TCM Schedule for Friday, July 31, 2020 -- TCM Special Theme: Directed by John Ford

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From noon onward, TCM concludes the celebration the works of director John Ford, especially his last films from the late 1950s and 1960s. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- TWO-FACED WOMAN (1941)
A woman pretends to be her own twin sister to win back her straying husband.
Dir: George Cukor
Cast: Greta Garbo, Melvyn Douglas, Constance Bennett
BW-90 mins, CC,

Greta Garbo's last film.


7:45 AM -- SNOW GETS IN YOUR EYES (1938)
In an attempt to win the girl of his dreams, a sausage salesman enters a department store ski jump contest in this short film.
Dir: Will Jason
Cast: Oscar O'Shea, Hudson Shotwell, King Baggot
BW-20 mins,

In an early example of product placement, boxes of Ritz crackers adorn a grocery store shelf.


8:15 AM -- SKI PARTY (1965)
Two college guys take a ski trip to meet girls.
Dir: Alan Rafkin
Cast: Frankie Avalon, Dwayne Hickman, Deborah Walley
C-91 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

James Brown said out of all the times he did splits, the only time he ever ripped his pants was in this movie.


10:00 AM -- JUST THE WAY YOU ARE (1984)
In going on a European tour, Susan comes up with an idea to explore life without being judged solely by her disability.
Dir: Edouard Molinaro
Cast: Kristy Mcnichol, Michael Ontkean, Kaki Hunter
BW-95 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Filming was delayed for a full year after Kristy McNichol developed a chemical imbalance, and could not continue filming. She recovered in just two weeks, but the snowy second half of the film required waiting until next winter to shoot it.


11:45 AM -- SKI-FLYING (1956)
This short film focuses on the rules and safety measures for the sport of ski flying.
Dir: Heinz Scheiderbauer
BW-8 mins,


12:00 PM -- SCREEN DIRECTORS PLAYHOUSE: ROOKIE OF THE YEAR (1955)
A sportswriter recognizes a young ballplayer as the son of former baseball hero who was banned for throwing a game.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, Vera Miles, Ward Bond
BW-26 mins, CC,

John Ford not only directed John Wayne here, but was also the director for Mr. Wayne's only other performances in a dramatic role on a TV series: Wagon Train: The Colter Craven Story (1960) and Alcoa Premiere: Flashing Spikes (1962).


1:00 PM -- HOW THE WEST WAS WON (1962)
Three generations of pioneers take part in the forging of the American West.
Dir: John Ford, Henry Hathaway
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Carroll Baker, Lee J. Cobb
C-165 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- James R. Webb, Best Sound -- Franklin Milton (M-G-M SSD), and Best Film Editing -- Harold F. Kress

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- William H. Daniels, Milton R. Krasner, Charles Lang and Joseph LaShelle, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- George W. Davis, William Ferrari, Addison Hehr, Henry Grace, Don Greenwood Jr. and Jack Mills, Best Costume Design, Color -- Walter Plunkett, Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Alfred Newman and Ken Darby, and Best Picture

John Ford's habit was to always sit beside the camera while it was filming, so he could watch the action intently. Unfortunately, because of the triple lens on the Cinerama camera, he kept appearing in shots until director of photography Joseph LaShelle hit on the idea of building a rig that allowed Ford to sit above the camera.


4:00 PM -- JOHN FORD, THE MAN WHO INVENTED AMERICA (2018)
This documentary follows the life of the renowned american director, author of more than 150 works and winner of more Oscar awards than any other, and shed light on the significance of his most outstanding films.
Dir: Jean-Christophe Klotz
BW-52 mins, CC,


5:00 PM -- CHEYENNE AUTUMN (1964)
A reluctant Calvary Captain must track a defiant tribe of migrating Cheyennes.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Richard Widmark, Carroll Baker, Karl Malden
C-155 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- William H. Clothier

According to Joseph McBride's "Searching for John John", John Ford was urged to cast Richard Boone and Anthony Quinn as the Little Wolf and Dull Knife characters, as both had Native American blood. Ricardo Montalban and Gilbert Roland, who were of Mexican descent, were cast instead.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPECIAL THEME: DIRECTED BY JOHN FORD



8:00 PM -- THE HORSE SOLDIERS (1959)
A Union cavalry officer leads his men on a vital mission behind Confederate lines.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: John Wayne, William Holden, Constance Towers
C-120 mins, CC,

A long-time alcoholic, John Ford was ordered by his doctor to abstain from drinking or he would surely die from its effects. Even though he was as stubborn a man as they come, Ford obeyed the physician's orders. Still, the absence of drink caused Ford to treat his cast and crew rougher than usual. The one who usually got the worst treatment, drink or no drink, was John Wayne, and he got it good on set. Ford even demanded that Wayne also abstain from drink, even though he had no such orders from his physician. Wayne begged producer Martin Rackin to get him away from Ford's omnipresent gaze, if only for a brief moment. Rackin obliged and lied to Ford, telling him that Wayne's teeth were beginning to show up yellow on film and that he needed to take both Wayne and William Holden to New Orleans to have their teeth cleaned. So the drunken trio spent a roaring night in the Crescent City, returning to a furious Ford who knew through his spies exactly how many bars they had visited. Despite the incident, Ford stayed away from drink until just after the shoot.


10:15 PM -- SERGEANT RUTLEDGE (1960)
A 19th-century lawyer tries to clear a black man of rape and murder charges.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Jeffrey Hunter, Constance Towers, Billie Burke
C-111 mins, CC,

Unsatisfied with Woody Strode's rehearsal of bullet-wounded drowsiness, director John Ford took his own steps to make Strode appear authentically weary for Rutledge's gunshot early on in the film. The day before the scene was to be shot, Ford got Strode drunk early in the day and had an assistant follow him around for the rest of the day to make sure he stayed that way. When the time came for Strode to shoot the scene with Constance Towers, his hangover gave him the perfect (for Ford) appearance of a man who had been shot.


12:15 AM -- TWO RODE TOGETHER (1961)
Two tough westerners bring home a group of settlers who have spent years as Comanche hostages.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: James Stewart, Richard Widmark, Shirley Jones
C-109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

James Stewart had been warned about John Ford's behaviour by such longtime stalwarts as John Wayne and Henry Fonda. Stewart came to learn Ford liked to keep his actors in the dark about the direction of the picture and suspicious of each other. In Andrew Sinclair's biography, John Ford, Stewart revealed that Ford's "direction took the form of asides. Sometimes he'd put his hand across his mouth so that others couldn't hear what he was saying to you. On Two Rode Together he told me to watch out for Dick Widmark because he was a good actor and that he would start stealing if I didn't watch him. Later, I learned he'd told Dick the same thing about me. He liked things to be tense."


2:15 AM -- VIBES (1988)
Two psychics are hired to find the location of a lost Incan city Located somewhere in the Ecuadorian mountains, that is said to hide a great treasure.
Dir: Ken Kwapis
Cast: Cyndi Lauper, Jeff Goldblum, Ramon Bieri
BW-100 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Cyndi Lauper's first movie role.


4:00 AM -- MAKING MR. RIGHT (1987)
A reclusive scientist builds a robot which looks exactly like Dr. Ulysses, a scientist set to go on a long-term space mission.
Dir: Susan Seidelman
Cast: John Malkovich, Ann Magnuson, Glenne Headly
BW-99 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

John Malkovich, Glenne Headly, and Laurie Metcalf, have been acting together since the late-'70s as members of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.


5:45 AM -- MATCH YOUR MOOD (1968)
Westinghouse shows women how to improve their lives by decorating their refrigerators in this short film.
C-6 mins,