TCM: The Greatest Movie Channel

[EtheltoTillie]

On 7/20/2021 at 3:05 PM, Tom Holmberg said:

"Blood Simple" (still my favorite Coen Bros. film) is on Friday, July 23

Just watched. Great to revisit. Really liked the commentary at the end too. It really sets the stage for everything they would eventually do. My fave Coen brothers films are quirky choices, though. A Serious Man and Hail Caesar!  

[voiceover]

Getting a bit of nostalgic action via TCM Underground tonight.  When a Stranger Calls was screened on campus my freshman year.  When the climactic line* of Act 1 was uttered, I shrieked louder than I ever had and jumped right into my date's lap.

The rest of the movie didn't stay with me long, but decades later I can still recall the absolute, visceral terror of that moment.  One of the biggest scares of my moviegoing experience --  second only to something wet, cold, and hard hitting the back of my bare leg as I drove home from the first Alien film (turned out to be, not the Alien hiding in my Dad's Buick, but my best friend's empty Michelob bottle, rolling out from the floor of the backseat).

*Dumbest promo ever?  The remake including that line in the trailer!

 

 

[Annber03]

5 hours ago, voiceover said:

Getting a bit of nostalgic action via TCM Underground tonight.  When a Stranger Calls was screened on campus my freshman year.  When the climactic line* of Act 1 was uttered, I shrieked louder than I ever had and jumped right into my date's lap.

The rest of the movie didn't stay with me long, but decades later I can still recall the absolute, visceral terror of that moment.

My parents have told me about how, when they went to see that movie in the theater, there were these two girls sitting in front of them who were getting so freaked out that they kept looking away from the screen for much of the time. 

Towards the very end of the movie, when there's that other big jump scare moment, both those girls screamed and one of them flailed out their arm and wound up reaching back and accidentally grabbing my dad's leg in the process :p.

But yeah, those first twenty minutes or so are....truly terrifying. Even before I'd seen that movie, I'd heard about it from my mom, and just the description was enough to scare me. I remember babysitting one night and checking on the kids, like, every five minutes as a result :p. 

[Bastet]

When a Stranger Calls is a strange movie, suddenly turning into a completely different - and mostly boring - film after the initial carnage.  But, even though they stole the iconic line from Black Christmas, it's still a great moment (and was obviously seen by more people, or was at least more memorable, because most people attribute the line to this film, not the one five years earlier), and the jump scare at the end is effective.

[Annber03]

I did not know that line was from Black Christmas! May have to add that one to my list at some point-I've heard of it, and I'm kinda curious to check it out. 

[EtheltoTillie]

I’m too scared to rewatch WASC. I saw it on original release. 

[EtheltoTillie]

On 7/20/2021 at 4:55 PM, Rinaldo said:

It doesn't seem to be on this month's schedule, but if they continue with neo-noir in the future, surely they'll get to 1978's The Driver. Like most of the US, I missed it on initial release, but I caught up with it in one of the repertory cinema houses that swept the country a couple of years later, and I think I actually used the term "neo-noir" or maybe "essence of film noir" to describe it to a friend. Walter Hill wrote and directed it, none of the characters have names (they're just the characters one would expect in a pared-down story like this: The Driver, The Detective, The Player, The Connection), and the cast is both surprising (for this sort of flick) and surprisingly effective: Ryan O'Neal, Bruce Dern, Isabelle Adjani, Ronee Blakley (the only time I ever saw her other than Nashville). It's both exactly like this genre of movie and not quite like any other movie. Has anyone else here seen it? Anyway, it fits the premise 100%.

Rinaldo, I think you just want to see Ryan O’Neal again, LOL. I recall this movie from its first release where it was touted as some important existentialist statement. I thought it was overrated. I will watch again if they show it. 
I’ll take Jeff Bridges over O’Neal anytime, as in last night’s Cutter’s Way.  While it was a confusing story (Chinatown wannabe?) with an overwrought performance by John Heard, it struck a much stronger existentialist chord with me. 

[Rinaldo]

Believe me (or not, I suppose), I have no particular desire to see Ryan O'Neal again, and I was as surprised as anyone that he was... adequate to the demands of The Driver. I don't see how a movie can be overrated when it's totally forgotten and disregarded. I was venturing only that it deserves maybe one repeat viewing, if we're going to make a feature of neo-noir, because it was one of the seminal examples.

