TCM Schedule for Thursday, July 28, 2016 -- What's On Tonight - TCM Spotlight: America in the 70s

[Staph]

In daylight, TCM is celebrating Joe E. Brown, born on July 28, 1892, in Holgate, Ohio. An ardent opponent of the Nazi regime, in 1939 Brown testified before the House Immigration Committee in support of a bill that would allow 20,000 German-Jewish refugee children into the United States. He would later adopt two German-Jewish refugee girls himself, naming them Mary Katherine Ann (born 1930) and Kathryn Francis (born 1934). And in prime-time, it' the last night of movies about America in the 1970s. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- TCM PRESENTS ELVIS MITCHELL UNDER THE INFLUENCE: BILL MURRAY (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-29 mins, CC, Letterbox Format


6:30 AM -- ELEVEN MEN AND A GIRL (1930)
A college flirt lures the nation's best football players to join her school's team.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Joan Bennett, Frank McHugh
BW-72 mins,

Released under the title Maybe It's Love.


7:45 AM -- SALLY (1930)
A waitress dreams of becoming a Broadway star.
Dir: John Francis Dillon
Cast: Marilyn Miller, Alexander Gray, Joe E. Brown
C-102 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction -- Jack Okey

Originally presented in 100% 2-color Technicolor, today the complete film survives only in black and white, with a singular musical number, "Wild Rose," in color. Fragments of the color film for the "Wild Rose" song and dance number were found in the 1990s and have been intercut into the print that Turner Classic Movies shows on its cable channel.


9:30 AM -- TOP SPEED (1930)
A humble clerk pretends to be a millionaire and gets mixed up in a yachting race.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Bernice Claire, Jack Whiting
BW-71 mins,

Based on the stage play and musical comedy, Top Speed. Book by Guy Bolton. Bert Kalmar and Harry Ruby. Lyrics by Bert Kalmar. Music by Harry Ruby. Musical Direction by Ivan Rudisill. Choreographed by John Boyle and Leroy Prinz. Directed by John Harwood. Chanin's 46th Street Theatre (moved to The Royale Theatre from 10 Mar 1930- close): 25 Dec 1929- 22 Mar 1930 (104 performances).


10:45 AM -- BROADMINDED (1931)
A rejected suitor leaves town and gets mixed up in an international chase.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Ona Munson, William Collier Jr.
BW-72 mins, CC,

Bela Lugosi completed his scenes in March 1931, after Women of All Nations (1931) and before The Black Camel (1931).


12:00 PM -- GOING WILD (1931)
A lovesick fool pretends to be an ace flyer.
Dir: William A. Seiter
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Laura Lee, Walter Pidgeon
BW-66 mins,

In September 1928, Warner Bros. Pictures purchased a majority interest in First National Pictures and from that point on, all "First National" productions were actually made under Warner Bros. control, even though the two companies continued to retain separate identities until the mid-1930's, after which time "A Warner Bros.-First National Picture" was often used.


1:15 PM -- LOCAL BOY MAKES GOOD (1931)
A timid student turns into a track-and-field star.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Dorothy Lee, Ruth Hall
BW-67 mins, CC,

Based on the stage play, The Poor Nut. Written by J.C. Nugent and Elliott Nugent. Directed by Howard Lindsay. Henry Miller's Theatre: 27 Apr 1925- May 1925 (closing date unknown/32 performances).


2:30 PM -- SIT TIGHT (1931)
A young man goes into the wrestling ring to win a pretty lady trainer.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Winnie Lightner, Joe E. Brown, Paul Gregory
BW-76 mins,

Sets and costumes left over from Kismet (1930) were used in the Arabian Nights style dream sequence of this film.


