clore

Maybe that is why they were all laughing and happy at the end after he died. According to Robert Mitchum, John Huston told him that the cast was enjoying some of that stuff that grows in Mexico and is rolled up or put in a pipe. Can't you just imagine Tim Holt telling Walter Huston "He's hogging up the weed" with Walter replying "From now on, we'll call it Bogarting the joint."

But when TCM plays a known "biggy" like FHTE many people will tune in. TCM has to give ratings some consideration, right? No, not really. Were they dependent upon ads, they would need the numbers to pitch potential advertisers. On the other hand, both TBS and TNT, the sister stations are ad-driven and the company does need to utilize Nielsen data to sell the ad time. Just because TCM isn't selling ads, that doesn't mean that it isn't being rated by Nielsen and if it generates a reportable number, it will be there for Time-Warner to see.

Wanna see a goofy movie? Check out Coppola's YOU'RE A BIG BOY NOW. I think that 5,000 FINGERS OF DR. T is one of the really wacky ones also.

When FROM HERE TO ETERNITY played the Loew's Capitol theater in NYC, the theater was open practically around the clock. Shows went on all day until near dawn and then the clean-up crew came in before the next showing at 10am. In its original release, it is said to have pulled in 19 million for Columbia after a final cost of 2.5 million.

I was laughing at it this morning. I felt bad for Paul Kelly, When he commented that those stairs were getting harder to climb, I believed him. He didn't have much longer to go and his last two films were released after he died.

Has TCM shown films with partial nudity or questionable langauage in prime time, daytime, or early evening hours.? But what is "questionable language?" TCM has aired THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY on weekend daytime and in prime time. At one point, Tuco says "I have to pis, it's rough" while riding on the train with the big brutish aide to Angel Eyes. In an early part of the film, Tuco refers to Blondie's mother as a "grande ****." To some I am sure that would be considered questionable. But they would probably be just fine with all of the killings depicted. A certain "N" word can be heard in THE DIRTY DOZEN and IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT - both have run in slots other than late night. Is that "questionable language?" The same word is the name of a dog in THE DAM BUSTERS and was edited in the American theatrical version but it aired on TCM intact. The nudity that I've seen in SERPICO and A ROOM WITH A VIEW on TCM has occurred after midnight. But that would be 9PM on the west coast and thus it's prime time. Are the viewers out there any less sensitive?

Donald Bogle this week, for example, has shown that he's clearly knowledgeable about the movies he's presenting. But boy does his delivery sound off, with pauses in all the wrong places and a very odd tone. I was going to avoid saying anything about the man after what happened to Lorraine Bracco. not that I disagree with the naysayers, but they were dumping her in a hole and covering her with dirt. Bogle reminds me of something once said about a less-than-promising musician. "He's got all the right notes but he's not playing them in tempo or even in the right order." I've given hundreds of marketing presentations and written just as many that I've witnessed delivered by others. There are tricks to making the most mundane subject sound interesting. Molly Haskell was another one - she knew what she was discussing, but her delivery was droning. She had no sense of where to punch her dialogue and where to relax.

While I can say that the film was released on homevideo by MGM/UA, I can't say that I'm fully aware of the present status of the whole library. However, when I saw the person's reference to more UA and AA and less MGM and WB, I'm interpreting that as the original releasing company. With so many UA titles now owned by MGM and AA (and Monogram) titles belonging to WB, there wouldn't be many titles left to consider going by the present distribution company. Of course BillyBrown is always welcome to come along and advise us as to exactly what he meant.

Jonny, just to assure you, I don't take differences of opinion personally. I'm a longtime horseplayer, I make a fair amount of my winnings by looking for where others disagree with me. That's how I catch the longshots. We all bring our own "baggage" to any art form that we're examining. If we don't agree on something today, chances are that we will tomorrow. We have in the past. PS - you've twice referred to me unknowingly in the last 24 hours. I was the one who asked about the B&W NIAGRA trailer a while back and I'm also the one who said in another thread that someone was going to complain about today's frequently recycled titles. So, I'm at least heartened to know that you read my stuff.

Apparently Bette said, "This soap preserves the beauty of my skin." Imagine that line with this photo:

Zinnemann does indeed have several films which concern the effects of the war. I forgot to mention TERESA in that group, but it's a film that I've not seen since 1969. It was a troubled production and Zinnemann didn't get the final cut, but I recall it fondly. FHTE, though very good, isn't the film I'd suggest to convince someone of Zinnemann's excellence. Those would be *Act of Violence, The Nun's Story*, and *The Sundowners*. I would also have to throw in DAY OF THE JACKAL. His skill is easily demonstrated here by the fact that we know that DeGaulle wasn't assassinated, yet there is still a high degree of tension throughout. And here we have this cold-blooded killer who destroys all obstacles, yet in an elaboration of set pieces in Hitchcock's STRANGERS ON A TRAIN or FRENZY, we're just about rooting for the villain to succeed. (I'm referring to Bruno trying to recover his lighter and Rusk attempting to regain his tie pin) We admire his steadfast drive, his professionalism. This from the same man who gave us MY BROTHER TALKS TO HORSES? I'm also high on HIGH NOON, a film that I've seen annually since the time it aired as a special on the day that Gary Cooper died in May 1961. We may object to the characters presented, but rarely have I had the sense in other films that the community depicted are real people. To say that it owes everything to the political undercurrent is almost ridiculous, the film can be enjoyed easily by someone who knows nothing of the period, and may even play better that way. I didn't know a damn thing about HUAC until I was in high school, but I had already seen the film six times by then and it was even then my favorite western. There is a greater sense of an actual community in the church scene alone with minor characters displaying variances of opinion than in most full length films. What faces - Ezra alone just about breaks my heart when I think of his shame in what he sees happening. As brief as their appearances may be, Virginia Christine and John Doucette create real characters. That this film accomplishes all that it does while having been shot in 28 days is remarkable and a testament to all concerned.

