TCM Schedule for Thursday, June 28, 2018 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Spotlight - Mad About Musicals

[Staph]

Throughout the day TCM is going Mad About Musicals in the 1970s, continuing the decade covered on this Tuesday, wrapping up this delightful month-long celebration. Tell us more, Roger!

Musicals of the 1960s and '70s reflected the turbulent changes in society, the end of the Hollywood studio system, the influence of independent filmmaking and the invasion of such British talent as The Beatles in their film A Hard Day's Night (1964).

Screen adaptations of stage musicals continued apace, with two of them winning Best Picture Academy Awards®. My Fair Lady (1964) won a total of eight Oscars®, including Best Picture, Director (George Cukor) and Actor (Rex Harrison). The British-made Oliver! took home six awards including Best Picture and Director (Carol Reed).

Stage adaptations that had a favorable reception included Bells Are Ringing (1960), Gypsy (1962), The Music Man (1962), Bye Bye Birdie (1963), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum (1966), The Boy Friend (1971), Fiddler on the Roof (1971) and 1776 (1972). A less enthusiastic response greeted Camelot (1967), Finian's Rainbow (1968), Man of La Mancha (1972) and, especially, Mame (1974), starring Lucille Ball.

In the 1950s, it wasn't usual to award Oscars® to performers in musicals (although Garland came close to winning for 1954's A Star Is Born). But the Academy has been more generous to musical stars in subsequent decades. In addition to Rex Harrison in My Fair Lady, winners of the 1960s and '70s included Barbra Streisand in Funny Girl (1968); and Liza Minnelli and Joel Grey in Cabaret (1972), which also brought an Oscar® to director Bob Fosse. The last two films also were adapted from Broadway successes.

by Roger Fristoe

Enjoy!



8:00 AM -- THE BOY FRIEND (1971)
The understudy goes on for the star and finds love.
Dir: Ken Russell
Cast: Twiggy, Christopher Gable, Max Adrian
C-136 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score -- Peter Maxwell Davies and Peter Greenwell

The screen rights for the film were originally bought by MGM producer Arthur Freed in 1967 for Debbie Reynolds to star. After Reynolds turned the part down, Liza Minnelli was briefly considered for the role of Polly Browne before Freed shelved the project to concentrate on his Irving Berlin revue, "Say It with Music" (which was never filmed).


10:30 AM -- MAME (1974)
A wealthy eccentric takes in her orphaned nephew.
Dir: Gene Saks
Cast: Lucille Ball, Bea Arthur, Robert Preston
C-131 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Angela Lansbury recalled her time when she was playing Mame on Broadway and was visited by Lucille Ball who told her she was amazing in the part, deserved all the honors she was receiving and was a shoe in for the film version. Lansbury was very touched by this until she noticed Ball in the wings during her performance, taking notes. It was then that she realized that she was never going to play the part in the film.


12:45 PM -- MAN OF LA MANCHA (1972)
The aging Don Quixote follows his dream by traveling the countryside as a warrior knight.
Dir: Arthur Hiller
Cast: Peter O'Toole, Sophia Loren, James Coco
C-129 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation -- Laurence Rosenthal

The original creators of the show - Dale Wasserman (author), Albert Marre (director) and Mitch Leigh (composer) - were all originally hired by United Artists to work on the film, but UA was unhappy with the screen tests they made, so they were all dismissed and director Peter Glenville was called in. But when UA discovered that he planned to eliminate most of the songs, he was also dismissed. UA then rehired Wasserman, and added Saul Chaplin and producer-director Arthur Hiller, who retained most of the musical's score for the film. However, the "look" of the film, according to Chaplin, had already been largely determined by the previous creative teams hired to make the movie. It has always remained unclear who cast the usually non-singing actors (such as Sophia Loren, who sang in the film, and Peter O'Toole, whose singing was dubbed), and which creative team cast the singing actors (Julie Gregg, Gino Conforti, James Coco and several of the "muleteers" ).


3:00 PM -- GODSPELL (1973)
Contemporary hippies relive the story of Christ's ministry and crucifixion.
Dir: David Greene
Cast: Victor Garber, David Haskell, Lynne Thigpen
C-102 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Victor Garber's movie debut.


5:00 PM -- 1776 (1972)
The founding fathers struggle to draft the Declaration of Independence.
Dir: Peter H. Hunt
Cast: William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Ken Howard
C-165 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Harry Stradling Jr.