I was hoping for a lot from Cutter's Way when I first saw it (I'd say a preference for Jeff Bridges is near-universal, and I was also a fan of John Heard at that time, after Between the Lines, which introduced so many of the new generation of actors to the screen), but couldn't find it anything but an incoherent overdone mess.

[Charlie Baker]

I'm intrigued by Cutter's Way, and will try to catch it on Watch TCM.  I'll put in a word for Night Moves, which definitely belongs in this neo-noir group.  It's got something of a classic noir premise, with a PI on an assignment that reveals criminal activity, and a 70s looseness and ambiguity about it.  And playing said detective, whose life is pretty much a mess, of course, is Gene Hackman at the top of his game.  With an excellent supporting cast, featuring some actors who deserved more recognition over their careers than they got, female lead Jennifer Warren, a somewhat laid-back femme fatale, Harris Yulin, Susan Clark, Edward Binns, along with early career turns from James Woods and Melanie Griffith.  Then the wrap-up is pretty striking and caught me, who didn't know the movie before this, off guard with its intensity. 

[Inquisitionist]

Did anyone else catch 1988's Running on Empty the other week?  I've always had a soft spot for this film.  Some of the plotting is too coincidental, but the performances are lovely.  The one scene between Christine Lahti and Steven Hill as her estranged father is devastating.  The film makes me incredibly sad for the early loss of River Phoenix.  He was an amazing talent. 

[magicdog]

29 minutes ago, Inquisitionist said:

The film makes me incredibly sad for the early loss of River Phoenix.  He was an amazing talent. 

Agreed.  Although I always feel like that when I see in in Stand By Me.  I can only imagine the career he could have had.

[Inquisitionist]

4 minutes ago, magicdog said:

Agreed.  Although I always feel like that when I see in in Stand By Me.  I can only imagine the career he could have had.

Somehow I've managed never to see Stand By Me.  Must correct that.

[Bastet]

2 hours ago, Inquisitionist said:

The film makes me incredibly sad for the early loss of River Phoenix. He was an amazing talent. 

That's one of the many reactions I have whenever I watch Sneakers.  There he is, just ten years into his career and still so young, holding his own with the likes of Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Mary McDonnell, and David Strathairn.

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, Charlie Baker said:

I'm intrigued by Cutter's Way, and will try to catch it on Watch TCM.  I'll put in a word for Night Moves, which definitely belongs in this neo-noir group.  It's got something of a classic noir premise, with a PI on an assignment that reveals criminal activity, and a 70s looseness and ambiguity about it.  And playing said detective, whose life is pretty much a mess, of course, is Gene Hackman at the top of his game.  With an excellent supporting cast, featuring some actors who deserved more recognition over their careers than they got, female lead Jennifer Warren, a somewhat laid-back femme fatale, Harris Yulin, Susan Clark, Edward Binns, along with early career turns from James Woods and Melanie Griffith.  Then the wrap-up is pretty striking and caught me, who didn't know the movie before this, off guard with its intensity. 

That’s next on my list. I guess we watched these two films in reverse order. 

[Tom Holmberg]

On 7/23/2021 at 9:07 PM, GussieK said:

Just watched. Great to revisit. Really liked the commentary at the end too. It really sets the stage for everything they would eventually do. My fave Coen brothers films are quirky choices, though. A Serious Man and Hail Caesar!  

I saw it at the Biograph theater in Chicago when it originally came out.  Sort of fitting.

[letter8358]

15 hours ago, Bastet said:

That's one of the many reactions I have whenever I watch Sneakers.  There he is, just ten years into his career and still so young, holding his own with the likes of Sidney Poitier, Robert Redford, Mary McDonnell, and David Strathairn.

An HBO documentary is definitely needed to tell the story of River. Possibly interviews with his three girlfriends, actors/directors  that work with him, past interviews or clips, and some of today's kid actors that must have been influenced by him like Jacob Tremblay or Finn Wolfhard. Like during his career, he would write poetry or quotes all the time during his short life. It always seemed like poetry or quotes was his safe haven. However, what happened to him with The Children of God....fucking terrible.

Edited July 26, 2021 by letter8358

[EtheltoTillie]

22 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

Believe me (or not, I suppose), I have no particular desire to see Ryan O'Neal again, and I was as surprised as anyone that he was... adequate to the demands of The Driver. I don't see how a movie can be overrated when it's totally forgotten and disregarded. I was venturing only that it deserves maybe one repeat viewing, if we're going to make a feature of neo-noir, because it was one of the seminal examples.

