TCM Schedule for Friday, March 11, 2022 -- 31 Days of Oscar: 1970s Winners

[Staph]

Day eleven of the 31 Days, and we're getting our second day full of the 1970s. Put on your bellbottoms on and enjoy!


5:45 AM -- America America (1963)
2h 57m | Drama | TV-PG
A young Greek stops at nothing to secure a passage to America.
Director: Elia Kazan
Cast: Stathis Giallelis, Frank Wolff, Harry Davis

Winner of an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Gene Callahan

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Elia Kazan, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Elia Kazan, and Best Picture

In June, 1964, after winning his first AMPAS production design-art direction Oscar, the New York IATSE #829 Scenic Designers and Artists' Board of Directors and guild "invited" Gene Callahan to join their membership, stipulating, he must present his port-folio of drawings, drafting, sketches and set designs. Gene had Elia Kazan's New York office deliver the six reels of the "America, America" feature film to the union office.


8:45 AM -- Nicholas and Alexandra (1971)
3h 3m | Epic | TV-14
Story of Russia's last czar, Nicolas II, and his ill-fated family.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman, Roderic Noble

Winner of Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- John Box, Ernest Archer, Jack Maxsted, Gil Parrondo and Vernon Dixon, and Best Costume Design -- Yvonne Blake and Antonio Castillo

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Janet Suzman, Best Cinematography -- Freddie Young, Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Richard Rodney Bennett, and Best Picture

When the film was made in 1970, the public still widely believed that the British government had refused to accept the Romanovs. The truth emerged in 1983; the British government had reluctantly agreed to accept the family in March 1917, but King George V pressured the government to withdraw its offer of asylum the following month, concerned it could spark civil unrest in the UK.


12:00 PM -- Summer of '42 (1971)
1h 42m | Romance | TV-14
A high school student falls in love, for the first time, with a World War II bride.
Director: Robert Mulligan
Cast: Jennifer O'neill, Gary Grimes, Jerry Houser

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Michel Legrand

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- Herman Raucher, Best Cinematography -- Robert Surtees, and Best Film Editing -- Folmar Blangsted

Though author Herman Raucher admits to moving the order of certain events around and interchanging some dialogue, the movie is (according to those involved) an accurate depiction of events in Raucher's life in the summer of 1942 on Nantucket Island; he didn't even change anyone's name. He began writing the screenplay as a tribute to his friend Oscy, who was killed in the Korean War, but midway through writing it, Raucher realized that he wanted to make it a story about Dorothy, who he had neither seen nor heard from since their last night together as depicted in the movie. Raucher admits that in all the time he knew her, he never bothered to ask her what her last name was.


2:00 PM -- You Light Up My Life (1977)
1h 30m | Musical | TV-PG
A comedian's daughter tries to succeed in her career and in life.
Director: Joseph Brooks
Cast: Didi Conn, Joe Silver, Michael Zaslow

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Joseph Brooks for the song "You Light Up My Life"

Michael Zaslow, who plays Chris Nolan, was the first "red shirt" crewman, on Star Trek, to be killed, in 1966. Bones said "He's dead, Jim!", for the first time. He also played super villain, Roger Thorpe, on the soap, Guiding Light.


4:00 PM -- The Way We Were (1973)
1h 58m | Romance | TV-14
A fiery liberal fights to make her marriage to a successful writer work.
Director: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Robert Redford, George Gaynes

Winner of Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Marvin Hamlisch (music), Alan Bergman (lyrics) and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) for the song "The Way We Were", and Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Marvin Hamlisch

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbra Streisand, Best Cinematography -- Harry Stradling Jr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Stephen B. Grimes and William Kiernan, and Best Costume Design -- Dorothy Jeakins and Moss Mabry

Screenwriter Arthur Laurents based the story upon his earlier romance with bisexual actor Farley Granger. Their personality differences were immense: Laurents was Jewish and a political activist, while Granger was a carefree White Anglo-Saxon Protestant. During filming, Laurents was often frustrated by director Sydney Pollack's alterations to his screenplay. Laurents fought to keep certain lines and scenes in the film that Sydney Pollack wanted to change or to cut. Barbra Streisand was an ally to Laurents most of the time when conflicts arose.