The theater where 1776 played on Broadway, the 46th Street Theater, is now named the Richard Rodgers Theater and is home to another musical about American Founding Fathers: "Hamilton" by Lin-Manuel Miranda who is a fan of 1776.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: TCM SPOTLIGHT: MAD ABOUT MUSICALS



8:00 PM -- FUNNY GIRL (1968)
Comedienne Fanny Brice fights to prove that she can be the greatest star and find romance even though she isn't pretty.
Dir: William Wyler
Cast: Barbra Streisand, Omar Sharif, Kay Medford
C-155 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Barbra Streisand (Tied with Katharine Hepburn for The Lion in Winter (1968).)

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Kay Medford, Best Cinematography -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Sound, Best Film Editing -- Robert Swink, Maury Winetrobe and William Sands, Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Bob Merrill (lyrics) for the song "Funny Girl", Best Music, Score of a Musical Picture (Original or Adaptation) -- Walter Scharf, and Best Picture

Frank Sinatra was seriously considered for the role of Nicky Arnstein. Barbra Streisand vetoed his casting, because while she respected his talent, she disliked him personally.


10:45 PM -- FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (1971)
In Russia before the revolution, a Jewish milkman tries to marry off his daughters who have plans of their own.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Topol, Norma Crane, Leonard Frey
C-181 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Cinematography -- Oswald Morris, Best Sound -- Gordon K. McCallum and David Hildyard, and Best Music, Scoring Adaptation and Original Song Score -- John Williams

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Topol, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Leonard Frey, Best Director -- Norman Jewison, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Robert F. Boyle, Michael Stringer and Peter Lamont, and Best Picture

To get the look he wanted for the film, director Norman Jewison told Director of Photography Oswald Morris, who was famous for shooting color films in unusual styles, to shoot the film in an earthy tone. Morris saw a woman wearing brown nylon hosiery, thought, "That's the tone we want," asked the woman for the stockings on the spot and shot the entire film with a stocking over the lens. The weave can be detected in some scenes. Morris also shot the musical number "Tevye's Dream" in full color, which was desaturated in post-production. This was modelled on techniques he had used in filming Moulin Rouge (1952) with a color style made to resemble Toulouse-Lautrec's paintings and Moby Dick (1956) in a color style made to resemble 19th-century engravings of life at sea.


2:00 AM -- CABARET (1972)
A young writer gets mixed up with a pleasure-loving singer in the decadent world of 1930s Berlin.
Dir: Bob Fosse
Cast: Liza Minnelli, Michael York, Helmut Griem
C-124 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Liza Minnelli, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Joel Grey, Best Director -- Bob Fosse, Best Cinematography -- Geoffrey Unsworth, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Rolf Zehetbauer, Hans Jürgen Kiebach and Herbert Strabel, Best Sound -- Robert Knudson and David Hildyard, Best Film Editing -- David Bretherton, and Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation -- Ralph Burns

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Jay Presson Allen, and Best Picture

British author Christopher Isherwood, who created the character of Sally Bowles in his short story "Goodbye to Berlin", enjoyed the attention the movie brought to his career, but felt Liza Minnelli was too talented for the role. According to him, Sally, an amateur talent who lived under the delusion she had star quality, was the antithesis of "Judy Garland's daughter".


4:15 AM -- TOMMY (1975)
A seemingly handicapped boy becomes a Pinball Wizard.
Dir: Ken Russell
Cast: Ann-Margret, Roger Daltrey, Oliver Reed
C-112 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Ann-Margret, and Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation -- Pete Townshend

The building that is seen to be on fire, part of Tommy's holiday camp, is in fact, really burning down. It is South Parade Pier in Southsea. A fire was accidentally started during filming, and the crew decided to include the footage in the film. The fire crews and the fire are genuine. The pier was rebuilt, and is still in use today.

[elleng]

1. YAY 1776!

5:00 PM -- 1776 (1972)
The founding fathers struggle to draft the Declaration of Independence.
Dir: Peter H. Hunt
Cast: William Daniels, Howard Da Silva, Ken Howard

[Staph]

2. 1776 is one of my favorite movies!

Some many quotable lines, so many singable songs - Sit Down, John; Cool, Considerate Men; Molasses to Rum to Slaves; Mama, Look Sharp; and The Lees of Old Virginia. Natural-Lee!

[elleng]

3. Mine too, I think of it often,

and the lines and lyrics! I quote "Molasses to Rum to Slaves" OFTEN.

and look forward to July 4 to watch it!

[Staph]

4. That's a family tradition of ours, too,

dating back to the VHS version. We won't be home on the Fourth this year, so I suppose that we'll have to watch it early. Or late. Or both!