3:45 PM -- THE TENDERFOOT (1932)
An innocent cowboy sets out to back a Broadway play.
Dir: Ray Enright
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Ginger Rogers, Lew Cody
BW-69 mins,

Although the onscreen credits list Richard Carle and George S. Kaufman for "story," the sources of the film were actually plays that each wrote. The musical play, "The Tenderfoot," Book and Lyrics by Richard Carle, who also starred in the play, opened in Chicago, Illinois in July 1903. It moved to The New York Theatre in New York City on 22 February 1904 and closed on 30 April 1904 after 81 performances. The play,"The Butter and Egg Man" by George S. Kaufman, opened at the Longacre Theatre in New York on 23 September 1925 and closed in April 1926 after 243 performances. Gregory Kelly played Jones and the opening night cast also included Tom Fadden, Robert Middlemass and Harry Stubbs.


5:00 PM -- YOU SAID A MOUTHFUL (1932)
To sell his unsinkable bathing suit, an inventor passes himself off as a championship swimmer.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Ginger Rogers, Preston S. Foster
BW-70 mins, CC,

Based on a story by William B. Dover.


6:15 PM -- 6 DAY BIKE RIDER (1934)
A young failure tries to impress his girlfriend by entering a bicycle race.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Maxine Doyle, Frank McHugh
BW-69 mins, CC,

Joe E Brown liked to use a different catch phrase for many of his movies. In '6 Day Bike Rider' he used: "Yaaka Hula Hickey Doo, and away we go!"


7:30 PM -- SCREEN DIRECTORS PLAYHOUSE: THE SILENT PARTNER (1955)
A once-famous comedy star drowns his sorrows in a bar.
BW-26 mins, CC,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: AMERICA IN THE 70'S



8:00 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

Before shooting, Gene Hackman and Al Pacino both dressed as hobos and hitchhiked through California to get into their characters.


10:00 PM -- THE LAST DETAIL (1973)
Two shore patrolmen decide to show a prisoner a good time on his way to the brig.
Dir: Hal Ashby
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Otis Young, Randy Quaid
C-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Jack Nicholson, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Randy Quaid, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Towne

The script was completed in 1970, but contained too much profanity to be shot as written. Columbia Pictures waited for two years trying to get writer Robert Towne to tone down the language. Instead, by 1972, the standards for foul language relaxed so much that all the profanity was left in.


12:00 AM -- WISE BLOOD (1979)
An ambitious Southern boy tries to set himself up as a street preacher.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Brad Dourif, Dan Shor, Harry Dean Stanton
C-106 mins,

Actor Brad Dourif was originally sent the script to audition for the character Enoch Emery. But Brad had such a good feeling about the Hazel Motes character, Dourif asked to audition for that instead. The problem was, another actor, Tommy Lee Jones, was currently director John Huston's first choice for the part. However, things didn't go to plan. Jones had to drop out, giving Dourif the opportunity to audition like he wanted to, and then landing the role of Hazel for himself.


2:00 AM -- THE DROWNING POOL (1975)
A private eye's investigation of an anonymous letter leads to murder.
Dir: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, Tony Franciosa
C-108 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The character Lew Harper is based on novelist Ross Macdonald's character Lew Archer. The name was changed for the first 'Lew Harper' film Harper (1966) supposedly because Paul Newman had recently enjoyed success with Hud (1963) and The Hustler (1961) (two of his successful films beginning with the letter "H", a later one after Harper (1966) was 1967's Hombre (1967)) and the producers wanted the movie's title to begin with "H". Also, the Macdonald estate did not want the name "Archer" used in the movie. There may have been fear of legal complications because Macdonald got the name "Archer" in the first place from Miles Archer, Sam Spade's partner who is killed early on in Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon (1941)".


4:00 AM -- LET'S DO IT AGAIN (1975)
Two blue-collar workers try to con a powerful gangster.
Dir: Sidney Poitier
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Bill Cosby, Calvin Lockhart
C-113 mins, CC,

The name of the character played by Calvin Lockhart, Biggie Smalls, was later taken on as an alias for the late rapper, The Notorious B.I.G.