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TCM Schedule for Thursday, January 6, 2022 -- What's on: True Crime
During the daylight hours, TCM is showing us Shipboard Singalongs! Then in prime time, it's the first week of True Crime.TCM SPOTLIGHT: TRUE CRIME
By Rob Nixon
December 13, 2021
Thursdays beginning 8 p.m. | 25 Movies
Just like readers the world over, film audiences love a good crime story. When that story comes from real life, “ripped from the headlines” as they say, it adds an extra level of fascination to the experience. This month, TCM turns the spotlight on movies based on True Crime – some recounting the actual events, others loosely inspired by them, and some taking liberties with the facts to create cinematic myths and legends out of notorious criminals.
The mayhem and mischief kicks off in prime time January 6 with Alfred Hitchcock’s experiment in “single take” storytelling in Rope (1948), inspired by the infamous 1924 Leopold and Loeb case, when two wealthy young students murdered a 14-year-old boy as a demonstration of their social and intellectual superiority. Farley Granger and John Dall play the murderers and James Stewart is the acquaintance horrified to discover his philosophical musings have inspired the fatal act. Hitchcock used long takes framed and edited to appear as if the entire 80-minute story was captured in a single shot in real time with no cuts.
The evening continues with films based on real-life criminal couples. Bonnie and Clyde (1967), starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the leaders of the Depression era crime duo, changed the face of cinema and ushered in a new era in American filmmaking. Badlands (1973) was Terrence Malick’s highly influential directorial debut based on the 1958 murder spree of a young Midwestern couple (played by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek). The Honeymoon Killers (1970) follows the deadly trail of Raymond Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco) and Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler), the “lonely hearts killers” of the 1940s.
Also showing that night: The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), about a series of murders and attacks in 1946 in Texarkana, where it was shot, and The Hitch-Hiker (1953), based on a 1950 killing spree and co-written and directed by one of the only female directors of studio-era Hollywood, Ida Lupino.
The line-up for January 13 includes stories that focus on the aftermath of murders and the toll they take on survivors, law enforcement and the pursuit of justice. In Cold Blood (1967) is adapted from Truman Capote’s book about two men executed for the murder of a Kansas farm family. While not shrinking from the horror of the act, Capote’s unique take was an attempt to understand the backgrounds of the murderers. The Boston Strangler (1968) stars Henry Fonda as the detective who wrested a (disputed) confession from serial killer and rapist Albert DeSalvo (Tony Curtis). The critically acclaimed The Onion Field (1979) features a powerful performance by John Savage as a police officer whose life goes downhill after escaping death at the hands of the killer (Golden Globe-nominated James Woods) who shot the cop’s partner (Ted Danson, in his feature debut). The British-made 10 Rillington Place (1971) details the 1950 murder trial and subsequent execution of an illiterate man (John Hurt) accused of killing his pregnant wife and baby daughter, a crime later proven to have been carried out by a neighbor, serial killer John Christie (Richard Attenborough).
Also that night: the teen murder drama River’s Edge (1986), an early Keanu Reeves role, called by Salon magazine “the darkest teen film of all time”; and the low-budget The Strangler (1964), inspired by the DeSalvo murders in Boston.
The films showing on January 20 have less to do with murder but are no less gripping. The French Connection (1971) won multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director (William Friedkin) and actor (Gene Hackman). Editor Gerald B. Greenberg also earned an OscarÒ for his handling of one of the most intensely thrilling chase scenes put on film to that date. The story follows New York Detective “Popeye” Doyle’s (Hackman) efforts to break up a narcotic ring. Al Pacino had one of his most memorable roles in Sidney Lumet’s bank robbery/hostage drama Dog Day Afternoon (1975), delivering the classic rant “Attica! Attica!” Natasha Richardson plays the title role in Patty Hearst (1988) about the 1974 abduction of the newspaper heiress and the purported brainwashing that transformed her into a gun-toting member of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The film was directed by Paul Schrader, who wrote Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980) and directed American Gigolo (1980) and The Card Counter (2021).
Murder comes back to the forefront in the other two movies playing that night. The would-be cautionary tale about single women and casual sex, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), stars Diane Keaton and Richard Gere in an early role. Bob Fosse’s last picture, Star 80 (1983), is about the killing of Playboy centerfold and aspiring starlet Dorothy Stratten (Mariel Hemingway) by her estranged husband (Eric Roberts).
