TCM Schedule for Friday, February 18 -- 31 Days of Oscar -- The Most Writing Wins

[Staph]

Oscar loves New York, as we see in the daytime films today. In primetime, we've got the winningest writer, Paddy Chayefsky, who has three writing Oscars and one additional nomination to his credit. Enjoy!



4:15am -- Do the Right Thing (1989)
Racial tensions erupt when a Harlem pizza owner refuses to include black celebrities in his display of famous fans.
Cast: Roger Guenveur Smith, Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee
Dir: Spike Lee
C-120 mins, TV-MA

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Danny Aiello, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Spike Lee

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama reportedly saw this movie on their first date in 1989.


6:30am -- Naked City (1948)
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart, Don Taylor
Dir: Jules Dassin
BW-96 mins, TV-14

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- William H. Daniels, and Best Film Editing -- Paul Weatherwax

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Malvin Wald

Most of the street scenes were shot on location in New York without the public's knowledge. Photographer William H. Daniels and his uncredited assistant Roy Tripp filmed people on the streets using a hidden camera from the back of an old moving van. Occasionally, a fake newsstand with a hidden camera inside was also set up on the sidewalk to secretly film the actors. Director Jules Dassin hired a juggler to distract the crowds, and also hired a man to occasionally climb up on a light post and give a patriotic speech, while waving an American flag to get the crowd's attention.


8:15am -- Dead End (1937)
A killer returns to his childhood home to plot his escape from the law.
Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Joel McCrea, Humphrey Bogart, Wendy Barrie
Dir: William Wyler
BW-92 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Claire Trevor, Best Art Direction -- Richard Day, Best Cinematography -- Gregg Toland, and Best Picture

This was the first appearance of the Dead End Kids who later evolved into the East Side Kids and later the Bowery Boys. Producer Samuel Goldwyn brought the boys - who had appeared in the original Broadway production of the play - to Hollywood to appear in the movie. He later regretted the decision, as the boys ran wild through the studio, destroying property and crashing a truck through the wall of a sound stage. Afterwards, Goldwyn decided not to use the boys again and sold their contract to Warner Brothers.


10:00am -- Five Star Final (1931)
An unscrupulous newspaper editor searches for headlines at any cost.
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Marian Marsh, H. B. Warner, Anthony Bushell
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
BW-89 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

The Evening Gazette is based on the real-life New York Evening Graphic, the most sensational of all the Front Page-era tabloid papers. (Critics called it the Porno-Graphic.) The paper, owned by Bernarr Macfadden, published from 1924 to 1932. At the time this film was made, the Graphic had been losing circulation, because its new editor had been trying to make it a more respectable paper, just like in the film. The paper was best known for its "composographs," composite photographs used to create an otherwise unobtainable illustration.


11:45am -- On the Town (1949)
Three sailors wreak havoc as they search for love during a whirlwind 24-hour leave in New York City.
Cast: Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Betty Garrett, Ann Miller
Dir: Stanley Donen
C-98 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Roger Edens and Lennie Hayton

A total of 5 days was spent filming in New York City. The 2 major problems faced by the crew was the weather (it rained for most of the shoot) and the popularity of Frank Sinatra. Gene Kelly explained that the movie was filmed at the height of Sinatra mania and Frank would be instantly recognized by people on the streets. To avoid crowds the cast insisted on taxis instead of limousines for transportation and that the camera be hidden inside a station wagon. During the finale of the "New York, New York" musical number, which takes place in the sunken plaza at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in front of the statue of Prometheus, you can see at the top of the frame of the last shot, the heads of hundreds of curious spectators staring at the three stars over the wall behind the statue.


1:30pm -- It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
World War II buddies get mixed up with gangsters and an egotistical TV star when they hold a 10-year reunion.
Cast: Gene Kelly, Dan Dailey, Cyd Charisse, Dolores Gray
Dir: Stanley Donen
C-101 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- André Previn, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Betty Comden and Adolph Green

Betty Comden and Adolph Green originally conceived this musical as a sequel to their smash, On the Town (1949), having the new film reunite Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Jules Munshin. The concept was changed somewhat because was Mr. Sinatra was unavailable to reprise his role.


3:15pm -- My Sister Eileen (1942)
Two sisters - one smart, one pretty - move to New York to build careers.
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Brian Aherne, Janet Blair, George Tobias
Dir: Alexander Hall
BW-97 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Rosalind Russell

Rosalind Russell shares the screen with actress and former vaudevillian June Havoc. Twenty years later, Russell portrayed Havoc's mother in the musical Gypsy (1962).


