George V. Higgins, on writing:

 You cannot write well without data.

- George V. Higgins.

Recommended reading - The Asphalt Jungle (novel & screenplay):

The Asphalt Jungle

by W. R. Burnett.

Filmed as The Asphalt Jungle (1950), directed by John Huston.

Published by Prion Books Ltd

First published 1949.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 1853753467

ISBN-13: 978-1853753466

Description:

So successful in evoking [the city's] aura that the reader breathes the air of menace that emanates from its implacable personality and shivers at the unmistakeable evidence that blind chance plays a considerable part in determining the course of every life within the city's confines. – New York Times.

The Asphalt Jungle is a gripping tale of the planning and execution of a jewellery store heist in a dark and corrupt Midwestern metropolis. Set amid a seedy urban wasteland of crooks, killers and con-artists, the various members of the gang are steadily undone by personal obsessions, double-crossing and cruel fate.

First published in 1949, W.R. Burnett's hardboiled classic was made into the definitive heist movie by John Huston in 1950, starring Sterling Hayden, Sam Jaffe and Marilyn Monroe. Its screenplay, co-written by Huston was nominated for an Oscar.

A master and pioneer of the gangster genre, W.R. Burnett is the author of over thirty novels - including Little Caesar and High Sierra - and sixty screenplays. He was twice nominated for Academy Awards.

 

The Asphalt Jungle: A Screenplay

by Ben Maddow & John Huston.

Screenplay Library.

Published by Southern Illinois University Press.

Published 1980.

First Edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0809309467

ISBN-13: 978-0809309467

Description:

Dore Schary, then head of production at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, bought The Asphalt Jungle while it was still in manu­script in an effort to match the success Warner Brothers had enjoyed with Burnett’s Little Caesar and High Sierra. The choice of Ben Maddow and John Huston as screenwriters assured the artistic success of the screenplay, for few writer/directors could have matched Huston’s ability to develop these characters cinematically.

It was a case of strength building upon strength. Burnett’s fully developed characters were transformed by Maddow and Huston into a screenplay of impressive immediacy. Indeed, the portrayal of the criminals in splendid performances from Louis Calhern, Sam Jaffe, Sterling Hayden, James Whitmore, and Jean Hagen, led Bosley Crowther to lament, “If only it all weren’t so corrupt!” But the characters of Burnett, Maddow and Huston, don’t permit us to romanticize about them or their activities. We share their professional pride in a robbery well planned and are silent accomplices to their mutual treachery.

Born on this day – Katharine Hepburn:

Katharine Hepburn

Actress

May 12, 1907 – June 29, 2003

Credits:

