TCM Schedule for Saturday, March 9, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: 70s Crime Double Feature

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then tonight, TCM's non-essential Essentials features a couple of 1970 crime dramas, including McQ (1974) and Get Carter (1971). Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955)
A one-armed veteran uncovers small-town secrets when he tries to visit an Asian-American war hero's family.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis
C-81 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Director -- John Sturges, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Millard Kaufman

Spencer Tracy lost the Academy Award for Best Actor for this year to his co-star and nemesis Ernest Borgnine, for his first starring role in Marty (1955). Tracy left the country right after the Oscars, and when he came back to work at the studio Borgnine went to see him. Tracy berated him for not having answered the congratulatory telegram he sent after the awards. Katharine Hepburn stuck her head out of Tracy's trailer and told him, "He won the Oscar, not you, you dummy." Borgnine and Tracy had a good chuckle over that.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: CHINESE NIGHTINGALE (1935)
A nightingale who sings to the emperor of China is replaced by a mechanical bird.
Dir: Hugh Harman
BW-10 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Hans Christian Andersen.


8:11 AM -- GOOFY MOVIES NUMBER TWO (1934)
This short film provides a spoof on movie newsreels combined with humorous narration of silent screen footage.
Cast: Billy Bletcher, Pete Smith
BW-9 mins,

The second of ten Goofy Movie shorts.


8:20 AM -- WHERE IS JANE DOE? (1956)
In this short film, New York City police detectives investigate the case of a missing girl.
Dir: Larry O'Reilly
Cast: Alexander Lockwood,
BW-8 mins,

When Captain Cronyn is at the 'Elite Models' studio looking at glamour photos of models, one of the pictures is of Zsa Zsa Gabor.


8:29 AM -- RANDY RIDES ALONE (1934)
An undercover agent searches for a murderous outlaw.
Dir: Harry Fraser
Cast: John Wayne, Alberta Vaughn, George Hayes
BW-52 mins,

The film's heroine Sally Rogers has the same name as the character played by Rose Marie on The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961). Probably not intentionally!


9:30 AM -- FLASH GORDON CONQUERS THE UNIVERSE: WALKING BOMBS (1940)
Episode three of the Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe serial.
Cast: Buster Crabbe, Carol Hughes, Charles Middleton
Dir: Ford Beebe, Ray Taylor
BW-21 mins, CC,

Every episode after the first begins with an opening crawl to catch up the audience on the story so far. This inspired the iconic opening crawl of the Star Wars films.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: THE SPINACH ROADSTER (1936)
Popeye drives up to take Olive for a ride, but Bluto in his much fancier car does what he can to spoil their jaunt.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Willard Bowsky (uncredited)
Cast: Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Gus Wickie
BW-6 mins, CC,


10:08 AM -- THE CASE OF THE CURIOUS BRIDE (1935)
Perry Mason helps a young woman whose supposedly dead husband suddenly returns to life.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Warren William, Margaret Lindsay, Donald Woods
BW-80 mins, CC,

In The Case of the Curious Bride (1935), one of Errol Flynn's earliest films, his role consisted of lying on a marble slab as a corpse. There was also a flashback sequence towards the end of the film showing how Flynn was killed. The film in question has appeared at least twice on Turner Classic Movies during Errol Flynn festivals despite his very limited (certainly less than two minutes) screen time.


11:30 AM -- ROMANCE OF LOUISIANA (1937)
This short film tells the story of the Louisiana Purchase.
Dir: Crane Wilbur
Cast: James Dime, Alphonse Ethier, Boyd Irwin
C-18 mins,

This 1937 Vitaphone short was reissued in 1953 to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase.


12:00 PM -- UNDER WESTERN STARS (1938)
Roy is elected to Congress to bring the misery of the "dustbowl" to the attention of Washington politicians.
Dir: Joe Kane
Cast: Roy Rogers, Smiley Burnette, Carol Hughes
BW-65 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Johnny Marvin for the song "Dust"

This was originally scheduled as a Gene Autry vehicle (under the title "Washington Cowboy&quot but Roy Rogers replaced Autry after a salary dispute between Autry and Republic Pictures. It was Rogers' first starring film for Republic Pictures, and while he was a hit with movie fans and exhibitors, it was a full five years (1943) before he received billing as "King of the Cowboys".


