TCM Schedule for Friday, September 30, 2016 -- Star of the Month - Gene Hackman

[Staph]

In most of the daylight hours, TCM is featuring films directed by (and occasionally acted in) John Cromwell. His is a very familiar face for fans of classic films and I'll point out the bit parts that he played in today's films. (FYI, he is also the father of actor James Cromwell. ("That'll do, pig. That'll do.&quot ) And in prime time, it's the last of September's Star of the Month, the prolific and prolifically talented Gene Hackman, in a selection of his films of the 1970s and 1980s. Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #28 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon introduces Part Two of "Captains Courageous" and interviews Robby the Robot from "Forbidden Planet."
BW-26 mins,


7:00 AM -- DOUBLE HARNESS (1933)
After tricking a playboy into marriage, a woman sets out to win his love honestly.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Ann Harding, William Powell, Lucile Browne
BW-69 mins, CC,

This film hadn't been shown for decades and was found in a Merian C. Cooper collection that had been used for television. A 2-1/2-minute sequence that had been cut from the print was located in a French negative discovered in the National Center for Cinematography in France and restored to the print. The brief segment had been cut for television because it indicated that the characters of "Joan Colby" and "John Fletcher" were having pre-marital sex.


8:15 AM -- ANN VICKERS (1933)
A social worker's fight for reform is compromised by her love for a corrupt judge.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Irene Dunne, Walter Huston, Conrad Nagel
BW-76 mins, CC,

Director John Cromwell often played uncredited cameos in his films. In this one, he's the sad-faced doughboy at the settlement party; there are three good shots of him looking piningly at Irene Dunne.


9:45 AM -- OF HUMAN BONDAGE (1934)
A medical student falls prey to a sluttish waitress.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Leslie Howard, Bette Davis, Frances Dee
BW-83 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Bette Davis (This was a write-in nomination.)

John Cromwell had an adaptation of W. Somerset Maugham's novel in mind for his next film and was considering Richard Barthelmess as his male lead. Michael Curtiz had just made a film with Barthelmess called The Cabin in the Cotton (1932) which he screened for Cromwell who was immediately taken by a young actress in a small part in the film. This of course turned out to be Bette Davis and Cromwell championed her landing the part of Mildred.


11:15 AM -- THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (1937)
An Englishman who resembles the king of a small European nation gets mixed up in palace intrigue when his look-alike is kidnapped.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Ronald Colman, Madeleine Carroll, C. Aubrey Smith
BW-101 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction -- Lyle R. Wheeler, and Best Music, Score -- Alfred Newman (musical director) with score by Alfred Newman

Douglas Fairbanks Jr. initially wanted the double role for himself and actually tested for it. He was devastated when it was awarded to Ronald Colman. Instead he was offered the part of "Rupert of Hentzau" and, according to David O. Selznick, "Nobody else stood a chance!" His father, Douglas Fairbanks convinced his son that it was a blessing in disguise, as it was the best part in the piece, and advised him on billing and costume.


1:00 PM -- ALGIERS (1938)
A thief on the run from the law risks his life for love.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Sigrid Gurie, Charles Boyer, Hedy Lamarr
BW-99 mins,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Charles Boyer, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gene Lockhart, Best Cinematography -- James Wong Howe, and Best Art Direction -- Alexander Toluboff

Animator Chuck Jones based the Warner Brothers cartoon character "Pepe le Pew" on the "Pepe le Moko" character played by Charles Boyer in this film.


2:45 PM -- ABE LINCOLN IN ILLINOIS (1940)
An exploration into the domestic and political life of this past president.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Raymond Massey, Gene Lockhart, Ruth Gordon
BW-110 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Raymond Massey, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- James Wong Howe

Director Cameo: John Cromwell as abolitionist John Brown. In his next film role, Santa Fe Trail (1940), Raymond Massey portrayed John Brown. Massey went on to reprise the role of Lincoln in the 1953 stage dramatization of the poem "John Brown's Body", in the first television production of "The Day Lincoln Was Shot", and in the Cinerama film "How The West Was Won" (in which he had no spoken lines). He reprised the role of John Brown onstage in "John Brown's Body" and in the 1955 low-budget film "Seven Angry Men". But Massey played mostly villains onscreen.


