TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 21 -- The 60s

[Staph]

It's war day at TCM, with films about World War I, World War II, and the Cold War. Enjoy!


5:00am -- On The Waterfront (1954)
A young stevedore takes on the mobster who rules the docks.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger.
Dir: Elia Kazan.
BW-108 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Marlon Brando, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Eva Marie Saint, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Richard Day, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Boris Kaufman, Best Director -- Elia Kazan, Best Film Editing -- Gene Milford, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay -- Budd Schulberg, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Lee J. Cobb, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Karl Malden, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Rod Steiger, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Leonard Bernstein

The idea for the film began with an expose series written for The New York Sun by reporter Malcolm Johnson. The 24 articles won him a Pulitzer Prize and were reinforced by the 1948 murder of a New York dock hiring boss which woke America to the killings, graft and extortion that were endemic on the New York waterfront. Budd Schulberg was captivated by the subject matter, devoting years of his life to absorbing everything he could about the milieu. He became a regular fixture on the waterfront, hanging out in West Side Manhattan and Long Island bars, interviewing longshore-union leaders and getting to know the outspoken priests from St Xavier's in Hell's Kitchen.


5:53am -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Don't Talk (1942)
An entry in the Crime Does Not Pay series, emphasizing the idea that "loose lips sink ships".
Cast: Donald Douglas, Gloria Holden, Barry Nelson.
Dir: Joseph M. Newman
BW-22 mins

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Short Subject, Two-reel


7:15am -- From Here To Eternity (1953)
Enlisted men in Hawaii fight for love and honor on the eve of World War II.
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift, Frank Sinatra.
Dir: Fred Zinnemann.
BW-118 mins, TV-PG

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Frank Sinatra, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Donna Reed, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Burnett Guffey, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Film Editing -- William A. Lyon, Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD), Best Writing, Screenplay -- Daniel Taradash, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Montgomery Clift, Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Burt Lancaster, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Deborah Kerr, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Jean Louis, and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Morris Stoloff and George Duning

James Jones' novel was deemed unfilmable for a long time because of its negative portrayal of the US army (which would prevent the army from supporting the film with people and hardware/logistics) and the profanity. To get army support and pass the censorship of the time crucial details had to be changed. The brothel became a night club, the whores hostesses. The profanity was removed, the brutal treatment in the stockade toned down and Captain Holmes removed from the army instead of promoted.


9:15am -- Strategic Air Command (1955)
A baseball star takes to the air to help plan the U.S. aerial defense.
Cast: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy.
Dir: Anthony Mann.
C-114 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Beirne Lay Jr.

Jimmy Stewart was the first movie star to enter the service for World War II, joining a year before Pearl Harbor was bombed. He was initially refused entry into the Air Force because he weighed 5 pounds less than the required 148 pounds, but he talked the recruitment officer into ignoring the test. He eventually became a Colonel, and earned the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Croix de Guerre and seven battle stars. In 1959, he served in the Air Force Reserve, before retiring as a brigadier general.


11:15am -- Action In The North Atlantic (1943)
A Merchant Marine crew fights off enemy attacks at the start of World War II.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Raymond Massey, Alan Hale.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon.
BW-127 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Guy Gilpatric

When shooting the scene early in the movie, when their characters abandoned ship from their burning tanker, Humphrey Bogart and Raymond Massey got into a friendly argument over who had the better stunt double. In the end, the two stars decided to do away with their stunt doubles altogether and wound up doing the stunt themselves.


1:30pm -- Commandos Strike At Dawn (1942)
A Norwegian refugee leads the British in an attack against his country's Nazi invaders.
Cast: Paul Muni, Anna Lee, Lillian Gish.
Dir: John Farrow.
BW-100 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Louis Gruenberg and Morris Stoloff

Based on a story by C. S. Forester, better known for the Horatio Hornblower novels and the novel The African Queen.


