On this day in movie history - Crime Wave (a.k.a. The City is Dark) (1953)

Crime Wave

a.k.a. The City Is Dark,

directed by Andre DeToth,

written by Bernard Gordon and Richard Wormser,

was released in the United States on January 12, 1954.

Based on the short story Criminal's Mark,

by John Hawkins and Ward Hawkins,

originally published in The Saturday Evening Post (1950).

Music by David Buttolph.

Cast:

Sterling Hayden, Gene Nelson, Phyllis Kirk, Ted de Corsia, Charles Bronson, Jay Novello, Ned Young, James Bell, Dub Taylor, Gayle Kellogg, Mack Chandler, Timothy Carey, Sandy Sanders, Richard Benjamin, James Hayward, Lyle Latell.

On this day in movie history - Internal Affairs (1990)

Internal Affairs

directed by Mike Figgis,

written by Henry Bean,

was released in the United States on January 12, 1990.

Music by Brian Banks, Mike Figgis and Anthony Marinelli.

Cast:

Richard Gere, Andy Garcia, Nancy Travis, Laurie Metcalf, Richard Bradford, William Baldwin, Michael Beach, Katherine Borowitz, Faye Grant, John Kapelos, Xander Berkeley, John Capodice, Victoria Dillard, Pamella D'Pella, Susan Forristal, Allan Havey, Lew Hopson, Tyde Kierney, Dinah Lenney, Scott Lincoln, Julio Oscar Mechoso, Harry S. Murphy, Billie Neal, Heather Lauren Olson, Marco Rodríguez, Annabella Sciorra, Arlen Dean Snyder, Ron Vawter, Deryn Warren, Valerie Wildman, Elijah Wood, Domingo Adkins, Hamlet Arman, Camilla Bergstrom, Mitchell Claman, Mark A. Cuttin, Justin De Rosa, Mike Figgis, Geoffrey Grider, Andrew Herman, Brian Eric Johnson, Waldemar Kalinowski, Helen Lin, Frank Mancuso Jr., Christopher Raymond Mullane, Hank McGill, Jimmy Ortega, Grant Sawyer, Richard B. Whitaker, Keri-Anne Bilotta, Jeff Bornstein, David Fisher, John Forker, Bj Korros, Jim Rhine, David Schied.

On this day in movie history - Sexy Beast (2000)

Sexy Beast

directed by Jonathan Glazer,

written by Louis Mellis and David Scinto,

was released in the United Kingdom on January 12, 2001.

Music by Roque Baños.

Cast:

Ray Winstone, Ben Kingsley, Ian McShane, Amanda Redman, James Fox, Cavan Kendall, Julianne White, Álvaro Monje, Robert Atiko, Nieves del Amo Oruet, Enrique Alemán Fabrega, Gérard Barray, José Maria Cano Ramos, Desirée Erasmus, Santiago Frias Munoz, José Hernández, Ana Maldonado Herreria, Andy Lucas, José Lirola Ramos, José López Carrillo, Antonio Fco. Márquez Quesada, Juan Manuel Martníez Cobos, Dionisio Mesa, Eddie O'Connell, Terence Plummer, Manuel Sánchez Berlanga, Frank Scinto, Darkie Smith, Rocky Taylor, Chris Webb, Pedro Zamora Hernández, Tina Simmons.

On this day in movie history - The Last Stand (2013)

 

The Last Stand

directed by Kim Jee-woon,

written by Andrew Knauer,

was released in the United States on January 12, 2013.

Music by Mowg.

Cast:

Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arron Shiver, Titos Menchaca, Richard Dillard, Doug Jackson, Mathew Greer, Peter Stormare, Chris Browning, Christiana Leucas, Johnny Knoxville, Zach Gilford, Luis Guzmán, Rio Alexander, James Burnett, David Midthunder, Tait Fletcher, Mark Sivertsen, Jaimie Alexander, Rodrigo Santoro, Forest Whitaker, Genesis Rodriguez, Daniel Henney, Eduardo Noriega, Diana R. Lupo, David Kilde, David House, Billy Blair, Kent Kirkpatrick, Mario Moreno, John Patrick Amedori, Kristen DeVore Rakes, Don Ambabo, Ross Kelly, Ryan Jason Cook, Elias Gallegos, Kevin Wiggins, Lois Geary, Jermaine Washington, Terry Dale Parks, Allan Padelford, Tim Booth, Cliff Fleming, Eddie J. Fernandez, Scott Flick, Julia Gallegos, Angela Joseph, Brandy Joseph, Kearon Lehman, Gregory Leiker, Alexandria Morrow, Steve Most, Francisco Peramos, Daniel Pimentel, Frank Powers, Dieter Rauter, Jessica Record, Ned Record, Kelly Ruble, Jeff Sanders, Harry Dean Stanton, Julian Wondolowski.

Stan Lee, on writing and reading:

The only advice anybody can give is,

if you wanna be a writer, keep writing.

And read all you can, read everything.
 
- Stan Lee.

Recommended reading - Rum Punch

 

Rum Punch

by Elmore Leonard.
 
Published by Delacorte Press.
First published 1992.
Hardcover.

ISBN-10: 038530143X
ISBN-13: 978-0385301435
 
Description:
 

Pretty working-girl Jackie Burke is in a tight spot.  She's just been picked up at Palm Beach International with fifty grand and some blow stashed in her flight bag.  Lucky for her, the Feds want something Jackie's got:  the inside track to Ordell Robbie, the notoriusly slick arms dealer.  And they're ready to deal – Ordell in exchange for her freedom.  But Jackie's got another ace up her sleeve. . .Enter Max Cherry, bail bondsman.  Big, tough, basically decent Max is on the verge of divorce and tired of the same old grind.  That's where Jackie comes in.  The fifty big ones are peanuts compared to what Ordell's got locked away in Freeport.  But when a blowsy blond blowhead and a none-too-bright ex con try to muscle in on the action, it's time to pull and old bait and switch – where the good guys are played off against the bad guys – and where Jackie and Max hope to walk off into the Florida sunset with a hot half million in cold cash.

 

"Unputdownable! Benath it's fast moving surface, Rum Punch is a novel about growing old, about the way that time changes us, about the old dream of starting over agian and its cost." – The Washington Post Book World.
 
"Expertly blended. . .potent Dutch." – Chicago Sun-Times.
 
"Rum Punch is Leonard's best work! He brilliantly reaffirms his right to the title of America's finest crime-fiction writer." – People.