TCM Schedule for Friday, September 9, 2016 -- Star of the Month - Gene Hackman

[Staph]

During most of today's daylight hours, TCM is showing films with sound recorded by Douglas Shearer, brother of Norma. His is not a familiar name to most of us, but he was the winner of seven Oscars for Best Sound, Recording and Best Effects, Recording, as well as four Oscar Technical Achievement Awards, two Oscar Scientific and Engineering Awards, an Academy Award of Merit, and fourteen other Oscar nominations. He's the Edith Head of Sound! And in prime time, it's more of September's Star of the Month, the prolific and prolifically talented Gene Hackman. Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- LORD BYRON OF BROADWAY (1930)
A Broadway tunesmith uses a string of women as inspiration.
Dir: William Nigh
Cast: Charles Kaley, Ethelind Terry, Marion Shilling
BW-77 mins,

In late 1928, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer announced that it had bought Nell Martin's novel "Lord Byron of Broadway" and would be turning it into a musical with William Haines and Bessie Love. However, it went downscale when actually casting the central roles, and the lack of star power and the so unappealing story added up to a flop at the box office. Critics commented about its lackluster casting, and "Lord Byron Of Broadway" quickly sank at the box office.


7:45 AM -- THOSE THREE FRENCH GIRLS (1930)
An addled Englishman's efforts to save three young women from eviction land them all in jail.
Dir: Harry Beaumont
Cast: Fifi D'Orsay, Reginald Denny, Cliff Edwards
BW-73 mins,

Based on an original story by Dale Van Every and Arthur Freed, with some of the dialogue was written by P.G. Wodehouse.


9:00 AM -- SEQUOIA (1934)
A wilderness girl raises a deer and a mountain lion to be friends.
Dir: Chester M. Franklin
Cast: Jean Parker, Russell Hardie, Samuel S. Hinds
BW-71 mins,

Not surprisingly, filmed in part in Sequoia National Forest, California.


10:15 AM -- LADY BE GOOD (1941)
Married songwriters almost split up while putting on a big show.
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
Cast: Eleanor Powell, Ann Sothern, Robert Young
BW-112 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) for the song "The Last Time I Saw Paris"

For Eleanor Powell's dance-version of the song "Lady, Be Good", MGM auditioned several dogs, but none of them was able to do the required tricks. Finally, Powell bought a dog off a propman and trained it herself for several weeks so that the dance could be done as she wanted.


12:15 PM -- YOLANDA AND THE THIEF (1945)
A con man poses as a Latin American heiress' guardian angel.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Fred Astaire, Lucille Bremer, Frank Morgan
C-108 mins, CC,

Originally planned to star Fred Astaire and Judy Garland. Plans were abandoned when Garland was cast in the big budget western musical The Harvey Girls (1946). The two would eventually be cast opposite each other in Easter Parade (1948).


2:15 PM -- ANY NUMBER CAN PLAY (1949)
The owner of a gambling casino tries to win back his estranged wife and child.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Clark Gable, Alexis Smith, Wendell Corey
BW-103 mins, CC,

There were two different (usually uncredited) character actors named William O'Brien - William H. O'Brien and William J. O'Brien - and they both appear in this film (uncredited) as gamblers.


4:00 PM -- INVITATION TO THE DANCE (1956)
Three stories told in dance: a circus clown loves a trapeze artist; a bracelet passes from one lover to another; a sailor enters an animated Arabian Nights fantasy.
Dir: Gene Kelly
Cast: Gene Kelly, Igor Youskevitch, Claire Sombert
C-93 mins, CC,

Gene Kelly's original intention was to make a film that would educate mainstream audiences about professional dancing in the world. To this end, he wanted to cast the greatest dancers in Europe for the four segments in leading roles. He himself would only appear in one - the Popular Song sequence, which ended up being cut. But MGM refused to allow the picture unless he appeared in all of them. Many of the professionals who worked in the film agreed that this was one of the film's great weaknesses.


5:45 PM -- BELLS ARE RINGING (1960)
An answering service operator gets mixed up in her clients' lives.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Holliday, Dean Martin, Fred Clark
C-126 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- André Previn

Ella sings about going back to the Bonjour Tristesse Brassiere Company. The novel "Bonjour Tristesse" (French: "Hello Sadness&quot by Françoise Sagan was published in 1954 and translated to English in 1955. It was considered to be quite racy, sort of a "Fifty Shades Of Gray", for the time. Because of this the phrase took on a sensual meaning in the US.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: GENE HACKMAN



8:00 PM -- THE CONVERSATION (1974)
A surveillance expert uncovers a murder plot within a corrupt corporation.
Dir: Francis Ford Coppola
Cast: Gene Hackman, John Cazale, Allen Garfield
C-114 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Francis Ford Coppola, Best Sound -- Walter Murch and Art Rochester, and Best Picture

Harrison Ford's part was initially intended to be a small cameo, written as little more than an office assistant. Feeling that the character was one-dimensional, Ford decided to play him as gay, a risky choice in 1974, and personally purchased the loud green silk suit for $900 ($4,284.99 in 2015 dollars). Francis Ford Coppola was at first shocked by the outfit at rehearsals but, after discussing it with Ford, was so impressed with this interpretation that he expanded the role into a supporting character, gave the character a name (Martin Stett) and had production designer Dean Tavoularis create an office that reflected the character's orientation.


10:00 PM -- SCARECROW (1973)
Two hitchhikers with wildly different backgrounds become fast friends.
Dir: Jerry Schatzberg
Cast: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Dorothy Tristan
C-112 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to Jerry Schatzberg, Gene Hackman was hard to work with and argued with everyone on the set including his brother, Richard Hackman, who was working as his stand-in. To get back at Gene, Schatzberg gave Richard a part in the film. But Gene ended up being delighted that his brother was in the film.


12:00 AM -- YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN (1974)
A descendant of Dr. Frankenstein sets out to make a man.
Dir: Mel Brooks
Cast: Terry Garr, Cloris Leachman, Gene Wilder
BW-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Adapted From Other Material -- Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks, and Best Sound -- Richard Portman and Gene S. Cantamessa

The Blind Man's parting line "I was gonna make espresso" was not in the script, but was ad-libbed by Gene Hackman during shooting. This is the reason for the immediate fade to black as the crew immediately erupted into fits of laughter. Hackman was uncredited when the movie was originally released in theaters.


2:00 AM -- OH, GOD! (1977)
A grocer is selected by God to help spread a message.
Dir: Carl Reiner
Cast: George Burns, John Denver, Terry Garr
C-98 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Larry Gelbart

Briefly ended Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)'s 15-week reign at the #1 spot at the box office in October of 1977, before Star Wars returned to the top spot the following week.


4:00 AM -- YOUNG MAN WITH A HORN (1950)
A young trumpet player is torn between an honest singer and a manipulative heiress.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Lauren Bacall, Doris Day
BW-112 mins, CC,

The film contains a reference to homosexuality, although the Hays Office--the industry's censor--required any mention of it be subtle. The character of Amy (Lauren Bacall) is lesbian, which is why Rick (Kirk Douglas) walks out on her, telling her that she is "a very sick girl". Many decades later, Bacall told a Turner Classic Movies interviewer that the reference was so subtle (and she was then so young and naive) that she didn't understand until years later that the character she played was supposed to be lesbian.