4:45 PM -- THE ENCHANTED COTTAGE (1945)
A scarred veteran and a homely woman are transformed by love.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Dorothy McGuire, Robert Young, Herbert Marshall
BW-92 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Roy Webb

In 1973 it was announced that a remake would be made. According to Young the setting would be updated and Dorothy McGuire and he would be playing the parts of the housekeeper and blind pianist originally played by Mildred Natwick and Herbert Marshall. The idea fell through after McGuire watched a screening of the original at Young's invitation at the actor's home. She said that the film belonged to another period and that she did not want to go backward.


6:30 PM -- THE RACKET (1951)
A tough cop has to fight his superiors in order to battle the mob.
Dir: John Cromwell
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Lizabeth Scott, Robert Ryan
BW-89 mins, CC,

The film's director John Cromwell was in the Broadway play "The Racket" which opened on November 27, 1927. He starred as McQuigg, the role played in the film by Robert Mitchum.



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



8:00 PM -- REDS (1981)
American activist John Reed travels to Russia to witness the revolution and its aftermath.
Dir: Warren Beatty
Cast: Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Edward Herrmann
C-195 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Maureen Stapleton, Best Director -- Warren Beatty, and Best Cinematography -- Vittorio Storaro

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Warren Beatty, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Diane Keaton, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jack Nicholson, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Warren Beatty and Trevor Griffiths, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Richard Sylbert and Michael Seirton, Best Costume Design -- Shirley Russell, Best Sound -- Dick Vorisek, Tom Fleischman and Simon Kaye, Best Film Editing -- Dede Allen and Craig McKay, and Best Picture

Gene Hackman agreed to appear in the film in a small role, and appearing in just two scenes, as a favor to friend Warren Beatty, for his gratitude to him helping Hackman with his career, when Beatty got him cast during the 1960s in both Lilith (1964) and Bonnie and Clyde (1967).


11:30 PM -- UNDER FIRE (1983)
Three journalists get caught in the middle of the rebellion against President Somoza in Nicaragua.
Dir: Roger Spottiswoode
Cast: Nick Nolte, Ed Harris, Gene Hackman
C-128 mins,

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

The movie is partially based on true events in Nicaragua. In 1979, the dictatorship of Anastasio Somoza Debayle was overthrown by Sandanista leftist rebels. Gene Hackman's character, Alex Grazier, is based on ABC News reporter Bill Stewart. On June 20, 1979, Stewart was traveling in a van that was stopped at a checkpoint in Managua, the capitol city of Nicaragua. Although he identified himself as an American journalist, Stewart was shot and killed by soldiers of the Nicaraguan National Guard, the main force behind Somoza's dictatorship. As depicted in the film, the murder was filmed by Stewart's cameraman, and was later broadcast repeatedly on U.S. TV news reports. Public outrage over the murder forced the U.S. Government to drop its military support of the Somoza regime. In July, 1979, Somoza resigned and fled to Paraguay, where he was later assassinated by Sandanista hit men in September, 1980.


1:45 AM -- A BRIDGE TOO FAR (1977)
Epic re-staging of the Allies' heroic airdrop behind Nazi lines in Holland.
Dir: Richard Attenborough
Cast: Sean Connery, Robert Redford, Laurence Olivier
C-176 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Dame Daphne Du Maurier, the widow of Lt. General Browning, complained that her husband had been "made the fall guy" for the failure of Operation Market Garden by this film. Browning and the unseen Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery, who are shown as responsible for the failure, had both died by the time the film opened in 1977 (unlike the other commanders involved). Director Richard Attenborough defended his depiction of Browning by pointing to the final scene, where he says, "As you know, I've always thought we were going a bridge too far." Browning did actually say something very similar to this (hence the title of Cornelius Ryan's original book and this film), but he said it well before the operation started.


4:45 AM -- BAT*21 (1988)
An Air Force officer crashes behind enemy lines during the Vietnam War.
Dir: Peter Markle
Cast: Gene Hackman, Danny Glover, Jerry Reed
C-105 mins,

As a U.S. Air Force lieutenant colonel, "Gene" Hambleton commanded the 57first Missile Squadron at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base from 1965 to 1971. He is better known as by his tactical radio call-sign, "Bat 21", he used in Vietnam when he was shot down in 1972 while jamming enemy radar, and parachuted behind enemy lines. When on the ground Col Hambleton found himself in the midst of an invasion force of over 30,000 North Vietnamese troops. While evading capture for eleven days he used his survival radio to call in air strikes against the invasion force. Rescue crews gave him coded instructions for where to go to be rescued based on golf course that he had played at different air force bases. Hambleton's harrowing ordeal was recounted in the book Bat 21 (1980), which was made into a movie of the same name in 1988. He died from cancer on September 19 2004 at age 85.