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Bottom line: There's simply no way to not like William Powell. (...if you have any taste at all, anyway)

A Girl, a Guy, and a Gob (1941) Boys Town (1938) Where the Boys Are (1960) Here Come the Girls (1953) The Sunshine Boys (1975) Earth Girls are Easy (1988) My Girl (1991) The Boys from Brazil (1978) Guys and Dolls (1955) Dames (1934)

I feel it would be slightly unfair for me to select a single movie as best because his performances were uniformly brilliant and any assessment I made would center more on the movie as a whole rather than only his work in it.

TCM celebrates William Powell's 129th birthday with a day's worth of WP films. Sit back and enjoy! One of my absolute favorite actors. Some of his best (IMHO) are: The Thin Man, Star of Midnight, My Man Godfrey, Jewel Robbery, Crossroads, The Kennel Murder Case, Double Harness, Evelyn Prentice, Mr. Roberts and the list goes on and on and on. What are your favorites?

Night and the City (1992) Updating of Jules Dassin's celebrated film noir, the action transferred from London to New York City. The story, however, with a few deviations, is largely the same, with Robert De Niro starring as small time hustler and ambulance chasing lawyer Harry Fabian. Fabian has a line of spiel a mile long and is popular, as well as laughed at, by his street peers as a constantly hustling character. But Fabian has ambitions to break out of the small time by becoming a boxing promoter. This, however, sets him up for conflict with "Boom Boom" Grossman, a major local boxing promoter with mob connections. Nobody stays healthy long if they make Boom Boom unhappy. The 1950 version with Richard Widmark remains a widely admired noir and perhaps that has worked against this most amiable remake, shot on location in New York City, taking advantage of the sights and sounds of the streets to bring genuine atmosphere to the production. While the story is predictable, the cast is generally first rate. Jessica Lange scores well as the wife of a local bar owner with ambitions of leaving him to set up a bar of her own. She also likes Harry very much to the extent that they are carrying on an affair behind her hubby's back. Cliff Gorman is excellent as her macho husband who can also be a bit of an intimidating jerk at times. Jack Warden does well, too, as Boom Boom's older brother, a former boxer now retired, who gets recruited by Harry into his plan of competing with his brother. But best of all, perhaps surprisingly, is comedian Alan King, who is no comedian here, bringing an icy menace to his performance as Boom Boom. The scene in which Boom Boom, after first making sure that Harry doesn't have a wire on him to record their conversation, quietly informs him that if anything happens to his brother, even a headache, he will have him killed is genuinely effective because of King's understated, deadly calm delivery. Harry, in response, for once has nothing to say. As the irrepressible Harry Fabian, I find De Niro to be a complete joy in this film. In fact, due to the fact that he brings a light hearted energy to his perpetually optimistic hustler character, I find this to be one of the actor's most enjoyable performances. His portrayal is lacking the ominous intensity for which he is known in so many of his more famous roles and he's all the more delightful for it. Schemer that he may be, De Niro's Fabian is still an endearing low life character for whom I found myself rooting. This film has been unfairly dismissed by the majority of critics, in my opinion, and remains a minor but engaging neo noir well worth a viewing, if only for the pleasure of seeing De Niro in fine light hearted form. Director Irwin Winkler's film is, by the way, dedicated to Dassin. 3 out of 4

A Little Romance Out of Africa Before Sunset

Regarding suggested future showings in the neo-noir genre, here's a couple I'd love to see presented on TCM in such a series: You'll never see a more ruthless and amoral femme fatale than Linda Fiorentino's here. And... In true classic noir fashion, the plot has more twists and turns than you can shake a Colt 1911 at. (...haven't seen 'em in years either, but I still remember being highly impressed and entertained by both)

Lillian Gish in The Night of the Hunter? Even strong women sometimes need weapons when dealing with crazy.

A haunted house full of dead prostitutes headed by Gloria Grahame in her last film? Oh HELL yes, please!