3:15pm -- Sergeant York (1941)
True story of the farm boy who made the transition from religious pacifist to World War I hero.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Margaret Wycherly.
Dir: Howard Hawks.
BW-134 mins, TV-G

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role-- Gary Cooper, and Best Film Editing -- William Holmes

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Walter Brennan, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Margaret Wycherly, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- John Hughes and Fred M. MacLean, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Sol Polito, Best Director -- Howard Hawks, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Max Steiner, Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Harry Chandlee, Abem Finkel, John Huston and Howard Koch, and Best Picture

Alvin York thought he should be portrayed on the screen by Gary Cooper. When Samuel Goldwyn resisted releasing him, Henry Fonda, James Stewart, and even Ronald Reagen were considered. Goldwyn finally gave in when Warners agreed to lend Bette Davis to the independent producer for "The Little Foxes."


5:45pm -- King Rat (1965)
A U.S. officer in a World War II Japanese POW camp tries to raise money to buy his fellow prisoners' freedom.
Cast: George Segal, Tom Courtenay, James Fox.
Dir: Bryan Forbes.
BW-134 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Robert Emmet Smith and Frank Tuttle, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Burnett Guffey

Both Paul Newman and Steve McQueen were offered the chance to star in the film. They both turned it down and the role went to George Segal.


What's On Tonight: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: The 60s


8:00pm -- The Dirty Dozen (1967)
A renegade officer trains a group of misfits for a crucial mission behind enemy lines.
Cast: Lee Marvin, John Cassavetes, Charles Bronson.
Dir: Robert Aldrich.
C-150 mins, TV-PG

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Sound Effects -- John Poyner

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Cassavetes, Best Film Editing -- Michael Luciano, and Best Sound

The operation count-off is as follows:
- One: down to the road block we've just begun
- Two: the guards are through
- Three: the Major's men are on a spree
- Four: Major and Wladislaw go through the door
- Five: Pinkley stays out in the drive
- Six: the Major gives the rope a fix
- Seven: Wladislaw throws the hook to heaven
- Eight: Jiminez has got a date
- Nine: the other guys go up the line
- Ten: Sawyer and Gilpin are in the pen
- Eleven: Posey guards points Five and Seven
- Twelve: Wladislaw and the Major go down to delve
- Thirteen: Franko goes up without being seen
- Fourteen: Zero hour, Jiminez cuts the cable Franko cuts the phone
- Fifteen: Franko goes in where the others have been
- Sixteen: we all come out like it's Halloween


10:45pm -- The Great Escape (1963)
Thrown together by the Germans, a group of captive Allied troublemakers plot a daring escape.
Cast: James Garner, Steve McQueen, Richard Attenborough.
Dir: John Sturges.
C-172 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Ferris Webster

During the climatic motorcycle chase, John Sturges allowed Steve McQueen to ride (in disguise) as one of the pursuing German soldiers, so that in the final sequence, through the magic of editing, he's actually chasing himself.


1:45am -- The Thomas Crown Affair (1968)
A bored tycoon turns to bank robbery and courts the insurance investigator assigned to bring him in.
Cast: Steve McQueen, Faye Dunaway, Paul Burke.
Dir: Norman Jewison.
C-102 mins, TV-14

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Michel Legrand (music), Alan Bergman (lyrics) and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) for the song "The Windmills of Your Mind".

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- Michel Legrand

After watching a five hour rough cut of the film, composer 'Michel Legrand' took a six week vacation during which he wrote 90 minutes of music. The film was then reedited to the music, instead of the other way around. If this experiment had failed, Legrand would have written a second score in the traditional way free of charge.


3:30am -- Pocketful Of Miracles (1961)
A good-hearted gangster turns an old apple seller into a society matron so she can impress her daughter.
Cast: Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, Hope Lange.
Dir: Frank Capra.
C-137 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Peter Falk, Best Costume Design, Color -- Edith Head and Walter Plunkett, and Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "Pocketful of Miracles"

This was the final film for both actor Thomas Mitchell and director Frank Capra.

[Staph]

1. Sergeant York

On the eve of American involvement in WWII, final scenes were being filmed at the Warner Brothers studio lot for one of the greatest war film biographies ever made. It took many years and the passion of one producer to bring to life one of America's most famous and honored war heroes, but the pursuit resulted in a career defining performance for its star and a celebrated film which would bolster an American public faced with the brink of worldwide change.