The Spotlight series wraps up on January 27 with movies from the 1940s and 50s. Of particular note are two classics of film noir, a lesser-known Hitchcock film and a multiple award winner that Charlie Chaplin called “the greatest movie ever made about America.”
Barbara Stanwyck is the seductive housewife who leads insurance salesman Fred MacMurray down the path of murder, fraud and betrayal in Double Indemnity (1944). Director Billy Wilder and his co-writer, classic crime author Raymond Chandler, adapted a novel by another icon of the “hardboiled” school of fiction, James M. Cain, loosely inspired by the sensational trial and 1928 execution of convicted husband-murderer Ruth Snyder. Cain said he also took inspiration from an earlier book, adapted to film as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 and 1981).
Director Phil Karlson (Kid Galahad, 1962; Walking Tall, 1973) depicted the assassination of an Alabama politician who vowed to clean up the widespread corruption of the titular town in The Phenix City Story (1955). In 2019, the film noir classic was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Alfred Hitchcock made one of his few pictures based on a true story – the case of an innocent man charged with a crime and the devastating effect it had on his wife’s mental health – in The Wrong Man (1956), starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. Although not as widely seen or loved as the director’s other work, this film was praised by the Cahiers du Cinema critics (especially Jean-Luc Godard) and has been cited as an influence on Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976).
George Stevens won the Best Director Academy Award for the lush yet dark romance A Place in the Sun (1951) in which a social climber (Montgomery Clift) in love with a wealthy debutante (Elizabeth Taylor) is convicted of the accidental(?) murder of his working-class girlfriend (Shelley Winters). The multi-award-winning film, admired by Chaplin, was based on the 1926 Theodore Dreiser novel An American Tragedy, the title of a 1926 play and a 1931 screen version.
Legendary criminals are at the heart of the Spotlight films Dillinger (1945) and Al Capone (1959). Two others tell the stories of women accused of murder: Madeleine (1950), about a Scottish woman who walked free after her 1857 trial, and I Want to Live! (1958), for which Susan Hayward won a Best Actress Oscar as prostitute and petty criminal Barbara Graham. The movie made a case against capital punishment by strongly suggesting Graham was innocent, but the accuracy of that has been widely disputed.
By Rob Nixon
December 13, 2021
Thursdays beginning 8 p.m. | 25 Movies
Just like readers the world over, film audiences love a good crime story. When that story comes from real life, “ripped from the headlines” as they say, it adds an extra level of fascination to the experience. This month, TCM turns the spotlight on movies based on True Crime – some recounting the actual events, others loosely inspired by them, and some taking liberties with the facts to create cinematic myths and legends out of notorious criminals.
The mayhem and mischief kicks off in prime time January 6 with Alfred Hitchcock’s experiment in “single take” storytelling in Rope (1948), inspired by the infamous 1924 Leopold and Loeb case, when two wealthy young students murdered a 14-year-old boy as a demonstration of their social and intellectual superiority. Farley Granger and John Dall play the murderers and James Stewart is the acquaintance horrified to discover his philosophical musings have inspired the fatal act. Hitchcock used long takes framed and edited to appear as if the entire 80-minute story was captured in a single shot in real time with no cuts.
The evening continues with films based on real-life criminal couples. Bonnie and Clyde (1967), starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway as the leaders of the Depression era crime duo, changed the face of cinema and ushered in a new era in American filmmaking. Badlands (1973) was Terrence Malick’s highly influential directorial debut based on the 1958 murder spree of a young Midwestern couple (played by Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek). The Honeymoon Killers (1970) follows the deadly trail of Raymond Fernandez (Tony Lo Bianco) and Martha Beck (Shirley Stoler), the “lonely hearts killers” of the 1940s.
Also showing that night: The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1976), about a series of murders and attacks in 1946 in Texarkana, where it was shot, and The Hitch-Hiker (1953), based on a 1950 killing spree and co-written and directed by one of the only female directors of studio-era Hollywood, Ida Lupino.
