TCM Schedule for Saturday, June 21, 2014 -- The Essentials - The Swinging 60s

Put on your love beads and iron your hair -- tonight's Essentials is taking us back to the swinging sixties. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- TCM Presents Elvis Mitchell Under the Influence: Joan Allen (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell.
C-27 mins, CC, Letterbox Format


6:30 AM -- Beneath The 12-Mile Reef (1953)
Love brings together two families of rival sponge fishers.
Dir: Robert D. Webb
Cast: Robert Wagner, Terry Moore, Gilbert Roland
C-101 mins, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Edward Cronjager

This was Twentieth Century-Fox's third CinemaScope production.


8:30 AM -- Road to Bali (1953)
Two song-and-dance men on the run dive for treasure while competing for a beautiful princess.
Dir: Hal Walker
Cast: Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Dorothy Lamour
C-91 mins, CC,

Hope makes an obscure joke about the Chicago musicians union. He shows Crosby his snake-charmer instrument and says, "Hey, I've been playing this flute all night. Have to clear it with Petrillo." Petrillo was James Petrillo, the heavy-handed president of the Chicago Musician's Union.


10:15 AM -- Carson on TCM: Bing Crosby (3/5/76) (2013)
TCM presents an interview from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson, with Bing Crosby from 3/5/76.
C-8 mins, CC,


10:30 AM -- Topper (1937)
A fun-loving couple returns from the dead to help a henpecked husband.
Dir: Norman Z. McLeod
Cast: Constance Bennett, Cary Grant, Roland Young
BW-98 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Roland Young, and Best Sound, Recording -- Elmer Raguse (Hal Roach SSD)

Producer Hal Roach wanted W.C. Fields and Jean Harlow to costar as George and Marian Kerby, but neither was available at the time. As much as I like both of those performers, the thought of them replacing Cary Grant and Constnce Bennett horrifies me!


12:15 PM -- Bitter Creek (1954)
A man attempts to find the killer of his brother.
Dir: Thomas Carr
Cast: Wild Bill Elliott, Carleton Young, Beverly Garland
BW-74 mins, CC,

Born Gordon Nance, Elliot started in the movies in 1925. In 1938, Columbia cast him as the lead in its 15-chapter serial, The Great Adventures of Wild Bill Hickok (1938), and Elliott's identification with westerns began. He even began to adopt the names "Bill" or "Wild Bill." He also became famous for using the line, "I'm a peaceable man ... " (which was inevitably followed by an outburst of violence).


1:45 PM -- Ocean's Eleven (1960)
A group of friends plot to rob a Las Vegas casino.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Peter Lawford, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra
C-127 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

According to Frank Sinatra Jr. on the DVD Commentary, Sammy Davis Jr. was forced to stay at a "colored only" hotel during the filming because Las Vegas would not allow blacks to stay at the major hotels despite his appearing with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the others at the Sands Hotel. He was only allowed to stay at the major hotels after Frank Sinatra confronted the casino owners on his behalf, therefore breaking Vegas' unofficial color barrier.


4:00 PM -- Bullitt (1968)
When mobsters kill the witness he was assigned to protect, a dedicated policeman investigates the case on his own.
Dir: Peter Yates
Cast: Steve McQueen, Robert Vaughn, Jacqueline Bisset
C-114 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Frank P. Keller

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Sound

In the famous chase scene, the director called for speeds of about 75-80 mph, but the cars (including the ones containing the cameras) reached speeds of over 110 mph. Filming of the chase scene took three weeks, resulting in 9 minutes and 42 seconds of footage. They were denied permission to film on the Golden Gate Bridge.


6:00 PM -- Key Largo (1948)
A returning veteran tangles with a ruthless gangster during a hurricane.
Dir: John Huston
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall
BW-101 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Claire Trevor

In a classic case of a director being emotionally manipulative, John Huston informed Claire Trevor that they were to film her song that very day. Trevor was not a trained singer, and had not even rehearsed the song yet. She also felt very intimidated by the A-list actors seated directly in front of her. The result was a hesitant, nervous, uncomfortable rendition, exactly the feeling Huston was hoping to get.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: SWINGING '60S



8:00 PM -- I Love You, Alice B. Toklas (1968)
A henpecked L.A. lawyer escapes into the world of hippies and free love.
Dir: Hy Averback
Cast: Peter Sellers, Jo Van Fleet, Leigh Taylor-Young
C-94 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The film's title is a tribute to Gertrude Stein's lifelong partner, Alice B. Toklas, who published a cookbook in 1954 that contained the first printed recipe for hash fudge. In one of the movie's most famous scene Harold Fine unknowingly serves some marijuana-laced brownies baked by Nancy to his parents and fiancée.


10:00 PM -- Georgy Girl (1966)
A misfit fights for happiness in the world of swinging London.
Dir: Silvio Narizzano
Cast: James Mason, Alan Bates, Lynn Redgrave
BW-99 mins, CC,

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Lynn Redgrave, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- James Mason, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Kenneth Higgins, and Best Music, Original Song -- Tom Springfield (music) and Jim Dale (lyrics) for the song "Georgy Girl"

Lynn Redgrave's Best Actress Oscar nomination for this movie coincided with sister Vanessa Redgrave's similar nomination for Morgan! (1966). Such a coincidence had occurred only once before when sisters Joan Fontaine and Olivia de Havilland respectively vied for the Best Actress Oscar for Suspicion (1941) and Hold Back the Dawn (1941). Fontaine was the only winner of the four actresses in this particular curiosity.


12:00 AM -- Blow-Up (1966)
A photographer discovers a murder in the background of a candid photo.
Dir: Michelangelo Antonioni
Cast: Vanessa Redgrave, Sarah Miles, David Hemmings
C-111 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Michelangelo Antonioni, and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Michelangelo Antonioni (screenplay/story), Tonino Guerra (screenplay) and Edward Bond (screenplay)

As a way of bypassing the Production Code (i.e. censors), MGM created "Premiere Productions". This was a dummy company which had no agreement or affiliation with the Production Code and, therefore, did not have to adhere to its standards. MGM did not have to cut the full frontal nudity or other sexually explicit scenes and maintained all rights to the film. When the film opened to rave reviews and excellent box office, this defeat was considered the final blow for the Production Code's credibility and was replaced with a ratings system less than two years later.


2:00 AM -- The Slams (1973)
A thief is forced to escape from jail to collect his money.
Dir: Jonathan Kaplan
Cast: Jim Brown, Judy Pace, Roland Harris (Bob)
C-90 mins,

Jim Brown is the only man to be inducted during his lifetime into three sports Halls of Fame: Pro Football, College Football, and Lacrosse.


3:45 AM -- Hell Up in Harlem (1973)
A gangster tries to save his wife from Mafia kidnappers.
Dir: Larry Cohen
Cast: Fred Williamson, Julius Harris, Gloria Hendry
C-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

James Brown was originally slated to do the music after his work on Black Caesar (1973) was so well received, but Larry Cohen rejected the music Brown recorded. Subsequently, the music was done by Motown artist Edwin Starr and Brown's rejected music was used for the album, "The Payback".


5:30 AM -- Shake Hands With Danger (1970)
Short safety film about dangers associated with earthmoving equipment operation, showing many simulated accidents on construction sites.
C-23 mins,