TCM Schedule for Saturday, December 6, 2014 -- The Essentials - Mike Nichols

[Staph]

Tonight's Essentials is a tribute to the late Mike Nichols. Lift a glass and enjoy!



6:45 AM -- Seven Days Leave (1942)
A serviceman has one week to wed an heiress and inherit $100,000.
Dir: Tim Whelan
Cast: Victor Mature, Lucille Ball, Harold Peary
C-87 mins, CC,

Russell Hoyt, Frank Martinelli and Richard Martin are listed in studio records/casting call lists playing uncredited "Members of Financial Trio," and some references picked up that credit. However, no financial discussions takes place in the movie, other than those with the main characters. Since Richard Martin was seen in the film as a soldier and has virtually no lines, it can be assumed the other two are soldiers also and that the trio's participation in the plot was cut from the film.


8:30 AM -- Broadway Rhythm (1944)
A retired vaudevillian clashes with his producer son.
Dir: Roy Del Ruth
Cast: George Murphy, Ginny Simms, Charles Winninger
C-115 mins,

The original project was intended to be the fifth film in the "Broadway Melody" series, and was to star Gene Kelly, Eleanor Powell and Lena Horne. Studio chief Louis B. Mayer decided instead to turn it into a vehicle to make a star out of his then-mistress Ginny Simms. Horne was then placed into this film in a supporting role and her "Brazilian Boogie" and "Somebody Loves Me" numbers (originally filmed for "Broadway Melody of 1943" was inserted into this one. Her other number filmed for "Broadway Melody", "Honeysuckle Rose", was placed into Thousands Cheer (1943) along with two other numbers meant for the abandoned film: Eleanor Powell's "Boogie Woogie" tap dance and Gene Kelly with Bernie Leadon.


10:30 AM -- Dark Delusion (1947)
A young doctor tries to keep a neurotic beauty from being committed.
Dir: Willis Goldbeck
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, James Craig, Lucille Bremer
BW-90 mins,

The last of the Doctor Kildare / Doctor Gillespie films.


12:15 PM -- Rawhide (1951)
Two individuals on a stage coach find themselves at the mercy of four outlaws.
Dir: Henry Hathaway
Cast: Tyrone Power, Susan Hayward, Hugh Marlowe
BW-87 mins, CC,

During its run on television during the early 1960s, it was retitled "Desperate Siege" in order to distinguish it from the Eric Fleming/Clint Eastwood TV series.


2:00 PM -- The Sandpiper (1965)
An Episcopal priest falls for a free-living artist.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Eva Marie Saint
C-117 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Johnny Mandel (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) for the song "The Shadow of Your Smile"

Then unknown Raquel Welch doubled (uncredited) for Elizabeth Taylor in some of Taylor's beach scenes on location at Big Sur, California.


4:15 PM -- Boys Town (1938)
True story of Father Flanagan's fight to build a home for orphaned boys.
Dir: Norman Taurog
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Mickey Rooney, Henry Hull
BW-93 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy (Spencer Tracy was not present at the awards ceremony. His wife Louise Treadwell accepted the award on his behalf.), and Best Writing, Original Story -- Eleanore Griffin and Dore Schary

Nominated for Oscars for Best Director -- Norman Taurog, Best Writing, Screenplay -- John Meehan and Dore Schary, and Best Picture

The day after Spencer Tracy won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in this film, an MGM publicist released a statement - without consulting Tracy first - that the actor would donate his Oscar to the real Boys Town in Nebraska. Tracy agreed to make the donation if the Academy would send him a replacement Oscar. When the replacement arrived, the engraving on the award read: "Best Actor - Dick Tracy."


