TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 25, 2015 -- What's On Tonight - Final Cuts

[Staph]

Tonight's films are the last film performances of Spencer Tracy, Natalie Wood, Bruce Lee, Edward G. Robinson, and Jean Harlow. Raise a toast the last of the best, and enjoy!


6:15 AM -- Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow (1963)
Three tales of very different women using their sexuality as a means to getting what they want.
Dir: Vittorio De Sica
Cast: Sophia Loren, Marcello Mastroianni, Aldo Giuffrè
C-114 mins, Letterbox Format

Won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film -- Italy

The limousine featured in part II ("Anna&quot was a 1963 Rolls-Royce Silver Cloud III Convertible.


8:15 AM -- Call Me Bwana (1963)
A wisecracking fraud fights off enemy agents to retrieve a space capsule that crashed in Africa.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Bob Hope, Anita Ekberg, Edie Adams
C-102 mins, Letterbox Format

This is, to date, the only film produced by Eon Productions that is not part of the James Bond franchise. A poster for this film is featured in From Russia with Love (1963). It shows an Anita Ekberg head shot on the side of a building when 007 and Ali Kerim Bey are about to assassinate Krilencu. A window opens (appearing to be Ekberg's mouth) and Krilencu exits the building on a rope and is shot. After the assassination, 007 makes one of his inimitable quips as he says: "She should have kept her mouth shut".


10:00 AM -- MGM Parade Show #7 (1955)
Ray Bolger performs in a clip from "The Great Ziegfeld"; Debbie Reynolds introduces a clip from "The Tender Trap." Hosted by George Murphy.
BW-26 mins,


10:30 AM -- Kaleidoscope (1966)
A pretty girl lures a luckless gambler into a dangerous poker game.
Dir: Jack Smight
Cast: Warren Beatty, Susannah York, Clive Revill
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Sandra Dee was cast as the female lead but replaced by Susannah York.


12:21 PM -- From Paris - Your Reporter Richard Crenna (1966)
This promotional short film takes a look at the outfits designed for the motion picture, "Made in Paris" (1966).
C-7 mins,


2:30 PM -- The Bobo (1967)
To land a job, an aspiring singer has to seduce a heartless gold digger.
Dir: Robert Parrish
Cast: Peter Sellers, Britt Ekland, Rossano Brazzi
C-103 mins, Letterbox Format

Perhaps as an in-joke, Peter Sellers is whistling the theme to 'A Man and a Woman' to himself in one scene - the tune is written by Francis Lai, who composed this movie's score.


2:19 PM -- Vienna The Years Remembered (1968)
This documentary short provides a behind-the-scenes look at the making of "Mayerling" (1968), as well as the actual history that inspired the film.
C-9 mins,


2:30 PM -- Sweet November (1968)
A woman refuses to let her romances last longer than one month.
Dir: Robert Ellis Miller
Cast: Anthony Newley, Sandy Dennis, Theodore Bikel
C-113 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Remade in 2001, starring Keanu Reeves and Charlize Theron.


4:30 PM -- The Walking Stick (1970)
A beautiful polio victim is seduced into helping with a robbery.
Dir: Eric Till
Cast: David Hemmings, Samantha Eggar, Emlyn Williams
C-97 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The first film to feature Stanley Myers' "Cavatina" theme (later re-used to more famous advantage in 'The Deer Hunter').


6:15 PM -- The System (1964)
In a seaside village, a group of locals mingle among the seasonal tourists in search of sexual conquests, though the tourists may not be the ones being used.
Dir: Michael Winner
Cast: Oliver Reed, Jane Merrow, Barbara Ferris
BW-90 mins,

Also known as The Girl-Getters.


