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Staph

(6,245 posts)
Wed Sep 11, 2013, 02:45 PM Sep 2013

TCM Schedule for Friday, September 13, 2013 -- Friday Night Spotlight - Future Shock!

We've got a day of prison movies and an evening of films about dystopic futures, including one of the most recent films I've ever seen featured on TCM, Minority Report (2002). Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- Road Gang (1936)
A reporter exposes corruption on a southern chain gang.
Dir: Louis King
Cast: Donald Woods, Kay Linaker, Carlyle Moore Jr.
BW-61 mins, TV-PG,

Written by one of the blacklisted writers of the 1940s, Dalton Trumbo.


7:45 AM -- Numbered Men (1930)
A convict learns that a fellow prisoner has been messing with his woman.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy
Cast: Conrad Nagel, Bernice Claire, Raymond Hackett
BW-65 mins, TV-G,

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.


9:00 AM -- Condemned Women (1938)
Murder creates an uproar in a women's prison.
Dir: Lew Landers
Cast: Sally Eilers, Louis Hayward, Anne Shirley
BW-77 mins, TV-PG,

First full length feature film of Dorothy Adams, a character actress who specialized in downtrodden or careworn roles. Often as servants, maids, or hard-working pioneering types, even a slave in The Ten Commandments (1956). Acted at the Pasadena Playhouse with her husband Byron Foulger. From the early 1960's, lectured in theatre arts at UCLA.


10:30 AM -- Hell's Highway (1932)
A prison-camp convict learns that his younger brother will soon be joining him behind bars.
Dir: Rowland Brown
Cast: Richard Dix, Tom Brown, Rochelle Hudson
BW-62 mins, TV-PG,

RKO executives were concerned about a possible plagiarism suit by the author of the book and the movie version I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang in production at Warner Bros. at the time. Some deletions and changes were made until they were satisfied that no legal action would be taken.


11:45 AM -- The Big House (1930)
An attempted prison break leads to a riot.
Dir: George Hill
Cast: Chester Morris, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone
BW-87 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (sound director - M-G-M Studio Sound Department), and Best Writing, Achievement -- Frances Marion

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Wallace Beery, and Best Picture

This movie relaunched Wallace Beery's career. Before the coming of sound, he had been a top supporting player in silent films but had been dropped by his studio when sound came in. With The Big House being a huge hit, and Beery earning an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, he was back in favor, to the extent of becoming the world's highest paid actor within two years.



1:15 PM -- Each Dawn I Die (1939)
A crusading reporter becomes a hardened convict when he's framed.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: James Cagney, George Raft, Jane Bryan
BW-92 mins, TV-PG, CC,

This was Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin's favorite American movie.


3:00 PM -- Ladies They Talk About (1933)
A lady bank robber becomes the cell block boss after she's sent to prison.
Dir: Howard Bretherton
Cast: Barbara Stanwyck, Preston S. Foster, Lyle Talbot
BW-69 mins, TV-G,

Film has some rather blatant and oddball plugs for Warner Brothers stars. In several scenes photos of Joe E. Brown (whom Lillian Roth sings to) and Dick Powell are seen in the women's cells.


4:15 PM -- Brute Force (1947)
Tough, disgruntled prisoners plan a daring, possibly bloody escape while on a drain pipe detail.
Dir: Jules Dassin
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford
BW-98 mins, TV-14, CC,

When the Group Theater (1931-1940), the first American acting company to attempt to put the Russian Stanislavski's principles into action, disbanded many of the actors who had participated in its revolutionary realistic productions on Broadway ("Awake and Sing" "Waiting for Lefty&quot made their way to Hollywood in search of work;, Roman Bohnen ("Warden&quot , and Art Smith ("Dr. Walters&quot - all of whom can be seen in this film. As many of the actors in The Group were members of the Communist Party or leftist organizations, they would soon be blacklisted during the HUAC period along with the director of this film, Jules Dassin. In 1946, a year before the release of this film, Elia Kazan, one of the members of The Group Theater who named names, happened to be in Hollywood and saw a production of one of Tennessee Williams's early plays "Portrait of a Madonna" directed by Hume Cronyn - who plays the sadistic Capt. Munsey in this film. Kazan was so impressed by the work of Cronyn's wife, Jessica Tandy, that he offered her the role of Blanche Dubois in his Broadway production of "Streetcar Named Desire."


6:00 PM -- I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932)
A World War I veteran faces inhuman conditions when he's sentenced to hard labor.
Dir: Mervyn Le Roy
Cast: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson
BW-93 mins, TV-PG, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Muni, Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (sound director - Warner Bros. Studio Sound Department), and Best Picture

The film caused a lot of controversy, actually leading to the pardon of its main character, Robert Elliot Burns, who was still on the lam when the film first hit theaters.



