TCM Schedule for Thursday, December 27, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: Star of the Month Dick Powell

[Staph]

In the late afternoon and in prime time, TCM is finishing up the films of Star of the Month Dick Powell. Enjoy!



6:00 AM -- BEST FRIENDS (1982)
Longtime roommates and professional partners find they aren't prepared to make it legal.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Burt Reynolds, Goldie Hawn, Jessica Tandy
C-109 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Michel Legrand (music), Alan Bergman (lyrics) and Marilyn Bergman (lyrics) for the song "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?"

Burt Reynolds once said of his co-star Goldie Hawn in this movie: "Goldie Hawn and I had been talking for five years about doing a movie together. She's someone who makes me laugh. Really laugh. I knew her when she was a dumb blonde and even then she was one of the smartest people I knew" and "We'd meet for dinner and compare notes on the scripts we'd read and liked, but we always ran up against the same problem. The male role always dominated the female character or vice versa. They didn't seem to be writing the kind of give-and-take comedies that Tracy and Hepburn [Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn] or Cary Grant and Jean Arthur used to do."


8:00 AM -- THE WASP WOMAN (1960)
A cosmetics executive's search for eternal beauty turn her into a monster.
Dir: Roger Corman
Cast: Susan Cabot, Fred Eisley, Barboura Morris
BW-61 mins, CC,

Debuted in theaters as part of a double feature with Beast from Haunted Cave (1959).


9:15 AM -- THE FLY (1958)
A scientist's experiments with teleportation produce a deadly hybrid.
Dir: Kurt Neumann
Cast: Al Hedison, Patricia Owens, Vincent Price
C-94 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Although many people swear they have seen this film in black and white, they never have. This is known as the "Mandela Effect", which is simply a false memory shared by multiple people. It's extremely common. The Fly was only ever filmed and shown in colour. However, the sequels The Return of the Fly and Curse of the Fly, are in black and white. This is more than likely where the confusion comes from.


11:00 AM -- SUSAN SLEPT HERE (1954)
A Hollywood screenwriter takes in a runaway girl who's more woman than he can handle.
Dir: Frank Tashlin
Cast: Dick Powell, Debbie Reynolds, Anne Francis
C-98 mins, CC,

In addition to being Dick Powell's final film, this was also the only colour film in which he appeared.


1:00 PM -- THE BAD AND THE BEAUTIFUL (1952)
An unscrupulous movie producer uses everyone around him in his climb to the top.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Elaine Stewart, Sammy White, Leo G. Carroll
BW-118 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Gloria Grahame, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Charles Schnee, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Robert Surtees, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Cedric Gibbons, Edward C. Carfagno, Edwin B. Willis and F. Keogh Gleason, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Helen Rose

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Kirk Douglas

The character of Shields (Kirk Douglas) is regarded as a mixture of producer David O. Selznick, Orson Welles and producer Val Lewton. Georgia, the alcoholic daughter of an iconic actor, is very clearly based on Diana Barrymore. Bartlow, the college professor turned best-selling author turned screenwriter, is thought to be based on Paul Green, a UNC professor who followed a similar career track. Gilbert Roland's appearance as "Gaucho" is seen as a self-parody; the Mexican-born actor, once a star in silent dramas, had just appeared as "The Cisco Kid" in a string of "B" westerns.


3:00 PM -- MEET THE PEOPLE (1944)
A fading stage star tries to revive her career by taking a job in a shipyard.
Dir: Charles Riesner
Cast: Lucille Ball, Dick Powell, Virginia O'Brien
BW-100 mins, CC,

Daws Butler, the voice actor for Hanna Barbera cartoon characters, patterned the voice of the lion Snagglepuss after Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. Butler took Snagglepuss's catchphrase "Heavens to Mergatroid" from Bert Lahr's having said it in the movie Meet the People.


4:45 PM -- IT HAPPENED TOMORROW (1944)
A newspaper editor writes headlines that predict the future.
Dir: René Clair
Cast: Dick Powell, Linda Darnell, Jack Oakie
BW-85 mins,

About 15 minutes into the film, Powell quips to his housekeeper when she asks him if he needs his coat "Don't you think love might keep me warm?" and winks. This is a nod to Powell's song in the 1937 film "On the Avenue".


6:15 PM -- THE REFORMER AND THE REDHEAD (1950)
A small-town politician falls for an idealistic zookeeper.
Dir: Norman Panama
Cast: June Allyson, Dick Powell, David Wayne
BW-90 mins, CC,

One of three films June Allyson and Dick Powell appeared in together. They were married from 1945 until his death in 1963.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: STAR OF THE MONTH: DICK POWELL



8:00 PM -- MURDER, MY SWEET (1944)
Detective Philip Marlowe's search for a two-timing woman leads him to blackmail and murder.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Dick Powell, Claire Trevor, Anne Shirley
BW-95 mins, CC,

RKO was on the verge of bankruptcy when it signed up aging matinée idol Dick Powell to make a series of musicals. Powell only signed under the proviso that he could play a straight dramatic role first, so he was cast as Philip Marlowe. Attached director Edward Dmytryk was initially horrified at this casting decision.


9:45 PM -- PITFALL (1948)
A married insurance man falls for a criminal's girlfriend.
Dir: Andre DeToth
Cast: Dick Powell, Lizabeth Scott, Jane Wyatt
BW-86 mins, CC,

To get by the Hayes Code office, that would normally not allow a good guy (John) to be an adulterer - and suffer no consequences - director De Toth met with two prominent officials with the office who were married and let them know he knew of their mistresses. The production did not have any problems with the Hayes Code after that meeting.


11:30 PM -- CORNERED (1946)
A World War II veteran hunts down the Nazi collaborators who killed his wife.
Dir: Edward Dmytryk
Cast: Dick Powell, Walter Slezak, Micheline Cheirel
BW-103 mins, CC,

The second and last collaboration between Dick Powell and director Edward Dmytryk. Along with Murder, My Sweet (1944), these films transformed Powell's image from that of a light song-and-dance man into a serious "tough guy" actor.


1:30 AM -- THE TALL TARGET (1951)
A detective tries to prevent the assassination of President Lincoln during a train ride.
Dir: Anthony Mann
Cast: Dick Powell, Paula Raymond, Adolphe Menjou
BW-78 mins, CC,

In 1861 the train would have traveled on a number of different short line railroads to get from New York to Washington (the Philadelphia & Trenton; the Philadelphia, Wilmington & Baltimore; the Baltimore and Washington, etc.); the Philadelphia, Washington & Baltimore Railroad was not formed until 1902 and it was still in existence (on paper) until 1976. Obviously the filmmakers kept the name consistent to provide continuity and to avoid having to repaint the engine and cars after every few shots.


3:00 AM -- STATION WEST (1948)
A federal agent takes on a gang of gold thieves.
Dir: Sidney Lanfield
Cast: Dick Powell, Jane Greer, Agnes Moorehead
BW-80 mins, CC,

The TCM print is the 1957 re-release, with re-framed title credits to accommodate wide-screen projection.


4:30 AM -- RIGHT CROSS (1950)
A boxer's ego battles his love for his manager's daughter.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: June Allyson, Dick Powell, Ricardo Montalban
BW-90 mins, CC,

Dick Powell and June Allyson were married at this time.