TCM Schedule for Saturday, July 12, 2014 -- The Essentials - Rodeo Cowboys

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials is all about the rodeo cowboy -- they're just bad boys in boots! Enjoy!



6:15 AM -- Hollywood My Hometown (1965)
In this special, Ken Murray hosts his own behind-the-scenes home movies of some of Hollywood's greatest stars.
Dir: William Martin
Cast: Ken Murray, Armin Hoffman, Ben Alexander
BW-53 mins, CC,


7:15 AM -- My Favorite Brunette (1947)
A baby photographer mistaken for a private eye ends up framed for murder.
Dir: Elliott Nugent
Cast: Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour, Peter Lorre
BW-86 mins, CC,

The film contains a number of in-jokes. Bob Hope's character is just saying that he wants to be a private detective like Alan Ladd - when Ladd appears, playing a private detective. Dorothy Lamour's character looks longingly after Bing Crosby for a moment (in their "Road" movies with Bob Hope, Crosby nearly always got the girl) before Hope wins back her attention. There is also a comic reference to legendary music conductor Arturo Toscanini, then considered the greatest conductor in the world, and who at that time was conducting the NBC Symphony Orchestra. (Bob Hope had a radio program on NBC and was soon to make his TV debut on NBC as well.)


8:45 AM -- A Global Affair (1964)
A U.N. official tries to locate the mother of an abandoned baby.
Dir: Jack Arnold
Cast: Bob Hope, Lilo Pulver, Michele Mercier
BW-84 mins, CC,

Final feature film of Robert Sterling.


10:15 AM -- Carson on TCM: Bob Hope (10/13/78) (2013)
TCM presents an interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, with Bob Hope from 10/13/78.
C-10 mins, CC,


10:45 AM -- Nancy Drew, Reporter (1939)
A teen-aged sleuth sets out to prove a young girl innocent of murder charges.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Bonita Granville, John Litel, Frank Thomas Jr.
BW-68 mins, CC,

Florence Halop's film debut. I remember her best as Florence Kleiner, the replacement for Selma Diamond on the television series Night Court.


12:00 PM -- Queen of Outer Space (1958)
A space mission to Venus discovers a society of Amazons.
Dir: Edward Bernds
Cast: Zsa Zsa Gabor, Eric Fleming, Lisa Davis
C-80 mins, Letterbox Format

In an interview, director Edward Bernds said that Zsa Zsa Gabor got very "testy" with the actresses playing the Venusian girls. They were mostly beauty contest winners, and were many years - and in some cases a few decades - younger than her. When she noticed that the crew was paying more attention to the tall, leggy, mini-skirted "Venusians" than they were to her, she became very difficult to work with. He said that Gabor gave producer Ben Schwalb such a hard time on the picture that Schwalb eventually wound up in the hospital with ulcers.


1:30 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, CC, Letterbox Format

Mitzi Gaynor campaigned for the role of "Lady Fingers", but it ended up going to Joan Blondell. Rumors are abound as to why Blondell got the role, with the most common being that Gaynor and Ann-Margret did not quite get along.


3:30 PM -- To Have And Have Not (1944)
A skipper-for-hire's romance with a beautiful drifter is complicated by his growing involvement with the French resistance.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Walter Brennan, Lauren Bacall
BW-100 mins, CC,

The most famous scene in To Have and Have Not (1944) is undoubtedly the "you know how to whistle" dialog sequence. It was not written by Ernest Hemingway, Jules Furthman or William Faulkner, but by Howard Hawks. Hawks wrote the scene as a screen test for Bacall, with no real intention that it would necessarily end up in the film. The test was shot with Warner Bros. contract player John Ridgely acting opposite Bacall. The Warners staff, of course, agreed to star Bacall in the film based on the test, and Hawks thought the scene was so strong he asked Faulkner to work it into one of his later drafts of the shooting script. At the funeral for her husband, Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall put a whistle in his coffin.


5:15 PM -- Bound For Glory (1976)
True story of folk singer Woody Guthrie, who rose to the top while fighting for the rights of migrant farm workers.
Dir: Hal Ashby
Cast: David Carradine, Ronny Cox, Melinda Dillon
C-148 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Haskell Wexler, and Best Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score -- Leonard Rosenman

Nominated for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Getchell, Best Costume Design -- William Ware Theiss, Best Film Editing -- Robert C. Jones and Pembroke J. Herring, and Best Picture

The pivotal Steadicam sequence that first captivated industry insiders involved David Carradine's amble through a migrant camp. The Steadicam operator, Garrett Brown, descends into the scene on a Chapman crane and follows Woody Guthrie (Carradine) as he gets off a pickup truck and walks past some 900 extras. The sequence, which looks quite simple on film, posed a challenge to operator and crew in that, just as Brown stepped off the crane platform laden with his weighty armature, grips had to simultaneously counterbalance the crane arm to prevent it from becoming a human catapult.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: RODEO COWBOYS



8:00 PM -- Bus Stop (1956)
An innocent cowboy kidnaps a small-time singer with whom he's infatuated.
Dir: Joshua Logan
Cast: Marilyn Monroe, Don Murray, Arthur O'Connell
C-94 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Don Murray

The role of Bo Decker (played by Don Murray) was intended for Fess Parker, but Parker was under contract to Walt Disney at the time, who wouldn't release him. Parker also didn't get the role eventually played by Jeffrey Hunter in The Searchers (1956) for the same reason and it was many years before he was even aware of it.


10:00 PM -- The Lusty Men (1952)
A faded rodeo star mentors a younger rider but falls for his wife.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: Susan Hayward, Robert Mitchum, Arthur Kennedy
BW-113 mins, CC,

Robert Parrish directed for several days when Nicholas Ray fell ill.


12:00 AM -- The Unholy Wife (1957)
An ambitious beauty marries a vintner, then falls for one of his workers.
Dir: John Farrow
Cast: Diana Dors, Rod Steiger, Tom Tryon
C-94 mins,

Also known as The Lady And The Prowler.


2:00 AM -- The Baby (1973)
A social worker investigates a strange family.
Dir: Ted Post
Cast: Anjanette Comer, Ruth Roman, Marianna Hill
C-85 mins,

It took about a year for writer Abe Polsky to convince Ted Post to direct the film; Post was reluctant to make the movie because he found the dark premise to be too negative.


3:45 AM -- Lightning Strikes Twice (1951)
An actress champions the cause of a man whom she believes has been falsely accused of murdering his wife.
Dir: King Vidor
Cast: Ruth Roman, Richard Todd, Mercedes McCambridge
BW-90 mins,

Based on the novel A Man Without Friends by Margaret Echard.


5:15 AM -- Holiday From Rules? (1959)
In this educational short film, a group of young children understand why rules are important.
Dir: William H. Murray
C-11 mins,


5:15 AM -- When You Grow Up (1973)
In this short film, children learn about the world of fun that awaits them when they grow up and go to work.
Dir: Jerry Kurtz
C-11 mins,


5:15 AM -- Don't Get Angry (1953)
This short social guidance film offers advice covering anger management.
BW-11 mins,