TCM Schedule for Friday, March 1, 2019 -- 31 Days of Oscar - Softer Side of Scorsese

[Staph]

Today's themes for 31 Days of Oscar -- daylight - Planes, Trains & Automobiles (with one of my favorite train movies -- 1946's The Harvey Girls), prime time - Softer Side of Scorsese (2011's Hugo vs. 1993's The Age of Innocence (gorgeous costumes!), and late night - Best Future Prediction (1975's Logan's Run vs. 1968's 2001: A Space Odyssey -- I think 2001 came closer, but not by much!). Enjoy!



6:45 AM -- Only Angels Have Wings (1939)
A team of flyers risks their lives to deliver the mail in a mountainous South American country.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Cary Grant, Jean Arthur, Richard Barthelmess
BW-121 mins

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Joseph Walker, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- Roy Davidson (photographic) and Edwin C. Hahn (sound)

Richard Barthelmess had deep scars that resulted from an infection due to plastic surgery. The only way to cover them up was with heavy make-up, but Howard Hawks convinced him to leave them the way they were because "those scars tell the story and are important to your character." Hawks also removed planks to make Barthelmess appear smaller, to reflect his character's inferiority among his fellow pilots.


9:00 AM -- The Harvey Girls (1946)
Straitlaced waitresses battle saloon girls to win the West for domesticity.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Judy Garland, John Hodiak, Ray Bolger
C-101 mins, CC

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Harry Warren (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the song "On the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe"

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Lennie Hayton

In the big production number "On the Atchison, Topeka and the Santa Fe", from Judy Garland's entrance until the tempo change is one take. Rumor has it they only shot it twice and she was dead-on both times.


11:00 AM -- Grand Prix (1966)
Auto racers find danger and romance at the legendary European road race.
Dir: John Frankenheimer
Cast: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand
C-176 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Sound -- Franklin Milton (MGM SSD), Best Film Editing -- Fredric Steinkamp, Henry Berman, Stu Linder and Frank Santillo, and Best Effects, Sound Effects -- Gordon Daniel

Crowds can be difficult to manage simply because of the effort needed to maintain their concentration. During the filming of Grand Prix (1966) there was a scene where a flaming car is driven into the pits. It was about 4 o'clock in the afternoon and the director, John Frankenheimer, was disgusted by the crowd's lack of reaction to the dramatic action during the rehearsals. They appeared to be more interested in their tea break. Frankenheimer called his special effects man over and told him to 'blow up the tea van' when given the signal. The unit went for a take. The flaming sports car came into the pits. The crowd looked on. The signal was given and the tea truck exploded. The crowd reacted and Frankenheimer got his shot. This is an extreme example of how to direct crowds. (from "Production Management for Film and Video" by Richard Gates)


2:00 PM -- The Narrow Margin (1952)
A tough cop meets his match when he has to guard a gangster's moll on a tense train ride.
Dir: Richard Fleischer
Cast: Charles McGraw, Marie Windsor, Jacqueline White
C-135 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Martin Goldsmith and Jack Leonard

Filmed in 1950, not released until 1952. According to director Richard Fleischer, when the film was finished, RKO Pictures owner Howard Hughes heard good things about it and ordered that a copy of it be delivered to him so he could screen it in his private projection room. The film stayed in the projection room for more than a year, apparently because the eccentric Hughes forgot about it.


3:30 PM -- The Spirit of St. Louis (1957)
Charles Lindbergh risks his life to complete his historic flight from New York to Paris.
Dir: Billy Wilder
Cast: James Stewart, Murray Hamilton, Patricia Smith
BW-72 mins, CC

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Louis Lichtenfield

In Charles Lindbergh's first view of Ireland, he flies over Skellig Island, the same island featured in Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015), when Rey (Daisy Ridley) meets Luke (Mark Hamill) for the first time.


6:00 PM -- Bullitt (1968)
When mobsters kill the witness he was assigned to protect, a dedicated policeman investigates the case on his own.
Dir: Peter Yates
Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset
C-114 mins, CC

Winner of an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Frank P. Keller

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Sound

At the time, San Francisco was not a big filmmaking mecca, and Mayor Joseph L. Alioto was very keen to promote it as such. Consequently, this movie enjoyed a freedom of movement around the city that would be hard to come by today, including giving up an entire hospital wing for filming, closing down multiple streets for three weeks for a car chase scene, and taking over San Francisco International Airport at night.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: SOFTER SIDE OF SCORSESE



8:00 PM -- Hugo (2011)
In Paris in 1931, an orphan who lives in the walls of a train station is wrapped up in a mystery involving his late father and an automaton.
Dir: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Ben Kingsley, Sacha Baron Cohen, Asa Butterfield
BW-126 mins, CC

Winner of Oscars for Best Achievement in Cinematography -- Robert Richardson, Best Achievement in Sound Mixing -- Tom Fleischman and John Midgley, Best Achievement in Sound Editing -- Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty, Best Achievement in Visual Effects -- Robert Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossmann and Alex Henning, and Best Achievement in Art Direction -- Dante Ferretti (production designer) and Francesca Lo Schiavo (set decorator)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Achievement in Directing -- Martin Scorsese, Best Writing, Adapted Screenplay -- John Logan, Best Achievement in Film Editing -- Thelma Schoonmaker, Best Achievement in Costume Design -- Sandy Powell, Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score -- Howard Shore, and Best Picture

The driving force behind the movie was Martin Scorsese's young daughter Francesca Scorsese, who presented him a copy of the Brian Selznick book as a birthday gift, hoping that he would make a movie out of it someday. It was also her suggestion to have the movie presented in 3-D. Rather than having the 3-D accomplished by post-conversion, Scorsese decided to have it shot in native format, so together with Visual Effects Supervisor Robert Legato and Cinematographer Robert Richardson, they spent (before filming) about two weeks at the Cameron/Pace group doing a crash course on filming in that format.


10:15 PM -- The Age of Innocence (1993)
A 19th-century lawyer risks his place in society when he falls in love with his fiancee's married cousin.
Dir: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Daniel Day-Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer, Winona Ryder
C-139 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Gabriella Pescucci

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Winona Ryder, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published -- Jay Cocks and Martin Scorsese, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Dante Ferretti and Robert J. Franco, and Best Music, Original Score -- Elmer Bernstein

Director Martin Scorsese had said that this is the "most violent" film he's ever made, an obvious reference to the emotional versus physical states of being. Ironically, for a director who is well known for over-the-top violent fare like Taxi Driver (1976) and Goodfellas (1990), this film happens to be Scorsese's first to earn a "PG rating" since New York, New York (1977).


12:45 AM -- Logan's Run (1975)
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-118 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar Special Achievement Award for L.B. Abbott, Glen Robinson and Matthew Yuricich for visual effects

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

In the original novel, the colors of the Life Clock change every seven years: yellow (birth-6), blue (7-13), red (14-20), then red and black on Lastday, finally turning black at twenty-one. In the novel, characters can only live to twenty-one. According to the audio commentary, the movie changed it to thirty because it was not realistic to have a cast with all of the characters under twenty-one.


3:00 AM -- 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."


5:45 AM -- 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.