Even more films showing on TCM this month, and a few days of January just to complete the week. This post covers the fifth week, Sunday through Saturday, December 28-January 3.
Sunday, December 28:| | The Love Bug-4:00 PM ET-No, it’s not a bizarre sequel to “The Satan Bug”. This is, in fact, the first of the movies featuring a sentient Volkswagen Beetle more affectionately known as Herbie. Dean Jones plays the race driver who finds the plucky little car begins to win races with it. Buddy Hackett plays the kooky and spiritual mechanic who understands Herbie. Michele Lee plays the woman who is first put off by the race driver’s attitude and later falls in love with the driver. David Tomlinson plays the rival driver who grows jealous of the success Jones’s character and the car find, and plots their downfall.
Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo-8:00 PM ET-This is the only Herbie sequel worth watching, imo. Dean Jones returns, though none of the other original cast members do. Don Knotts plays a high strung mechanic who works with Jones’s driver as they prepare to enter a European race. Julie Sommars plays a rival driver with a Lancer that catches Herbie’s eye (headlight?) Complicating matters is the fact that thieves have hidden a stolen diamond in Herbie’s gas tank. This is definitely one more suited to children’s tastes, but it’s not without its charms. |
Monday, December 29:| | The Secret Life of Walter Mitty-8:00 AM ET-So many good films on today, and this one is perhaps the most fun. Well, it is if you’re a fan of Danny Kaye. Kaye plays Walter Mitty, a meek and hen-pecked man who is an editor at a publisher of pulp novels and who also day dreams of being a hero. One day the woman of his dreams, literally, appears in his waking life and pulls him into a plot to protect precious art from Nazi thieves. The woman is played by Virginia Mayo, and Boris Karloff also shows up in a nice, creepy supporting role. And of course, there are plenty of Kaye’s silly and fun songs.
Gilda-10:00 AM ET-This one is a steamy little number with Rita Hayworth in the title role. Glen Ford plays a gambler who takes a job with a casino in Buenos Aires. One day his boss returns from a trip with a flirtatious young wife, the Gilda of the title. The gambler was once involved with Gilda, though now they hate each other. Or do they?
The President’s Analyst-1:45 PM ET-I’ve talked about this one a few times in the past. James Coburn plays a psychoanalyst who is chosen to work with the President of United States. Much social satire, comedy and paranoia ensue.
The Guns of Navarone-5:15 PM ET-This is a guy film. A team of six commandos is sent to Navarone to scale a cliff and sneak up on some rather large guns that the Nazis used to control a small channel considered vital to the efforts of rescuing some Allied forces. Trouble starts before they arrive, and even after meeting up with Resistance fighters, they have to escape the Nazis and discover who among the team is a traitor. The film stars Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, David Niven and, in a small role early in his film career, Richard Harris.
Grand Theft Auto-9:30 PM ET-No, this is not a movie based on the popular video game series. I have not seen this movie, but it seems worth noting as this 1977 car chase film is Ron Howard’s debut as a director.
A Beautiful Mind-1:00 AM ET (Monday night)-And this film is the one that netted Ron Howard an Academy Award as Best Director. Russell Crowe stars in this biopic as John Nash, a brilliant mathematician lacking in social skills. He gets recruited to take part in a secret government program to decrypt secret Communist communications, or does he? Also in the film are Jennifer Connelly, Ed Harris and, in a small role, Christopher Plummer. |
Tuesday, December 30:| | You’ve heard of Christmas in July, well on TCM this is Summer in December. Sort of. Basically, they have a number of 1960s teen movies on today, and while I’m not a big fan, some people are, and I thought I’d a give a quick run down of some of the films.
Pajama Party at 6:30 AM ET, stars Tommy Kirk as a Martian sent to earth where he falls in love with an Earther girl, played by Annette Funicello. This is set in the same world as the “Beach Party” movies.
It’s a Bikini World at 11:30 AM ET, again with Tommy Kirk, this time trying to win the heart of a scientist played by Deborah Walley.
Ride the Wild Surf at 1:00 PM ET, Fabian, Tab Hunter and Peter Brown head off to Hawaii for some surfin’ action and find Barbara Eden, Shelley Fabares and Susan Hart.
Beach Party at 4:30 PM ET, Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon play teenagers in love who are being observed by an anthropologist played by Robert Cummings.
Muscle Beach Party at 6:15 PM ET, Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon play the same teenagers as in the previous film, and this time they suffer the indignation of a bunch of body builders taking over their turf.
Soylent Green-10:00 PM ET-This is not a teen movie or a beach movie or a surfer movie. This is one of those 1970s socially conscious sci-fi films that tried so hard to be profound, and just didn’t quite make it. Charlton Heston plays a cop in a future of a vastly overpopulated world. While investigating a murder, a friend, played by Edward G. Robinson (his last role), gives him clues that lead to a startling discovery. |
Wednesday, December 31:| | They Were Expendable-7:45 AM ET-Holy crap, it’s John Wayne day on TCM. I’ll mention just two of my favorites. First up, “They Were Expendable” is a really well made war film lacking a lot of the propaganda feel that most of the war films of the 1940s had. Robert Montgomery plays Lt. John Brickley, who is in command of the 3rd Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron of the U.S. Navy. When he and his boats arrive at Manila Bay in the Philippines, he finds the other military leaders there highly skeptical of the effectiveness of the boats. Brickley and his men, including one played by John Wayne, set out to prove the skeptics wrong. They get their chance after Pearl Harbor is bombed and the U.S. officially enters World War II.
