TCM Schedule for Saturday, November 13, 2021 -- The French Connection 50th Anniversary

[Staph]

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in prime time, TCM celebrates the 50th anniversary of The French Connection, by showing that film and another one (To Live and Die in L.A. (1985)) directed by William Friedkin. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- The Girl He Left Behind (1956)
1h 43m | Comedy | TV-G
A college dropout has no choice but to go into the Army.
Director: David Butler
Cast: Tab Hunter, Natalie Wood, Jesse Royce Landis


8:00 AM -- Symphony in Slang (1951)
6m | Animation
The processors at the gates of Heaven have a hard time understanding the stories and slang of a man from the early 1950s.
Director: Tex Avery (Fred)
Cast: Additional Voice Actor, John Brown, John Brown


8:08 AM -- See Your Doctor (1939)
7m | Short | TV-G
In this comedic short film, a lecturer tells of the problems a man faces seeking medical treatment.
Director: Basil Wrangell
Cast: Hobart Cavanaugh, Robert Benchley, Helen Mackellar


8:16 AM -- Where Time Stands Still (1945)
8m | Short | TV-G
This short film provides the viewer with a tour of Guatemala.
Director: No Director Available
Cast: James A. Fitzpatrick


8:25 AM -- Brothers in the Saddle (1949)
1h | Western | TV-G
When he thinks his brother has let him down, a cowboy goes bad.
Director: Lesley Selander
Cast: Tim Holt, Richard Martin, Steve Brodie


9:30 AM -- Batman and Robin: Robin Rescues Batman (1949)
17m | Short | TV-G
Batman risks his life to rescue a young woman captured by a criminal mastermind.
Director: Spencer Gordon Bennet.
Cast: No Cast Information Available.


10:00 AM -- Lumberjack and Jill (1949)
6m | Animation | TV-PG
Popeye and Bluto are the proprietors of a lumber camp up in the North woods, anxiously awaiting a new cook, Olive Oyl.
Director: No Director Available
Cast: Jack Mercer, Jackson Beck, Mae Questel


10:08 AM -- Torchy Blane in Panama (1938)
58m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
An ambitious newspaper woman traces bank robbers to an ocean liner.
Director: William Clemens
Cast: Lola Lane, Paul Kelly, Tom Kennedy


11:30 AM -- That Goes Double (1932)
20m | Short | TV-PG
Complications ensue when a singer discovers he has a double in this musical short film.
Director: Joseph Henabery
Cast: David Burns, Charlotte Wynters, Donald Macbride


12:00 PM -- The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946)
1h 51m | Crime | TV-PG
A frustrated wife seduces a drifter into murdering her husband.
Director: Tay Garnett
Cast: Lana Turner, John Garfield, Cecil Kellaway


2:00 PM -- The Candidate (1972)
1h 49m | Drama | TV-14
A senate candidate's ideals weaken as his position in the polls gets stronger.
Director: Michael Ritchie
Cast: Robert Redford, Peter Boyle, Melvyn Douglas


4:00 PM -- A Warm December (1972)
1h 39m | Romance | TV-PG
A doctor visiting London falls for a mysterious woman.
Director: Sidney Poitier
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Yvette Curtis, Esther Anderson


6:00 PM -- Freedom on My Mind (1994)
1h 45m | Documentary | TV-G
Interviews and archival footage tell the story of the drive to register African-American voters in 1960s Mississippi.
Director: Connie Field
Cast: Endesha Ida Mae Holland, Pam Chude Allen, Marshall Ganz



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- THE FRENCH CONNECTION 50th ANNIVERSARY: DIRECTED BY WILLIAM FRIEDKIN



8:00 PM -- The French Connection (1971)
1h 44m | Crime | TV-MA
Two New York narcotics cops set out to bust a French drug smuggling ring.
Director: William Friedkin
Cast: Gene Hackman, Fernando Rey, Roy Scheider


10:00 PM -- To Live And Die In L.A. (1985)
1h 56m | Action | TV-14
A Secret Service agent becomes obsessed with tracking down a notorious and dangerous Los Angeles counterfeiter.
Director: William Friedkin
Cast: William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro


12:15 AM -- The Lineup (1958)
1h 26m | Crime | TV-14
A pair of hit men track down a heroin shipment while the police get closer.
Director: Don Siegel
Cast: Eli Wallach, Robert Keith, Richard Jaeckel


2:00 AM -- Devil in a Blue Dress (1995)
1h 42m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-MA
It's 1948 and Los Angeles is booming, but Ezekiel "Easy" Rawlins has seen better days.
Director: Carl Franklin
Cast: Denzel Washington, Tom Sizemore, Don Cheadle


4:00 AM -- One False Move (1991)
1h 45m | Action
A small town police chief awaits the arrival of a gang of killers.
Director: Carl Franklin
Cast: Cynda Williams, Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton

[Auggie]

1. Always considered The French Connection to be in the handful of films that changed Hollywood

4-5 year span, no order: The Graduate, Easy Rider, Midnight Cowboy, Five Easy Pieces, The Godfather ...

films that said its okay to push the envelope and put the final nail in the Hays Code coffin of censorship.

Thoughts?

[Staph]

2. Agreed!

However, those films pushed the envelope in order to tell a compelling story about fascinating characters. Too many movies since then have pushed that envelope in order to titillate, to shock, to appeal to the prurient interests of teenaged boys (or those with the mentality of a teenaged boy).

Think of the violence at the end of the first Godfather film, intercut and contrasted with the baptism of the baby. It's almost Shakespearean!

I've been accused of being somewhat puritanical, especially about language. When every other word is "fuck", it's hard to shock the viewer. If you only say it once, at the moment of greatest provocation, it's so much more effective.

[Auggie]

3. Yes. Ahhh, the F word. One film: Serpico.

Saw it when I was in high school. Shocked my 17-year self, honestly. I remember commenting to friends who thought the same the thing. Was it among the first films to use it so extensively?

Today's stand up comics are just as guilty. Made sense for George Carlin and Richard Pryor way back when.

[CBHagman]

4. One thought on making films under restrictions

Some years back a critic (I forget who) pointed out that for some great directors, the end of the Production Code didn't necessarily translate into films that equaled or surpassed their earlier work.

And I believe the same critic also pointed out the innovative artistic and narrative choices filmmakers in, for instance, China and Iran were making to get their messages across without hitting the censorship wall.