TCM Schedule for Saturday, June 4, 2016 -- What's On Tonight: The Essentials: Roy Scheider

[Staph]

The Essentials are back! And tonight, TCM is featuring a trio of films starring Roy Scheider, including his Oscar-nominated role in 1971's The French Connection. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- Cross Country Romance (1940)
A runaway heiress hides in a doctor's trailer for a rollicking trip to San Francisco.
Dir: Frank Woodruff
Cast: Gene Raymond, Wendy Barrie, Hedda Hopper
BW-69 mins,

Lucille Ball and James Ellison were initially announced for the roles eventually played by Wendy Barrie and Gene Raymond.


7:15 AM -- Two Girls And A Sailor (1944)
Singing sisters create a World War II canteen and become rivals for the same man.
Dir: Richard Thorpe
Cast: June Allyson, Gloria DeHaven, Van Johnson
BW-124 mins, CC,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Richard Connell and Gladys Lehman

Gracie Allen loathed the hurry-up-and-wait tedium of making movies, but husband George Burns always talked her into it, claiming it was good for both their act and their bank account. By this point in their career the couple no longer needed publicity or money, so once filming was completed, Allen insisted this was to be her final movie - which it was.


9:30 AM -- Ace Drummond: Where East Meets West (1936)
In Chapter One of Ace Drummond ace pilot travels to Mongolia to thwart The Dragon's efforts to destroy International Airways.
Dir: Ford Beebe, Cliff Smith
Cast: John 'Dusty' King, Jean Rogers, Noah Beery Jr.
BW-21 mins,

Based on the newspaper feature "Ace Drummond", by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker.


10:00 AM -- Ace Drummond: Invisible Enemy (1936)
In Chapter Two of Ace Drummond ace pilot has to find a landing spot after The Dragon's men hit his plane.
Dir: Ford Beebe, Cliff Smith
Cast: John 'Dusty' King, Jean Rogers, Noah Beery Jr.
BW-19 mins,


10:30 AM -- Crazy Over Horses (1951)
The Bowery Boys get mixed up with a race horse and the gambling racket.
Dir: William Beaudine
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Ted DeCorsia
BW-65 mins, CC,

The first Bowery Boys film that used caricatures of Slip (Leo Gorcey) and Sach (Huntz Hall) in the opening credits. This was Whitey's (William 'Billy' Benedict) last appearance in the series.


11:47 AM -- Nostradamus Says So! (1953)
This short film presents the life and several predictions made by Nostradamus.
Dir: Peter Ballbusch
BW-11 mins,


12:00 PM -- Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
An alienated teenager tries to handle life's troubles and an apron-wearing dad.
Dir: Nicholas Ray
Cast: James Dean, Natalie Wood, Sal Mineo
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Sal Mineo, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Natalie Wood, and Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Nicholas Ray

In his article "Dangerous Talents," published in Vanity Fair Magazine in March 2005, Sam Kashner writes that director Nicholas Ray, screenwriter Stewart Stern, costar James Dean, and Sal Mineo himself all intended for Mineo's character Plato to be subtly but definitely understood as gay. Kashner says that although the Production Code was still very much in force and forbade any mention of homosexuality, Ray, Dean, Mineo, and Stern all worked together to insert restrained references to Plato's homosexuality and attraction to Jim, including the pinup photo of Alan Ladd on Plato's locker door, Plato's adoring looks at Jim, his loaded talk with Jim in the old mansion, and even the name "Plato," which is a reference to the Classical Greek philosopher. For that mansion scene, Dean suggested to Mineo that Plato should "look at me the way I look at Natalie."


2:00 PM -- Dial M for Murder (1954)
A straying husband frames his wife for the murder of the man he'd hired to kill her.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings
C-105 mins, CC,

Alfred Hitchcock had chosen a very expensive robe for Grace Kelly to wear when she answered the phone. The actress balked and said that no woman would put on such a robe, just to answer the ringing telephone while she was asleep alone, but would answer it in her slip. Hitchcock agreed to do it her way and liked the way the rushes turned out. The director agreed to allow the actress to make all costume decisions for herself in their subsequent films together, afterwards.


