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Well, gentlemen, I have to say that I still think The Big Country has a pacifist message. And that was never more apparent than in the fight scene between Peck and Heston. They're doing the old fashioned thing seen time after time in westerns, two men battling mano a mano. Yet Wyler turns the tables on a conventional fight scene here, interspersing it with long shots of the slug fest as it proceeds, emphasizing the vastness of the country around them, making their squabble seem insignificant by comparison. Then, after an epic fight of undetermined length, when the two men are both on the ground and have fought to a draw, McKay asks his opponent "Tell me, Leach, what have we proved?" Leach has no answer as McKay walks away. You will never see a message like this in a John Wayne western. SPOILER ALERT: By the way, with all the wonderful performances that this film has (with Burl Ives' rough but bluntly honest and honourable Rufus a standout for me), I'm always impressed by Chuck Connors portrayal of the sleazy, wild son. Never more so, of course, than in his final moments after he has been shot by his father following his cowardice and then turns to that same father as he clutches his chest. As much as his character may have been of an odious creep throughout the rest of the film, Connors elicits genuine sympathy from an audience in this scene. In his final moments he become a frightened little boy reaching out for his Pa. Ives, of course, magnificently captures the anger, frustration and anguish of his character's reaction to his dying son to make this one of the most memorable scenes in the film. I can't think of any other scene in his career in which I ever saw tough guy Chuck Connors so effectively portray vulnerability. Obviously a great director like William Wyler has a lot to do with that.

TCM is changing their daytime schedule on Monday November 22 to honor Dean Stockwell. (Previous theme was David Niven.) Here is the current lineup (times are ET): 06:00 AM musical Anchors Aweigh (1945) 08:30 AM drama Green Years, The (1946) 10:45 AM comedy Mighty McGurk, The (1946) 12:30 PM drama Happy Years, The (1950) 02:30 PM drama Secret Garden, The (1949) 04:30 PM advent Kim (1951) 06:30 PM drama Boy With Green Hair, The (1948)

Dean Jagger was a fine actor. One of my favorite performances of his is in the film Bad Day a Black Rock. Found this poster, which I find kind of odd; The bad guys as Mt. Rushmore?

This film is so bad it's not even good.

Everything about it seems bizarre.... The LSD trips... The end credits that are sung completely aloud by Harry Nilsson ... Groucho Marx as a gangster named "God".... Jackie Gleason on acid... Carol Channing running around braless in a see-through blouse... Dancing trash cans... Groucho's head on the top of a nail.... It makes Lylah Clare seem normal by comparison.....

...At no time did Duff have his hands anywhere near Ida's neck as depicted. Jennifer (1953) Director "Joel Newton" Stars Ida Lupino, Howard Duff Mystery 73 min. Synopsis: Agnes Langsley gets a job as caretaker of an old and vacated estate. The owner's cousin, Jennifer, was the last occupant and mysteriously disappeared. Agnes soon begins to believe that Jennifer was murdered and that Jim, whom she has fallen in love with, is responsible. Ida plays a skittish woman who badly needs a job, and 'caretaker' seems right up her alley. Other than that we know nothing about her or why she's so nervous even before learning about Jennifer's disappearance. With James Wong Howe on board I was looking forward to a great thriller. I can't fault the acting or camerawork but it's a bad sign when the director appears to be a one-time pseudonym. They must have blown the budget on the SoCal mansion because it's otherwise a low budget bare-bones affair with an over-reliance on comically creepy music to create suspense. Mainly notable for introducing the song "Angel Eyes" performed by Matt Dennis in a shoe-horned but welcome jazz scene. It has since been recorded by many artists from Ella Fitzgerald to Sting. The mystery is what happened to Jennifer, but really the bigger mystery is what went wrong here. YMMV 6/10 full movie

Ah ha! Good one. I applaud your attention to detail. So, that might explain the Girl Hunt Ballet and Triplets but Louisiana Hayride and that "Sun" number that Cyd does?? I don't get those at all (and Triplets, though fun, continues to seem out of place to me. ) I still say the Freed Unit did what it wanted to do and what they mostly wanted to do was to give everybody (Fred, Cyd, Nannette & Jack Buchanan) a chance to shine so they did these disparate numbers that (to me) have absolutely no continuity. By the way, Oscar Levant was supposed to be one of the triplets but he kicked up such a fuss about doing it, that they stuck poor Nannette Fabray in that one instead.