DANCE GIRL DANCE TWO GUYS FROM TEXAS THE TIME, THE PLACE AND THE GIRL

The Golden Girls tv show The Dalton Girls 1957 Georgy Girl 1966 The Young Girls of Rochefort 1967 Wise Guys 1986 The Cable Guy 1996

Girl Shy (1924) Diary of a Lost Girl (1929) The Bohemian Girl (1936) His Girl Friday (1940) The Country Girl (1954) Les Girls (1957) Funny Girl (1968) The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane (1976) The Match Factory Girl (1990) Girl, Interrupted (1999) Girl with a Pearl Earring (2003) Mean Girls (2004) Kamikaze Girls (2004) The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006) The Danish Girl (2015)

Three Guys Named Mike Three Broadway Girls Give a Girl a Break Get Yourself a College Girl The Girl Can't Help It

Guy Kibbe (actor)

Still trying to think if there's a Powell performance I DIDN'T like. No luck so far. But---- Nobody mentioned MR. PEABODY AND THE MERMAID with Ann Blyth? Contains one of my favorite movie observations(which I did discover was true!) "50. The old age of youth, the youth of old age." Sepiatone

It was a big deal, at least through the mid 70s, as it was the only air-conditioned domed stadium until the Superdome opened in New Orleans. The movie was a big deal to Houston, too, at the time. We would go to Astros games nearly every summer (though we lived 350 miles away and drove past the Texas Rangers home to do so) and the Astros programs would always have at least a page or two about the stadium beyond the typical "here's where the concessions and restrooms are". They had photos from Brewster McCloud in there for a year or two, as they liked to brag about all the different events the Dome hosted (bullfights, concerts, conventions, Battle of the Sexes tennis, NCAA basketball finals, rodeos, circuses, soccer, etc) since it opened. The movie just added another thing to the list. In the 60s and 70s, Houston was the fastest growing city in the country (probably growing too fast for its own good), and it gained a lot of media exposure in both the news and film/TV, much like what Austin is experiencing today (and also growing too fast for its own good) .

Great Guy 1936 The Guy Who Came Back 1951 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 2003 Poor Little Rich Girl 1936 That Hagen Girl 1947 Buccaneer's Girl 1950

Coincidentally (or not), the Criterion Channel is also featuring neo Noirs at the moment. https://www.criterionchannel.com/neonoir

Robert Vaughn's performance in The Young Philadelphians (1959) is one of the great supporting performances, for which he was nominated for an Oscar.

Cover Girl 1944 The Girl In the Red Velvet Swing 1955 Party Girl 1958 Girls! Girls! Girls! 1962 The Glory Guys 1965 Supergirl 1984 Working Girl 1988

Argh!!! I love Nora Charles though her character was best in the early Hackett/Goodrich films. Post Hackett/Goodrich, there seemed to be much more "making fun" of Nora Charles -- trying to turn a witty sophisticate into a silly meddler while Nick does all the crime-solving. She was truly annoying in "The Thin Man Goes Home" where she gives that endless monologue about Nick to Harry Davenport and goes on a wild goose chase after Ed Brophy. But we have the early films to love the true Nora Charles.

Posted April 19 NOTE: I AM COPYING AND PASTING MY REVIEW OF MONA LISA (1986) from back in APRIL WHEN I FIRST SAW IT. I don't usually do this, but I didn't feel like writing all this out again- LHF 7/30/21 I watched MONA LISA (1986) for the first time last night. it was not what I was expecting...it was not any one thing, it seems to be any number of movies within any given five minutes of its run-time. Neo noir, proto-PRETTY WOMAN, romantic comedy, TAXI DRIVER, HARDCORE (the GEORGE C. SCOTT movie), then back to PRETTY WOMAN, then BRIGHTON ROCK, then a DE PALMA FILM, then AN ENTIRE PHIL COLLINS/GENESIS POWER BALLAD PLAYS OVER A MONTAGE OF PEEP SHOWS (????!!!!!) AND I STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT THE **** TO MAKE OF THAT PART, then it's TRAINSPOTTING, it even flirts briefly with becoming NUNS ON THE RUN thanks to a serious of increasingly curious bits with ROBBIE COLTRANE, and then it ultimately settles on being OUT OF THE PAST before throwing us a curve at the ending Someone needed to take this movie out to a nice lunch and have a talk with it about what exactly the Hell kind of STORY it wanted to BE. On one thing, there is no ambiguity- BOB HOSKINS is AMAZING in it, it is a TOUR-DE-FORCE, reminded me a lot of BETTE DAVIS in DANGEROUS- where the film isn't so much a film in its own right, it's a REEL for ITS STAR- having them play all the emotions from A to Z- and it's the same with HOSKINS here. Whatever the movie decides to be at that minute, he is up for it. there are scenes where he is literally QUIVERING with EMOTION and you can see how REAL it is. He gives his ALL. MICHAEL CAINE is also in it as a SADISTIC PIMP, and he is very good, but there is an unforgivably bad sequence late in the film where HOSKINS rescues a girl from his clutches that I don't buy for a minute.