4:00 PM -- Spinout (1966)
A singing race-car driver has to choose among three amorous females.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Elvis Presley, Shelley Fabares, Diane McBain
C-93 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

President Lyndon Johnson visited on the set of the film to meet Elvis Presley.


6:00 PM -- The Man From Laramie (1955)
A wandering cowboy gets caught in the rivalry between an aging rancher's sons.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: James Stewart, Arthur Kennedy, Donald Crisp
C-102 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The last of James Stewart's Western collaborations with Anthony Mann, the film has been described as a western version of King Lear.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: ROY SCHEIDER



8:00 PM -- The French Connection (1971)
Two New York narcotics cops set out to bust a French drug smuggling ring.
Dir: William Friedkin
Cast: Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider
C-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Gene Hackman, Best Director -- William Friedkin, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ernest Tidyman, Best Film Editing -- Gerald B. Greenberg, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Roy Scheider, Best Cinematography -- Owen Roizman, and Best Sound -- Theodore Soderberg and Christopher Newman

According to William Friedkin, the significance of the straw hat being tossed onto the shelf of the rear window in Doyle and Russo's car was that at that time it was a universal signal in New York City that the undercover cops in the car were on duty.


10:00 PM -- The Seven Ups (1973)
New York City cops wage a war against assorted hoods and criminals after one of their own is brutally killed by a hoodlum.
Dir: Philip D'Antoni
Cast: Roy Scheider, Victor Arnold, Jerry Leon
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to Dennis Farina on Dinner for Five, this film was the most realistic in it's depiction of cops. Farina was a cop in Chicago.


12:00 AM -- 2010 (1984)
In this sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey, a U.S.-Soviet crew investigates a mysterious monolith orbiting Jupiter.
Dir: Peter Hyams
Cast: Roy Scheider, Helen Mirren, Keir Dullea
C-116 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Albert Brenner and Rick Simpson, Best Costume Design-- Patricia Norris, Best Sound -- Michael J. Kohut, Aaron Rochin, Carlos Delarios and Gene S. Cantamessa, Best Effects, Visual Effects -- Richard Edlund, Neil Krepela, George Jenson and Mark Stetson, and Best Makeup -- Michael Westmore

When Dr. Heywood Floyd stands in the doorway of his sleeping son's room, on the wall, to the left of his bed is a poster of an Olympic runner, with the text 'Beijing 08' on the bottom. Considering the film was made in 1984 and the Olympic Committee did not choose Beijing for the Olympics until July 2001, this is a fun example of life imitating art and background detail which came true.


2:15 AM -- The Church (1989)
A priest fights to defeat a demon that has taken over his church.
Dir: Michele Soavi
Cast: Tomas Arana, Hugh Quarshie, Asia Argento
C-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Though it was originally conceived as another entry in the popular Demons series, director Michele Soavi insisted that the film stand alone and not be connected with the films Demons (1985) or Demons 2 (1986). In an interview Soavi referred to the Demons films as 'pizza schlock' and wanted La Chiesa to be more sophisticated.


4:00 AM -- The Devil's Bride (1968)
Small town Satanists lure an innocent brother and sister into their coven.
Dir: Terence Fisher
Cast: Christopher Lee, Charles Gray, Nike Arrighi
C-96 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The movie's US title was changed from "The Devil Rides Out" to "The Devil's Bride" because its original title made it sound much too much like a Western.


5:45 AM -- The House in the Middle (1954)
Military tests demonstrate the dangers of poor home maintenance in the event of a nuclear attack in this short film.
C-12 mins,

[longship]

1. 2010! Just watched that one.

A young Helen Mirren in a prominent role. Also, Elya Baskin, one of my favorite character actors. Because of his Latvian accent, he is universally cast as a Russian. He plays his part for comedic effect in this film.

[Staph]

2. I caught White Nights (1985) on TV the other night.

Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gregory Hines, and in a secondary role as a retired Russian ballerina, Helen Mirren. That's her first role that I remember, and I remember later being surprised that she was British and not Russian.