On this day in movie and book history - El Dorado (1966)

El Dorado

directed by Howard Hawks,

written by Leigh Brackett,

based on the novel The Stars in Their Courses by Harry Brown,

was released in the United States on June 30, 1967.

Music by Nelson Riddle.

Cast:

John Wayne, Robert Mitchum, James Caan, Charlene Holt, Paul Fix, Arthur Hunnicutt, Michele Carey, R.G. Armstrong, Edward Asner, Christopher George, Marina Ghane, Robert Donner, John Gabriel, Johnny Crawford, Robert Rothwell, Adam Roarke, Victoria George, Jim Davis, Anne Newman Bacal, Diane Strom, Olaf Wieghorst, Richard Andrade, Danny Borzage, Charlita, Don Collier, Enrique Contreras, Chuck Courtney, Linda Dangcil, Alphonso DuBois, Nacho Galindo, Joe Garcio, Betty Jane Graham, Robert ‘Buzz’ Henry, William Henry, Lars Hensen, Riley Hill, Chuck Horne, Rodolfo Hoyos Jr., Bonnie Charyl Josephson, Joe King, Mike Letz, Frank Leyva, Myra MacMurray, John Mitchum, Ruben Moreno, Deen Pettinger, Jose Portugal, Lee Powell, Chuck Roberson, Anthony Rogers, Danny Sands, Robert Shelton, Dean Smith, John Strachen, Rosa Turich, Ralph Volkie, Christopher West.

Recommended reading:

The Stars in Their Courses

by Harry Brown.

Filmed as El Dorado (1966), directed by Howard Hawks.

ASIN: B0011N3WI2

Published by Jonathan Cape.

Published 1960.

Description:

The epic novel of the old west, a living legend of lust, doom, death, of tall strong men, golden women and towering passions!

On this day in movie history - The Big Steal (1949)

The Big Steal

directed by Don Siegel,

written by Gerald Drayson Adams, Daniel Mainwaring and Geoffrey Homes,

was released in the United States on June 29, 1949.

Based on the short story The Road to Carmichael’s by Richard Wormser,

published in The Saturday Evening Post (1942).

Music by Leigh Harline.

Cast:

Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, William Bendix, Patric Knowles, Ramon Novarro, Don Alvarado, John Qualen, Pascual García Peña.

On this day in movie and book history - The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973)

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

directed by Peter Yates,

written by Paul Monash,

based on the novel by George V. Higgins,

was released in the United States on June 27, 1973.

Music by Dave Grusin.

Cast:

Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Richard Jordan, Steven Keats, Alex Rocco, Joe Santos, Mitchell Ryan, Peter MacLean, Kevin O’Morrison, Marvin Lichterman, Carolyn Pickman, James Tolkan, Margaret Ladd, Matthew Cowles, Helena Carroll, Jack Kehoe, Jan Egleson, Jane House, Michael McCleery, Alan Koss, Dennis McMullen, Judith Ogden Cabot, Robert Anthony, Gustave Johnson, Sheldon Feldner, Ted Maynard, Lloyd Bremseth, Ben Lautman, Bobby Orr, Falko Schilling, Donald Warnock.

Recommended reading:

The Friends of Eddie Coyle

by George V. Higgins.

Filmed as The Friends of Eddie Coyle (1973), directed by Peter Yates.
Introduction by Dennis Lehane.

Published by Picador.
Pubished 1970.

ISBN-10: 9780312429690
ISBN-13: 9780312429690
ASIN: 031242969X
 
Description:

George V. Higgins's seminal crime novel is a down-and-dirty tale of thieves, mobsters, and cops on the mean streets of Boston. When small-time gunrunner Eddie Coyle is convicted on a felony, he's looking at three years in the pen – that is, unless he sells out one of his big-fish clients to the DA. But which of the many hoods, gunmen, and executioners whom he calls his friends should he send up the river? Told almost entirely in crackling dialogue by a vivid cast of lowlifes and detectives, The Friends of Eddie Coyle is one of the greatest crime novels ever written.

On this day in movie and book history - Dead Man (1995 and 2000)

Dead Man

directed and written by Jim Jarmusch,

was released at the Cannes Film Festival in France on May 27, 1995.

Music by Neil Young.

Cast:

Johnny Depp, Mili Avital, Gary Farmer, Crispin Glover, Lance Henriksen, Michael Wincott, Eugene Byrd, John Hurt, Robert Mitchum, Iggy Pop, Gabriel Byrne, Jared Harris, Jimmie Ray Weeks, Mark Bringelson, John North, Peter Schrum, Mike Dawson, Billy Bob Thornton, Michelle Thrush, Gibby Haynes, Richard Boes, George Duckworth, Thomas Bettles, Alfred Molina, Daniel Chas Stacy, Todd Pfeiffer, Leonard Bowechop, Cecil Cheeka, Michael McCarty, Steve Buscemi, John C. Carlucci.

Recommended reading:

Dead Man

by Jonathan Rosenbaum.

Published by British Film Institute.
Published 2000.
 
ISBN-10: 0851708064
ISBN-13: 9780851708065
 
Description:

“The book follows the narrative and picks out some of the stand-out cameos as well as some of the choice of dialogue, music, style and violence within. Just another good choice from the BFI/Palgrave on another solid film with heavy content.” – Filmwerk.

When it was released in 1995, Dead Man puzzled many audiences and critics. Jim Jarmusch's reputation was for directing slick, hip contemporary films. And Dead Man was a black-and-white Western. As time has passed, though, the number of its admirers has grown rapidly. Indeed, Dead Man, with its dark and unconventional treatment of violence, racism and capitalism, may be Jarmusch's finest work to date.

This is Jonathan Rosenbaum's view. For him, Dead Man is both a quantum leap and a logical next step in Jarmusch's career. Starring Johnny Depp as the uprooted accountant William Blake and Gary Farmer as his enigmatic Native American companion, Nobody, and with startling cameos from Robert Mitchum, John Hurt and Iggy Pop, Dead Man is by turns shocking, comic and deeply moving. This book explores and celebrates a masterpiece of 1990s American cinema.