On this day in movie history - The Heist (1989)

The Heist

directed by Stuart Orme,

written by William Irish Jr., David Fuller and Rick Natkin,

based on a story by William Irish Jr.,

was released in the United States on September 16, 1989.

Music by Arthur B. Rubinstein.

Cast:

Pierce Brosnan, Tom Skerritt, Wendy Hughes, Noble Willingham, Tom Atkins, Robert Prosky, Steve Apostolina, Ben Mittleman, Nino Surdo, Shelton Redden, Roger Hewlett, Joseph Carberry, Chino ‘Fats’ Williams, Art Frankel, Andrew Barnicle, Roger Chapman, Dan Hare, Will Cascio, Kevin Furlong, Fred Bailey, Gary Wright, Luisa Vargas, Susan Thompson, Gale McNeeley, Jack Orend, Matthew Wood, Alan Buchdahl, Brina, Dante, Melissa Dudek, Michael Smiley.

On this day in movie and book history - The Natural (1984 and 1952):

The Natural

directed by Barry Levinson,

written by Roger Towne and Phil Dusenberry,

based on the novel by Bernard Malamud,

was released in the United States on May 11, 1984.

Music by Randy Newman.

Cast:

Robert Redford, Paul Sullivan Jr., Robert Duvall, Glenn Close, Rachel Hall, Kim Basinger, Wilford Brimley, Barbara Hershey, Robert Prosky, Richard Farnsworth, Joe Don Baker, Darren McGavin, Michael Madsen, John Finnegan, Alan Fudge, Ken Grassano, Mike Starr, Mickey Treanor, Jon Van Ness, Anthony J. Ferrara, George Wilkosz, Robert Rich III, Sibby Sisti.

Recommended reading:

The Natural

by Bernard Malamud.

Filmed as The Natural (1984), directed by Barry Levinson.

Paperback.

Published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

First published 1952.

ISBN: 9780374502003

ISBN 10: 0374502005

ASIN: 0374502005

Description:

The Natural, Bernard Malamud's first novel, published in 1952, is also the first – and some would say still the best – novel ever written about baseball. In it, Malamud, usually appreciated for his unerring portrayals of postwar Jewish life, took on very different material – the story of a superbly gifted "natural" at play in the fields of the old daylight baseball era – and invested it with the hardscrabble poetry, at once grand and altogether believable, that runs through all his best work. Four decades later, Alfred Kazin's comment still holds true: "Malamud has done something which – now that he has done it! – looks as if we have been waiting for it all our lives. He has really raised the whole passion and craziness and fanaticism of baseball as a popular spectacle to its ordained place in mythology." 

On this day in television history - Hill Street Blues (January 15, 1981 - May 12, 1987)

Hill Street Blues

created by Steven Bochco and Michael Kozoll,

was released in the United States on January 15, 1981,

and ran for seven seasons until May 12, 1987.

Theme music by Mike Post.

Cast:

Daniel J. Travanti, Veronica Hamel, Michael Conrad, Bruce Weitz, Joe Spano, Michael Warren, Charles Haid, James B. Sikking, Betty Thomas, Kiel Martin, Taurean Blacque, René Enriquez, Ed Marinaro, Barbara Bosson, Robert Prosky, Ken Olin, Mimi Kuzyk, Dennis Franz, Robert Clohessy, Megan Gallagher, Jon Cypher, Robert Hirschfeld, Barbara Babcock, Trinidad Silva, Jeffrey Tambor, Dennis Dugan, George Wyner, Lisa Sutton, Jennifer Tilly, Del Zamora, Judith Hansen, Peter Jurasik, Panchito Gomez, Larry D. Mann, Lee Weaver, Deborah Richter, Pat Corley, David Caruso, Bobby Ellerbee, Alfre Woodard, Terry Alexander, Jonathan Banks, Michael Biehn, David Caruso, Don Cheadle, Vance Colvig, Bryan Cranston, James Cromwell, Hector Elizondo, Martin Ferrero, Laurence Fishburne, Jonathan Frakes, Robin Gammell, Andy Garcia, Paul Gleason, Crispin Glover, Danny Glover, Cuba Gooding Jr., Linda Hamilton, Penny Johnson Jerald, Anne-Marie Johnson, Jane Kaczmarek, Stanley Kamel, Terry Kiser, Yaphet Kotto, Michael Lerner, Whitman Mayo, Barney Martin, Paul McCrane, James McDaniel, Frances McDormand, Chuck Mitchell, Chris Noth, Edward James Olmos, Chazz Palminteri, Joe Pantoliano, Felton Perry, Joaquin Phoenix, CCH Pounder, Daphne Reid, James Remar, Michael Richards, Ron Rifkin, Tim Robbins, Mimi Rogers, Leo Rossi, Saul Rubinek, Joe Santos, Dwight Schultz, Helen Shaver, Ally Sheedy, Brent Spiner, Dolph Sweet, Joe E. Tata, Lawrence Tierney, Jennifer Tilly, Meg Tilly, James Tolkan, George Wallace, Tracey Walter, Keenen Ivory Wayans, Forest Whitaker.

Born on this day – Robert Prosky:

 

Robert Prosky

Actor

December 13, 1930 – December 8, 2008

On this day in movie and book history - Christine (1983)

Christine

directed by John Carpenter,

written by Bill Phillips,

based on the novel by Stephen King,

was released in the United States on December 9, 1983.

Music by John Carpenter and Alan Howarth.

Cast:

Keith Gordon, John Stockwell, Alexandra Paul, Robert Prosky, Harry Dean Stanton, Christine Belford, Robert Darnell, Roberts Blossom, Kelly Preston, William Ostrander, Steven Tash, Stuart Charno, Malcolm Danare, David Spielberg.

Recommended reading - Christine

Christine

by Stephen King.

Published by Viking Press.

First published 1983.

Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 0670220264

ISBN-13: 978-0670220267

 

Description:

It was love at first sight. From the moment seventeen-year-old Arnie Cunningham saw Christine, he knew he would do anything to possess her.

Arnie’s best friend, Dennis, distrusts her – immediately.

Arnie’s teen-queen girlfriend, Leigh, fears her the moment she senses her power.

Arnie’s parents, teachers, and enemies soon learn what happens when you cross her.

Because Christine is no lady. She is Stephen King’s ultimate, blackly evil vehicle of terror…

Christine, blood-red, fat and finned, was twenty. Her promise lay all in her past. Greedy and big, she was Arnie’s obsession, a ’58 Plymouth Fury. Broken down but not finished. There was still power in her – a frightening power that leaked like sump oil, staining and corrupting. A malign power that corroded the mind and turned ownership into Possession.