So, November 2nd has been an interesting day in movie history:
- David Schwimmer, maybe the most musically talented guy on “Friends,” was born in 1966
- Samuel Le Bihan was born in 1965 and went on to show that French guys can kick ass in Brotherhood of the Wolf
- Burt Lancaster was born in 1913 and had a pretty good movie career for a circus performer
- Producer Hal Roach, who has more than 1,100 producing credits on imdb, passed away in 1992
- Irwin Allen, best known for producing big-budget disaster movies like The Poseidon Adventure and The Towering Inferno, died in 1991
- Pier Paolo Pasolini, who directed Salo, or the 120 Days of Sodom, which might be the most controversial movie ever made, was murdered in 1975
The Professionals was released in 1966. Not only is it a great movie, but it might also feature one of the greatest collections of talent ever assembled for a Western: written and directed by Richard Brooks; starring Burt Lancaster, Lee Marvin, Robert Ryan, Woody Strode, Jack Palance, Claudia Cardinale, and Ralph Bellamy; cinematography by Conrad L. Hall; William A. Fraker was the camera operator; and music by Maurice Jarre.
The second of The Who’s rock operas, Quadrophenia, saw the film version released in 1979, featuring Sting’s big screen debut.
The Cambodian genocide, where as much as a third of the population were killed, was the subject of the critically acclaimed The Killing Fields, released in 1984.
As further proof that no one likes opening a movie on Halloween Fridays, the top five opening weekends ending on November 2nd are: Red Corner ($7,403,362), Boogie Nights ($4,681,934), Switchback ($2,704,568), The Human Stain ($1,034,195), and the 2003 limited release of the director’s cut of Alien ($1,023,665).
