TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 10, 2013 -- What's On Tonight -- Bob's Picks

[Staph]

Today TCM is celebrating the too-short life of Sal Mineo, born Salvatore Mineo Jr., on January 10, 1939, in The Bronx, and died on February 12, 1976 (age 37) in West Hollywood, Los Angeles. And in prime time, Bob Osborne is hosting a selection of his favorite films. Enjoy!


7:00 AM -- She Had To Say Yes (1933)
A secretary pads her salary by dating prospective buyers for her company.
Dir: Busby Berkeley
Cast: Loretta Young, Winnie Lightner, Lyle Talbot
BW-66 mins, TV-G, CC,

The first film directed by Busby Berkeley.


8:15 AM -- The Dangerous Days of Kiowa Jones (1966)
A drifter deputized by a dying sheriff fights to bring two killers to justice.
Dir: Alex March
Cast: Sal Mineo, Diane Baker, Robert Horton
C-100 mins, TV-PG,

This was a pilot for a western series to star Robert Horton, but it wasn't picked up by a network.


10:00 AM -- Cheyenne Autumn (1964)
A reluctant calvary Captain must track a defiant tribe of migrating Cheyennes.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Karl Malden
C-155 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- William H. Clothier

When film critic Peter Bogdanovich visited the set to interview John Ford, he was introduced to Nancy Hsueh, who played Little Bird, whom Bogdanovich later cast in his first film, Targets. While Bogdanovich was on the set, Sal Mineo recommended the book "The Last Picture Show" by Larry McMurtry to him, which became his second film as director seven years later.


1:00 PM -- The Gene Krupa Story (1959)
Legendary jazz musician Gene Krupa faces highs and lows along the path of his life.
Dir: Don Weis
Cast: Sal Mineo, Susan Kohner, James Darren
BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Dave Frishberg, a pianist who played with Krupa, was particularly struck by the accuracy of one key moment in the film. "The scene where the Krupa character drops his sticks during the big solo, and the audience realizes that he's "back on the stuff." I remember at least a couple of occasions in real life when Gene dropped a stick, and people in the audience began whispering among themselves and pointing at Gene."


2:45 PM -- The Young Don't Cry (1957)
An orphaned teen tries to help a wrongly convicted man who's escaped from prison.
Dir: Alfred L. Werker
Cast: Sal Mineo, James Whitmore, J. Carrol Naish
BW-90 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Final film of director Alfred L. Werker.


4:15 PM -- Crime in the Streets (1956)
A social worker tries to end juvenile crime by getting involved with a street gang.
Dir: Don Siegel
Cast: James Whitmore, Sal Mineo, Mark Rydell
BW-91 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

A remake of the TV episode The Elgin Hour: Crime in the Streets (1955).


6:00 PM -- Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
An alienated teenager tries to handle life's troubles and an apron-wearing dad.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo
C-111 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sal Mineo, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Natalie Wood, and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Nicholas Ray

All three lead actors, James Dean, Sal Mineo, and Natalie Wood, died young under tragic circumstances: Dean died in a car accident, Mineo was stabbed, and Wood drowned. In addition, Edward Platt committed suicide in 1974.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: BOB'S PICKS



8:00 PM -- Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954)
A Greek slave who keeps Christ's robe after the crucifixion is sentenced to be one Caligula's gladiators.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Victor Mature, Susan Hayward, Michael Rennie
C-101 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

This film picks up where The Robe (1953) ends.


10:00 PM -- Roughly Speaking (1945)
A man's wild moneymaking schemes leave his wife to raise their family.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Rosalind Russell, Jack Carson, Robert Hutton
BW-117 mins, TV-G, CC,

The movie is based on housewife Louise Randall Pierson's best-selling autobiographical book by the same title, and then screenplay, based on her family's life. The character Frank Pierson refers to her real-life son who enlisted to fight in World War II, and later went on to become a famous film/TV writer and director.


12:00 AM -- Old Acquaintance (1943)
Two writers, friends since childhood, fight over their books and lives.
Dir: Vincent Sherman
Cast: Bette Davis, Miriam Hopkins, Gig Young
BW-110 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Remade theatrically in the 1980s as "Rich and Famous."


2:00 AM -- The Hurricane (1937)
A Polynesian escapes prison to return home during a raging storm.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Dorothy Lamour, Jon Hall, Mary Astor
BW-104 mins, TV-G,

Won an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Thomas T. Moulton (United Artists SSD)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Thomas Mitchell, and Best Music, Score -- Alfred Newman (head of department) and Score by Alfred Newman.

John Ford insisted that no actor could possibly recreate the pain of a real flogging. Jon Hall agreed to undergo the real thing, finding himself horsewhipped until his back bled. Unfortunately his quest for verisimilitude went unnoticed as the censors found the sequence to be far too realistic and insisted that it be cut from the final film.


4:00 AM -- The Tuttles of Tahiti (1942)
A family in the South Seas goes to any lengths to escape work.
Dir: Charles Vidor
Cast: Charles Laughton, Jon Hall, Peggy Drake
BW-91 mins, TV-G,

"The Screen Guild Theater" broadcast a 30 minute radio adaptation of the movie on March 13, 1944 with Charles Laughton reprising his film role.

[graham4anything]

1. I loved Edward Platt, from Rebel without a causes

He played the Chief of Control on Get Smart.
Whenever Rebel comes on, I refer to it as the Ed Platt movie.
Jim Backus, Mr. Howell on Gilligan's Island also was in that movie.