I was hoping for a lot from Cutter's Way when I first saw it (I'd say a preference for Jeff Bridges is near-universal, and I was also a fan of John Heard at that time, after Between the Lines, which introduced so many of the new generation of actors to the screen), but couldn't find it anything but an incoherent overdone mess.

I had the same thought about Between the Lines, and I am going to rent it to rewatch. 

[Razzberry]

No matter how many times I see Blood Simple, I still enjoy it immensely.  The Coen's dark humor and noir-ish storytelling was like nothing I'd seen before.  The Man Who Wasn't There is also right up there with my favorites.

Sure wish they'd make neo-noir Fridays a permanent feature.  Eddie Muller really knows his stuff.  I always enjoy his segments as he doesn't sound like he's just reading off a prompter.

[voiceover]

<runs into thread, shrieking my brains out>

"Holy crap!!!  Ramon Novarro is featured on Summer Under the Stars!!!"

<faints dead away>

[Suzn]

23 hours ago, Razzberry said:

No matter how many times I see Blood Simple, I still enjoy it immensely.  The Coen's dark humor and noir-ish storytelling was like nothing I'd seen before.  The Man Who Wasn't There is also right up there with my favorites.

Sure wish they'd make neo-noir Fridays a permanent feature.  Eddie Muller really knows his stuff.  I always enjoy his segments as he doesn't sound like he's just reading off a prompter.

I caught the last half hour of Blood Simple and really disliked it.  The Coens are hit or miss for me.  I loved The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou?  I love Fargo, mostly, (Marge is the best!) but the gore is a bit too much,  Some of their things I find unpleasantly violent and gory.

Edited July 27, 2021 by Suzn

[Tom Holmberg]

TCM's neo-noir series includes "Mona Lisa" on Friday night.  If you haven't seen it, it's kinda of a British "Sopranos".  Another excellent pick.

[StatisticalOutlier]

On 7/27/2021 at 3:58 PM, Suzn said:

I caught the last half hour of Blood Simple and really disliked it. 

Is it fair to judge a movie based on seeing only the last half hour? 

[Suzn]

3 hours ago, StatisticalOutlier said:

Is it fair to judge a movie based on seeing only the last half hour? 

I'm not really worried about being fair.  The other point is that I have often liked a movie and the way it ends absolutely ruins it for me, so this would have been the case even if I found the rest of it delightful.

[Rinaldo]

Summer Under the Stars was mentioned. Here is the lineup I've seen for August this year:

1 Bette Davis
2 Richard Burton
3 Kim Novak
4 Louis Armstrong
5 Margaret Rutherford
6 Robert Mitchum
7 Abbott & Costello
8 Esther Williams
9 Kay Francis
10 George Segal
11 Kathryn Grayson
12 Ramon Novarro
13 Jane Fonda
14 Gregory Peck
15 Judy Garland
16 Robert Young
17 Gloria Grahame
18 Robert Redford
19 Setsuko Hara
20 Van Heflin
21 Katharine Hepburn
22 Tyrone Power
23 Eve Arden
24 Maurice Chevalier
25 Jane Wyman
26 Tony Randall
27 Merle Oberon
28 Lee Marvin
29 Ingrid Bergman
30 James Cagney
31 Fredric March

[Tom Holmberg]

On 7/28/2021 at 5:30 PM, StatisticalOutlier said:

Is it fair to judge a movie based on seeing only the last half hour? 

"Blood Simple" has a great last line, with M. Emmet Walsh saying, "If I see him, I'll sure give him the message."

[Tom Holmberg]

On 7/28/2021 at 8:51 AM, Tom Holmberg said:

TCM's neo-noir series includes "Mona Lisa" on Friday night.  If you haven't seen it, it's kinda of a British "Sopranos".  Another excellent pick.

Actually I was thinking of "The Long Good Friday", another excellent British movie, as being similar to "The Sopranos", though "Mona Lisa" is still a good movie.

 

Rewatching "Blade Runner" I have to agree that it's largely style over substance--but what style!

[Fool to cry]

On 8/1/2021 at 9:08 AM, Tom Holmberg said:

Actually I was thinking of "The Long Good Friday", another excellent British movie, as being similar to "The Sopranos", though "Mona Lisa" is still a good movie.

 

Rewatching "Blade Runner" I have to agree that it's largely style over substance--but what style!

Connecting the subjects of Bob Hopkins movies and Blade Runner the art director on Blade Runner was the production desinger of the Super Mario Bros movie.

