TCM Schedule for Friday, January 24, 2020 -- What's On Tonight: Mitchum in the 70s

[Staph]

Last edited Mon Mar 23, 2020, 06:33 PM - Edit history (1)

In the daylight hours, TCM is taking us back to the sexual politics of the 1960s. Tell us more, Roger!

The 1960s in the U.S. are generally considered to have been a time of sexual revolution and profound societal changes, in which sex became acceptable outside the strict confines of heterosexual marriage. Feminism, gay rights, the hippie movement, birth control and other influences synonymous with the era played important roles in these new attitudes.

These changing times were reflected in the movies, although the Hollywood Production Code, which continued to be enforced through 1967, meant that the new influences on bedroom politics were usually treated in a coy and non-threatening way. Our selection of films from the '60s follows this pattern, referencing the "new" attitudes without actually endorsing them.

Boys Night Out (1962), a comedy from MGM, seems at first to be the story of a divorcé (James Garner) who arranges for an apartment with a "kept" woman (Kim Novak) to be shared by three friends who are dissatisfied in their marriages. Turns out the men's needs are not really sexual, and that the beautiful blonde is actually a sociology student doing research on adolescent fantasies in adult suburban males.

The Chapman Report (1962), the only non-comedy in our collection, is an episodic drama based on the novel by Irving Wallace which was in turn inspired by the Kinsey Report. George Cukor directed the film for Warner Bros. It stars Efrem Zimbalist, Jr. as a researcher who interviews four Los Angeles women with sexual problems. Jane Fonda plays a widow who believes herself to be frigid, Shelley Winters is an adulterous housewife, Glynis Johns enacts an older woman who lusts after younger men and Claire Bloom is a nymphomaniac. At the insistence of the Catholic Church's National Legion of Decency, the ending of the film was re-edited so that the researchers conclude that most American women are actually quite "normal" sexually.

Sunday in New York (1963) also stars Jane Fonda, an important player in celluloid sexuality of the '60s. Here, in an MGM movie based on Norman Krasna's stage comedy, she plays a virginal young music critic who comes to the city to visit her brother (Cliff Robertson) and considers a dalliance with a handsome bachelor (Rod Taylor). Time magazine wrote that, "As usual, winking wickedness turns out to be mostly eyewash."

Promise Her Anything (1966), a British-American comedy from Paramount, stars Leslie Caron as an attractive young widow who moves into a Greenwich Village brownstone with her infant son. She catches the eye of a handsome maker of nude films (Warren Beatty) but thinks her wealthy psychologist boss (Bob Cummings) is a better prospect for marriage. Arthur Hiller directed the film, which touches lightly upon a number of timely subjects including female sexuality and the exploitation of children.

Not with My Wife, You Don't! (1966), a "buddy comedy" from Warner Bros., was developed from a story by Melvin Frank and Norman Panama, who used to write the Crosby/Hope "Road" movies. (Hope has a cameo in archive footage.) Tony Curtis and George C. Scott star as two Air Force pilots who fall in love with the same gorgeous woman (Virna Lisi) during the Korean War. Years later, after Curtis has married her, Scott reappears to create farcical complications. At the time, the players were well-reviewed for their comic performances.

Any Wednesday (1966) enlists Jane Fonda in the '60s Sexual Revolution once again, this time as a young Manhattanite who is the mistress of a businessman (Jason Robards) and occupies an apartment he maintains for her. Complications arise when the businessman's wife (Rosemary Murphy) and a handsome client (Dean Jones) discover the arrangement. In this Warner Bros. film, based on a Broadway comedy, the attitudes now seem dated - but, again, an expert cast keeps things interesting.

Doctor, You've Got to be Kidding! (1967) stars winsome Sandra Dee as a would-be singer who is about to have a baby, with three different suitors (Bill Bixby, Dwayne Hickman and Dick Kallman) claiming to be the father. Costarring are George Hamilton as Dee's stuffy boss and Celeste Holm as her pushy mother. Somewhat in the manner of Doris Day's 1960s vehicles at Universal, this winking MGM comedy pretends to be much racier than it actually is.

by Roger Fristoe

Then in prime time, TCM is looking at the work of Robert Mitchum in the 1970s. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- NOT WITH MY WIFE, YOU DON'T! (1966)
Two fliers during the Korean War compete for a beautiful Italian nurse.
Dir: Norman Panama
Cast: Tony Curtis, Virna Lisi, George C Scott
C-119 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

While they both played service men in the Air Force for this film, Tony Curtis and George C. Scott once served in the Armed Forces during WWII and before entering show business. But unlike their characters, Curtis was in the Navy while Scott was in the Marines.


8:15 AM -- DOCTOR, YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING! (1967)
Four suitors pursue a pregnant singer to the maternity ward.
Dir: Peter Tewksbury
Cast: Sandra Dee, George Hamilton, Celeste Holm
C-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Based on the novel of the same name by Patte Wheat Mahan.