7:36 PM -- How To Break 90 #2: Position And Back Swing (1933)
In this short film, golf champion Bobby Jones demonstrates the correct and incorrect ways to hit a drive.
Dir: George Marshall
Cast: Guy Kibbee, Glenda Farrell,
BW-10 mins,

One of six shorts, featuring Bobby Jones, with advice for the amateur golfer.


7:49 PM -- A Look At The World Of "Soylent Green" (1973)
This short film gives a behind-the-scenes look at the science fiction film "Soylent Green" (1973).
C-10 mins,

The word "Soylent" is a holdover from the Harry Harrison novel "Make Room! Make Room!" upon which this film is based. In the novel, the word is supposed to suggest soybeans and lentils.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FRIDAY NIGHT SPOTLIGHT: FUTURE SHOCK!



8:00 PM -- Soylent Green (1973)
A future cop uncovers the deadly secret behind a mysterious synthetic food.
Dir: Richard O. Fleischer
Cast: Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Edward G. Robinson
C-97 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

When Thorn discovers that he is too late to stop Sol's suicide, he begins to cry. According to a 1997 interview with Robert Osborne on Turner Classic Movies, Charlton Heston was really crying because he was so moved by Edward G. Robinson's performance. Robinson knew he was dying from cancer and kept it from the cast and crew. He knew this would be his last film, and his death scene was the last scene he ever filmed. He died just ten days after shooting wrapped.


9:45 PM -- Minority Report (2002)
An enforcer who catches people before they can commit crimes is framed for murder.
Dir: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Max von Sydow
C-145 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound Editing -- Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

At the police station, the officers talk about the metaphysical proof of precognition. Chief Anderton (Tom Cruise) rolls a red ball along a table to demonstrate the law of cause and effect to Det. Witwer (Colin Farrell). All of this is an allusion to the famous claim of philosopher David Hume (1711-1776), that by observing billiard balls you can actually demonstrate that cause and effect does not exist but is merely a habitually created fiction of the mind.



12:15 AM -- Logan's Run (1976)
A future police officer uncovers the deadly secret behind a society that worships youth.
Dir: Michael Anderson
Cast: Michael York, Richard Jordan, Jenny Agutter
C-119 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Won a Special Achievement Oscar Award for L.B. Abbott, Glen Robinson and Matthew Yuricich for visual effects.

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Dale Hennesy and Robert De Vestel, and Best Cinematography -- Ernest Laszlo

The film provides conflicting age at which the Life Clocks change colors, but in the original novel, the colors change every 7 years: yellow (birth-6), blue (7-13), red (14-20), then red and black on Lastday, finally turning black at 21. The characters can only live to 21 in the novel, but this was changed to age 30 for this movie. According to the audio commentary, it was unrealistic in casting and marketing a major motion to have all the characters under the age of 21. Michael York, Richard Jordan and Michael Anderson Jr. were all over 30 when they made the film.



2:30 AM -- Mad Max (1979)
A post-apocalyptic cop seeks revenge when his family is murdered.
Dir: George Miller
Cast: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Steve Bisley
C-93 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Mel Gibson didn't go to the audition for this film to read for a part, he actually went along with a friend who was auditioning. But because he had been in a bar fight the night before and his head looked like "a black and blue pumpkin" (his words), he was told he could come back and audition in three week's time because "we need freaks!". He did return in three weeks' time, wasn't recognized (because his injuries had healed well), and was asked to read for a part.


4:15 AM -- The Wild One (1953)
Motorcycle-riding delinquents take over a small town.
Dir: Laslo Benedek
Cast: Marlon Brando, Mary Murphy, Robert Keith
BW-79 mins, TV-14, CC,

Based on a 1951 short story in Harper's Magazine entitled The Cyclists' Raid, which in turn was based upon a real-life incident in Hollister, California in 1947. The actual incident, however, bore little resemblance to the events depicted in the movie. Although spirited, the cyclists did not run amok or become violent. In fact, the bikers were invited back to Hollister over the July 4, 1997 weekend for a fiftieth anniversary celebration of the original incident.


5:48 AM -- 23 - Skidoo (1930)
In this comedic short, a restaurant owner has difficulty hiring waiters and gets in trouble with his wife.
Dir: Arthur Hurley
Cast: Helen Goodhue, Gloria Shea, Weber and Fields
BW-10 mins

From Wikipedia -- 23 skidoo (sometimes 23 skiddoo) is an American slang phrase popularized during the early 20th century, first attested before World War I and becoming popular during the 1920s. It generally refers to leaving quickly, being forced to leave quickly by someone else, or taking advantage of a propitious opportunity to leave, that is, "getting [out] while the getting's good." The exact origin of the phrase is uncertain.

23 skidoo has been described as "perhaps the first truly national fad expression and one of the most popular fad expressions to appear in the U.S," to the extent that "Pennants and arm-bands at shore resorts, parks, and county fairs bore either [23] or the word 'Skiddoo'."




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