6:00 PM -- Julia (1977)
1h 56m | Drama | TV-PG
To help a childhood friend, playwright Lillian Hellman carries money for the resistance into Nazi territory.
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Cast: Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Jason Robards Jr.

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Jason Robards (Jason Robards was not present at the ceremony. Presenters Maggie Smith and Michael Caine accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Vanessa Redgrave, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Alvin Sargent

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Fonda, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Maximilian Schell, Best Director -- Fred Zinnemann, Best Cinematography -- Douglas Slocombe, Best Costume Design -- Anthea Sylbert, Best Film Editing -- Walter Murch and Marcel Durham, Best Music, Original Score -- Georges Delerue, and Best Picture

Early on, director Fred Zinnemann actually considered casting Meryl Streep in the title role. However, as Streep was almost totally unknown as an actress - she had only one play to her credit, and never appeared in a film - Zinnemann decided to cast Vanessa Redgrave instead.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR -- 1970s WINNERS



8:00 PM -- Kramer Vs. Kramer (1979)
1h 45m | Drama | TV-MA
When his wife leaves him, an ad exec gets a crash course in parenting.
Director: Robert Benton
Cast: Dustin Hoffman, Meryl Streep, Jane Alexander

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Dustin Hoffman, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Meryl Streep, Best Director -- Robert Benton, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Robert Benton, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Justin Henry (At age 8 years, 10 months and 20 days, Henry is (to date) the youngest nominee for any competitive honor in Academy Award history.), Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jane Alexander, Best Cinematography -- Néstor Almendros, and Best Film Editing -- Gerald B. Greenberg

The final courtroom scene had one important rewrite: Joanna's explanation of why she left. Robert Benton feared major delays but, in fact, Meryl Streep had in mind what she wanted, and quickly rewrote the monologue. Benton said, "Well, the scene is brilliant. I cut only two lines. What you see there is hers."


10:00 PM -- The Paper Chase (1973)
1h 51m | Drama | TV-MA
A law student discovers that his girlfriend is the daughter of his toughest professor.
Director: James Bridges
Cast: John Houseman, Timothy Bottoms, Lindsay Wagner

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Houseman

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- James Bridges, and Best Sound -- Donald O. Mitchell and Larry Jost

When John Houseman won the Oscar for Paper Chase he was at the time the oldest actor to receive the award. That same night Tatum O'Neil was the youngest recipient to win the Oscar for Paper Moon. Both titles of their respective movies happened to have the word PAPER.


12:00 AM -- Klute (1971)
1h 54m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-MA
A small-town detective searches for a missing man linked to a high-priced prostitute.
Director: Alan J. Pakula
Cast: Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Charles Cioffi

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Jane Fonda

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- Andy Lewis and David E. Lewis

In the original script Bree's psychiatrist was male, but Fonda felt in rehearsals that the character would never open up to a man, so she requested that the part be changed to a woman. Fonda requested to shoot the scenes with the shrink at the end of shooting so she would have already fully internalized the character of Bree.


2:15 AM -- Ryan's Daughter (1970)
3h 26m | Drama | TV-MA
An Irish lass is branded a traitor when she falls for a British soldier.
Director: David Lean
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Trevor Howard, Sarah Miles

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- John Mills, and Best Cinematography -- Freddie Young

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Sarah Miles, and Best Sound -- Gordon K. McCallum and John Bramall

During the filming of the movie on the Dingle Peninsula in Ireland's County Kerry, Robert Mitchum planted marijuana plants in the back garden of the hotel used by the production cast and crew, and gave many of the people connected with the production, including Sarah Miles' mother, and the local constabulary, their first experiences with the drug.