On this day in movie history - Night Falls on Manhattan (1997)

Night Falls on Manhattan

directed and written by Sidney Lumet,

based on the novel Tainted Evidence by Robert Daley,

was released in the United States on May 16, 1997.

Music by Mark Isham.

Cast:

Andy Garcia, Ian Holm, James Gandolfini, Lena Olin, Shiek Mahmud-Bey, Colm Feore, Ron Leibman, Richard Dreyfuss, Dominic Chianese, Paul Guilfoyle, Bonnie Rose, Norman Matlock, Sidney Armus, James Murtaugh, Melba Martinez, Santo Fazio, Anthony Alessandro, David Fonteno, John Seitz, Stephen Beach, Nafisah Sayyed, Robert Sean Miller, Marcia Jean Kurtz, Jude Ciccolella, John Randolph Jones, Chuck Pfeiffer, Clark D. Williams, Bill Boggs, Tamara Phillips, Louis Guss, Richard Bright, Ronald von Klaussen, John Di Benedetto, Kevin Ramsey, Kermit Frazier, Veronica Hall, Vic Noto, Jim Moody, Socorro Santiago, Fran Anthony, Donna Hanover, Jack Cafferty, Kaity Tong, Allen Collodow, Dennis Paladino, Mike Cammallere, Jim Mauro, Salvatore Paul Piro, Mike Sheehan, Joseph Mosso, Teddy Coluca, Roslyn Cohn, Elliot Cuker, Yvette Mercedes, Kristina Lear, Joe Drago, Catherine Schreiber, Bobby Cannavale, Marshall Dancing Elk Lucas, Adam Alexi-Malle, Debbie Benitez, Barry Bradford, Ray Campbell, Vernon Campbell, Lisa Collins, Patrick Coleman Duncan, Arthur K. Flam, Nathan George, Mark Robert Gordon, Chandler Hill, Michael Luggio, Takeo Matsushita, Dale Resteghini, James Rosin, John Rowe Jr., Anthony Sinopoli, Leonard Tepper, Bebie Waller, J.D. Walters, David Watkin, Ted West.

On this day in movie and book history - Q&A (1990)

Q&A

directed and written by Sidney Lumet,

based on the novel by Edwin Torres,

was released in the United States on April 27, 1990.

Music by Rubén Blades.

Cast:

Nick Nolte, Timothy Hutton, Armand Assante, Patrick O'Neal, Lee Richardson, Luis Guzmán, Charles S. Dutton, Jenny Lumet, Paul Calderon, International Chrysis, Dominic Chianese, Leonardo Cimino, Fyvush Finkel, Gustavo Brens, Martin E. Brens, Maurice Schell, Thomas Mikal Ford, John Capodice, Frederick Rolf, Hal Lehrman, Gloria Irizarry, Brian Neill, Susan Mitchell, Drew Eliot, Frank Raiter, Harry Madsen, Jerry Ciauri, George Kodisch, Burtt Harris, Michael A. Joseph, Cynthia O'Neal, Victor Colicchio, Anibal O. Lleras, José Rafael Arango, David Dill, Alex Ruiz, Richard Solchik, Edward Rogers III, Junior Perez, Javier Ríos, June Stein, Rod Rodriguez, Sonny Vito, Olga Merediz, Peter Gumeny, Edward Rowan, Danny Darrow, José Collazo, José Alvarez, G.W. Bailey, Janis Corsair, David Hummel.

Recommended reading:

Q&A
by Edwin Torres.

Filmed as Q&A (1990), directed by Sidney Lumet.

Published by Avon Books.
First published 1977.
Paperback.

ISBN-10: 0380018624
ISBN-13: 978-0380018628

Description:

The basis for the hit film "Q & A" directed by Sidney Lumet, starring Nick Nolte. Written by Edwin Torres, the author of After Hours which was the basis for the hit film "Carlito's Way" starring Al Pacino and Sean Penn.

The minute he steps down the alleyway, Tony Roman knows it’s a setup. The first bullet tears through his cheekbone; the second pierces his brain. The big man is dead before he hits the ground. When the crowd pours out of the nightclub to see what happened, the killer flashes a badge. He’s the NYPD’s Lt. Brennan, and he plans to get away with murder.

Assistant District Attorney Al Reilly is called in to investigate the shooting. Everyone in the department expects Reilly, an ex-cop whose father was killed in the line of duty, to support Brennan’s claim of self-defense. But the evidence doesn’t add up. As Reilly digs deeper into the events of that snowy night in the darkened alley, he finds that in the NYPD, there is no crime worse than investigating a crooked cop.

On this day in movie history - The Pawnbroker (1964 / 1965)

The Pawnbroker

directed by Sidney Lumet,

written by Morton S. Fine and David Friedkin,

based on the novel by Edward Lewis Wallant,

was released in the United States on April 20, 1965.

Music by Quincy Jones.

Cast:

Rod Steiger, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brock Peters, Jaime Sánchez, Thelma Oliver, Eusebia Cosme, Marketa Kimbrell, Baruch Lumet, Juano Hernández, Linda Geiser, Nancy R. Pollock, Raymond St. Jacques, Charles Dierkop, John McCurry, Warren Finnerty, Jack Ader, Marianne Kanter, Ed Morehouse, Marc Alexander, Donny Burks, Robert Dahdah, Morgan Freeman, Hilda Haynes, E.M. Margolese, Donnie Melvin, Donnell O'Brien, Reni Santoni, Bill Steele.

On this day in movie and book history - 12 Angry Men (1957)

12 Angry Men

directed by Sidney Lumet,

written by Reginald Rose,

based on the 1954 teleplay Twelve Angry Men by Reginald Rose,

was released in the United States on April 10, 1957.

Music by Kenyon Hopkins.

Cast:

Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb, E.G. Marshall, Jack Klugman, Edward Binns, Jack Warden, Henry Fonda, Joseph Sweeney, Ed Begley, George Voskovec, Robert Webber, Rudy Bond, Tom Gorman, James Kelly, Billy Nelson, John Savoca, Walter Stocker.

Recommended reading:

 

Twelve Angry Men

Teleplay by Reginald Rose.
Introduction by David Mamet.
 
Filmed as:
12 Angry Men (1957), directed by Sidney Lumet.
12 Angry Men (1997), directed by William Friedkin.

Paperback.
Published by Penguin Classics.
First published 1954.

ISBN 13: 9780143104407
ISBN 10: 0143104403
ASIN: 0143104403
 
Description:

A blistering character study and an examination of the American melting pot and the judicial system that keeps it in check, Twelve Angry Men holds at its core a deeply patriotic faith in the U.S. legal system. The play centers on Juror Eight, who is at first the sole holdout in an 11-1 guilty vote. Eight sets his sights not on proving the other jurors wrong but rather on getting them to look at the situation in a clear-eyed way not affected by their personal prejudices or biases. Reginald Rose deliberately and carefully peels away the layers of artifice from the men and allows a fuller picture to form of them—and of America, at its best and worst.

After the critically acclaimed teleplay aired in 1954, this landmark American drama went on to become a cinematic masterpiece in 1957 starring Henry Fonda, for which Rose wrote the adaptation. More recently, Twelve Angry Men had a successful, and award-winning, run on Broadway.