Jacques Tourneur marathon today on TCM. For me, "Out of the Past" (1:30 p.m. Eastern today, Friday) is always a highlight of his career-- Mitchum and Jane Greer are perfect, and Kirk is great as a smooth but deadly antagonist. Agree with critics who say, all around, "Out of the Past" is one of the best film noirs. It makes a fun double feature today with Tourneur's post-war suspense/thriller, "Berlin Express", with Merle Oberon recruiting Robert Ryan and other motley train passengers to scour Frankfurt for her missing anti-Nazi associate, Paul Lukas. Haunting on-location filming in recently war-torn Frankfurt and Berlin, and twisty plot.

Last night it was my turn to watch VALERIE AND HER WEEK OF WONDERS 1970. I was braced to see a kind of HAUSU crazy foreign horror film so that helped, assuming this wasn't going to be a strong linear story. The movie is kind of a gathering of nightmarish scenarios that involve vampires, sex, religion, demons...the usual coming of age story. Valerie is a young innocent girl who just transitioned into womanhood, cleverly illustrated by blood dripping onto daisies as she walks by. The rest of the movie pretty much follows that kind of symbolism, often hard to decipher, but visually arresting in the short 76 minute run time. There were a LOT of birds depicted in this movie; chickens, doves, songbirds, often caged and recipients of violence. The ferret "polecat" was the animal manifestation of the demon, who alludes to being a vampire & Valerie's Father (like Darth Vader) who preys on the birds. Most notable is the young woman playing Valerie's grandmother in ghostly white make up, hair & clothing. Seemed like she was dressed & colored to match her teeth, since her teeth would have really stood out otherwise. Teeth are bone, so she was "bone white". She sells herself for eternal youth & beauty so you see this actress as she really looks-as a dominatrix-woo-hoo. I watched the commentary afterwards, something I don't normally do, but found it interesting & somewhat enlightening. It was suggested the movie is Valerie's inner feelings about sex, becoming a woman and her role as an adult. This makes a lot of sense when you watch the wedding of neighbors and worse, their wedding night. Much of the actual story is a mystery but I'm guessing the more you watch this movie, the more sense you can make of it. But much is left up to the viewer to decipher, an aspect of some movies (most notably Kubrick) that I really enjoy.

Walker, Nancy

Always like Dean Jagger. That voice-- something very distinctive about it. He had such presence.

With David Ladd, his son-- Shane The Proud Rebel The Big Land

Key Largo

Hayes, Gabby

The Ten Commandments

Yes, solid late classic era noir (1958). As noted, Vaugh Taylor has a memorable cameo role as The Man. Eli Wallach carries the film but the entire cast is sound.

ALSO ALSO I keep staring at myself in the mirror throughout the day and saying in LEONARD'S voice: "you'll always be a homosexual, Michael. Always." Which is doubly funny because my name isn't Michael.

with Patricia Medina Botany Bay 1952 The Black Knight 1954 with Veronica Lake This Gun For Hire 1942 The Glass Key 1942 The Blue Dahlia 1946

You're right about the tradition of Broadway musicals as reviews, "follies", etc. being how Hollywood thought of Broadway. The problem was that they kept thinking that way after the Broadway musical had morphed into something very different, cohesive book musicals with plots and themes instead of a hodge-podge of skits and unrelated novelty numbers. I can't even think of a Hollywood movie about the Broadway milieu that actually got it right, with the possible exception of All About Eve. (But Aged in Wood, a hit drama with Bette in hoop skirts again? Really?) Stage Struck (1957) with Henry Fonda and Susan Strasberg came kind of close but, again, that was a drama. But the depiction of New York musical shows always reverted to that outdated review format. A ludicrous example is in The Opposite Sex (1956), with the philandering husband as a Broadway producer. We get to see the title number of the show, Yellow Gold, and it's an atrocious, derivative, overworked tropical-themed, banana-laden novelty number with every stereotype you'd expect. And the show itself is called Yellow Gold? What credible show could you build around that kind of nonsense? But it was such an easy trope to use to signify "legit Broadway musical" and such an easy, lazy excuse to sneak in whatever they felt like sneaking in that Hollywood always found it irresistible.