I have TCM schedules going back a few years but I could not find it either. Granted, sometimes I didn't update when there was a schedule change, but I'd still say that what I have is 99% accurate.

Sweet Smell of Success is becoming as bad as North By Northwest. We need more United Artists & Allied Artists movies & less MGM & WB. Billy, you remind me of a poster named 3rdManTheme who used to complain about the same thing - the lack of Allied Artists and United Artists movies on the schedule. He was banned for being a bit too belligerent. He claimed that "zero, zilch, nada" women directors were employed in Hollywood and was rather nasty about being corrected - under any circumstance and boy there were plenty of circumstances. By the way, are you aware that SWEET SMELL OF SUCCESS is a United Artists film? So is TRAPEZE which aired earlier as well as SOME LIKE IT HOT which airs later.

WOW!!! Now that, my friend, is trivia!!! Thank you very much for the comment. I saw this film back in the summer of 1966 and I was only 14 years old. Still, when I saw that I could not help but think that I had already seen Best in THE KILLER SHREWS, THE LEFT-HANDED GUN, SHENANDOAH and episodes of THE TWILIGHT ZONE and THE ALFRED HITCHCOCK HOUR. A few years ago, someone mentioned THREE ON A COUCH on a message board on the IMDb, saying that it was one of Lewis' worst, but that it had the best eye candy. So, the bit about Best came back to me and I added it on the film's trivia page there. I do a lot of adding to the IMDb and always get a kick when the same info comes back during the intro to a film on TCM. Granted, it may not be my doing directly, but it pleases me to think that someone is reading my contributions.

I like the film very much, but I've seen it many times and tend to avoid it now. Once a year is enough for me, but I feel that way about my most favorite films. I do tend to think that Fred Zinnemann has been relegated to the sidelines when great directors are mentioned. I think he has a most interesting filmography, one sprinkled with achievements in numerous genres and that his talents were evident from the start through to the end. Maybe if he repeated himself more often, he would be hailed as an auteur. He did examine the effects of war (or an impending one) in films such as this, or THE SEVENTH CROSS, THE SEARCH and THE MEN, but I guess that wan't enough for critics.

Has TCM ever even played TALES FROM THE CRYPT? Are you sure that you have the right channel? I saw it on HBO or TMC last January and Ralph Richardson was there as he should have been and as he was when I first saw it in 1972.

And even that tune was recycled by Columbia as "Yellowstain Blues" in THE CAINE MUTINY.

Because of its pedigree, the film has been featured as part of tributes to Lancaster, Kerr, Sinatra, Reed, Clift, Borgnine and Zinnemann. Pretty soon we'll be down to having either a George Reeves or Robert J. Wilke day in August and the film will be scheduled once again.

Is it my imagination, or has it been shown at least six times in the last 3 months or so? I knew it, see the next to last paragraph: http://forums.tcm.com/message.jspa?messageID=8579457#8579457 But you are right that it airs often, in fact it's been one of the most frequently played titles for the last several years.

Not to sound as if I'm jumping in on the bandwagon, but if you're worried about your kids seeing nuditry at 1am in the morning, there seems to be a lack of parental control in your household. TV is not to be used as a babysitter at any hour of the day. There are far worse things that your children could be exposed to during the afternoon. Have you seen any of the talk shows lately?

The funniest thing about THREE ON A COUCH is that James Best is billed with "introducing" billing - after 16 years in the business.

You would think that with being allergic to garlic, Dracula wouldn't be involved with a Klove. I believe it is "Klove" with a "K." I didn't bother with any of the Hammers today. I saw them all a year ago when TCM aired them and that was recent enough. Had I been home, I might have watched THE MUMMY but the rest of the schedule didn't inspire me to stay home today.

They are also fond of the name "Hans." In REVENGE OF FRANKENSTEIN, EVIL OF FRANKENSTEIN and FRANKENSTEIN CREATED WOMAN, there is a Hans being handy in the cast.

I haven't had FMC now for a year and a half. They moved it to to a pay channel on my Time Warner system and I don't feel their schedule warrants the fee. But perhaps the last Christmas that I had the channel, they were rotating the numerous versions of MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET - two of which were theatrical and two were TV adaptations. I watched the Edmond Gwenn and Thomas Mitchell ones but avoided the others.

They probably got the idea from TNT showing A CHRISTMAS STORY on a 24-hour basis. It must be over a decade since they started doing that. I think it moved over to TBS a few years ago, but I won't be surprised to see one of TCM's sister stations doing it again.