The line-up for January 13 includes stories that focus on the aftermath of murders and the toll they take on survivors, law enforcement and the pursuit of justice. In Cold Blood (1967) is adapted from Truman Capote’s book about two men executed for the murder of a Kansas farm family. While not shrinking from the horror of the act, Capote’s unique take was an attempt to understand the backgrounds of the murderers. The Boston Strangler (1968) stars Henry Fonda as the detective who wrested a (disputed) confession from serial killer and rapist Albert DeSalvo (Tony Curtis). The critically acclaimed The Onion Field (1979) features a powerful performance by John Savage as a police officer whose life goes downhill after escaping death at the hands of the killer (Golden Globe-nominated James Woods) who shot the cop’s partner (Ted Danson, in his feature debut). The British-made 10 Rillington Place (1971) details the 1950 murder trial and subsequent execution of an illiterate man (John Hurt) accused of killing his pregnant wife and baby daughter, a crime later proven to have been carried out by a neighbor, serial killer John Christie (Richard Attenborough).
Also that night: the teen murder drama River’s Edge (1986), an early Keanu Reeves role, called by Salon magazine “the darkest teen film of all time”; and the low-budget The Strangler (1964), inspired by the DeSalvo murders in Boston.
The films showing on January 20 have less to do with murder but are no less gripping. The French Connection (1971) won multiple Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Director (William Friedkin) and actor (Gene Hackman). Editor Gerald B. Greenberg also earned an OscarÒ for his handling of one of the most intensely thrilling chase scenes put on film to that date. The story follows New York Detective “Popeye” Doyle’s (Hackman) efforts to break up a narcotic ring. Al Pacino had one of his most memorable roles in Sidney Lumet’s bank robbery/hostage drama Dog Day Afternoon (1975), delivering the classic rant “Attica! Attica!” Natasha Richardson plays the title role in Patty Hearst (1988) about the 1974 abduction of the newspaper heiress and the purported brainwashing that transformed her into a gun-toting member of the Symbionese Liberation Army. The film was directed by Paul Schrader, who wrote Taxi Driver (1976) and Raging Bull (1980) and directed American Gigolo (1980) and The Card Counter (2021).
Murder comes back to the forefront in the other two movies playing that night. The would-be cautionary tale about single women and casual sex, Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), stars Diane Keaton and Richard Gere in an early role. Bob Fosse’s last picture, Star 80 (1983), is about the killing of Playboy centerfold and aspiring starlet Dorothy Stratten (Mariel Hemingway) by her estranged husband (Eric Roberts).
The Spotlight series wraps up on January 27 with movies from the 1940s and 50s. Of particular note are two classics of film noir, a lesser-known Hitchcock film and a multiple award winner that Charlie Chaplin called “the greatest movie ever made about America.”
Barbara Stanwyck is the seductive housewife who leads insurance salesman Fred MacMurray down the path of murder, fraud and betrayal in Double Indemnity (1944). Director Billy Wilder and his co-writer, classic crime author Raymond Chandler, adapted a novel by another icon of the “hardboiled” school of fiction, James M. Cain, loosely inspired by the sensational trial and 1928 execution of convicted husband-murderer Ruth Snyder. Cain said he also took inspiration from an earlier book, adapted to film as The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 and 1981).
Director Phil Karlson (Kid Galahad, 1962; Walking Tall, 1973) depicted the assassination of an Alabama politician who vowed to clean up the widespread corruption of the titular town in The Phenix City Story (1955). In 2019, the film noir classic was selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
Alfred Hitchcock made one of his few pictures based on a true story – the case of an innocent man charged with a crime and the devastating effect it had on his wife’s mental health – in The Wrong Man (1956), starring Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. Although not as widely seen or loved as the director’s other work, this film was praised by the Cahiers du Cinema critics (especially Jean-Luc Godard) and has been cited as an influence on Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver (1976).
George Stevens won the Best Director Academy Award for the lush yet dark romance A Place in the Sun (1951) in which a social climber (Montgomery Clift) in love with a wealthy debutante (Elizabeth Taylor) is convicted of the accidental(?) murder of his working-class girlfriend (Shelley Winters). The multi-award-winning film, admired by Chaplin, was based on the 1926 Theodore Dreiser novel An American Tragedy, the title of a 1926 play and a 1931 screen version.
