TCM Schedule for Friday, July 6, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Republic Rediscovered

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM is headed into space -- no space force, thank you very much! In prime time, TCM has a quartet of old Republic Studios' films. Enjoy!



6:15 AM -- THE GREEN SLIME (1969)
A mysterious fungus invades a space station and turns the inhabitants into monsters.
Dir: Kinji Fukasaku
Cast: Robert Horton, Richard Jaeckel, Luciana Paluzzi
C-90 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This was the first film ever to be featured on the cult TV series Mystery Science Theater 3000. An edited version of the film appeared on the show's never-aired pilot episode.


8:00 AM -- SATELLITE IN THE SKY (1956)
Astronauts are trapped on a space station with a ticking bomb.
Dir: Paul Dickson
Cast: Kieron Moore, Lois Maxwell, Donald Wolfit
C-84 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Lois Maxwell, who plays the feisty female reporter, is best known as Miss Moneypenny in the James Bond films. Her macho male lead, Kieron Moore, played the bully in a small Irish town in Darby O'Gill and the Little People (1959).


9:30 AM -- FROM THE EARTH TO THE MOON (1958)
Lifelong rivals collaborate on a 19th-century moon rocket.
Dir: Byron Haskin
Cast: Joseph Cotten, George Sanders, Debra Paget
C-100 mins, CC,

This went into production as RKO was preparing to shut down. It was believed to have had a much larger budget which was later cut. This greatly affected the quality of the special effects.


11:30 AM -- FORBIDDEN PLANET (1956)
A group of space troopers investigates the destruction of a colony on a remote planet.
Dir: Fred McLeod Wilcox
Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen
C-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- A. Arnold Gillespie, Irving G. Ries and Wesley C. Miller

This film marked one of the first times a science-fiction project had received a large budget. The genre had rarely been taken seriously by studio executives, and sci-fi films generally received the most meager of budgets. The critical success of this film convinced many in the film industry that well-funded science-fiction projects could be successful. Film historian Ben Mankiewicz has claimed that this film's success made future big-budget science-fiction films possible.


1:15 PM -- COUNTDOWN (1968)
An astronaut takes a one-way voyage to the moon.
Dir: Robert Altman
Cast: James Caan, Joanna Moore, Robert Duvall
C-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This film centers on a flight to the moon in a Gemini spacecraft modified for a lunar landing. In fact, there were several proposals in the mid 1960s to use modified Gemini craft for lunar orbital and even lunar landings, in lieu of, or complementing, the Apollo flights. They were rejected for various technical, budgetary, and political reasons.


3:15 PM -- 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY (1968)
Classic sci-fi epic about a mysterious monolith that seems to play a key role in human evolution.
Dir: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester
C-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Visual Effects -- Stanley Kubrick (Stanley Kubrick was not present at the awards ceremony. Presenters Diahann Carroll and Burt Lancaster accepted the award on his behalf.)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Stanley Kubrick, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Anthony Masters, Harry Lange and Ernest Archer

According to Arthur C. Clarke, Stanley Kubrick wanted to get an insurance policy from Lloyds of London to protect himself against losses in the event that extraterrestrial intelligence were discovered before the movie was released. Lloyds refused. Carl Sagan commented, "In the mid-1960s, there was no search being performed for extraterrestrial intelligence, and the chances of accidentally stumbling on extraterrestrial intelligence in a few years' period was extremely small. Lloyds of London missed a good bet."


6:00 PM -- 2010 (1984)
In this sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, a U.S.-Soviet crew investigates a mysterious monolith orbiting Jupiter.
Dir: Peter Hyams
Cast: Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, John Lithgow
C-116 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Albert Brenner and Rick Simpson, Best Costume Design -- Patricia Norris, Best Sound -- Michael J. Kohut, Aaron Rochin, Carlos Delarios and Gene S. Cantamessa, Best Effects, Visual Effects -- Richard Edlund, Neil Krepela, George Jenson and Mark Stetson, and Best Makeup -- Michael Westmore

When Dr. Heywood Floyd stands in the doorway of his sleeping son's room, on the wall, to the left of his bed is a poster of an Olympic runner, with the text 'Beijing 08' on the bottom. Considering the film was made in 1984 and the Olympic Committee did not choose Beijing for the Olympics until July 2001, this is an example of life imitating art and background detail which came true.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: REPUBLIC REDISCOVERED



8:00 PM -- THAT BRENNAN GIRL (1946)
A young girl learns criminal tricks from her mother.
Dir: Alfred Santell
Cast: James Dunn, Mona Freeman, William Marshall
BW-95 mins, CC,

Last film directed by Alfred Santell.


9:45 PM -- THE INSIDE STORY (1948)
Money in a hotel safe is removed by mistake and solves a number of financial problems before it is returned.
Dir: Allan Dwan
Cast: Marsha Hunt, William Lundigan, Charles Winninger
BW-87 mins, CC,

Final film of Gail Patrick.


11:30 PM -- CITY THAT NEVER SLEEPS (1953)
Johnny Kelly, who plans on resigning from the police force and leaving his wife the next day, has a very eventful last night on duty.
Dir: John H. Auer
Cast: Gig Young, Mala Powers, William Talman
BW-90 mins, CC,

The building in which the robbery takes place was filmed in the Marquette Building in downtown Chicago.


1:15 AM -- TRIGGER, JR. (1950)
A lawbreaker uses a killer horse to set up a protection racket preying on local ranchers.
Dir: William Witney
Cast: Roy Rogers, Trigger, Dale Evans
C-67 mins, CC,

Under his birthname Golden Cloud, Trigger's first major appearance was in the movie, The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) where he was ridden by Olivia de Havilland.


2:30 AM -- I'M GONNA GIT YOU SUCKA (1988)
In this parody of blaxploitation movies, one hero recruits former heroes from the 70s to fight the system.
Dir: Keenen Ivory Wayans
Cast: Keenen Ivory Wayans, Jim Brown, Bernie Casey
C-89 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

When Slammer (Jim Brown) asks Jack Spade (Keenen Ivory Wayans), "What makes you think you can be a black hero?", Spade responds by saying, "I'm an ex-football player." Jim Brown played football for the Cleveland Browns from 1957-1965, and is in the NFL Hall of Fame. Bernie Casey and Fred Williamson were also professional football players before becoming actors.


4:15 AM -- BROTHERS (1977)
Thinly disguised account of the relationship between radical black activist Angela Davis and Black Panther and prison inmate George Jackson.
Dir: Arthur Barron
Cast: Bernie Casey, Vonetta McGee, Ron O'Neal
BW-104 mins, CC,

Filmed at the North Dakota State Penitentiary, Bismark.

[kimbutgar]

1. I love TCM

Watching King Kong now.

I so miss the monthly magazine.

[Staph]

2. A pity that can't turn it into an e-magazine.

I don't read dead-tree mags any more -- don't want to buy and then dispose of them.