TCM Schedule for Friday, February 25, 2022 -- What's on Tonight: Starring Gene Hackman

[Staph]

During the day, TCM is taking us to the Great Cities -- films titled for the cities of their subject matter. Then in prime time, it's a trio of films starring Gene Hackman -- Hoosiers (1986), Scarecrow (1973), and Night Moves (1975). Enjoy!


6:15 AM -- New Orleans (1947)
1h 29m | Musical | TV-G
A gambling-hall owner goes straight when he discovers the market for Chicago jazz.
Director: Arthur Lubin
Cast: Arturo de Córdova, Dorothy Patrick, Marjorie Lord

Only time Billie Holliday performs in a feature film.


7:45 AM -- Manhattan Melodrama (1934)
1h 33m | Crime | TV-G
Boyhood friends grow up on opposite sides of the law.
Director: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Arthur Caesar

This was the movie that bank robber John Dillinger had just seen before he was gunned down in front of Chicago's Biograph Theater on July 22, 1934. He had been set up by Anna Sage, the madam of a brothel, who knew Dillinger's girlfriend, Polly Hamilton. Sage was facing deportation and thought the tip might get her off. She told FBI agent Melvin Purvis that she would be wearing orange which appeared red, leading her to be dubbed "The Woman in Red". Dillinger was shot three times when he tried to escape, and Sage wound up being sent back to Romania.


9:30 AM -- Indianapolis Speedway (1939)
1h 25m | Adventure | TV-PG
A race-car driver tries to keep his kid brother from taking to the track.
Director: Lloyd Bacon
Cast: Pat O'Brien, Ann Sheridan, John Payne

Frank McHugh plays the same character in this film as he did in the original 1932 version titled The Crowd Roars (1932). The remake even uses footage of McHugh from the first film to save on production expenses.


11:00 AM -- The Philadelphia Story (1940)
1h 51m | Comedy | TV-G
Tabloid reporters crash a society marriage.
Director: George Cukor
Cast: Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, James Stewart

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Stewart, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Donald Ogden Stewart

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ruth Hussey, Best Director -- George Cukor, and Best Picture

The film was shot in eight weeks, and required no retakes. During the scene where James Stewart hiccups when drunk, you can see Cary Grant looking down and grinning. Since the hiccup wasn't scripted, Grant was on the verge of breaking out laughing and had to compose himself quickly. Stewart (apparently spontaneously) thought of hiccuping in the drunk scene, without telling Grant. When he began hiccuping, Grant turned to Stewart, saying, "Excuse me." The scene required only one take.


1:00 PM -- Washington Story (1952)
1h 21m | Romance | TV-G
A reporter in search of government corruption falls for a congressman.
Director: Robert Pirosh
Cast: Van Johnson, Patricia Neal, Louis Calhern

Interiors were shot throughout the U.S. Capitol Building, including the House Chamber, Rotunda, and the subways to the House and Senate office buildings. The production crew was given unprecedented access to the Capitol, greater than any previous film.


2:30 PM -- Viva Las Vegas (1964)
1h 26m | Musical | TV-14
A race-car driver falls for a pretty swimming instructor who wants him to slow down his career.
Director: George Sidney
Cast: Elvis Presley, Ann Margaret, Cesare Danova

Of the multitude of casinos that are featured in the 1964 opening sequence, only six are still in operation.


4:00 PM -- Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
1h 53m | Musical | TV-G
Young love and childish fears highlight a year in the life of a turn-of-the-century family.
Director: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Judy Garland, Margaret O'Brien, Mary Astor

Winner of a Juvenile Oscar Award for Margaret O'Brien for outstanding child actress of 1944

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay -- Irving Brecher and Fred F. Finklehoffe, Best Cinematography, Color -- George J. Folsey, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- George Stoll, and Best Music, Original Song -- Ralph Blane and Hugh Martin for the song "The Trolley Song"

The entire cast and crew were immediately impressed with Vincente Minnelli's attention to detail in every shot. He had consulted author Sally Benson on how the interiors of the Smith home should look, and she had provided a wealth of firsthand information. As a result, the look of each set was near perfection according to the time period. According to Mary Astor, "The only anachronisms were the girls' long-swinging hairdos. Girls 'put their hair up' as soon as they got out of pigtails, the first instant they were allowed to by reluctant parents. It was a symbol, like the first long pants for boys."


6:00 PM -- San Francisco (1936)
1h 55m | Epic | TV-G
A beautiful singer and a battling priest try to reform a Barbary Coast saloon owner in the days before the big earthquake.
Director: W. S. Van Dyke
Cast: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald, Spencer Tracy

Winner of an Oscar for Best Sound, Recording -- Douglas Shearer (M-G-M SSD)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy, Best Director -- W.S. Van Dyke, Best Writing, Original Story -- Robert E. Hopkins, Best Assistant Director -- Joseph M. Newman, and Best Picture

Despite its realistic portrayal of the San Francisco earthquake, the movie San Francisco did not win the Academy Award for Best Special Effects, because the award did not exist at the time. To rectify this gap, the award was inaugurated in 1938.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- STARRING GENE HACKMAN



8:00 PM -- Hoosiers (1986)
1h 55m | Drama | TV-14
A basketball coach gets one last chance at redemption at a rural Indiana high school.
Director: David Anspaugh
Cast: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey, Dennis Hopper

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Dennis Hopper, and Best Music, Original Score -- Jerry Goldsmith

Gene Hackman, who during filming had predicted the movie would be a flop, insisted on viewing a rough cut of the film before going in to re-record some of his audio. "Angelo and I knew that if he didn't like the [rough cut], he wouldn't show up at the studio to re-record his dialog," David Anspaugh said. "But he showed up. He walked into the room, took his glasses off, looked me in the eyes, and said, 'How the hell did you do that?'"


10:15 PM -- Scarecrow (1973)
1h 52m | Drama | TV-MA
Two hitchhikers with wildly different backgrounds become fast friends.
Director: Jerry Schatzberg
Cast: Gene Hackman, Al Pacino, Dorothy Tristan

Before shooting, Gene Hackman and Al Pacino both dressed as hobos and hitchhiked through California to get into their characters.


12:15 AM -- Night Moves (1975)
1h 39m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-MA
An L.A. private detective puts aside his own marital woes while tracing a topless nymphet to the Florida Keys.
Director: Arthur Penn
Cast: Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, Susan Clark

Harry (Gene Hackman) refers to playing against Alex Karras in his football career. As it turned out, Karras would eventually marry Susan Clark, who plays Harry's wife in this film.


2:15 AM -- Viva Knievel! (1977)
1h 44m | Action | TV-PG
Daredevil motorcyclist Evil Knievel travels to Mexico for a stunt while a drug lord plots against him.
Director: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Frank Gifford, Evel Knievel, Cameron Mitchell

The more difficult stunts in the film were performed by stunt man Gary Lee Davis, though that fact was kept under wraps during the original release of the film.


4:15 AM -- Hooper (1978)
1h 39m | Comedy | TV-PG
An aging stuntman teams up with a young hotshot.
Director: Hal Needham
Cast: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jan-Michael Vincent

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Sound -- Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall and Jack Solomon

Burt Reynolds and director Hal Needham both worked as stuntmen early in their careers. The film was made as a tribute to all of their fellow stuntmen and to the well-known stuntman Jock Mahoney. Mahoney is the stepfather of co-star Sally Field.