing, as the action moves back from the silver screen to the pages where it all began. Just watch out for open windows and flying bullets!

 

Contents:

Acknowledgements; Introduction; Too Many Have Lived, by Dashiell Hammett; Flight to Nowhere, by Charles Williams; Black, by Paul Cain; Finders Killers! by John D. MacDonald; Murder’s Mandate, by W. T. Ballard; Cigarette Girl, by James M. Cain; The Getaway, by Gil Brewer; Preview of Murder, by Robert Leslie Bellem; Forever After, by Jim Thompson; The Bloody Tide, by Day Keene; Death Comes Gift-Wrapped, by William P. McGivern; The Girl Behind the Hedge, by Mickey Spillane; Enter Scarface, by Armitage Trail; A Candle for the Bag Lady, by Lawrence Block; Black Pudding, by David Goodis; A Matter of Principal, by Max Allan Collins; Citizen’s Arrest, by Charles Willeford; Sleeping Dog, by Ross Macdonald; The Wench is Dead, by Fredric Brown; So Dark for April, by Howard Browne; We Are All Dead, by Bruno Fischer; Death is a Vampire, by Robert Bloch; Divide and Conquer, by Jack Ritchie; A Real Nice Guy, by William F. Nolan; Stacked Deck, by Bill Pronzini; So Young, So Fair, So Dead, by John Lutz; Effective Medicine, by B. Traven; Killing Bernstein, by Harlan Ellison; The Second Coming, by Joe Gores; Hibiscus and Homicide, by William Campbell Gault; Hell on Wheels, by Thomas S. Roche; Ordo, by Donald E. Westlake.

Born on this day – John D. MacDonald:

Writer

July 24, 1916 – December 28, 1986

Credits:

Books:

A Bullet for Cinderella (1955); A Deadly Shade of Gold (1965); A Flash of Green (1962); A Key to the Suite (1962); A Man of Affairs (1957); A Purple Place for Dying (1964); A Tan and Sandy Silence (1971); Alaska Stories (1995); All These Condemned (1954); April Evil (1956); Area of Suspicion (1954); Ballroom of the Skies (1952); Barrier Island (1986); Border Town Girl / Five Star Fugitive / Linda (1956); Bright Orange for the Shroud (1965); Cancel All Our Vows (1953); Cape Cod Stories (2002); Chicago Stories (1993); Cinnamon Skin (1982); Clemmie (1958); Condominium (1977); Contrary Pleasure (1954); Cry Hard, Cry Fast (1955); Dark Crimes 2 (1993); Darker Than Amber (1966); Dead Low Tide (1953); Deadly Welcome (1965); Death Quotient and Other Stories (2010); Death Trap (1957); Dress Her in Indigo (1969); End of the Tiger and Other Stories (1966); Florida Stories (1993); Free Fall in Crimson (1981); Hard-Boiled Detectives (1953); Hurricane (2014); I Could Go on Singing (1963); In a Small Motel (2017); Judge Me Not (1951); Law and Order (1997); Los Angeles Stories (1991); Lust: Lascivious Love Stories and Passionate Poems (1994); Masters of Noir (2010); More Good Old Stuff (1984); Murder for the Bride (1951); Murder in the Wind / Hurricane (1956); Murder Most Merry (2002); Murder Run-Around (2015); Neon Jungle (1953); New Orleans Stories (1992); Nightmare in Pink (1964); No Deadly Drug (1968); On the Make (1955); On the Run (1962); One Fearful Yellow Eye (1966); One Monday We Killed Them All (1961); One More Sunday (1984); Other Times, Other Worlds (1978); Pale Gray for Guilt (1968); Planet of the Dreamers (1953); Please Write for Details (1959); San Francisco Stories (1990); San Francisco Thrillers (1995); Seven (1971); Slam the Big Door (1960); Soft Touch (1958); Southwest Stories (1993); Space Suits & Gumshoes (1972); Texas Stories (1995); The Beach Girls (1959); The Brass Cupcake (1950); The Crossroads (1959); The Damned (1952); The Deceivers (1958); The Deep Blue Good-By (1964); The Dreadful Lemon Sky (1974); The Drowner (1963); The Empty Copper Sea (1978); The Empty Trap (1957); The End of the Night (1960); The Executioners / aka Cape Fear (1958); The Girl in the Plain Brown Wrapper (1968); The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1962); The Good Old Stuff (1961); The Green Ripper (1979); The Last One Left (1967); The Late Great Future (1976); The Lonely Silver Rain (1984); The Long Lavender Look (1970); The Only Girl in the Game (1960); The Price of Murder (1972); The Quick Red Fox (1964); The Scarlet Ruse (1972); The Turquoise Lament (1973); Tomorrow 1 Science Fiction by the Masters (1971); Two (1983); Weep For Me (1951); What Christmas Did for Jerusha Grumble (2019); Where is Janice Gantry? (1961); Wine of the Dreamers (1951); Worlds to Come: New Science Fiction Adventures (1967); You Live Once / Kill Me (1959).

Movies and television: 

ABC Stage 67 (1967); Cape Fear (1962 / 1991); Chevron Hall of Stars (1956); Climax! (1955); Condominium (1980); Darker Than Amber (1970); Flash of Green (1984); Kona Coast (1968); Kraft Suspense Theatre (1964); Lights Out (1950); Linda (1973 / 1993); Man-Trap (1961); Out There (1951); Run for Your Life (1967–1968); Schlitz Playhouse (1955); Studio 57 (1958); Studio One (1955 / 1957); Tales from the Darkside (1985); Tales of Tomorrow (1951); The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962); The Girl, the Gold Watch & Dynamite (1981); The Girl, the Gold Watch & Everything (1980); The Star and the Story (1955); The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1968); Thriller (1960); Travis McGee (1983).

Recommended reading - Five Complete Travis McGee Novels (1985)

 

Five Complete Travis McGee Novels (1985).

by John D. MacDonald.

 
Avenel Books.
Published in 1985.
Hardcover.
 
ISBN-10: 0517476711
ISBN-13: 978-0517476710
 
Omnibus edition, containing the books: A Tan and Sandy Silence; The Dreadful Lemon Sky; The Empty Copper Sea; The Green Ripper; Free Fall in Crimson.
Complete & Unabridged.