MURDER IN THE MOVIES

Classic crime stories aren't limited to books these days. Check out the following films based on Vintage Crime / Black Lizard books! (All dates refer to year movie was released, not to book publication dates.)

VIDEO CLASSICS, BASED ON THE BOOKS BY:

James M. Cain:

  • DOUBLE INDEMNITY, 1944, director Billy Wilder, starring Barbara Stanwyck, Fred MacMurray, Edward G. Robinson.

  • MILDRED PIERCE, 1945, director Michael Curtiz, starring Joan Crawford, Eve Arden, Jack Carson, and Zachary Scott.

  • THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE, 1946, director Tay Garnett, starring Lana Turner, John Garfield. Re-make in 1981, directed by Bob Rafelson, starring Jack Nicholson and Jessica Lange.

Raymond Chandler:

  • THE BIG SLEEP, 1946, director Howard Hawks, starring Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Elisha Cook. Re-make in 1978, director Michael Winner, starring Robert Mitchum, Sarah Miles, James Stewart, Joan Collins, and Edward Fox.

  • FAREWELL, MY LOVELY, 1942 (filmed with title as THE FALCON TAKES OVER), director Irving Reiss, starring George Sanders, Lynn Bari, and Ward Bond. Re-make in 1944 (filmed with title as MURDER MY SWEET), director Edward Dmytryk, starring Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, and Mike Mazurki. Re-make in 1975 using the book's title, director Dick Richards, starring Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, Sylvester Stallone and author Jim Thompson appearing briefly.

  • THE LADY IN THE LAKE, 1946, director Robert Montgomery (also starred in film), starring Audrey Totter.

  • THE LONG GOODBYE, 1973, director Robert Altman, starring Elliott Gould, Nina Van Pallandt, Sterling Hayden.

David Goodis:

  • SHOOT THE PIANO PLAYER, 1960, director Francois Truffaut, starring Charles Aznavour and Marie DuBois.

Dashiell Hammett:

  • THE GLASS KEY, 1935, director Frank Tuttle, starring George Raft, Claire Dodd, Edward Arnold, Rosalind Keith, and Ray Milland. Re-make in 1942, director Stuart Heisler, starring Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, Brian Donlevy, and William Bendix.

  • THE MALTESE FALCON, 1931, director Roy Del Ruth, starring Bebe Daniels and Ricardo Cortez. Re-make as SATAN MET A LADY, 1936, director William Dieterel, starring Betty Davis, Warren William, Alison Skipworth. Re-make in 1941, director John Huston, starring Humphrey Bogart, Mary Astor, Peter Lorre, Sydney Greenstreet, Ward Bond, Elisha Cook.

  • THE THIN MAN, 1934, director W.S. Van Dyke, starring William Powell, Myna Loy. This film was so popular that it inspired five additional films: AFTER THE THIN MAN (1936), ANOTHER THIN MAN (1939), SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN (1941), THE THIN MAN GOES HOME (1944), and SONG OF THE THIN MAN (1947).

Patricia Highsmith:

  • THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY, 1999, writer and director Anthony Minghella, starring Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jude Law and Cate Blanchett.

Chester Himes:

  • A RAGE IN HARLEM, 1991, director Bill Duke, starring Forest Whitaker, Gregory Hines, Robin Givens, and Danny Glover.

  • COTTON COMES TO HARLEM, 1970, director Ossie Davis, starring Godfrey Cambridge, Raymond St. Jacques, and Redd Foxx.

Ross Macdonald:

  • THE DROWNING POOL, 1976, director Stuart Rosenberg, starring Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Melanie Griffith and Richard Jaeckle.

  • THE MOVING TARGET (filmed as HARPER), 1966, director Jack Smight, starring paul Newman, Lauren Bacall, Julie Harris, Shelley Winters, Robert Wagner, and Janet Leigh.

Maj Sjowall and Per Wahloo:

  • THE LAUGHING POLICEMAN, 1974, director Stuart Rosenberg, starring Walter Matthau, Bruce Dern, Lou Gossett, Cathy Lee Crosby, and Joanna Cassidy.

Jim Thompson:

  • AFTER DARK MY SWEET, 1990, director James Foley, starring Jason Patric, Rachel Ward, Bruce Dern.

  • THE GETAWAY, 1972, director Sam Peckinpah, starring Steve McQueen, Ali McGraw, Sally Struthers, and Slim Pickins. Re-made in 1994, director Roger Donaldson, starring Alec Baldwin, Kim Basinger, James Woods, and Jennifer Tilly.

  • THE GRIFTERS, 1990, director Stephen Frears, starring Angelica Huston, John Cusack, and Annette Bening.

  • THE KILLER INSIDE ME, 1976, director Burt Kennedy, starring Stacy Keach, Susan Tyrrell, and Keenan Wynn.

  • POP. 1280 (filmed as COUP DE TORCHON), 1981, director Bertrand Tavernier, starring Philippe Noiret and Isabelle Huppert.


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