TCM Schedule for Friday, December 20, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: Anthony Quinn

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has stories about conmen and conwomen, too! Then in prime time, TCM is celebrating Anthony Quinn. Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- THE CINCINNATI KID (1965)
Card sharps try to deal with personal problems during a big game in New Orleans.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Steve McQueen, Edward G. Robinson, Ann-Margret
C-103 mins, CC,

Edward G. Robinson wrote in his autobiography, "In the film I played Lancey Howard, the reigning champ of the stud poker tables...I could hardly say I identified with Lancey; I was Lancey. That man on the screen, more than in any other picture I ever made, was Edward G. Robinson with great patches of Emanuel Goldenberg [his real name] showing through. He was all cold and discerning and unflappable on the exterior; he was ageing and full of self-doubt on the inside....Even the final session of the poker game was real...I played that game as if it were for blood. It was one of the best performances I ever gave on stage or screen or radio or TV, and the reason for it is that is wasn't a performance at all; it was symbolically the playing out of my whole gamble with life."


8:14 AM -- THE CINCINNATI KID PLAYS ACCORDING TO HOYLE (1965)
This promotional short for "The Cincinnati Kid" (1965) showcases the card handling skills of gambler and magician Jay Ose.
BW-6 mins,


8:26 AM -- SO YOU WANT TO BE A GAMBLER (1948)
This comedic short takes a look at the pitfalls of gambling. Vitaphone Release 1630A.
Dir: Richard Bare
Cast: George O'Hanlon,
BW-11 mins,

The $12,000 Joe wins at roulette would equate to over $128,000 in 2019.


8:45 AM -- ONCE A THIEF (1965)
A young ex-con trying to go straight gets caught up in another criminal scheme.
Dir: Ralph Nelson
Cast: Alain Delon, Ann-Margret, Van Heflin
BW-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Production was delayed several days while the crew waited for cloudy daytime weather to add atmosphere to the big finale. This was just fine with star Ann-Margret. She had been introduced for the second time to future-husband Roger Smith, who was performing in a Frisco nightclub, and she wasn't looking forward to leaving him.


10:45 AM -- VIVA LAS VEGAS (1964)
A race-car driver falls for a pretty swimming instructor who wants him to slow down his career.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Elvis Presley, Ann-Margret, Cesare Danova
C-85 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Surprisingly, according to Variety, "Viva Las Vegas" earned more in distributors rentals than "A Hard Day's Night" despite both films being released in 1964 at the height of Beatlemania. "Viva Las Vegas" grossed $9,442,967 compared to $6,165,000 for the Beatles' debut feature.


12:19 PM -- MY OLD TOWN (1948)
Narrator John Nesbitt reminisces about his home town and childhood in this short film.
Cast: Jackie "Butch" Jenkins, Anne O'Neal,
BW-9 mins,

Ironically, this tribute to what looks like small town America was written by John Nesbitt, who was actually from Shirley, British Columbia (west of Victoria, on Vancouver Island), as seen on the stone marker at the beginning and end. Many of the intervening scenes are stock footage from MGM movies (including an 1890s scene set in the "Glen City Tonsorial Parlor&quot .


12:30 PM -- BUS RILEY'S BACK IN TOWN (1965)
A young sailor returns home to discover his girl has married an older, wealthy man.
Dir: Harvey Hart
Cast: Ann-Margret, Michael Parks, Janet Margolin
C-93 mins, CC,

The New York Times reported in its review of the film that writer William Inge requested his name be removed from the credits due to changes made by the films producer to "glorify Ann-Margret." The screenplay was credited to "Walter Gage" in the finished film. In a interview for "Films and Filming," from January 1976, Ann-Margret explained the real story: "You should have seen the film we originally shot. After the alterations were made William Inge had his name taken off of it. His screenplay had been wonderful. So brutally honest. And the woman Laurel, as he wrote her, was mean...and he made that very sad. But the studio at that time didn't want me to have that kind of an image for the young people of America. They thought it was too brutal a portrayal. It had been filmed entirely, using William Inge's script, but a year after it was completed they got another writer in, and another director. They wanted me to re-do five key scenes. And those scenes changed the story. That's when Inge took his name off. There were two of those scenes that I just refused to do. The other three...I did, but I was upset and angry. They'd altered the whole life of the story and made the character I played another person altogether. To put it mildly, they'd softened the blow that Inge had delivered. If only everyone could have seen that film the way he wrote it."