The Quiet Man-12:30 PM ET-This is a film that just doesn’t get enough attention. Director John Ford’s westerns get all the acclaim, but this is, I think, his best film. John Wayne plays an Irishman who has grown up in America and returns to the little town of Inisfree, Ireland, where he was born. He meets the friendly townsfolk and one in particular captures his fancy, a spirited redhead, played by Maureen O’Hara. He courts her, against the wishes of her ornery older brother, played by Victor McLaglen. This film doesn’t have the grand landscape of Monument Valley, but it does have great characters and great direction. Wayne’s character is a man with emotional baggage, and O’Hara’s character is a strong woman who holds her own. The script is, I think, brilliant from beginning to end. Watch this movie. You won’t be sorry. |
Thursday, January 1:| | It Happened One Night-6:00 PM ET-This is another oft overlooked gem. It doesn’t get shown on TV often, but it’s a pretty good film. Like “The Maltese Falcon” it should have been a second rate film no one cared about. Clark Gable stars in it, but being made to work on the film was supposed to be a punishment. Claudette Colbert also stars in it and was convinced it was a horrible film. Imagine the shock there must have been when it was not only a success, but won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Best Direction, Best Screenplay, Best Actor and Best Actress. Clark Gable plays a reporter in desperate need for a story. Claudette Colbert plays a wealthy heiress who runs away from home to be with an adventuresome playboy. They meet on a bus and take an instant dislike to one another. But when the reporter finds out who she is, he decides to help her out in exchange for an exclusive story.
King Kong-8:00 PM ET-This is the original. The one that inspired people like Ray Harryhausen, Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson. Robert Armstrong plays an adventurous filmmaker who is out to make the biggest film of his career. Along for the ride are Bruce Cabot, as a rough crew member, and Fay Wray, as the unsuspecting woman who is to be the lovely damsel in distress. They all travel to Skull Island, where they find a landscape of prehistoric monsters and a gigantic gorilla, King Kong, “The Eighth Wonder of the World.”
The Satan Bug-1:30 AM ET (Thursday night)-This is not a particularly good film, but I speak of it here in case anyone wonders about the mention I made of it earlier. George Maharis, most famous at the time for his role on the TV series “Route 66”, stars as an investigator recruited by the government to look into the disappearance of a container of a virulent disease from a secret government biological research station. In smaller roles in the film are also Anne Francis, Dana Andrews and Ed Asner. |
Friday, January 2:| | Dead Reckoning-3:00 PM ET-This is pure Film Noir. Humphrey Bogart plays a paratrooper who goes AWOL to find his pal, who not only enlisted under a false name, but is wanted for murder. Lizabeth Scott also stars as the femme fatale of the film.
Western Union-12:30 AM ET (Friday night)-This is an interesting little Western from director Fritz Lang, better known for films like the landmark “Metropolis” and “The Big Heat”. It stars Randolph Scott as a man with a criminal past who helps and is later hired by an engineer, played by Dean Jagger, who is putting up telegraph wire. When cattle is stolen, Scott’s character becomes a suspect. This film has some very nice Technicolor cinematography. |
Saturday, January 3:| | Invasion of the Body Snatchers-2:00 PM ET-This is the 1956 original, starring Kevin McCarthy. He plays a doctor who returns to his hometown and discovers multiple people complaining that family members have become devoid of emotion, almost as if they were now different people. When he discovers the cause of this change, he tries to escape and warn the authorities. Some people think this film is a metaphor for creeping Communism. Some people think this film is a metaphor for McCarthyism and social witch hunts. Some people think this is just a goofy little sci-fi story.
North by Northwest-3:30 PM ET-This is one of Hitchcock’s lighter films (relatively speaking), and one of his most fun. Cary Grant, who was in his mid-50s, stars as an advertising executive who is mistaken for a secret government agent on the tail of a group of very bad people. Eva Marie Saint plays the mysterious blonde, and James Mason plays the leader of the very bad people. This film has a number of iconic film moments, not the least of which is the suspenseful Mount Rushmore sequence near the very end of the movie.
Modern Times-8:00 PM ET-This film, while still called a silent, is Charlie Chaplin’s first real experimentation with sound in film. It is also the last time he ever played the character known as the Little Tramp. Chaplin pits man against the machine age and the Great Depression. He also lets the Tramp find love with a poor girl, played by Paulette Goddard.
The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T-11:00 PM ET-This is a bizarre film based on a script by none other than Dr. Seuss. A boy, played by Tommy Rettig, has a nightmare about his piano teacher, played by Hans Conried. In the nightmare, the piano teacher is an evil man who seeks to have 500 boys play an enormous (that is not an exaggeration) piano every day. This plan is threatened by, and I am not making this up, a plumber who decides to not keep installing sinks at the piano teacher’s institute. And later the plumber’s magical bottle saves the day. Yeah, it really is that weird. |