Edited August 3, 2021 by Fool to cry

[EtheltoTillie]

4 hours ago, Fool to cry said:

Connecting the subjects of Bob Hopkins movies and Blade Runner the art director on Blade Runner was the production desinger of the Super Mario Bros movie.

Interesting.  I made it through half of Blade Runner this time.  I have yet to watch the whole movie over 40 years of half hearted attempts.  As someone mentioned above, it's all mood.  Incidentally, the actor is Bob Hoskins, not to be confused with that other famous British thespian, Anthony Hopkins. 

I watched a bit of Kim Novak Day today--part of Of Human Bondage.  She seemed miscast as a Brit, but she tried hard with the accent.  I'll stick to Picnic. 

[Fool to cry]

6 hours ago, GussieK said:

Interesting.  I made it through half of Blade Runner this time.  I have yet to watch the whole movie over 40 years of half hearted attempts.  As someone mentioned above, it's all mood.  Incidentally, the actor is Bob Hoskins, not to be confused with that other famous British thespian, Anthony Hopkins.

Oops, I meant Hoskins. I like the story of how Brian DePalma paid him to be second choice to play Al Capone in The Untouchables in case they couldn't get Robert DeNiro.

 

Blade Runner is worth making it for that memorable final speech by Rutger Hauer which he actually wrote.

[Rinaldo]

6 hours ago, GussieK said:

I watched a bit of Kim Novak Day today--part of Of Human Bondage.  She seemed miscast as a Brit, but she tried hard with the accent. 

When we read Of Human Bondage in high school, they showed us the Kim Novak movie. I remember liking it, all the more so when I caught the Bette Davis version on TV a few years later and didn't care for it at all. But that was my stupid adolescent self, before I'd learned how to "read" older acting and filming styles. I wondered how I'd feel now, so I DVR'd the Novak when the rare opportunity arose this week. I just have to fit in the time to actually watch it, around my Olympic viewing and writing obligations.

[EtheltoTillie]

I just recorded the Bob Osborne interview with Novak. Watched toward the end. It’s going to be interesting. 

[EtheltoTillie]

The Legend of Lylah Claire outdoes Inside Daisy Clover as an over-the top Hollywood expose.  What a mess.  I could not sit through the entire thing.  Kim Novak's dubbed German accent is one peculiarity.  The visions of Lylah from the great beyond.  And that dog food commercial at the end. 

[EtheltoTillie]

Lylah Clare is on Watch TCM.  As is Pushover, with Fred MacMurray trying to reignite Double Indemnity fire with a little Rear Window thrown in.  Very similar plot to Indemnity, but here he's a cop and too old for his love interest, Kim Novak.  And Kim Novak is no Barbara Stanwyck.  Still an interesting curiosity. 

[meowmommy]

Ha.  Anyone notice on the WatchTCM home screen a big banner for "The Importance of Being Earnest," starring Barbara Stanwyck, Genevieve Tobin and Gene Raymond? 

Except, of course, that they're not in that movie.

[mariah23]

A TCM Remembers update: the dear Jane Withers died last night at age 95.

[EtheltoTillie]

5 hours ago, mariah23 said:

A TCM Remembers update: the dear Jane Withers died last night at age 95.

Oh that explains why my husband was talking about Josephine the Plumber!  

[ratgirlagogo]

On 8/4/2021 at 8:32 AM, GussieK said:

The Legend of Lylah Claire outdoes Inside Daisy Clover as an over-the top Hollywood expose.  What a mess. 

They're both so bad - but Lylah Clare I think is even worse because of the exploitation nudity disguised as "quality art filmmaking." I don't know how many of you caught that other late 60's Novak turd The Great Bank Robbery.  A great cast, and a big mess.  Like they say, comedy is hard -  bad dramas have camp value but bad comedies are just disgusting, like bad kissing.

[Rinaldo]

14 hours ago, ratgirlagogo said:

I don't know how many of you caught that other late 60's Novak turd The Great Bank Robbery.  A great cast, and a big mess. 

I'd like to see it face off against another late-60s big-name-cast comedy bomb, Skidoo. 

[ratgirlagogo]

9 hours ago, Rinaldo said:

I'd like to see it face off against another late-60s big-name-cast comedy bomb, Skidoo. 

Skidoo is worse.  But that doesn't make The Great Bank Robbery any less of a turd.

[EtheltoTillie]

I caught parts of Great Bank Robbery, but I've never even heard of Skidoo.  It sounds atrocious. 

