mrroberts

While I'll always be grateful for the William Powell month just last year I am rather shocked that he has never had a SUTS day. This HAS to be done this coming year. And I am always supportive of bring some new blood into the SUTS roster, some good character actors/actresses would do nicely. --- I would also like to see TCM start a new event; one month with each day dedicated to honoring a particular year (each day a different year). Today all films from 1955, tomorrow 1948, etc. Even the little in-between fill in stuff (like newsreels) could be from the same year. And the films for each year don't have to be the big time ones, just a nice cross section of A -pictures, B-pictures, a musical, a noir, a comedy , etc. One 24 hour slice of living in that year.

*Pickup On South Street* is a favorite of mine, I even put out the big bucks for the criterion DVD. The storyline is a little hokey but the casting more than makes up for it. Richard Widmark is at his best, Jean Peters (who I adore) plays it "trashy" and "classy" at the same time (like my gal Lee Remick in Anatomy Of A Murder). And finally there's the always excellent Thelma Ritter doing her usual excellent work (somehow she should have gotten an Oscar win sometime, this would have been as good a time as any). Don't ever waste your time on the 60's remake of this one, even the beautiful Jacky Bisset can't save it.

I think that Jerry the Mouse was by far the BEST.

A lot of those "classic " movies we all love so well often make references to small cities in the northeast that were also railroad stops in the old days; Albany, Schenectady, Scranton, Altoona, etc. And that also comes from the old vaudeville routines like the Three Stooges "Slowly I Turn, Niagara Falls" bit. Moe Howard, "I almost caught up to you in Pittsburgh", etc.

Current tv ad for T Mobile service; "One, two, Kalamazoo, three, four Jersey Shore, etc."

Are we talking about the skier guy here?

*Best Years Of Our Lives* is truly a superior classic film. Deserves multiple viewing because of its complexity and the outstanding performances of its cast members. And it is in many ways a timeless film too.

I don't believe many would say that the first "Thin Man" was the "best". The great success of the first film made it possible to budget more money for each of the later films (which all made a nice profit). The later films were shaped by what the audience wanted to see most ; the interactions of Nick and Nora with the murder mystery in the background. I like all 6 films very much, ranking them is like splitting hairs for me. I believe most would rate the second film *After The Thin Man* with Jimmy Stewart as the "best"; the next one *Another Thin Man* seems the weakest entry. I personally would take the next one , 1941's *Shadow Of The Thin Man* , as my favorite. it has Donna Reed in it and brings back Lt Abrams (Sam Levene). His character works well with Powell's Nick Charles, giving an added bonus. And of course there's always Asta (played by several different dogs). Asta manages to steal most scenes he's in, no easy feat. But William Powell always seems easy to work with and he doesn't mind being upstaged.

Lets not forget, Jack Carson was another gift to us from our great northern neighbor, Canada.

As others here have said, I like *Rio Bravo* / *El Dorado* mostly as entertaining films. The attempts to build up tension between the Duke and "Dude" are way over the top, I think the light hearted relationship that Wayne and Mitchum have works a lot better. The whole feel of *El Dorado* makes it a more fun, entertaining story then the first version. On the whole I like both movies a lot, but *Gunfight At The O K Corral* beats them both.

Not again? They show this all the time . Besides I bought the dvd last year.

Basil Rathbone had a great authoritative (and I looked that word up too ) voice that was well suited for Sherlock Holmes as well as Basil's many great villains. I would also suggest William Powell and Edward G Robinson, their years of stage work helped them make the move into talking pictures.

How about the Cagney movie *White Heat* ? Fed agent Edmond O Brien puts a tracking device on the crooks' truck so the feds can follow them to their crime scene.

Actually TCM does repeats as a public service. It gives some people a reason to go outside and get some fresh air. Seriously, does anyone watch the tv 24/7 ? When TCM repeats *North By Northwest* at 4 AM, I am in bed anyway.

Fred, I would say that the "Bullitt" chase was in part inspired by the final scenes in *The Lineup* which was filmed in San Francisco almost a decade earlier. One of my favorite "chases" is in the Bogart film *High Sierra* 1941 , very realistically done too. I would agree that *The French Connection* took things to another level, filmed in busy real traffic conditions. If I recall, they took a lot of real risks doing that too. The same group did *The Seven Ups* a few years later, that chase sequence hit the high level mark in my book.

Misswonderly and I are both big Richard Widmark fans ( for different reasons I assume ) . I put *Pickup On South Street* on my favorites list because of Widmark and the "muffin" Jean Peters. And of course the always "adorable" Thelma Ritter. Edited by: mrroberts on Jul 13, 2012 11:32 AM

"The Mighty Quinn" is one of those 45's that I ran out to buy and then literally played it to death ( wore the poor thing out and the record needle as well. ) I don't believe I have it on any of my many cd "hits compulations" . I will have to remedy that situation.

*Under Capricorn* is Hitchcock hitting a weak blooper single over the shortstop's head. It pales in comparison to Hitch's many towering home runs , or his line drive doubles off of the wall.

This certainly is very sad news for all of us movie/TV fans. Mr Borgnine was a fine actor and an even finer gentleman. I never had the pleasure of meeting him or seeing him in person. Most everything I have read about him says he was a true 1st class man. And he lived his life to the fullest right to very near the end. So while we are sad, we should also be very happy for him and his family and friends. He lived a very good and long life and had a positive impact on us all. I salute you "Lt Commander McHale" , maybe he's out watersking behind PT 73 as I am typing here.

Just do a search on wikipedia for "Korean war films" . *Bridges at Toko Ri* with William Holden is a favorite film of mine.

In *Shadow of The Thin Man* , Nick Charles goes for a ride with Nick Jr, and guess who gets dizzy from the experience? And Asta gets in the act as well.

I think I may have answered a similar question on a long ago thread; the first ladies to get my attention were spy gals April Dancer (Stefanie Powers) and Agent 99 (Barbara Feldon). I was around 10 / 11 at the time.

I like so many Cagney movies but my favorite is *The Strawberry Blonde* (he plays on the Cagney tough guy image so well and has a terrific supporting cast.) TCM should play it a lot more often.

Jean Peters ; been a fan of hers since I saw *Niagara* years ago on tv. Jean was certainly a looker (more the girl next door type) but she always showed a lot of ability as an actress. A real shame she gave up her career so soon, barely 30 years old. I believe she could have had a long successful career. Edited by: mrroberts on May 21, 2012 8:02 PM

My free time has been quite limited these past few months, but I am recording many of the McCrea films for future viewing. Hopefully I can see some of them in the not too distant future so as to get in on some discussions here. It is great to see that TCM has gotten a lot of these early "talkies" , I can imagine some of them have not aired for a long, long time. Maybe won't be shown again for quite a while too.