TCM Schedule for Thursday, February 7, 2013 -- 31 Days of Oscar -- Universal Pictures

[Staph]

Today's featured studios are Svensk Filmindustri, Lux Film, and Universal Pictures. In the daylight hours, we got Ingmar Bergman, Lasse Hallstrom, and a trio of Italian films. In prime time, TCM is showing Anne of the Thousand Days, with Richard Burton and Genevieve Bujold; The Sting, with Newman and Redford (yum!); The Deer Hunter, with De Niro, Walken and Streep; and ... wait for it ... Smokey and the Bandit! Enjoy!


7:45 AM -- Wild Strawberries (1957)
On his way to an awards ceremony, a distinguished professor thinks back on his loveless life.
Dir: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Bibi Andersson, Ingrid Thulin, Gunnar Björnstrand
BW-91 mins, TV-PG,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Ingmar Bergman

Ingmar Bergman has described in the interview how he came up with the idea while driving from Stockholm to Dalarna, stopping in Uppsala where he had been born and raised, and driving by outside his grandmother's old house, when he suddenly began to think about how it would be if he could open the door and inside it would be just as it had been during his childhood. "So it struck me - what if you could make a film about this; that you just walk up in a realistic way and open a door, and then you walk into your childhood, and then you open another door and come back to reality, and then you make a turn around a street corner and arrive in some other period of your existence, and everything goes on, lives. That was actually the idea behind Wild Strawberries."


9:30 AM -- The Virgin Spring (1960)
A medieval knight seeks revenge when his daughter is murdered.
Dir: Ingmar Bergman
Cast: Max von Sydow, Brigitta Pettersson, Birgitta Valberg
BW-89 mins, TV-14,

Won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film -- Sweden

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Marik Vos-Lundh

Mentioned in the Van Halen song The Seventh Seal.


11:30 AM -- My Life As A Dog (1987)
A young boy's life changes the summer he moves in with relatives while his sick mother tries to recover.
Dir: Lasse Hallstrom
Cast: Anton Glanzelius, Anki Liden, Manfred Serner
C-101 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Lasse Hallström, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Lasse Hallström, Reidar Jönsson, Brasse Brännström and Per Berglund

Hallstrom and his second wife Lena Olin are the first Swedish Oscar-nominated married couple.


1:30 PM -- Riso Amaro (1949)
A runaway thief joins a group of women picking rice.
Dir: Giuseppe De Santis
Cast: Silvana Mangano, Vittorio Gassman, Raf Vallone
BW-109 mins, TV-14,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Giuseppe De Santis and Carlo Lizzani

The Italian word "riso" has two meanings. One meaning is "rice" and the other being "laughter." The title Riso Amaro or "Bitter Rice" can just as easily be translated as "Bitter Laughter."


3:30 PM -- Big Deal On Madonna Street (1958)
An inept criminal gang attempt to rob a pawnshop.
Dir: Mario Monicelli
Cast: Vittorio Gassman, Marcello Mastroianni, Toto
BW-106 mins, TV-PG,

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film -- Italy

"Big Deal on Madonna Street" was the inspiration for the 1986 Broadway Musical "Big Deal" by Bob Fosse. Bob Fosse was inspired by other classic Italian films for his musical repertoire including Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria" and "8 1/2," the basis for "Sweet Charity" and "Nine" respectively.


5:30 PM -- I Compagni (1963)
At the turn of the century exploited textile factory workers fight for better working conditions.
Dir: Mario Monicelli
Cast: Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot
BW-130 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Agenore Incrocci, Furio Scarpelli and Mario Monicelli

Released in the US as The Organizer, and in the UK as The Organiser.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: UNIVERSAL PICTURES


8:00 PM -- Anne Of The Thousand Days (1969)
Anne Boleyn fights to keep Henry VIII's love and her head in the midst of palace intrigue.
Dir: Charles Jarrott
Cast: Richard Burton, Genevieve Bujold, Irene Papas
C-145 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Costume Design -- Margaret Furse

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Richard Burton, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Anthony Quayle, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Geneviève Bujold, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Maurice Carter, Lionel Couch and Patrick McLoughlin, Best Cinematography -- Arthur Ibbetson, Best Music, Original Score for a Motion Picture (not a Musical) -- Georges Delerue, Best Sound -- John Aldred, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- John Hale, Bridget Boland and Richard Sokolove, and Best Picture

Although "Anne of the Thousand Days" opened on Broadway in 1948, it had to wait until 1969 to be filmed, due to its frank discussions of adultery, illegitimacy, and incest, on which the storyline relies heavily. The old censorship code still existed in the 1940s and 1950s, and would not have allowed a play in which these subjects were discussed to be filmed, no matter how tastefully.


