TCM Schedule for Saturday, June 27, 2020 -- What's On Tonight: The Essentials: '60s Rock Films

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, TCM finally returns to the Essentials. Tonight, Ben Mankiewicz and special co-host Brad Bird take us back to the hippie-dippie 60s! Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- STARLIFT (1951)
An actress and an air transport crewman fall in love in this star-studded salute to the Korean war.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: Doris Day, Gordon MacRae, Virginia Mayo
BW-103 mins, CC,

The team of Noonan and Marshall listed in the credits was comprised of Tommy Noonan and Peter Marshall; the latter best known for his role of host to the long running television series The Hollywood Squares (Daytime) (1965).


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: GOGGLE FISHING BEAR (1949)
Barney has a dive mask and swim fins to help with his pursuit of fish.
Dir: Michael Lah
BW-7 mins, CC,


8:09 AM -- BONEFISH AND BARRACUDA (1955)
This short film, filmed off the coast of Florida, offers fishing advice.
Dir: Howard Winner
Cast: Peter Roberts, Lee Wulff, Ivan Johnson
BW-8 mins,


8:18 AM -- RIO DE JANEIRO "CITY OF SPLENDOUR" (1936)
Rio De Janeiro's history, customs, and culture are at the forefront of this short film.
Cast: James A. FitzPatrick
C-8 mins,

There are over 700 different species of butterflies in Brazil and are more colorful than those in the United States. Various artist use their wings to make colorful art projects and souvenirs for the tourists to help them remember their visit to Brazil.


8:27 AM -- ACCIDENTS WILL HAPPEN (1938)
An insurance man tangles with a fraud ring.
Dir: William Clemens
Cast: Ronald Reagan, Gloria Blondell, Dick Purcell
BW-62 mins, CC,

The $450 for a fur coat Nona wants to buy would be the equivalent of $7,700 in 2016.


9:30 AM -- TERRY AND THE PIRATES: THE TOMB OF PERIL (1940)
Dr. Herbert Lee, an archaeologist seeking to decipher ancient Mara inscriptions, is aided by his son, Terry, Terry's pal, Pat Ryan, and Normandie Drake.
Dir: James W. Horne
Cast: William Tracy, Jeff York, Joyce Bryant
BW-18 mins, CC,

Episode eight of fifteen.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: I'LL NEVER CROW AGAIN (1941)
Olive's garden is being raided by some very persistent crows; she calls Popeye for help.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Orestes Calpini (uncredited)
Cast: Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
BW-7 mins, CC,

One of a number of Popeye shorts which were sent off to Asia in the 80's to undergo the infamous redraw and colorization process.


10:07 AM -- THE BOWERY BOYS MEET THE MONSTERS (1954)
The Bowery Boys battle a family of mad scientists.
Dir: Edward Bernds
Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey
BW-65 mins, CC,

This movie was inspired by "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein ", which originally was entitled "Abbott and Costello Meet The Monsters ". "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein " was their biggest hit and this movie was The Bowery Boys biggest hit.


11:30 AM -- KNOW YOUR MONEY (1940)
This short film tells the fictitious story of a bill counterfeiting ring.
Dir: Joe Newman
Cast: Nat Carr, Adrian Morris, Carl Stockdale
BW-22 mins,

From the credits: "The United States Secret Service has authorized the actual reproduction of United States currency in this picture as part of an educational campaign to suppress counterfeiting. Warning is hereby given that any attempt to reproduce from the currency herein exhibited is liable to prosecution to the full extent of Federal law. [signed]FRANK J. WILSON, Chief, United States Secret Service."


12:00 PM -- KING KONG (1933)
A film crew discovers the "eighth wonder of the world," a giant prehistoric ape, and brings him back to New York, where he wreaks havoc.
Dir: Merian C. Cooper
Cast: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot
BW-104 mins, CC,

Merian C. Cooper's first vision for the film was of a giant ape on top of the world's tallest building, fighting airplanes. He worked backward from there to develop the rest of the story.


2:00 PM -- BRUTE FORCE (1947)
Tough, disgruntled prisoners plan a daring, possibly bloody escape while on a drain pipe detail.
Dir: Jules Dassin
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Hume Cronyn, Charles Bickford
BW-98 mins, CC,

The calendar girl was painted as a composite of all the female characters in the film: it features one or two facial characteristics from each one of them. Therefore when each man looks at it, it does actually resemble his loved one. The original prop was sold at an auction for 2500 dollars.


