March 27

This is the last day the Hollywood Production Code prohibited the depiction of policemen, detectives and other crime fighters dying at the hands of criminals, 1951. The amended Production Code allowed for Detective Story, a film adaptation of Sidney Kingsley’s 1950 Broadway play, to keep its original ending—the murder of shamus Jim McLeod (Kirk Douglas)—as long as it was “absolutely necessary to the development of the plot,” according to the powers that be. William Wyler directed the 1951 film noir, which also starred Eleanor Parker, William Bendix, Cathy O’Donnell and, in her first movie, Lee Grant. Wyler, Parker, Grant and writers Philip Yordan and Robert Wyler all received Oscar nods.

September 6

The Babe Ruth Story is released in 1948, with William Bendix (above right, with Ruth) as the New York Yankees slugger. Babe Ruth died on August 16th of that year shortly after viewing the film at a premiere. Though no cause and effect is implied by that last sentence, critics generally regarded the biopic as a stinker.