[benteen]

Always like watching a Robert Mitchum movie and he made so many of them that you can always find a new one.  Saw The Big Steal a few days ago and really enjoyed it.  The film reunited him with Jane Greer from Out of the Past and was directed by Don Siegel.  It's a short film, not even 75 minutes and a large chunk of it is spent on a really well-done car chase on location in Mexico.

Edited August 13, 2021 by benteen

[BooksRule]

Have any of you noticed TCM advertising a certain movie, but then when the time comes for it a totally different movie is aired?  Way back in May I set my DVR to record 'Earth girls are easy' (I had never seen it and am a Jeff Goldblum fan).  It was one of those late-night segments (Up All Night, TCM Underground, etc.).  Well, I finally go around to watching it yesterday and was very surprised that even though it was still labeled 'Earth Girls are Easy' on the DVR recording, the movie that actually aired was Blake Edwards' 'S.O.B.'  :(  (Now I do like that movie, too, but I already own it on DVD.)  I was a little bummed.  

I can understand changing the schedule due to the death of a big star and they decide to air some of their movies or something, but this seemed to be a little random.  Oh well, maybe they'll show it again sometime (although I don't remember ever seeing it on the schedule before). 

I had noticed that on occasion TCM would start a movie much earlier than I expected and I would miss some of it.  I remember one time going to the channel to watch 'A Raisin in the Sun' and even though I was several minutes early for it (according to the online guide and the onscreen guide) the movie was obviously well underway when I changed the channel.  

[Charlie Baker]

Ben interviews Marlee Matlin:

Ben on CBS Sunday Morning

[EtheltoTillie]

On 8/14/2021 at 5:55 PM, BooksRule said:

Have any of you noticed TCM advertising a certain movie, but then when the time comes for it a totally different movie is aired?  Way back in May I set my DVR to record 'Earth girls are easy' (I had never seen it and am a Jeff Goldblum fan).  It was one of those late-night segments (Up All Night, TCM Underground, etc.).  Well, I finally go around to watching it yesterday and was very surprised that even though it was still labeled 'Earth Girls are Easy' on the DVR recording, the movie that actually aired was Blake Edwards' 'S.O.B.'  :(  (Now I do like that movie, too, but I already own it on DVD.)  I was a little bummed.  

I can understand changing the schedule due to the death of a big star and they decide to air some of their movies or something, but this seemed to be a little random.  Oh well, maybe they'll show it again sometime (although I don't remember ever seeing it on the schedule before). 

I had noticed that on occasion TCM would start a movie much earlier than I expected and I would miss some of it.  I remember one time going to the channel to watch 'A Raisin in the Sun' and even though I was several minutes early for it (according to the online guide and the onscreen guide) the movie was obviously well underway when I changed the channel.  

FWIW, I have not experienced any of these issues. I am in eastern time zone. Don’t know if that matters. 

Edited August 16, 2021 by GussieK

[EtheltoTillie]

I highly recommend The Last Castle, a military prison film with Robert Redford and James Gandolfini.  Another one of those movies I can't believe I never heard of.

Yes, it's somewhat preposterous, but so is The Shawshank Redemption.   It's a really good psychological study of what it means to be in the military.  Great cast--Mark Ruffalo, Delroy Lindo, and Paul Calderon, whom I love on Bosch, to name a few. 

Edited August 19, 2021 by GussieK

[Tom Holmberg]

2 hours ago, GussieK said:

I highly recommend The Last Castle, a military prison film with Robert Redford and James Gandolfini.  Another one of these movies I can't believe I never heard of.

"The Candidate" is a good Redford movie, too. I happened to get tickets for an early sneak preview in Chicago.  They gave away a bunch of campaign giveaways, tshirts, etc, for the fictional campaign.  I still have the "All the Way With Bill McKay" button.

[Tom Holmberg]

Also, on this weekend is "Desk Set" the best librarian movie.  Funny thing is it still seems relevant ("The President's Analyst" is another movie that always seems relevant).

[EtheltoTillie]

They showed a bunch of Ozu movies last night.  They will be repeated on Watch TCM.  These are amazing. 

[StrictTime]

On 8/20/2021 at 3:04 PM, GussieK said:

They showed a bunch of Ozu movies last night.  They will be repeated on Watch TCM.  These are amazing. 

I admire Ozu very much, so I recorded all of the movies shown on Friday. I’ve watched all of them except for Tokyo Story, which breaks my heart every time I watch it.I have to be in the right frame of mind for that one. That said, it is one of the best movies of all time, IMO.

[Charlie Baker]

A New York Times piece on a short-lived collaboration.

Billy Wilder and Raymond Chandler