Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is about to throw the book at crime movies when some of the world’s greatest and most popular crime writers discuss cinema’s enduring obsession with law-breakers in the brand new documentary A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: COPS & ROBBERS AND CRIME WRITERS. Joseph Wambaugh, Michael Connelly, James Ellroy, George Pelecanos, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Karin Slaughter, Don Winslow, Chuck Hogan, Philip Kerr, Randy Jurgensen, Heywood Gould, Robert Daley and Otto Penzler are the top-name crime novelists, non-fiction crime authors, screenwriters and editors to be featured in this one-hour special, the latest in TCM’s ongoing series of genre-specific documentaries. Since the early days of cinema and Edwin S. Porter’s groundbreaking 1903 film The Great Train Robbery, moviegoers have been fascinated by stories about crime and the criminals who commit them. The genre has produced countless classics, like the gritty gangster pictures from the 1930s and ’40s, the shadowy tales from the film noir genre in the 1940s and ’50s, the realistic visions brought to the screen by a new breed of filmmakers in the ’60s and ’70s, the slick star vehicles of the ’80s and ’90s, and the hyper-stylized action flicks that thrill audiences today. A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: COPS & ROBBERS AND CRIME WRITERS explores the wide-ranging crime genre from a literary perspective. The writers featured in the special talk about the films they feel best define the genre and which have had the greatest influence on their own work. The roster of interviewees includes authors of crime fiction and non-fiction, as well as screenwriters, a prominent anthology editor and publisher, plus many more. The following is a complete list of interviewees featured in A NIGHT AT THE MOVIES: COPS & ROBBERS AND CRIME WRITERS.
- Joseph Wambaugh – Author-screenwriter of The Onion Field, author of The New Centurions
- James Ellroy – Author of L.A. Confidential and The Black Dahlia
- George Pelecanos – Author of The Cut and The Double, writer-producer of The Wire
- Lee Child – Author of the Jack Reacher series
- Tess Gerritsen – Author of the Rizzoli & Isles series
- Michael Connelly – Author of the Harry Bosch series
- Chuck Hogan – Author of The Town
- Philip Kerr – Author of the Bernie Gunther series
- Otto Penzler – Book anthology editor and publisher
- Robert Daley – Author of Prince of the City and Year of the Dragon
- Randy Jurgensen – Co-author of Circle of Six
- Heywood Gould – Author and screenwriter of Fort Apache, The Bronx
- Karin Slaughter – Author of the Will Trent series
- Don Winslow – Author and screenwriter of Savages