100 Years at the Movies (1994); 100 Years of the Hollywood Western (1994); 10th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards (2004); 20/20 / Remembering Kate (2003); 50 Years of Funny Females (1995); 60 Minutes / Katharine Hepburn (1979); A Bill of Divorcement (1932); A Delicate Balance (1973); A Night at the Movies: Merry Christmas! (2011); A Woman Rebels (1936); ABC 2000: The Millennium (1999); Adam's Rib (1949); AFI Life Achievement Award (1980); AFI's 100 Years... 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies (2001); Alice Adams (1935); All-Time Movie Greats (1988); America at the Movies (1976); American Masters (1989–2009); Aspekte (1991); Biography (1993–1999); Blow up: Le web magazine cinéma d'Arte (2020); Break of Hearts (1935); Bringing Up Baby (1938); Brother Can You Spare a Dime (1975); Call Me Kate (2023); Call the Usual Suspects: The Craft of the Character Actor (2006); Cameraman: The Life and Work of Jack Cardiff (2010); Cary Grant: A Celebration of a Leading Man (1988); Catalogue of Ships (2008); Cavalcade of the Academy Awards (1940); Christopher Strong (1933); Cinema 3 (2009); City Confidential (2007); Clive James Meets Katharine Hepburn (1985); Complicated Women (2003); Desk Set (1957); Directed by John Ford (1971); Donahue (1991); Dragon Seed (1944); Embracing Chaos: Making the African Queen (2010); Entertainment Tonight (2014–2021); Fonda on Fonda (1992); George Stevens: A Filmmaker's Journey (1984); Good Morning America (1984–1985); Grace Quigley (1984); Great Performances (1987–1988); Great Romances of the 20th Century (1999); Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967); Hannibal Hopkins & Sir Anthony (2021); Happy 100th Birthday, Hollywood (1987); Happy Accidents (2000); Headliners & Legends with Matt Lauer (1998–2008); Hidden Hollywood: Treasures from the 20th Century Fox Film Vaults (1997); History vs. Hollywood (2004); Holiday (1938); Hollywood Couples (2000); Hollywood Greats (1999); Hollywood Insider (2020); Hollywood the Golden Years: The RKO Story (1987); Hollywood: The Dream Factory (1972); Hollywood: The Gift of Laughter (1982); Hollywood: The Great Stars (1963); Hollywood: The Selznick Years (1969); Intimate Portrait (1995); Julianna: A Portrait (1984); Katharine Hepburn (2019); Katharine Hepburn: All About Me (1993); Katharine Hepburn: The Great Kate (2014); Keeper of the Flame (1942); La Marató 2005 (2005); La otra sala: Clásicos (2016); Larry King Live (2003); Laura Lansing Slept Here (1988); Legends in Light: The Photography of George Hurrell (1995); Legends of Entertainment Video (1995); Les couples mythiques du cinema (2017); Little Women (1933); Long Day's Journey Into Night (1962); Love Affair (1994); Love Among the Ruins (1975); Lucy and Desi (2022); Mary of Scotland (1936); MGM Parade (1955); MGM: When the Lion Roars (1992); Moguls & Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood (2010); Moonlighting (1987); Morning Glory (1933); Mrs. Delafield Wants to Marry (1986); MsMojo (2016–2023); New England Music Hall of Fame (2019); Night of 100 Stars III (1990); Of Black America (1968); Olly, Olly, Oxen Free (1978); On Golden Pond (1981); One Christmas (1994); One on One: Classic Television Interviews (1993); Oscar's Greatest Moments (1992); Pat and Mike (1952); Private Screenings (2005–2006); Quality Street (1937); Recordando a Katharine Hepburn (2003); Reel Herstory: The Real Story of Reel Women (2014); Reflections on the Silver Screen (1993); Rooster Cogburn (1975); S1m0ne (2002); Scotty and the Secret History of Hollywood (2017); Sendung ohne Namen (2002); Sexes (2005); Sharon Stone - Una mujer de 100 caras (1998); Six Sides of Katharine Hepburn (2018); Sixty Years of Seduction (1981); Smash His Camera (2010); Some of the Best (1949); Some of the Best: Twenty-Five Years of Motion Picture Leadership (1949); Song of Love (1947); Spécial cinéma (1986–1987); Spitfire (1934); Stage Door (1937); Stage Door Canteen (1943); Starring Katharine Hepburn (1981); State of the Union (1948); Suddenly, Last Summer (1959); Summertime (1955); Sylvia Scarlett (1935); Television Makers (1987); That's Entertainment! (1974); That's Entertainment! III (1994); That's Entertainment, Part II (1976); The 1974 Annual Entertainment Hall of Fame Awards (1974); The 24th Annual Tony Awards (1970); The 35th Annual Academy Awards (1963); The 38th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards (1986); The 40th Annual Academy Awards (1968); The 46th Annual Academy Awards (1974); The 63rd Annual Academy Awards (1991); The 65th Annual Academy Awards (1993); The 76th Annual Academy Awards (2004); The African Queen (1951); The American Creed (1946); The Barbara Walters Summer Special (1981); The Big Parade of Comedy (1964); The CBS Morning News (1986); The Corn Is Green (1979); The Costume Designer (1950); The Definitive Elvis: The Hollywood Years - Part I: 1956-1961 (2002); The Dick Cavett Show (1971–1972); The Dick Cavett Show (1973); The Film Society of Lincoln Center Tribute to George Cukor (1978); The First 100 Years: A Celebration of American Movies (1995); The Glass Menagerie (1973); The Good, the Bad & the Beautiful (1996); The Iron Petticoat (1956); The Kennedy Center Honors: A Celebration of the Performing Arts (1990); The Line King: The Al Hirschfeld Story (1996); The Lion in Winter (1968); The Little Minister (1934); The Madwoman of Chaillot (1969); The Making of a Legend: Gone with the Wind (1988); The Man Upstairs (1992); The Mike Douglas Show (1979); The Miracle of Sound (1940); The Movies (2019); The Philadelphia Story (1940); The Rainmaker (1956); The Rat Pack (1999); The Rebellious Olivia de Havilland (2021); The Roots of Roe (1993); The Schumann Story (1950); The Sea of Grass (1947); The Spencer Tracy Legacy: A Tribute by Katharine Hepburn (1986); The Tales of Helpmann (1990); The Trojan Women (1971); These Amazing Shadows (2011); This Can't Be Love (1994); This Is Your Life (1992); True Love (2003); Truman & Tennessee: An Intimate Conversation (2020); Twenty Years After (1944); Undercurrent (1946); War Stories with Oliver North (2005); What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael (2018); Without Love (1945); Woman of the Year (1942); Women in Defense (1941); You Must Remember This (2016).