1:15 PM -- THEY DIED WITH THEIR BOOTS ON (1941)
Romanticized biography of General George Armstrong Custer and his last stand.
Dir: Raoul Walsh
Cast: Errol Flynn, Olivia De Havilland, Arthur Kennedy
BW-140 mins, CC,

Hollywood legend has it that director Raoul Walsh had an inspired choice to play Sitting Bull--Buster Keaton. He approached Jack L. Warner with the idea and Warner replied, "Custer beaten by Buster Keaton?". That was the end of that.


3:45 PM -- THE BIG SKY (1952)
Trappers lead an expedition against river pirates and Indians along the Missouri River.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Elizabeth Threatt
BW-138 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Arthur Hunnicutt, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Russell Harlan

While shooting Red River (1948), there was a scene that director Howard Hawks unsuccessfully urged John Wayne to do. It involved his getting a finger mangled between a saddle horn and a rope, resulting in Walter Brennan's amputating it. Hawks reportedly told Wayne, "If you're not good enough, we won't do it", but Wayne wouldn't do it. According to Hawks biographer Todd McCarthy, Hawks did get Kirk Douglas to do that scene in this film, and it came off so funny that Wayne later declared to Hawks, "If you tell me a funeral is funny, I'll do a funeral."


6:15 PM -- TRIBUTE TO A BAD MAN (1956)
A brutal rancher has to soften his ways to win the woman he loves.
Dir: Robert Wise
Cast: James Cagney, Don Dubbins, Stephen McNally
C-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Spencer Tracy was cast as Jeremy Roderick but was replaced by James Cagney, as he complained and procrastinated about working on that location because of the altitude of the Rockies. This essentially resulted in his being fired from MGM, his home studio since 1935.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 70S CRIME DOUBLE FEATURE



8:00 PM -- MCQ (1974)
A police lieutenant tackles corruption when his best friend is killed.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: John Wayne, Eddie Albert, Diana Muldaur
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

John Sturges was opposed to the casting of John Wayne in the title role, due to the actor's age. During filming Sturges complained that Wayne could not run, and could only walk short distances without needing oxygen. Wayne had been working on one lung since The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). When the film was released one critic suggested Lon McQ looked like he should be celebrating his Diamond Jubilee on the police force.


10:00 PM -- GET CARTER (1971)
A small-time gangster searches for the truth behind his brother's death.
Dir: Mike Hodges
Cast: Michael Caine, Ian Hendry, Britt Ekland
C-112 mins, CC,

Mike Hodges was surprised that a star of Michael Caine's stature would want to play such a thoroughly unlikeable person as Carter. Giving his reasons for wanting to be involved with the film the actor said "One of the reasons I wanted to make that picture was my background. In English movies, gangsters were either stupid or funny. I wanted to show that they're neither. Gangsters are not stupid, and they're certainly not very funny". He identified with Carter as a memory of his working class upbringing, having friends and family members who were involved in crime and felt Carter represented a path his life might have taken under different circumstances: "Carter is the dead-end product of my own environment, my childhood; I know him well. He is the ghost of Michael Caine".


12:00 AM -- D.O.A. (1950)
The victim of a slow-acting poison tracks down his own killer.
Dir: Rudolph Maté
Cast: Edmond O'Brien, Pamela Britton, Luther Adler
BW-84 mins, CC,

Just for fun: Back in the 1980's, there was a short-run independent TV series that provided voice-overs with new dialog and plots for old movies. For D.O.A., Edmond O'Brien was "Rickie," Pamela Britton was "Ethel," and "Rickie" was running around California trying to find "Lucy," who was kidnapped or something. When "Rickie" finally collapsed at the end at the police station, the file was stamped D.O.A. in bold letters, with the title on the screen stating "D.O.A.: Death from Over Acting."


1:45 AM -- COMA (1978)
A lady doctor investigates a series of strange deaths and disappearing bodies at her hospital.
Dir: Michael Crichton
Cast: Geneviève Bujold, Michael Douglas, Elizabeth Ashley
C-113 mins, CC,

Producer Martin Erlichman first read the film's source novel when it was in galley form. Erlichman once said that for this movie he wanted to do for hospitals what Jaws (1975) had done to people with the ocean and sharks. He said: "People have a primal fear of the ocean and Jaws titillated that phobia. In a similar manner, Coma (1978) accents one's primal fears of hospitals. This is an even stronger phobia because a person can always refrain from going into the water, but cannot always avoid the necessity of going into hospital!".


4:00 AM -- LIVE FROM THE TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL: MICHAEL DOUGLAS (2018)
Michael Douglas discusses his career in front of a live audience.
Dir: Anne McGill Wilson
C-64 mins, CC,