10:00 AM -- PROMISE HER ANYTHING (1966)
A single mother must choose between two suitors.
Dir: Arthur Hiller
Cast: Warren Beatty, Leslie Caron, Bob Cummings
C-97 mins, CC,

By the time this movie premiered Leslie Caron's husband had divorced her, as she had been in a long term affair with Warren Beatty. Because Beatty had been determined the reason for the divorce, the British court ordered him to pay for all of the court costs.


11:45 AM -- SUNDAY IN NEW YORK (1963)
A philandering pilot gets real moral, real fast when his sister contemplates a premarital fling.
Dir: Peter Tewksbury
Cast: Rod Taylor, Jane Fonda, Cliff Robertson
C-105 mins, CC,

Jane Fonda has been quoted as stating that this film was the first time she enjoyed making a movie or thought she was any good at acting.


1:45 PM -- THE CHAPMAN REPORT (1962)
A research psychologist gets involved in the personal lives of four women.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Shelley Winters, Jane Fonda
C-125 mins, CC,

It is significant, and a bit of a private joke, that Glynis Johns reads a specific Dowson poem because it was from that poem that Margaret Mitchell got the title for "Gone With The Wind" and the director of "The Chapman Report," George Cukor, was the director of "Gone With The Wind" before being fired a few weeks into the shoot by producer David O. Selznick.


4:00 PM -- ANY WEDNESDAY (1966)
A young businessman catches his boss keeping a mistress in the company apartment.
Dir: Robert Ellis
Miller Cast: Jane Fonda, Jason Robards Jr., Dean Jones
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Jane Fonda said in a 1981 Showtime interview that this was her least favorite of all the films she had done up to that point.


6:00 PM -- BOYS' NIGHT OUT (1962)
A psychology student researches infidelity by becoming a platonic kept woman for four buddies.
Dir: Michael Gordon
Cast: Kim Novak, James Garner, Tony Randall
C-113 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Originally, the movie's title song was to have been sung by Frank Sinatra. His version was recorded on March 6, 1962, almost three months before the film's premiere. At last wind, Patti Page recorded her version which was initially optioned for use while Sinatra's original languished in the MGM vaults until 1995 when his Reprise box-set was issued.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: MITCHUM IN THE 70s



8:00 PM -- THE WRATH OF GOD (1972)
A bootlegger and a defrocked priest join forces during a bloody Central American revolution.
Dir: Ralph Nelson
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Frank Langella, Rita Hayworth
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

One night during production when the film company was based in Mexico City, publicist Tom Miller dined out with Rita Hayworth. When they got back to her hotel, there was much excitement. The Mexican equivalent of the Academy Awards were being presented in the large convention hall in the hotel. Rita was tuned on. "Let's go!" Rita said. Miller replied, "But Rita, we don't have an invitation!" She looked back at him and said, "But I am Rita Hayworth!" And Miller said, "So you are." He spoke to someone at the door, who excitedly ran up to the front of the room and whispered to the MC, who announced to the crowd the presence of a surprise guest. And she went up on the stage to a standing ovation.


10:00 PM -- FAREWELL, MY LOVELY (1975)
Los Angeles private eye Philip Marlowe is hired by paroled convict Moose Malloy to find his girlfriend Velma, former seedy nightclub dancer.
Dir: Dick Richards
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Charlotte Rampling, John Ireland
BW-95 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sylvia Miles

The filming of Farewell, My Lovely (1975) was a trip down memory lane for Robert Mitchum. The movie brought him back to the derelict neighborhoods he knew decades prior when he was a poverty stricken teenager. One night, as Mitchum handed money to vagrants on the streets, his actions attracted the attention of an old beat cop on patrol. The officer took a good look at Bob and said, "So you're back".


12:00 AM -- THE YAKUZA (1974)
Trying to help a kidnapped girl puts a private eye on the wrong side of the Yakuza.
Dir: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Ken Takakura, Brian Keith
C-112 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Lee Marvin was scheduled to star with Robert Aldrich as director. When Robert Mitchum replaced Marvin, he forced out Aldrich. Replacement director Sydney Pollack briefly considered Robert Redford for the lead role.


2:00 AM -- SCARY MOVIE (1991)
A paranoid young man gradually comes to believe that an escaped lunatic may be hiding in the neighborhood Halloween house of horrors.
Dir: Daniel Erickson
Cast: John Hawkes, Suzanne Aldrich, Ev Lunning
BW-82 mins, CC,


3:30 AM -- THE TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE 2 (1986)
A radio host is victimized by the cannibal family as a former Texas Marshall hunts them.
Dir: Tobe Hooper
Cast: Dennis Hopper, Caroline Williams, Bill Johnson
BW-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Caroline Williams wanted to make a strong impression at her audition. When she was called in, she went to the end of the hallway and ran screaming into the room, where she pulled Tobe Hooper and L.M. Kit Carson out of their seats and used the chairs to barricade the door before she began her scene.


5:15 AM -- MGM PARADE SHOW #29 (1955)
Walter Pidgeon introduces Part Three of "Captains Courageous" and a clip from "Tribute to a Badman."
BW-25 mins, CC,