5:00pm -- The Producers (1968)
A Broadway producer decides to get rich by creating the biggest flop of his career.
Cast: Zero Mostel, Gene Wilder, Dick Shawn, Kenneth Mars
Dir: Mel Brooks
C-90 mins, TV-14

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Mel Brooks

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gene Wilder

The reason the film got released at all was due to the intervention of Peter Sellers. After Brooks completed the picture, he was told by Executive Producer Joseph E. Levine that the film, which was then called "Springtime for Hitler", would not be released; Levine thought it was in poor taste and not very funny. While Sellers was in Hollywood making I Love You, Alice B. Toklas! (1968), he liked to have films screened for his friends and himself for entertainment. One night this film was screened and Sellers loved it. When he heard it would not be released he began calling Levine and eventually convinced him to release it, the only compromise being that the title of the film be changed to "The Producers".


6:30pm -- It Should Happen To You (1954)
A dizzy model in love with fame rents a billboard and puts her name on it.
Cast: Judy Holliday, Peter Lawford, Jack Lemmon, Michael O'Shea
Dir: George Cukor
BW-87 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis

This story was conceived when Garson Kanin, trying to cheer up his wife Ruth Gordon, was driving by Columbus Circle. He told her he was going to put her name on "that billboard there" in the biggest letters. He didn't. He wrote a screenplay instead. Gordon suggested that the lead should be Judy Holliday. Kanin had originally considered a male lead, Danny Kaye. When he finished the screenplay, the lead had been written for Holliday.


8:00pm -- The Hospital (1971)
A harried hospital administrator copes with rising costs, a seductive young woman and a serial killer.
Cast: George C. Scott, Diana Rigg, Barnard Hughes, Richard A. Dysart
Dir: Arthur Hiller
C-103 mins, TV-MA

Won an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- Paddy Chayefsky

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- George C. Scott

According to TCM host Robert Osborne, Paddy Chayefsky passed on having Walter Matthau or Burt Lancaster in George C. Scott's role, and either Jane Fonda, Ali MacGraw, or Candice Bergen in Diana Rigg's.


10:00pm -- Marty (1955)
A lonely butcher finds love despite the opposition of his friends and family.
Cast: Ernest Borgnine, Betsy Blair, Esther Minciotti, Augusta Ciolli
Dir: Delbert Mann
BW-94 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Ernest Borgnine, Best Director -- Delbert Mann, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Paddy Chayefsky, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Joe Mantell, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Betsy Blair, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Ted Haworth, Walter M. Simonds and Robert Priestley, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph LaShelle

Delbert Mann had no idea who to cast in the lead role, so asked his friend Robert Aldrich. Aldrich immediately suggested Ernest Borgnine. Mann was skeptical, as Borgnine was only known for playing heavies, but Aldrich convinced him. Borgnine regularly says that he owes his career to Robert Aldrich.


12:00am -- Network (1976)
Television programmers turn a deranged news anchor into 'the mad prophet of the airwaves.'
Cast: Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch, William Holden, Robert Duvall
Dir: Sidney Lumet
BW-121 mins, TV-MA

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter Finch (Nomination and award were posthumous. Finch became the first posthumous winner in an acting category. His widow Eletha Finch and screenwriter Paddy Chayefsky accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beatrice Straight, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Paddy Chayefsky

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- William Holden, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Ned Beatty, Best Cinematography -- Owen Roizman, Best Director -- Sidney Lumet, Best Film Editing -- Alan Heim, and Best Picture ('Network' becomes the second film to win three awards for acting, following A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).)

Director Sidney Lumet said that he shot the film using a specific lighting scheme. He said in the film's opening scenes, he shot with as little light as possible, almost shooting the film like a documentary. As the film progressed, he added more light and more camera moves and by the end of the film, it was as brightly lit and "slick" as he could make it.


2:15am -- The Goddess (1958)
Booze, pills and loneliness mark a young actress' rise to stardom.
Cast: Kim Stanley, Lloyd Bridges, Steve Hill, Betty Lou Holland
Dir: John Cromwell
BW-105 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Paddy Chayefsky

The Emily Ann Faulkner/Rita Shawn character (played by Kim Stanley) was based on Marilyn Monroe.