2:15 PM -- WILD SEED (1965)
A young drifter forms an alliance with a runaway girl.
Dir: Brian G. Hutton
Cast: Michael Parks, Celia Kaye, Ross Elliott
BW-99 mins,

The script was originally written in 1957 and sold to Marlon Brando's company. Brando had originally intended to play the lead, but by the time the film was made he was deemed too old.


4:00 PM -- THE HAPPENING (1967)
A kidnapped gangster joins forces with the hippies who abducted him.
Dir: Elliot Silverstein
Cast: Anthony Quinn, George Maharis, Michael Parks
C-102 mins, CC,

During 'The Happening''s shoot, Robert Walker Jr. was working on two projects at the same time. The second week of filming he did double duty shooting an episode of The Time Tunnel (1966), where he played Billy the Kid.


6:00 PM -- SAVANNAH SMILES (1982)
Starved for attention, a politician's daughter runs away from home.
Dir: Pierre Demoro
Cast: Mark Miller, Donovan Scott, Peter Graves
C-104 mins,

The scene where Savannah tells the story of Brier Rabbit to Bootsie and Alvie was not originally in the script. In Bridgette Andersen's screen test they asked her to tell them a bedtime story and they were so impressed with her performance they added it to the film.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: ANTHONY QUINN



8:00 PM -- ZORBA THE GREEK (1964)
An amoral Greek peasant teaches a British student the meaning of life.
Dir: Michael Cacoyannis
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Irene Papas
BW-142 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Lila Kedrova, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Walter Lassally, and Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Vassilis Photopoulos

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Anthony Quinn, Best Director -- Michael Cacoyannis, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Michael Cacoyannis, and Best Picture

Anthony Quinn (Alexis Zorba) had a broken foot during filming, and thus couldn't perform the dance on the beach as scripted, which called for much leaping around. The dance is called "syrtaki", and contains elements from various traditional Greek dances. It was created especially for this movie.


10:30 PM -- LAWRENCE OF ARABIA (1962)
A British military officer enlists the Arabs for desert warfare in World War I.
Dir: David Lean
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn
C-227 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Director -- David Lean, Best Cinematography, Color -- Freddie Young, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- John Box, John Stoll and Dario Simoni, Best Sound -- John Cox (Shepperton SSD), Best Film Editing -- Anne V. Coates, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Maurice Jarre, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Peter O'Toole, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Omar Sharif, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Bolt and Michael Wilson (The nomination for Wilson was granted on 26 September 1995 by the Academy Board of Directors, after research at the WGA found that the then blacklisted writer shared the screenwriting credit with Bolt.)

Anthony Quinn applied his own make-up and would often arrive in real Arab clothes. At one point, Sir David Lean mistook him for a native on the studio lot, and so he sent his assistant to tell Quinn that he had been replaced by this new arrival.


2:30 AM -- MADE IN USA (1987)
Two misfit best friends, Dar and Tuck, leave their dying coal mining town with only one goal in mind - to reach sunny California and hook up with some beach babes.
Dir: Ken Friedman
Cast: Adrian Pasdar, Christopher Penn, Lori Singer
BW-82 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

During production, director Ken Friedman and Hemdale's chairman John Daly suffered a major falling out over the way the film should be edited. Determined to have the film shown as he intended, Friedman showed the film uncut at Cannes in 1987. Daly threatened to have him arrested if he'd have shown his cut publically again. During the fall-out, New Line Cinema made an attempt to buy the film, but the deal fell apart. The Daly-approved cut was shelved for one year and a half, before finally dribbling out on VHS in November 1988. Friedman's cut of the film never surfaced.


4:00 AM -- BORDER RADIO (1987)
Two musicians try to find their bandleader, who's disappeared after stealing their fee from a crooked club owner.
Dir: Allison Anders
Cast: Chris D, Chris Shearer, John Doe
BW-83 mins, CC,

This movie was originally financed by Vic Tayback, who played Mel the cook on the TV show Alice (1976).


5:30 AM -- CHANGING (1971)
A young family tries to cope with shifting social values in this short film.
Dir: Hubert Smith
C-28 mins,