TCM Schedule for Friday, August 9, 2013 -- Summer Under The Stars -- Steve McQueen

[Staph]

Today's star is Steve McQueen, born Terence Steven McQueen on March 24, 1930, in Beech Grove, Indiana, and died on November 7, 1980, in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico of a heart attack brought on by mesothelioma.

He was nicknamed "The King of Cool." His "anti-hero" persona, which he developed at the height of the Vietnam counterculture, made him one of the top box-office draws of the 1960s and 1970s. McQueen received an Academy Award nomination for his role in The Sand Pebbles. His other popular films include The Thomas Crown Affair, Bullitt, The Getaway, and Papillon, as well as the all-star ensemble films The Magnificent Seven, The Great Escape, and The Towering Inferno. In 1974, he became the highest-paid movie star in the world, although he did not act in films again for four years. McQueen was combative with directors and producers, but his popularity put him in high demand and enabled him to command large salaries. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Somebody Up There Likes Me (1956)
True story of boxer Rocky Graziano's rise from juvenile delinquent to world champ.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: Joseph Buloff, Sal Mineo, Everett Sloane
BW-114 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Malcolm Brown, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Ruttenberg

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Albert Akst

Film debut of Steve McQueen, Dean Jones, Frank Campanella, Robert Loggia and Angela Cartwright.


8:00 AM -- The Honeymoon Machine (1961)
Two sailors discover a way to beat the roulette tables in a Venice casino.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: Steve McQueen, Brigid Bazlen, Jim Hutton
C-87 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

When the Russian Consul, berating his code-breakers and underlings, begins hitting the desk with his shoe, this is a humorous reference to Russian leader Nikita Kruschev's actions at the United Nations in October of the previous year (1960), when Kruschev banged the rostrum with his shoe in anger at statements made by the Filipino delegation.


9:30 AM -- Never So Few (1959)
A U.S. military troop takes command of a band of Burmese guerillas during World War II.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford
C-125 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Steve McQueen's role was originally going to be played by Sammy Davis Jr. A feud had broken out between Davis and Frank Sinatra after Davis had claimed in a radio interview that he was a greater singer than Sinatra. Sinatra demanded he be dropped from the cast, and McQueen got the part.


11:45 AM -- The Magnificent Seven (1960)
Seven American gunmen hire themselves out to protect a Mexican village from bandits.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Yul Brynner, Eli Wallach, Steve McQueen
C-128 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Elmer Bernstein

Yul Brynner (5'10&quot was concerned to make sure he always appeared substantially taller than Steve McQueen (5'9 1/2&quot , to the point of making a little mound of earth and standing on it in all their shots together. McQueen, for his part, casually kicked at the mound every time he passed by it.


2:00 PM -- The War Lover (1962)
A WWII bomber pilot succeeds at flying but the rest of his life isn't so under control.
Dir: Philip Leacock
Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Wagner, Shirley Field
BW-105 mins, TV-14,

Three Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses, restored to flying condition in World War II configurations, were used during filming. Clever camera work and multiple shots of the planes with different names painted on their noses were mixed with wartime footage to create the illusion of an entire Group of B-17 bombers. Noted aviation author and pilot Martin Caidin, who helped fly one of the B-17s from America to England, chronicled the restorations of the aircraft, their flight across the Atlantic, and their use in the film in his book "Everything But The Flak."


4:00 PM -- Bullitt (1968)
When mobsters kill the witness he was assigned to protect, a dedicated policeman investigates the case on his own.
Dir: Peter Yates
Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset
C-114 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Frank P. Keller

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound -- Warner Bros.-Seven Arts SSD

Much was made at the time, and over the years since, of Lt. Bullitt's stylish "casual" attire of a turtleneck worn with a sport coat, slacks, and suede-like shoes. Since the major portion of the story in the film takes place over a Saturday and Sunday, this was actually in keeping with some police department's traditions of a more relaxed dress code on weekends for plainclothes officers. Bullitt is first seen at work when meeting Chalmers on a Friday morning - wearing a traditionally conservative navy suit under his trench coat, with a white shirt, dark tie and dress shoes. These clothes were actually supplied by a London England menswear shoppe, Dougie Heywood's, Peter Yates' tailors.


6:00 PM -- Le Mans (1971)
During a deadly endurance race, a driver faces the trauma of a past accident.
Dir: Lee H. Katzin
Cast: Steve McQueen, Siegfried Rauch, Elga Andersen
C-109 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

Steve McQueen was a car-racing fanatic and owned a Porsche 908. Driving this car during the 12 Hours of Sebring's 1970 edition with professional driver Peter Revson, he finished a close second behind Mario Andretti, who was determined "not to be beaten by a movie star". Andretti was driving a Ferrari 512. McQueen also wanted to be in the 24 Hours of Le Mans, but was denied permission by the film's producers. His Porsche eventually did participate, driven by Herbert Linge and Jonathan Williams, with three cameras to get "live" footage for the movie. Despite the spoiled aerodynamics and frequent stops to change film rolls, the car managed to finish ninth. According to a persistent rumor, McQueen may have driven it secretly after all.


TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: SUMMER UNDER THE STARS: STEVE McQUEEN




8:00 PM -- The Cincinnati Kid (1965)
Card sharps try to deal with personal problems during a big game in New Orleans.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann-Margret
C-103 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Spencer Tracy was originally cast as Lancey Howard but poor health forced him to withdraw and he was replaced by Edward G. Robinson.


9:47 PM -- The Cincinnati Kid Plays According To Hoyle (1965)
Magician Jay Ose is hired as technical advisor for The Cincinnati Kid (1965), teaching the actors how to handle a deck of cards for close up scenes.
Cast: Jay Ose, Joan Blondell, Dick Tufeld
BW-6 mins,

Included in Warner Home Video's 2005 DVD release of The Cincinnati Kid.


10:00 PM -- The Reivers (1969)
A young man comes of age when he stows away in his grandfather's stolen car.
Dir: Mark Rydell
Cast: Steve McQueen, Sharon Farrell, Will Geer
C-111 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Rupert Crosse, and Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- John Williams

The Winton Flyer was not a real automobile. It was created from scratch for this movie by Kenneth Howard, aka Von Dutch. The car was designed to resemble a typical vehicle from 1904, but built to withstand the rigors of filming. Steve McQueen called the car "the real star of the picture", and took possession of it after filming ended. It remained in his collection until his death in 1980. It can be seen in the Peterson Automotive Museum In Los Angeles.


12:00 AM -- Papillon (1973)
Two Devil's Island prisoners devote all of their time to hatching escape plans.
Dir: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory
C-151 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Jerry Goldsmith

Actor Steve McQueen insisted on performing the stunt where he jumps off a cliff himself. McQueen once said of this that it was "one of the most exhilarating experiences of my life".


2:45 AM -- Soldier in the Rain (1963)
A story of friendship between a worldly-wise Army Master Sergeant and his naive worshiper.
Dir: Ralph Nelson
Cast: Jackie Gleason, Steve McQueen, Tuesday Weld
BW-87 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format

In the beginning Eustis Clay is seen admiring a parked sports car. It is a 1962 or early 1963 Shelby AC Cobra, one of the first cars Caroll Shelby made, and extremely valuable.


4:14 AM -- A Letter From A Soldier (1951)
In this excerpt from the feature film "It's A Big Country" (1951), a U.S. GI back stateside from Korea delivers a letter to the mother of a dead fellow soldier.
Dir: Don Weis
Cast: Keefe Brasselle, Marjorie Main,
BW-9 mins,

The film It's A Big Country is told in eight episodes, covers different facets of the American Spirit, from racial and religious tolerance to the dangers of self-centeredness and myopic reasoning. The parables represent a broad cross-section of the American experience: the elderly woman whose pride is injured when she's forgotten in the latest census; the novice minister more pleased with the sound of his own voice than with the needs of his congregation; the mother who confronts the illogic of racial intolerance when she meets the best friend of the son she lost to war; and the enigma that is Texas. Episode titles are: 1) Interruptions, Interruptions; 2) Census Taker; 3) Negro Story; 4) Rosika, the Rose; 5) Letter from Korea; 6) Lone Star; (7) Minister in Washington; 8) Four Eyes.


4:30 AM -- The Blob (1958)
A misunderstood teen fights to save his town from a gelatinous monster from outer space.
Dir: Irvin S. Yeaworth Jr.
Cast: Steven McQueen, Aneta Corseaut, Earl Rowe
C-82 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

The actual Blob, a mixture of red dye and silicone, is still kept in the original five-gallon pail in which it was shipped to the production company in 1958 from Union Carbide. It was put on display over the years as a part of the annual Blobfest, held over a three-day period each summer in Phoenixville, PA, which provided a number of the shooting locales for the film. In addition to displaying the Blob and miniatures used in the shooting, the event features a reenactment of the famous scene in which panicked theatergoers rush to exit the town's still-functioning Colonial Theater, as well as several showings of the film.

[Scuba]

1. Thanks ..

[CBHagman]

2. I sometimes worry about cyberattacks...

...but I've never gotten around to contemplating the prospect of a "gelatinous monster from outer space," though perhaps that's next.

[longship]

3. I love McQueen since he starred in "Wanted: Dead or Alive" on the televisionary set.

I think my favorite of this bunch may be "The Cincinnati Kid". The cast is pretty damned good, with the headliners turning in great work but with incredible support by some damned great character actors and known headliners who obviously wanted to be part of this film.

John Blondell knocks the ball out of the park as Lady Fingers. You'll also see Tuesday Weld, Rip Torn, Jack Weston, Dub Taylor, and Cab Callaway.

A tremendous cast of characters in one of the best poker movies ever, with a dynamite pay off. (No spoilers here.)