3:45 PM -- THE CAINE MUTINY (1954)
Naval officers begin to suspect their captain of insanity.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Jose Ferrer, Van Johnson
C-125 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Humphrey Bogart, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Tom Tully, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Stanley Roberts, Best Sound, Recording -- John P. Livadary (Columbia SSD), Best Film Editing -- William A. Lyon and Henry Batista, Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Max Steiner, and Best Picture

Humphrey Bogart's tour-de-force performance in the climactic courtroom scene was so powerful, that it completely captivated the onlooking film technicians and crewmen. After the scene's completion, the company gave Bogart a round of thunderous applause.


6:00 PM -- THE STALKING MOON (1968)
A retired Army scout protects a woman from her son's vicious Native father.
Dir: Robert Mulligan
Cast: Gregory Peck, Eva Marie Saint, Robert Forster
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

George Stevens was originally slated to direct but bowed out because of script problems. His replacement, Robert Mulligan, had directed Gregory Peck to an Oscar in To Kill a Mockingbird (1962).



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



8:00 PM -- A HARD DAY'S NIGHT (1964)
A typical day in the life of the Beatles.
Dir: Richard Lester
Cast: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison
BW-87 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Alun Owen, and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- George Martin

Writer Alun Owen put together the plot of the movie while following The Beatles around on their tour of France before they went to America. From observing them, he created their "stereotypes": John Lennon is a smart-ass, Sir Paul McCartney is "cute" and sensible, George Harrison is quiet and shy, and Sir Ringo Starr is dim-witted and sad. He also picked up their manners of speech, and their daily routines, with which he created the plot. Despite the comic elements, it really was a "day-in-the-life" look at The Beatles.


10:00 PM -- DON'T LOOK BACK (1967)
D.A. Pennebaker follows Bob Dylan on his 1965 tour of England.
Dir: D. A. Pennebaker
Cast: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Alan Price
BW-96 mins, CC,

The scene where Donovan visits Dylan in his hotel was generally viewed as Dylan putting the young singer-songwriter in his place when he grabs the guitar and performs "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." But a 2015 Criterion Collection remaster, with improved sound, revealed that Donovan actually requested Dylan play that song for him. That gave the entire scene a new meaning and revealed Dylan and Donovan as more friends than rivals.


12:00 AM -- THE LADY FROM SHANGHAI (1948)
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Dir: Orson Welles
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane
BW-87 mins, CC,

A remake of this movie came close to production from producers John Woo and Terence Chang, and screenwriter Jeff Vintar. The script was based on both the original Orson Welles screenplay and the original pulp novel by Sherwood King, entitled "If I Die Before I Wake." Brendan Fraser was eyeing the Welles role of Michael O'Hara and wanted Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones to play Arthur and Elsa Bannister. The project was suddenly scuttled when Sony Pictures studio head Amy Pascal decided to focus primarily on "teen pictures."


2:00 AM -- MANHATTAN (1979)
A TV comedy writer falls for his best friend's girl.
Dir: Woody Allen
Cast: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Mariel Hemingway
BW-96 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Mariel Hemingway, and Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Woody Allen and Marshall Brickman

According to Jeff Stafford at the TCMDb, "When Manhattan (1979) was first released, there was some criticism leveled at the film for its depiction of a romance between a teenager and a 42-year-old man but several biographical sources have suggested that the relationship had a real-life parallel in Woody Allen's two-year romance with actress Stacey Nelkin. Reportedly, Allen met Nelkin on the set of Annie Hall (1977) when she was a mere 17-year-old extra (her small part ended up on the cutting room floor). Certain aspects of the Isaac-Tracy relationship may also have been inspired by Allen's real-life correspondence with 13-year-old pen pal Nancy Jo Sales".


4:00 AM -- BABY BOOM (1987)
A super-yuppie businesswoman has to adjust to motherhood when she inherits a baby.
Dir: Charles Shyer
Cast: Diane Keaton, Harold Ramis, Sam Shepard
C-110 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

"It's played like a '40s comedy" according to Time Out. The picture was inspired by such 1930s and 1940s era comedies as Bachelor Mother (1939) and Woman of the Year (1942). The production notes for this picture stated that films from the 1930s and 1940s were used as a model for the movie. Writer-producer Nancy Meyers once said: "I always loved how Roz Russell [Rosalind Russell] and Katharine Hepburn portrayed working women. They wore wonderfully tailored suits, and always carried envelope bags under their arms as they walked through their offices dishing out orders".