Fourteen Hours (1951)

Well done, Cinemaman. You know your cheesy spy spoofs! Your thread...

Basil Rathbone and Lionel Atwill- these two were great at playing adversaries, they both try to "top" each with their performances, especially with Rathbone's Sherlock Holmes and Atwill's Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes And The Secret Weapon (1942). They also had great scenes together in Son Of Frankenstein (1939) ,Rathbone was Dr Frankenstein and Atwill was a one armed police inspector. They also appeared together in The Hound Of The Baskervilles (1939), Captain Blood (1935), The Sun Never Sets (1939)

A heads up. He's also in To Live and Die In LA this Saturday Saturday 10:00 PM To Live And Die In L.A. (1985) 1h 56m | Action | TV-14 A Secret Service agent becomes obsessed with tracking down a notorious and dangerous counterfeiter Director William Friedkin Cast William Petersen, Willem Dafoe, John Turturro, Dean Stockwell, Darlanne Fluegel

late SAT., early SUN., 11-1 4 4:00 am ET One False Move (1991) 1h 45m | Action Prison buddies Ray and Pluto, and Ray's girlfriend Fantasia--all from L.A., committ a series of executions in Los Angeles before heading east to unload a cache of stolen cocaine--only only to be apprehended by a gung-ho sheriff in Louisiana. Director Carl Franklin Cast Cynda Williams, Bill Paxton, Billy Bob Thornton "Though it was not a box-office hit, One False Move was a critical success and a showcase for the talent behind the film. It launched Thornton as both an actor and a writer; just a few years later, he won an Academy Award for writing Sling Blade (1996), which he also directed and starred in. It elevated Paxton from character actor to leading man in films like Twister (1996) and A Simple Plan (1998). And Franklin won the best director prize at the Independent Spirit Awards, where the film also earned nominations for best feature, screenplay, score and female lead for Cynda Williams. ........ SEE: https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/85667/one-false-move#articles-reviews?articleId=021488 ========================================================== Late Sun. TCM Imports....... 2:15 am The Baker's Wife (1938) 2h 13m | Comedy | TV-G story of a baker in a small village who stops making bread after his lovely but unhappy young wife runs off with a handsome shepherd and the town rallies to reunite them to get their daily fresh bread back. Director Marcel Pagnol Cast Charles Moulin, Raimu, Robert Vattier ".........a classic Pagnol production filled with social satire and earthy, eccentric characters, including a chorus of townsfolk who gossip, argue and debate ideas of love, sex, fidelity, morality and forgiveness........ Even critics who sniffed at Pagnol's "filmed theater" were enchanted. "The poor film critic is once again baffled by the phenomenon of a film that eschews much of the technique and polish of cinema yet achieves undeniable greatness," wrote British filmmaker and critic Basil Wright. "It is probable that no review can give a satisfactory explanation of the film's beauty." When it opened in the U.S. in 1940, New York Times film critic Frank Nugent proclaimed it "one of the very greatest pictures ever made: pagan, poetic, and incomparably witty.".......... SEE: https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/68013/the-bakers-wife#articles-reviews?articleId=021481

The Duchess and the Dirtwater Fox (1976)

Thanks, TomJH and Dargo. These are some of the things that have drawn me into the film the last couple of times that I watched it. It really is set apart from many of what we called "westerns," though I think there is an aspect that connects most of the good ones. I mentioned in passing in an earlier post that the feuding characters -- played by Ives and Bickford -- act out of a pathological sense of honor and justice. McKay -- played by Peck -- has his own version of this, but it stands in contrast to the other form. It's a theme that works well in westerns because for this vast country that spreads out to the Pacific Ocean, the laws of civilization haven't caught up yet. Therefore, men find themselves guided by their own sense of right and wrong. And each has a different line that cannot be crossed -- or else.... In "The Big Country" it causes Patricia Terrill to turn from McKay, and it causes Rufus Hannassy to do what would for most people be an unthinkable act. Yet Hannassy's code of justice demands that he carry out that final act with his son. The entire movie floats on this ocean of honor, for rich and poor, for ranchers and townsfolk, for the ones who know the history of the bad blood and the newcomer who is bemused and reticent to enter into ways he does not yet understand. This is why I would be reluctant to refer to this as exhibiting a level of pacifism per se, though I think one could read it into the movie and argue for it fairly successfully. McKay seems to go through life with a well-formed sense of proportion in how he reacts to things, and that certainly bugs the heck out of the Terrills. That story, that script, and those actors directed by Wiliam Wyler simply add up for me to be one of the best movies I knew nothing about until only recently. Woe is me that I have squandered the time in other frivolous and fruitless pursuits.