6:00 PM -- Annie Get Your Gun (1950)
Fanciful musical biography of wild West sharpshooter Annie Oakley.
Dir: George Sidney
Cast: Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern
C-107 mins, CC,

Won an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Adolph Deutsch and Roger Edens

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Charles Rosher, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Cedric Gibbons, Paul Groesse, Edwin B. Willis and Richard Pefferle, and Best Film Editing -- James E. Newcom

Judy Garland and Frank Morgan, who appeared together in The Wizard of Oz (1939), were scheduled to reappear together in this film. Garland was fired because of health problems, and Frank Morgan died shortly after filming began. As a result of this, Betty Hutton took over Judy Garland's role as Annie Oakley, and Louis Calhern succeeded Frank Morgan as Buffalo Bill.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: MIKE NICHOLS



8:00 PM -- Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
An academic couple reveal their deepest secret to a pair of newcomers during an all-night booze fest.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal
BW-131 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Elizabeth Taylor (Elizabeth Taylor was not present at the awards ceremony. Anne Bancroft accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sandy Dennis (Sandy Dennis was unable to attend the Academy Awards presentations, because she was working on a new film, Sweet November (1968), being shot in New York. Mike Nichols accepted the award on her behalf.), Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Haskell Wexler, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- Richard Sylbert and George James Hopkins, and Best Costume Design, Black-and-White -- Irene Sharaff

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Richard Burton, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Segal, Best Director -- Mike Nichols, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ernest Lehman, Best Sound -- George Groves (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Film Editing -- Sam O'Steen, Best Music, Original Music Score -- Alex North, and Best Picture

Richard Burton befriended Mike Nichols in New York while playing in "Camelot," and reportedly he and Elizabeth Taylor championed the hiring of the first time director after Fred Zinnemann withdrew from the project. Ironically Zinneman beat Nichols for the Oscar, Directors Guild of America, and Golden Globe for his work on A Man for All Seasons (1966), which is still controversial to this day that Nichols hadn't received an award for his work on the film.


10:30 PM -- The Graduate (1967)
A recent college graduate has an affair with his neighbor's wife, then falls for their daughter.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Katharine Ross
C-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Director -- Mike Nichols

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Dustin Hoffman, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Anne Bancroft, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Katharine Ross, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Calder Willingham and Buck Henry, Best Cinematography -- Robert Surtees, and Best Picture

Two interesting camera techniques are used in the film. In the scene where Benjamin is running, he is shown at some distance running straight at the camera, an effect which makes him look as if he getting nowhere as he's running. (This technique is accomplished with a very long telephoto lens, which foreshortens distances in relation to the camera.) In another scene, Benjamin is walking from the right side of the screen to the left, while everyone else in the scene is moving from left to right. In western culture, things that move left to right seem natural (think of the direction you read words on a page), those that move right to left seem to be going the wrong way. These two visual techniques echo the themes of the film, Benjamin is going the wrong way, and getting nowhere in life.


12:30 AM -- Carnal Knowledge (1971)
Onetime college friends cope with the sexual revolution of the '60s.
Dir: Mike Nichols
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Candice Bergen, Arthur Garfunkel
C-98 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Ann-Margret

The scene in which Sandy takes out a condom while in bed with Susan was the very first time a condom was ever shown onscreen, all over Earth.


2:15 AM -- Roller Boogie (1979)
When her favorite roller disco is threatened with closing, a girl organizes the skaters to save it.
Dir: Mark L. Lester
Cast: Linda Blair, Jim Bray, Beverly Garland
C-104 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

This film is listed among the 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.


4:00 AM -- Heavenly Bodies (1985)
A small dance studio fights for its existence against the unscrupulous owner of a rival club.
Dir: Lawrence Dane
Cast: Cynthia Dale, Richard Rebiere, Walter George Alton
C-89 mins, Letterbox Format

Lawrence Dane's first and only credited directorial and writing project. He's best known as a character actor.


5:45 AM -- R.F.D. Greenwich Village (1969)
A couple tours around New York in this promotional short for corduroy clothing.
C-11 mins,

[Auggie]

1. Time for me to see The Graduate again ...

now in wide screen and high-def.