Born on this day – Farley Mowat:

Farley Mowat

Writer

Environmentalist

May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014

Credits:

Books:

A Whale for the Killing (1972); Aftermath: Travels in a Post-War World (1996); And No Birds Sang (1979); Bay of Spirits: A Love Story (2006); Born Naked: The Early Adventures of the Author of Never Cry Wolf (1992); Canada North Now: The Great Betrayal (1967); Coppermine Journey: An Account of Great Adventure Selected from the Journals of Samuel Hearne (1958); Eastern Passage (2010); High Latitudes: An Arctic Journey (2002); Lost in the Barrens (1956); My Discovery of America (1985); My Father's Son: Memories of War and Peace (1993); Never Cry Wolf: The Amazing True Story of Life Among Arctic Wolves (1963); No Man's River (2004); Ordeal by Ice: The Search for the Northwest Passage (1960); Otherwise (2008); Out Among the Wolves (1993); Owls in the Family (1961); People of the Deer (1950); Rescue the Earth: Conversations with the Green Crusaders (1990); Sea of Slaughter (1984); Sibir: My Discovery of Siberia (1970); Small Boats on Green Waters (2007); The Black Joke (1962); The Boat Who Wouldn't Float (1969); The Curse of the Viking Grave (1966); The Desperate People (1957); The Dog Who Wouldn't Be (1957); The Farfarers: Before the Norse (1998); The Grey Seas Under: The Perilous Rescue Mission of a N.A. Salvage Tug (1958); The New Founde Land (1989); The Polar Passion: The Quest for the North Pole (1967); The Regiment (1974); The Serpent's Coil (1974); The Snow Walker (1975); This Rock within the Sea (1976); Tundra: Selections from the Great Accounts of Arctic Land Voyages (1973); Virunga: The Passion of Dian Fossey / Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa (1987); Wake of the Great Sealers (1973); Walking on the Land (2000).

Movies and television:

30 Years on the Frontline (2008); 90 Minutes Live (1976); A Whale for the Killing (1981); Angus (1971); Canada Remembers - Part Three: Endings and Beginnings (1995); Canada Remembers - Part Two: The Liberators (1995); Eco-Pirate: The Story of Paul Watson (2011); Finding Farley (2009); Floating After Farley (2022–2023); Life and Times (1997); Lost in the Barrens II: The Curse of the Viking Grave (1992); Magic Hour: Lost in the Barrens (1990); Make the Movie Live the Movie (2004); Never Cry Wolf (1983); Ocean Warrior (1981); Pirate for the Sea (2008); Telescope (1964); Telescope (1966–1970); Ten Days to Victory (2005); Ten Million Books: An Introduction to Farley Mowat (1981); The New North with Farley Mowat (1987); The Snow Walker (2003); View from the Typewriter (1993).

Born on this day – George Carlin:

George Carlin

Comedian

Actor

Writer

May 12, 1937 – June 22, 2008

Born on this day – Lar Park Lincoln:

Lar Park Lincoln

Actress

May 12, 1961 – April 22, 2025

Credits:

Ghost Party (2022); Rose Blood: A Friday the 13th Fan Film (2021); Autumn Road (2021); 13 Fanboy (2021); The Jimmy Star Show with Ron Russell (2021); Slasher Scotty (2021); Brain Burrow: Digging Deep into Psychology and Horror (2021); Black Easter (2021); CF3: Cult Fans, Films & Finds (2020); Assassin 33 A.D. (2020); Expulsion (2020); Sky Sharks (2020); Harvest (2019); Hollywood and Beyond with Steven Brittingham (2018); It's Getting Weirder! The Making of 'House II' (2017); The Pitch (2014); Crystal Lake Memories: The Complete History of Friday the 13th (2013); The Dancer (2011); Texas Frightmare Weekend 2010 (2010); Jason's Destroyer: The Making of Friday the 13th Part VII - The New Blood (2009); His Name Was Jason: 30 Years of Friday the 13th (2009); Friday the 13th: The New Blood (2009); Gravestoned (2009); From the Dark (2009); Inspector Mom: Kidnapped in Ten Easy Steps (2007); Texas Frightmare Weekend 2006 (2006); ThanXgiving (2006); City of Justice (2005); Crystal Lake Victims Tell All (2004); Beverly Hills, 90210 (1995); Space: Above and Beyond (1995); The Knots Landing Block Party (1993); Murder, She Wrote (1992); Knots Landing (1987–1991); Fatal Charm (1990); Tour of Duty (1989); Freddy's Nightmares (1988); Friday the 13th: The New Blood (1988); Highway to Heaven (1987); Ohara (1987); House II: The Second Story (1987); The Princess Academy (1987); Outlaws (1986); Hunter (1987); Heart of the City (1986); Children of the Night (1985). 