7:51 PM -- Sean O'Casey The Spirit Of Ireland (1965)
A promotional short about the making of "Young Cassidy" (1965) as well as the life of Sean O'Casey, whose autobiography served as the basis for the movie.
C-8 mins,



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: FINAL CUTS



8:00 PM -- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967)
An aging couple's liberal principles are tested when their daughter announces her engagement to a black doctor.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn
C-108 mins, CC,

Won Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn (Katharine Hepburn was not present at the awards ceremony. George Cukor accepted the award on her behalf.), and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- William Rose

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Spencer Tracy (Posthumously), Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Cecil Kellaway, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Beah Richards, Best Director -- Stanley Kramer, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Robert Clatworthy and Frank Tuttle, Best Film Editing -- Robert C. Jones, Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- Frank De Vol, and Best Picture

In the scene near the end where Spencer Tracy gives his memorable soliloquy, Katharine Hepburn can be seen crying in the background. This was not acting: she knew how gravely ill her longtime lover was and was moved by his remarks about how true love endures through the years. Tracy died 17 days after filming was completed.


10:00 PM -- Brainstorm (1983)
A scientist battles the military for control of a machine that records sensory experiences-including death.
Dir: Douglas Trumbull
Cast: Christopher Walken, Natalie Wood, Louise Fletcher
C-106 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

When actress Natalie Wood died near the end of principal photography, studio executives tried to kill the film and claim the insurance, saying that director Douglas Trumbull could not complete the film. However, Trumbull's contract gave that decision to him, and he insisted on completing the film, using a stand-in and changing camera angles for the few remaining shots of Wood's character. The resulting hostility between Trumbull and the studio executives meant that this would be Trumbull's last Hollywood film. He has since devoted his efforts to effects work for IMAX films, theme park rides and the like.


12:00 AM -- Enter the Dragon (1973)
A U.S. agent enters a martial arts tournament to spy on an international super-villain.
Dir: Robert Clouse
Cast: Bruce Lee, John Saxon, Jim Kelly
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Bruce Lee died in Hong Kong three weeks before the film's premiere in 1973. The movie Game of Death (1978), which was completed after Lee's death, includes footage from his funeral.


1:49 AM -- The Moviemakers - Lolly Madonna XXX Featurette (1973)
This short film offers a behind-the-scenes look into the filming of "Lolly Madonna XXX" (1973).
Dir: Ronald Saland
C-9 mins,


2:00 AM -- Soylent Green (1973)
A future cop uncovers the deadly secret behind a mysterious synthetic food.
Dir: Richard O. Fleischer
Cast: Charlton Heston, Leigh Taylor-Young, Edward G. Robinson
C-97 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

In very poor health with cancer, Edward G. Robinson was almost totally deaf when he made this movie, and only able to hear anyone if they spoke directly into his ear. Because of this, scenes with him talking to other people had to be shot several times before he got the rhythm of the dialogue and was able to respond to people as if he could really hear them. And because he was unable to hear director Richard Fleischer yell "cut" when a scene went wrong, Robinson would often continue acting out the scene, unaware that shooting had stopped seconds earlier. He died ten days after shooting wrapped.


3:38 AM -- A Look At The World Of "Soylent Green" (1973)
This short film gives a behind-the-scenes look at the science fiction film "Soylent Green" (1973).
C-10 mins,


4:00 AM -- Saratoga (1937)
A horse breeder's daughter falls for a bookie.
Dir: Jack Conway
Cast: Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Lionel Barrymore
BW-92 mins, CC,

In May of 1937, with the film about 90% completed, Jean Harlow collapsed on the set and died about a week later, reportedly of uremic poisoning. Her remaining scenes were shot with double Mary Dees being filmed only from behind. Paula Winslowe supplied the voice. MGM executives planned to shelve the movie or re-shoot Harlow's scenes, possibly with Virginia Bruce or Jean Arthur, but the reaction of the audience at a preview in late June and a barrage of fan mail urging release of Harlow's last film changed their minds.


5:42 AM -- Old Hickory (1940)
This short film presents four key incidents in the public life of Andrew Jackson. Vitaphone Release 9590-9591.
Dir: Lewis Seiler
Cast: Georges Renavent, Joseph King, Frank O'Connor
C-17 mins,