OK I'm going to chime in here with an unpopular opinion: I don't care much for the Thin Man movies because I find the Nora Charles charactor bossy & smug. I've noticed these unflattering charactor traits in other early female roles with Jean Arthur, Jean Harlow, Kay Fwancis & especially Roz Russell. As for William Powell, he's a household favorite. I don't actually know why, he seems to not be acting, just reading lines. But if you watch his face, all is shown there as if you could read his thoughts by his facial expression. His handsome appearance & demeanor just translate well on the screen and the roles always seem to fit him like a glove. Incredibly, I've never seen LIFE WITH FATHER. About time.

Sure ya could. I have faith in you!

Oooh..."overlooked, undervalued or under-appreciated"! Now THERE I think are the BEST descriptors you could have used in your thread's title. Yes, even better than my "little remembered" one. (...SEE?!...now if ya would've used any of THOSE, then James probably wouldn't have gotten on his whole "I question your use of the word 'underrated' here, Sir" thing again!) LOL

I would like to see a realistic Geico Gecko movie. And "When Emus Attack" where the Liberty Limu Emu turns on Doug.

Visa is using a version of this one in their ads during the Olympics. I hadn't heard it in years. Not that I've missed it. Not a Brubek fan, but the rhythm interests me in an academic sense. You don't have to sit through all of it to get the idea.

Yes. He's underrated, for sure. What a career he had.

The Light in the Piazza (1962) Brief Encounter (1945) Sometimes everyday places like a train station can be pretty romantic

So wonderful in LIFE WITH FATHER. I think it's his best role. One of my favorite actors.

Bruce Bennett

We get a rarity at Noon today - just an hour plus from now. The hit series The Man from U.N.C.L.E was so popular in the 60's that it put no less than 8 movies on cinema screens. However, the reputedly best of the 8 was never released to cinema screens in North America. Only in Europe. The reasoning by the executives was that that one was pretty much a direct copy of a 2-part episode of the series and it was unlikely fans would want to pay for something they'd already seen for free. Reasonable thinking. Well, TCM has it for us - The Spy in the Green Hat (1966). It's the only U.N.C.L.E. movie I haven't see - so thank you, TCM. In addition to the usual guys - McCallum, Vaughn and Leo G, there's Janet Leigh and Jack Palance in this one. Vaughn was a prolific actor - he never stopped working. Check out his IMDb page - he has an incredible list of entries.

Probably a left over from his "Elvis" makeup.

Y'know, I think you're right. I believe 31 Days is where I saw this steaming pile. I'd wanted to see this ever since it was first released but my old man was having none of that ("killer ******* bees??? How is that supposed to be a movie??? **** no I'm not taking you to a **** movie about killer ******* bees! Go wax the Ford!") So while my buddies were discussing how BA awesome it was during lunch ("They had the death tolls running across the bottom of the screen! It's sooooo BA awesome!") all I could do was sit and fume at pops, vowing as I sucked the Cheeto dust from my fingers that as God was my witness I would see that damn movie someday and I too would wallow in its BA awesome glory! Thanks to TCM and 31 Days of Oscar I made good on that solemn vow. Now, as I sit fuming at the kid who gathers my grocery order, sucking Doritos dust from my fingers I vow that as God is my witness I'm going to find those "buddies" someday and give them the worst wet Willie's imaginable. And when I'm done I'm going to hiss, "Swarm" and walk away.