Vague, Vera

Nice try there, Oneeyeopen! My hunch is that for the "show within a show" category of musicals for the screen, "The Band Wagon" actually comes pretty close to providing a rather plausible outline of a story. Of course, it's all conjecture really. These movies were so very much showcases for the great songwriters of the era to offer a variety of musical numbers -- both song and dance -- for some of the most talented performers of the day. Catchy tunes and numbers to spotlight the dancing of Astaire and Charisse in all kinds of costumes and scenes. That's the Hollywood way, I suppose. But it's fun, isn't it?! Compare this to, say, the Wallace and Davis show in "White Christmas" that features everything from "Mandy," "Counting My Blessings," and "Choreography" to "White Christmas" itself. And throw in "We'll Follow the Old Man" for good measure! Then there's "Every Night at Seven" from "Royal Wedding." And a barrelful of others. (One can only speculate as to the plots of "The Proud Land" and "A Woman of Taste!") Another approach to this topic may be to look at Broadway musicals that are in the tradition of reviews and follies and so forth. There must be more knowledgeable people out there than I that can comment on this; but I think when Hollywood goes to film what would be referred to as a musical, it really ends up in this tradition. Since the movie itself already covers a story, all we really need are separate, self-contained songs and dances. And we the audience just go along with it as entertainment. Still, Oneeyeopen, I commend your unflagging appeal to put together those little jigsaw puzzle pieces that are all those songs to form a true musical called "The Band Wagon" (with book, lyrics, and music by the Martons) Nicely done. Oh, by the way, I think I would like the "Girl Hunt" ballet a whole lot better if Michael Kidd were dancing in it instead of Fred Astaire.

Foreign Correspondent(1940) (Edmund Gwenn as Rowley, a would-be assassin.) Next: Another film with an unsuccessful murderer

...and kept from the TV and clueless about all the cars in the driveway...

The White Buffalo (1977) Odd but interesting western, with shades of Moby Dick thrown in. Wild Bill Hickok has nightmares about a giant white buffalo (a foreshadowing of his own death?) which he feels can only be eliminated by hunting down a giant white buffalo that is striking terror in the Black Hills. Will Sampson plays Crazy Horse, also seeking the same creature after it rampaged through his village and killed his child. It's all pure fiction, of course, and Charles Bronson's casting as Hickok is laughable, historically speaking, but, I suppose, no more so than that of half a dozen other actors over the years, going right back to super clean cut Guy Madison in a popular '50s television series (which, as a kid, I watched loyally every Saturday morning for years). One historically accurate aspect of the film is that, rather than wearing a holster, Bronson wears a scarlet sach around his waist in which he tucks his guns, as did the real Hickok at times. The performances are quite good, and there is a colourful supporting cast of familiar faces including Jack Warden in a sizable role as a one eyed Indian hating frontiersman who goes on the buffalo hunt with Bronson as well as smaller guest star appearances by Kim Novak, Clint Walker, John Carradine, Stuart Whitman and Cara Williams. J. Lee Thompson (Guns of Navarone, Cape Fear, Mackenna's Gold) was the director. The white buffalo is presented as an almost legendary larger than life destructive force, not unlike a lumbering four legged version of Melville's great white whale, one that causes rocks to tumble down the sides of mountains when it lets out a giant bellow and can charge though walls of ice and snow. At one point, in fact, in a direct parallel to Herman Melville's tale, Crazy Horse will leap on the animal's back to repeatedly stab it with a spear. The problem for the film, though, are in those pivotal scenes involving the buffalo in which, unfortunately, the creature looks exactly like what it undoubtedly was, some kind of animatronic construction, lacking any sense of reality. It's far more effective when he frighteningly bellows in the mountains than when we actually see him. No amount of fast editing can hide the artificiality of those scenes with the buffalo. The poster advertising the film said "You Won't Believe Your Eyes." That's true, but, unfortunately, not in a good way. 2 out of 4

