On this day in movie and book history - The Racket (1951 and 1928)

The Racket

directed by John Cromwell,

written by William Wister Haines and W.R. Burnett,

based on the play by Bartlett Cormack,

was released in the United States on October 25, 1951.

Music by Paul Sawtell.

Cast:

Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Ryan, William Talman, Ray Collins, Joyce MacKenzie, Robert Hutton, Virginia Huston, William Conrad, Walter Sande, Les Tremayne, Don Porter, Walter Baldwin, Brett King, Richard Karlan, Tito Vuolo, Milburn Stone.

Recommended reading:

 

The Racket

by Bartlett Cormack.

A play in three acts.

ASIN: B0BPM49P6T
Published by Samuel French.
Published 1928.
 
Adapted to film in 1928 and 1951.
 
The play The Racket is also available in the following anthology:
 
Strictly Dishonorable and Other Lost American Plays
Edited by Richard Nelson.

Paperback.
Published 1993.
Published by Theatre Communications Group.

ISBN 13: 9780930452551
ISBN 10: 0930452550
ASIN: 0930452550

Contents: Strictly Dishonorable by Preston Sturges; The Racket by Bartlett Cormack; The Ghost of Yankee Doodle by Sidney Howard and A Slight Case of Murder by Howard Lindsay and Damon Runyon.

On this day in movie history - The Lawbreakers (1961)

The Lawbreakers

directed by Joseph M. Newman,

written by Paul Monash and W.R. Burnett,

was released in the United States on August 15, 1961.

Music by Johnny Mandel.

A remake of the pilot episode of the 1961 The Asphalt Jungle TV series.

Inspired by the movie The Asphalt Jungle (1950), directed by John Huston, based on the novel by W. R. Burnett.

 
Cast:

Jack Warden, Vera Miles, Robert Douglas, Arch Johnson, Douglas Odney, Robert H. Harris, Ken Lynch, Robert Bailey, Mary Lawrence, James Seay, Marianne Stewart, Jay Adler, John Zaremba, David White, Noreen Corcoran, Don C. Harvey, Kenner G. Kemp, Eddie Marr, William Smith, Bert Stevens.

On this day in movie history - The Get-Away (1941)

The Get-Away

directed by Edward Buzzell and Richard Rosson,

written by Wells Root and W.R. Burnett,

based on a story by J. Walter Ruben and Wells Root,

was released in the United States on June 13, 1941.

Music by Daniele Amfitheatrof, Earl K. Brent, Joseph Nussbaum, Leonid Raab.

Cast:

Robert Sterling, Charles Winninger, Donna Reed, Henry O'Neill, Dan Dailey Jr., Don Douglas, Ernest Whitman, Grant Withers, Chester Gan, Charles Wagenheim, Guy Kingsford, Matty Fain, Fred Aldrich, Barbara Bedford, Clara Blandick, Veda Ann Borg, Wade Boteler, Ed Brady, George M. Carleton, Eddy Chandler, Naomi Childers, Dean Collins, Sayre Dearing, Eddie Dunn, Eddie Fetherston, Dink Freeman, John George, Jack Gordon, Roy Gordon, George Guhl, Frank Hagney, Harry Hayden, Edward Hearn, George Hoagland, Robert Homans, Jack King, Richard Kipling, William Lally, George J. Lewis, Jack Luden, Pierce Lyden, George Magrill, Mickey Martin, Jim Mason, May McAvoy, Mathew McCue, Jewel McGowan, Pat McKee, Art Miles, Philip Morris, Frank O'Connor, Patrick O'Moore, Anne O'Neal, Bob Perry, Lee Phelps, James Pierce, Edwin Rochelle, Dick Rush, Robert Ryan, Charles Sherlock, Ray Spiker, Henry Sylvester, William Tannen, John Wald, Joe Yule.

On this day in movie history - Little Caesar (1931)

Little Caesar

directed by Mervyn LeRoy,

written by Francis Edward Faragoh, Robert N. Lee, Robert Lord and Darryl F. Zanuck,

based on the novel by W. R. Burnett,

was released in the United States on January 25, 1931.

Music by Erno Rapee, Leo F. Forbstein and David Mendoza.

Cast:

Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks Jr., Glenda Farrell, William Collier Jr., Sidney Blackmer, Ralph Ince, Stanley Fields, Maurice Black, George E. Stone, Armand Kaliz, Nicholas Bela, Ernie Adams, Elmer Ballard, Ferike Boros, Kernan Cripps, George Daly, Adolph Faylauer, Ben Hendricks Jr., Al Hill, Lucille La Verne, Gladys Lloyd, Noel Madison, Tom McGuire, Louis Natheaux, Henry Sedley, Larry Steers, Landers Stevens, Mike Tellegen.

Recommended reading - Little Caesar by W.R. Burnett (1929 & 1981):

Little Caesar

by W.R. Burnett.

ASIN: B0012363AA

Published by Dial.

Published 1929.

Hardcover.

First edition.

Description:

Rico is a small, pale man, but he has guts, endurance and a steely single-mindedness. When Vettori sends the gang out to rob a local nightclub, Rico shoots a cop who pulls a gun on him. They get away, but Vettori is shocked. He had told Rico, no gunplay. That’s when Rico realizes that Vettori has gone soft. He’s too old to control the gang anymore. So Rico takes over. With the faithful Otero at his side, the rest of them quickly shift their allegiances. Now the world is Rico’s. It’s his gang, and he’s calling all the shots. But there is always a weak link, someone who’s ready to spill when the bulls get tough. And sooner or later the nightclub killing is bound to catch up with him.

 

Little Caesar

by Gerald Peary.

Edited by Tino Balio.

Published by University of Wisconsin Press.

Wisconsin / Warner Bros. Screenplays.

Published 1981.

First edition.

Paperback.

ISBN-10: 029908454X

ISBN-13: 978-0299084547

Description:

Little Caesar, a 1931 Hollywood gangster classic, is viewed in revivals today with nearly as much audience enthusiasm as it enjoyed a half-century ago, in the depths of the Great Depression.

In general, the Hollywood film industry responded to the dark economic conditions of the 1930s with escapist and non-topical films. The fascinating exception was the gangster film, through which the studios joined in the debate over the spiritual and economic health of the nation. Little Caesar, considered by many to be an architype of the genre, is one of the most memorable dramatizations of the discontent and alienation, the deep anxiety and hostility shared by millions of Americans during those dark years.