AND IF IN FACT "THE SWARM" had (through some UTTER FLUKE) WON the 1978 OSCAR FOR BEST COSTUME DESIGN,. it would be A VERY RARE INSTANCE where a KANYE "YO, Imma let you finish, PAUL ZASTUPNEVICH, but DEATH ON THE NILE had THE BEST COSTUMES OF THE YEAR..." Awards Show moment to be led by someone (preferably EDITH HEAD) charging the stage and snatching the mic WOULD be 100% CALLED FOR. Thank GOD cocaine had not COMPLETELY RAVAGED the minds of all the voters even at that late date in the 1970s.

Honest to God, the only difference between IRWIN ALLEN and BERT I. GORDON was a BIGGER BUDGET. That's IT.

two thousand one hundred forty-eighth category Girls and Guys GIRL TROUBLE (1942) THE GIRL IN BLACK STOCKINGS (1957) A GUY NAMED JOE (1944) TWO GUYS FROM MILWAUKEE (1946)

THE LAST OF SHEILA (1973)

Please don't assume that. Some of us have been members on this board for decades, since it's inception. There's no problem talking about a movie others have seen/spoken of before, since TCM shows "old" movies. Sometimes a post will rekindle new interest in a film long forgotten. It's always good to hear about how a movie effects a viewer, when you add your own unique opinions & impressions of it.

Here are the TCM premieres for August, as determined by MovieCollectorOH’s TCM schedules database. Notes: - The dates shown are based on a programming day starting at 6 am ET and running past midnight. Aug 4 - Satchmo: The Life of Louis Armstrong (1989) (doc.) (2 showings) Aug 13 - Stanley and Iris (1990) Aug 14 - The Omen (1976) Aug 18 - The Last Castle (2001) Aug 19 - Here's to the Young Lady (1949) Aug 19 - Repast (1951) Aug 22 - The Black Rose (1950) Aug 26 - Fluffy (1965) Aug 28 - Gorky Park (1983) Aug 29 - Arch of Triumph (1948) Thanks as always to MCOH!

Damn Yankees

I try not to look at how TCM promotes household names. Because if one does that, then all the male stars are underrated compared to Clark Gable and Cary Grant and all the female stars are underrated compared to Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn. Herman mentioned Wayne Morris a while ago. Now in that case, Morris was a WB contract player and many of his films are in TCM's library. They could do all sorts of tributes for him, but they don't, because for some reason, TCM doesn't rate him as highly as Clark Gable and Cary Grant. So yes, he's probably underrated by TCM's programmers. Personally, when I say someone is underrated, it is not because I am saying other people don't think highly of person X. I feel they are underrated because historically there is a lack of discussion about some of these people on various movie websites. I guess if a performer had children or grandchildren, those subsequent generations can help keep the stars' legacies alive (which is what Lucie Arnaz does re: her mother). But Craig Stevens & Alexis Smith, two fine actors, did not have children and no biographies have been written about them. Who is going to celebrate their achievements?

"Blue Rondo à la Turk" is a jazz standard composition by Dave Brubeck. It appeared on the album Time Out in 1959. It is written in 9\8 time, with one side theme in 4\4, and the choice of rhythm was inspired by the Turkish aksak time signatures. Yea, rather odd for Western listeners.

Garner, James

Koko-di Koko-da (2019) Sweden/Dir: Johannes Nyholm - A grieving couple decide to go on a camping trip to try and patch up their failing marriage and come to terms with their feelings of loss. They are menaced by an odd trio - a grinning carnival barker, a pig-tailed and gun-wielding woman with a vicious dog, and a mute simpleton giant carrying a dead dog. The couple's horror increases as they are forced to relive their encounter with the strangers over and over again, Groundhog Day style. This was certainly an unusual film, but I found it tiresome. It's supposedly all allegorical, dealing with trauma and PTSD. Sure, okay. (5/10)

Italy IL POSTINO (1994) MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING ENCHANTED APRIL ONLY YOU UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN

Home From The Hill (1960) Next- Your Cheatin' Heart (1964) two with George Hamilton

House Of Cards (1968) Next- Burt Reynolds, Cybill Shepard, Madeline Khan

A Place in the Sun (1951) From Here to Eternity (1953) L'Avventura (1960) Ryan's Daughter (1970) The Way We Were (1973) Manhattan (1979)