I know what you mean about Spencer's scene-stealing, King Rat. He also has a patented habit of, at the beginning of every sentence, repeating the opening word; i.e., "I-I-I " "You-you-you" "We-we-we" I think this is Tracy's way of making himself look natural or spontaneous. And thus we have him lauded as one of our greatest actors, lol. But Fredric March never resorted to these tricks, not from what I've seen of his performances so far.

How about THE BAD NEWS BEARS (1976)...?

In WONDER WOMAN 1984 (2020) it's not a Camaro. These two performers were in a Pontiac.

GREEN FOR DANGER (1946)

Okay Katie, and seein' as how you've asked here. My favorite on-screen bear was a lot less threatening a beast than Bart here...and always wore a hat and a tie. (...and whose lone threat to humans was his constant search of acquiring a pic-a-nic basket or two from the unsuspecting camper)

I've mentioned this before on these boards but I don't think that hard core western buffs (the ones crazy about John Ford, Howard Hawks and John Wayne, for example) care much for THE BIG COUNTRY because one, its sparsity of big action scenes, two, the film's pacifist message and three, William Wyler is not a name associated with the genre. It's more of a cerebral, thinking man's western which will appeal to some, as reflected by the enthusiastic responses to the film on this thread. This, I suspect, for those of us (and I'm one of you) who love THE BIG COUNTRY may help to explain why it rarely, if ever, seems to get included on many greatest westerns ever made lists. Speaking for myself I think this film has been denied its rightful place as being regarded as one of the best westerns ever made.

I do love the surprise scene where everybody in the cast is ready to move on from the original production, and then we see Buchanan has been sitting among them the whole time and is agreeable.

Funny enough the first person who comes to mind for me is Debra Messing. I know lots of people who've worked with her early in her career and they claim she is an absolute nightmare and has thrown water on the faces of PA's. Also she takes her personal politics to the extreme, which is a big turn off. I don't really care what someone does in terms of a self-destructive lifestyle, but if they've abused others or neglected people they shouldn't have, that stands out for me. For example, the sexual abuse claims against MJ and Cosby seem pretty consistent from multiple people, so i won't seek any of their music or films/shows out, and i've heard that the late Regis Philbin abandoned a special needs child- that one stayed with me. Truth is, we only now hear about the antics of celebrities- who knows what they got up in the golden days of Hollywood. I ready Kitty Kelly's book on Sinatra- it had some tales in it.

Recorder set.

Lee Morse carried the tragic torch but, interestingly, she took it all the way to the Appalachians... I see you're getting good at that time machine of yours, SweetSue.

Its a good one. It also as Vaugh Taylor in a memorable cameo.

On Svengoolie tomorrow, November 13, 2021:

To say nothing of all the errors on that website itself ...

Not to be confused with Harry Lauder ...

Ruth usually plays "gutsy" really well but for me she was just too prim and proper (like STRANGERS ON A TRAIN) in 5 STEPS TO DANGER. Not her jam, imo. Eddie told us to look out for a nod to Billy Wilder re: ACE IN THE HOLE but it seemed a stretch to think Wilder's name above that desert garage was anything other than just coincidence. Did Muller have any knowledge of this as some sort of inside joke? Not sure but it didn't seem like it to me.

On the Riviera 1951

BRONXGIRL48: If you'd like to, uh, expand your cinematic horizons check out Ruth Roman in IMPULSE (1974) and DAY OF THE ANIMALS (1977). Then check out Sterling H. in GAS (1981), the Canadian comedy that's supposed to take place in an "average American town". (But it was filmed entirely in Maple Leaf Land). → Trust Me. These 3 movies are highly-regarded masterworks from classically-trained filmmakers. 😈

THE MONEY PIT (1986)