Born on this day – Kalen Gorman:

 

Kalen Gorman

Producer

Director

May 12, 1965 – September 24, 2024

Credits:

Access Hollywood (1996); America's Most Talented Kids (2003–2005); Inside Look: Feud - Bette and Joan (2017); Keepin' It Real with Keke Palmer (2019); Ladies First with Grace Helbig (2019); Making a Scene (2007–2008); Manhunt: The Search for America's Most Gorgeous Male Model (2004); Meet Jigsaw: Behind the Scenes of 'Punisher: War Zone' (2009); On the Set: Ratatouille (2007); Resurrection: Prison Break (2017); Rock Star: INXS (2005); Second Chance: America's Most Talented Senior (2003); Showbiz Moms & Dads (2004); Step By Step With Matt Steffanina (2019); The Making of 'Punisher: War Zone' (2009); The Martin Short Show (1999–2000); The Punisher: Creating the Look (2009); The Punisher: Training to Become the Punisher (2009); The Punisher: Weapons of the Punisher (2009); Weakest Link (2001–2002); Worst Firsts with Brittany Furlan (2019); You Rock with... (2003).

On this day in movie history - The Asphalt Jungle (1950)

The Asphalt Jungle

directed by John Huston,

written by Ben Maddow and John Huston,

based on the novel by W. R. Burnett,

was released in the United States on May 12, 1950.

Music by Miklós Rózsa.

Cast:

Sterling Hayden, Louis Calhern, Jean Hagen, James Whitmore, Sam Jaffe, John McIntire, Marc Lawrence, Barry Kelley, Anthony Caruso, Teresa Celli, Marilyn Monroe, William Davis, Dorothy Tree, Brad Dexter, John Maxwell, Mary Anderson, Ray Bennett, David Bond, Chet Brandenburg, Benny Burt, Harry G. Butcher, Frank Cady, Jean Carter, Mack Chandler, David Clarke, John Cliff, Harry Cody, Gene Coogan, Henry Corden, Chuck Courtney, John Crawford, Ralph Dunn, Gene Evans, Pat Flaherty, Alex Gerry, Sol Gorss, Fred Graham, William Haade, Don Haggerty, Eloise Hardt, Thomas Browne Henry, Wesley Hopper, George Lynn, Ethel Lyons, Fred Marlow, Strother Martin, Patricia Miller, Howard M. Mitchell, Ralph Montgomery, Alberto Morin, Kerry O’Day, Raymond Roe, Henry Rowland, Tim Ryan, James Seay, Jack Shea, Charles Sherlock, J. Lewis Smith, J.J. Smith, Joseph Darr Smith, Helene Stanley, Jack Stoney, Ray Teal, Leah Wakefield, Harlan Warde, Jack Warden, William Washington, Constance Weiler, Judith Wood, Victor Wood, Wilson Wood, Jeff York.

On this day in movie history - Capone (2020)

Capone

directed and written by Josh Trank,

was released in the United States on May 12, 2020.

Music by El-P.

Cast:

Tom Hardy, Linda Cardellini, Matt Dillon, Al Sapienza, Kathrine Narducci, Noel Fisher, Gino Cafarelli, Mason Guccione, Jack Lowden, Kyle MacLachlan, Rose Bianco, Manny Fajardo, Christopher Bianculli, Edgar Arreola, Jhemma Ziegler, CG Lewis, David Wachs, Tilda Del Toro, Wayne Pére, Josh Trank, Neal Brennan, Jason Edwards, Caiden Acurio, Mason Rozas, Emma Kathryn Coleman, Tara Marie Foy, Reed Luckett Wiley, Troy Anderson, Andreanna L Jenson, Tony Beard, Silas Borelly, Patti Brindley, Rebecca Chulew, Samantha Czosnek, Macey DePaula, Julia Holt, Bruce Jesse Mattson, Michael McQuillan, Christopher Morris, Carl Anthony Nespoli,Jack Reeder, Candace Reuter, Ivan Salvatore, Natalie Sibille, Cameron Stout, Sue-Lynn.

On this day in movie history - The Jane Mysteries: Inheritance Lost (2023)

The Jane Mysteries: Inheritance Lost

directed by Marco Deufemia,

written by Neale Kimmel,

based on the Jane da Silva series of novels by K. K. Beck,

was released in the United States on May 12, 2023.

Music by Steph Copeland.

Cast:

Jodie Sweetin, Stephen Huszar, Paris Jefferson, Rob Stewart, Martin Roach, Danielle Smith, Rebecca Lamarche, Brian Cook, Jas Dhanda, Tonjha Richardson, Angelo Grey, Bebsabe Duque, Patrick Dussault, Michael Morrone, Kari Wong, Laiko Foroughi.