TCM Schedule for Friday, October 21 -- What's On Tonight: Ladies' Night

[Staph]

A day of westerns, and an evening of 1960s films about women in charge -- proto-feminists who really want a man! Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Now Playing November (2011)
Features highlights of the month's programming on TCM, including festivals and stars.
C-20 min, , CC


6:30 AM -- Along the Great Divide (1951)
A U.S. Marshall tries to get a rustler to trial before a vengeful rancher can kill him.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Virginia Mayo, John Agar.
88 min, TV-14 , CC

Remade as the sixth episode in the first season of the TV series Cheyenne, in 1956.


8:00 AM -- The Burning Hills (1956)
A young cowboy and a Mexican girl run from a ruthless criminal.
Dir: Stuart Heisler
Cast: Tab Hunter, Natalie Wood, Skip Homeier.
C-92 min, TV-PG , CC

According to Tab Hunter's autobiography, studio executives were so displeased by Natalie Wood's "Mexican" accent that they even considered dubbing in another actress's voice.


10:00 AM -- The Hanging Tree (1959)
A doctor saves a man from hanging then tries to run his life.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Gary Cooper, Maria Schell, Karl Malden.
C-107 min, TV-PG , CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Jerry Livingston (music) and Mack David (lyrics) for the song "The Hanging Tree"

Film debut of George C. Scott.


12:00 PM -- Firecreek (1968)
A pacifist sheriff must use tougher means when his town is threatened by a band of outlaws.
Dir: Vincent McEveety
Cast: James Stewart, Henry Fonda, Inger Stevens.
C-104 min, TV-14

Four of the actors have links to Star Trek. Gary Lockwood (Lt. Cmdr. Gary Mitchell – Where No Man Has Gone Before (1966)), Barbara Luna (Marlena – Mirror, Mirror (1967)), and Morgan Woodward (Captain Tracey – The Omega Glory (1968) and Dr. Simon van Gelder – Dagger of the Mind (1966)) all starred in Star Trek Episodes. Brooke Bundy appeared in a Star Trek: The Next Generation Episode as Sarah MacDougal – The Naked Now (1987) .


2:00 PM -- Rio Lobo (1970)
A Civil War veteran searches for the traitor behind a friend's death.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Wayne, Jorge Rivero, Jennifer O'Neill.
C-114 min, TV-PG , CC

Writer and reporter George Plimpton was cast in a minor role in this film (4th Gunman) while collecting research on the film industry.


4:00 PM -- Sergeant Rutledge (1960)
A 19th-century lawyer tries to clear a black man of rape and murder charges.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers, Billie Burke.
C-112 min, TV-PG , CC

Unsatisfied with Woody Strode's rehearsal of bullet-wounded drowsiness, director John Ford took his own steps to make Strode appear authentically weary for Rutledge's gunshot early on in the film. The day before the scene was to be shot, Ford got Strode drunk early in the day and had an assistant follow him around for the rest of the day to make sure he stayed that way. When the time came for Strode to shoot the scene with Constance Towers, his hangover gave him the perfect (for Ford) appearance of a man who had been shot.


6:00 PM -- The Command (1954)
A high-minded doctor suddenly finds himself leading a Cavalry troop through hostile territory.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Guy Madison, Joan Weldon, James Whitmore.
C-94 min, TV-PG

There's a scene where Indians are attacking the wagons full of soldiers, and one Indian gets shot off his horse and then is run over by a wagon drawn by four horses. That wasn't a planned stunt - he was supposed to be "shot" and fall off the side of his horse, but the horse unexpectedly reared back and dumped him into the path of the wagon, which ran over him. He suffered numerous broken bones and ribs, but the scene was left in.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: LADIES' NIGHT



8:00 PM -- She (1965)
Explorers uncover a lost kingdom ruled by an immortal queen.
Dir: Robert Day
Cast: Ursula Andress, John Richardson, Peter Cushing.
C-106 min, TV-PG

For the final stage of Ayesha's disintegration, makeup was not applied to Ursula Andress, but to an uncredited elderly actress who doubled for the star.


10:00 PM -- Prehistoric Women (1967)
A jungle guide time travels to an era of evil brunettes with blonde slaves.
Dir: Michael Carreras
Cast: Martine Beswick, Edina Ronay, Michael Latimer.
C-90 min, TV-14

Used sets and costumes left over from One Million Years B.C..


12:00 AM -- The Viking Queen (1967)
A Roman captain tries to keep Druids and his own unit from destroying a Viking empire.
Dir: Don Chaffey
Cast: Don Murray, Carita (actress), Donald Houston.
C-89 min, TV-PG , CC

The story is very loosely based on Boadicea's revolt against the Roman colonization of Britain in 60-61 AD.


2:00 AM -- The Gamma People (1956)
A mad scientist uses gamma rays to turn the country's youth into either geniuses or subhumans at the bidding of an equally mad dictator.
Dir: John Gilling
Cast: Paul Douglas, Eva Bartok, Leslie Phillips.
79 min, TV-PG

In the 1980s Columbia Pictures replaced their slightly abridged U.S. version with a version restored to its original British length of 79 minutes. It is this version that has been used for pay-tv showings and video release.


3:30 AM -- The Wild, Wild Planet (1965)
Space amazons control the Earth by shrinking its leaders.
Dir: Anthony Dawson (aka Antonio Margheriti)
Cast: Tony Russel, Lisa Gastoni, Massimo Serato.
C-94 min, TV-14 , CC

While filming, a crack in the pool while filled with "blood" originated a leak, so people in the neighborhood suddenly saw blood-like red-colored water coming out from their taps.


5:15 AM -- Goofballs and Tea (1958)
Semi-documentary on how marijuana dealers lure small-town teenagers into heroin use and prostitution and how the police help to fight it.
Dir: Robert W. Larsen
Cast: Art Gilmore, Herbert Crisp, Joe Delro
34 min,

AKA The Narcotics Story, this film was originally made as a police training film, and subsequently released to the public.