10:45 PM -- The Sting (1973)
Two con men hit the big time to take on a gangster in '30s Chicago.
Dir: George Roy Hill
Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Shaw, Eileen Brennan
C-129 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Henry Bumstead and James W. Payne, Best Costume Design -- Edith Head, Best Director -- George Roy Hill, Best Film Editing -- William Reynolds, Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation -- Marvin Hamlisch, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay Based on Factual Material or Material Not Previously Published or Produced -- David S. Ward, and Best Picture -- Tony Bill, Michael Phillips and Julia Phillips (Julia Phillips became the first female producer to win the Best Picture category.)

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert Redford, Best Cinematography -- Robert Surtees, and Best Sound -- Ronald Pierce and Robert R. Bertrand

Robert Shaw injured his knee and incorporated the resulting limp into his performance. According to "You'll Never Eat Lunch in This Town Again" by Julia Phillips, Shaw split all the ligaments in his knee after slipping on a wet handball court at the Beverly Hills Hotel a week before filming started. He had to wear a leg brace during production which was kept hidden under the wide 1930s style trousers he wore.


1:00 AM -- The Deer Hunter (1978)
Three young men fight to survive the Vietnam War and its aftermath.
Dir: Michael Cimino
Cast: Robert De Niro, John Cazale, John Savage
C-184 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Christopher Walken, Best Director -- Michael Cimino, Best Film Editing -- Peter Zinner, Best Sound -- Richard Portman, William L. McCaughey, Aaron Rochin and C. Darin Knight, and Best Picture

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Robert De Niro, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Meryl Streep, Best Cinematography -- Vilmos Zsigmond, Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- Michael Cimino (story), Deric Washburn (screenplay/story), Louis Garfinkle (story) and Quinn K. Redeker (story)

Director Michael Cimino convinced Christopher Walken to spit in Michael's face. When Walken actually did it, Robert De Niro was completely shocked, as evidenced by his reaction. In fact, De Niro was so furious about it he nearly left the set. Cimino later said of Walken, "He's got courage!"


4:15 AM -- Smokey and the Bandit (1977)
A maverick trucker tries to save a runaway bride and a shipment of contraband beer from a small-town sheriff.
Dir: Hal Needham
Cast: Burt Reynolds, Sally Field, Jerry Reed
C-96 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Walter Hannemann and Angelo Ross

On the DVD Documentary, Burt Reynolds says that a senior executive at Pontiac promised him a free Trans-Am if the movie became a hit. It did and the 1977 T-Top Trans-Am became one of the hottest selling cars of the year. When the movie became a hit, Reynolds expected the executive to come through with his promise. But the Trans-Am never came. After a few months, Reynolds, who was afraid of looking like one of those pretentious stars looking for freebies, finally called Pontiac. As it turned out, the exec who made the promise had retired and the new exec refused to honor the deal.

[CBHagman]

1. My high school freshman English class teacher showed us "Anne of the Thousand Days."

It was his way of reinforcing/fleshing out the lesson on Henry VIII and his split from the Catholic Church. And though I don't recall having to get a permission slip signed, the film was, as my teacher observed, racier than Charly, for which we did have to get parental permission, though the movie was much more discreet and understated than its source material, the novel Flowers for Algernon.

I recall Anne of the Thousand Days and indeed all of the films of that era that dealt with British history (e.g., Cromwell, Alfred the Great, etc.) made quite an impression on me, though Anne of the Thousand Days was a particularly heartbreaking reminder of how power worked in Tudor days.

But it's hard to imagine a better cast or a handsomer production.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

2. For my money, that is terrible line-up. I wish there were a channel that only showed films

made from about 1930 to 1949.

[graham4anything]

3. wanna see My life as a dog. Never saw it before.

11:30 AM -- My Life As A Dog (1987)
A young boy's life changes the summer he moves in with relatives while his sick mother tries to recover.
Dir: Lasse Hallstrom
Cast: Anton Glanzelius, Anki Liden, Manfred Serner
C-101 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Lasse Hallström, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Lasse Hallström, Reidar Jönsson, Brasse Brännström and Per Berglund

Hallstrom and his second wife Lena Olin are the first Swedish Oscar-nominated married couple.

[CBHagman]

4. MLAAD is worth seeing!

That created quite a stir when it came out.

I didn't know the detail about Hallstrom and Olin being married.