The making of Sergeant York (1941) was a case of determination and persuasion. The dedicated producer, Jesse Lasky, was adamant about bringing the man's life to the silver screen. In conjunction with legendary Warner Brothers producer Hal Wallis (Casablanca, 1942), Lasky unsuccessfully pursued Alvin C. York for the rights to his life story for several years, with the shy Tennessee man, happily living as a local farmer, resisting every time. With WWII approaching, Lasky made the case that York's story was more important than ever. After numerous requests and persistence, York finally agreed - but only on three conditions. First, York's share of the profits would be contributed to a Bible School York wanted constructed. Second, no cigarette smoking actress could be chosen to play his wife. Third, that Gary Cooper, and only Gary Cooper, could recreate his life on screen. Cooper at first turned down the role, but when York himself contacted the star with a personal plea, Cooper agreed to do the picture.

Finding a director for Cooper turned out to be an arduous task for Lasky and Wallis. Warner Brothers and Lasky had spent considerable time and money prying Cooper away from his commitments at Goldwyn (they succeeded only after swapping Cooper for Bette Davis, who would appear in Goldwyn's The Little Foxes, 1941). Cooper decided on previous collaborator Howard Hawks, an unusual choice at the time for a dramatic biopic. In the end, it was an inspired choice - Hawks' combination of gritty action and fluid camera movement gave the WWI scenes of York a vivid immediacy. But the director achieved equal success directing Cooper in the dramatic tale of York's humble Tennessee origins and pacifist beliefs; beliefs the director surely could not have shared.

The life of Alvin C. York, a genuine war hero for both his reported war exploits and his humble American roots, was still very much a well-known American figure. And Sergeant York resonated well with US audiences and American overseas troops at a time when the possibility of another war was very real. Cooper, unable to participate in WWII due to his age and an old injury to his hip, felt strongly that Sergeant York was his way of contributing to the cause. Cooper later said "Sergeant York and I had quite a few things in common, even before I played him in screen. We both were raised in the mountains - Tennessee for him, Montana for me - and learned to ride and shoot as a natural part of growing up. Sergeant York won me an Academy Award, but that's not why it's my favorite film. I liked the role because of the background of the picture, and because I was portraying a good, sound American character."

Critical acclaim for the film was unanimous, especially Cooper's performance, with Variety calling the film "a star-spangled attraction of unlimited box-office value - film biography at its best," As to the question of the film's propaganda themes, some New York critics were dismayed. Bosley Crowther for the New York Times noted "The suggestion of deliberate propaganda is readily detected here; the performance of Gary Cooper in the title role holds the picture together magnificently and even the most unfavorable touches are made palatable because of him." Variety went on to say, "In Sergeant York the screen has spoken for national defense. Not in propaganda, but in theater."

The film was a tremendous wartime success and the top-selling film of 1941. It was nominated for a whopping eleven Academy Awards, but only garnered two - one for Cooper as Best Actor and one for William Holmes for editing. Cooper also won the New York Film Critics award for his performance. Walter Brennan, having already received a record three Academy Awards in the Best Supporting Actor category (for the films The Westerner (1940), Come and Get It (1936), and Kentucky, 1938), was nominated for his role as the pastor Rosier Pile (he lost to Donald Crisp for his performance in John Ford's How Green Was My Valley). Cooper's acceptance speech typified so many of the actor's performances when he said "It was Sergeant Alvin York who won this award; Shucks, I've been in this business sixteen years and sometimes dreamed I might get one of these things. That's all I can say! Funny, when I was dreaming, I always made a good speech." As he and Stewart left the stage, the Oscar stayed behind on the podium.

Director/Producer: Howard Hawks
Producer: Jesse Lasky, Hal B. Wallis
Screenwriter: Harry Chandler, Abem Finkel, John Huston, Howard Koch
Cinematographer: Arthur Edeson, Sol Polito
Composer: Max Steiner
Editor: William Holmes
Art Director: John Hughes
Cast: Gary Cooper (Sgt. Alvin C. York), Walter Brennan (Pastor Rosier Pile), Joan Leslie (Gracie Williams), Ward Bond (Ike Botkin), Stanley Ridges (Maj. Buxton), Margaret Wycherly (Mother York)
BW-135m. Closed captioning. Descriptive Video.

by Richard Steiner