Legendary criminals are at the heart of the Spotlight films Dillinger (1945) and Al Capone (1959). Two others tell the stories of women accused of murder: Madeleine (1950), about a Scottish woman who walked free after her 1857 trial, and I Want to Live! (1958), for which Susan Hayward won a Best Actress Oscar as prostitute and petty criminal Barbara Graham. The movie made a case against capital punishment by strongly suggesting Graham was innocent, but the accuracy of that has been widely disputed.
Enjoy!
6:00 AM -- Riverboat Rhythm (1946)
1h 5m | Comedy | TV-G
A riverboat captain feuds with the management of a resort hotel.
Director: Leslie Goodwins
Cast: Leon Errol, Glenn Vernon, Walter Catlett
Even with the death of Lupe Velez and the Mexican Spitfire series, RKO wasn't going to let Leon Errol's character Uncle Matt Lindsey perish with the series. In Riverboat Rhythm, Uncle Matt is now the proprietor of a show boat, but he's been up against it with a series of bad business decisions.
7:30 AM -- Show Boat (1951)
1h 48m | Musical | TV-G
Riverboat entertainers find love, laughs and hardships as they sail along "Old Man River."
Director: George Sidney
Cast: Kathryn Grayson, Ava Gardner, Howard Keel
Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Charles Rosher, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch and Conrad Salinger
Director George Sidney had to leave for a few days because of illness, so uncredited associate producer Roger Edens directed the fog-enshrouded "departure" sequence, including William Warfield's performance of "Ol' Man River." That scene has been praised even by critics who hate this version of "Show Boat."
9:30 AM -- Shipmates Forever (1935)
1h 49m | Musical | TV-G
An admiral's son gives up the Navy for a career as a song-and-dance man.
Director: Frank Borzage
Cast: Dick Powell, Ruby Keeler, Lewis Stone
Remade as On Dress Parade (1939), without the music.
11:30 AM -- Ship Ahoy (1942)
1h 35m | Musical | TV-G
A dancer sailing to Puerto Rico hides government messages in her tap routines.
Director: Edward Buzzell
Cast: Eleanor Powell, Red Skelton, Bert Lahr
The title was changed from "I'll Take Manila" to "Ship Ahoy" because the Philippines had already fallen to the Japanese in the war. The ship destination was changed from Manila to Puerto Rico, and the song "I'll Take Manila" was changed to "I'll Take Tallulah".
1:15 PM -- The French Line (1954)
1h 42m | Musical | TV-G
A Texas heiress masquerades as a model in hopes of finding true love.
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Jane Russell, Gilbert Roland, Arthur Hunnicutt
Originally presented in 3-D, with the tagline "See Jane Russell in 'The French Line' - she'll knock BOTH your eyes out!"
3:00 PM -- Down to Their Last Yacht (1934)
1h 4m | Musical | TV-G
A society family gone bust uses their yacht for charter tours.
Director: Paul Sloane
Cast: Mary Boland, Polly Moran, Ned Sparks
When Mrs. Gilhooley mentions the reason her husband is spending the season in the South (in Atlanta), audiences at the time would have known she was referring to the large federal penitentiary there, where Al Capone was at the time of this film.
4:15 PM -- Top Speed (1930)
1h 20m | Comedy | TV-G
A humble clerk pretends to be a millionaire and gets mixed up in a yachting race.
Director: Mervyn Leroy
Cast: Joe E. Brown, Bernice Claire, Jack Whiting
Joe E. Brown's hilarious vocal intonations clearly are influenced by Curly Howard of The Three Stooges.
5:30 PM -- The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964)
2h 8m | Musical | TV-G
Musical biography of the backwoods girl who struck it rich in Colorado and survived the Titanic.
Director: Charles Walters
Cast: Debbie Reynolds, Harve Presnell, Ed Begley
Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Debbie Reynolds, Best Cinematography, Color -- Daniel L. Fapp, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- George W. Davis, E. Preston Ames, Henry Grace and Hugh Hunt, Best Costume Design, Color -- Morton Haack, Best Sound -- Franklin Milton (M-G-M SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Robert Armbruster, Leo Arnaud, Jack Elliott, Jack Hayes, Calvin Jackson and Leo Shuken
As with most Hollywood biopics, there are differences with the real story, most notably in that Margaret (Molly) and J.J. never reconciled. They separated in 1909 although they remained good friends who cared deeply for each other until his passing. She was also not quite the social outcast as depicted in the film. Other aspects of her life that were missing from the movie: they had two children, a son and daughter. Margaret Brown was a passionate social crusader and philanthropist; she was a champion of women's rights, including education and getting the vote. She also championed worker's rights, historic preservation, education and literacy, and child welfare, including being instrumental in founding the modern juvenile court system. After the sinking of the Titanic she was noted for her efforts in having the heroism of the men aboard the ship commemorated. After WWI she was also a leader in helping rebuild France and aiding wounded soldiers, and received the French Legion of Honor. She also ran twice for the U.S. Senate. She died in 1932.
WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- TRUE CRIME
8:00 PM -- Rope (1948)
1h 20m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-14
Two wealthy young men try to commit the perfect crime by murdering a friend.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: James Stewart, John Dall, Farley Granger
Although this movie lasts one hour and twenty minutes, and is supposed to be in "real time", the time frame it covers is actually longer, a little more than one hour and forty minutes. This is accomplished by speeding up the action: the formal dinner lasts only twenty minutes, the sun sets too quickly, and so on. The September 2002 issue of "Scientific American" contains a complete analysis of this technique (and the effect it has on the viewers, who actually feel as if they watched a one hour and forty minute movie).
9:30 PM -- Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
1h 51m | Crime | TV-14
The legendary bank robbers run riot in the South of the 1930s.
Director: Arthur Penn
Cast: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Estelle Parsons, and Best Cinematography -- Burnett Guffey
Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Warren Beatty, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gene Hackman, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Michael J. Pollard, Best Director -- Arthur Penn, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- David Newman and Robert Benton, Best Costume Design -- Theadora Van Runkle, and Best Picture
Warren Beatty fought to shoot the film on-locations around Texas, partly to create an authentic image of the Barrow Gang's exploits, but also to avoid interference from Warner Brothers executives.
11:30 PM -- Badlands (1973)
1h 35m | Crime | TV-14
A teenager from a dead-end town decides to join a charming older boy on his shooting spree.
Director: Terrence Malick
Cast: Martin Sheen, Sissy Spacek, Warren Oates
Sissy Spacek later said that working with Terrence Malick completely changed her whole attitude to film-making. She believes she would have had a much different career if she and Malick hadn't crossed paths.
1:15 AM -- The Honeymoon Killers (1969)
1h 46m | Crime | TV-14
A lonely nurse and her gigolo lover murder a string of widows.
Director: Leonard Kastle
Cast: Shirley Stoler, Tony Lobianco, Mary Jane Higby
Originally to be directed by Martin Scorsese, but he was replaced after a week of shooting due to creative differences by Donald Volkman who was subsequently replaced by Leonard Kastle. Scorsese was fired because he was filming every scene in master shots and not shooting close-ups or other coverage, making the film impossible to edit. According to Kastle's interview with the Criterion collection, the ultimate moment that caused Scorsese's firing was trying to get close-up on a beer can lit perfectly for the intended tone.
3:15 AM -- The Town That Dreaded Sundown (1977)
1h 30m | Horror/Science-Fiction | TV-14
A small Texas town is terrorized by a hooded serial killer.
Director: Charles B Pierce
Cast: Ben Johnson, Andrew Prine, Dawn Wells
This movie is a semi-documentary based on the real-life string of mysterious killings that terrorized the people of Texarkana, Texas, in 1946. The murder spree became known as the "Texarkana Moonlight Murders" and ultimately would claim five lives and injure many others. The only description of the killer ever obtained was that of a "hooded man". To this day, no one has been convicted and these murders remain unsolved.
5:00 AM -- The Hitch-Hiker (1953)
1h 11m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A dangerous madman kidnaps two businessmen on a hunting trip.
Director: Ida Lupino
Cast: Edmond O'brien, Frank Lovejoy, William Talman
In an interview, William Talman recalled an incident that happened shortly after the release of this film, in which he gave a chilling portrayal of escaped murderer and serial killer Emmett Meyers. He was driving his convertible in Los Angeles with the top down, and he stopped at a red light. Another driver in a convertible who was stopped next to him stared at him for a few seconds, then said, "You're the hitchhiker, right?" Talman nodded, indicating that he was. The other driver got out of his car, went over to Talman's car and slapped him across the face, then got back in his car and drove off. In recalling the story, Talman said, "You know, I never won an Academy Award but I guess that was about as close as I ever will come to one."