AndyM108

My sense is that the role called for the sort of over the top character that both of these actors portrayed, and that they both did terrific jobs of it. True. I guess I just like Muni better than Pacino. Pacino is such a ham, to me. As for mush-mouth Brando, meh. I can see your take on Pacino, but in that regard Muni was the original Joseph Tura.

That's what I figured might be your objection to the film. You know, as it is, when this film premiered at Radio City Music Hall, half the audience walked out because of the interracial relationship between Meagan(Stanwyck) and Yen. It lost a lot of money. Now imagine if an Asian actor had been cast instead of Nils Asther, what that reaction would have been. And imagine what Joe Breen's reaction would have been if he'd been in charge of the Production Code in 1932. Ouch! I agree with your disliking having white actors playing other ethnic groups most times, but Asther did a good job with the role and yes I'm also sure Capra really had no choice in casting this way and his hand was forced.If you can get past that, you might want to take another look at this interesting film. Strictly because of my love of Stanwyck and Walter Connolly, I've now tried watching General Yen three times, but the last two times I couldn't make it all the way through, for the same reason I didn't like it the first time around. Now Ruby Keeler as James Cagney's "Shanghai Lil" (which I'm running downstairs to watch in a minute or two), that's another story, but in that case we're talking about a lighthearted musical number and not the central plot of the movie.

You consider EXECUTIVE SUITE an Allyson movie? She is about the 12th most imporatnt cast member. I consider Executive Suite an "Allyson movie" because it was shown as part of her SOTM tribute. Nothing more and nothing less. She was fine but not exceptionally so in that relatively minor role. But my point is that Allyson played in a number of movies that I liked, and with the exception of Miracle on 34th Street, which is more an exception than anything else, O'Hara played in the genres I avoid. I only wish that she'd been cast in a few contemporary urban dramas, so that I would be interested in watching her.

I hate this film and Pacino in it. It's just so over-the-top that I find it annoying. I'm a pretty big De Palma fan (not so much Pacino), but this one is just unwatchable, to me. I do love De Palma/Pacino - CARLITO'S WAY, however. I agree with you about Carlito's Way, but if you think that Pacino is over the top in Scarface, what about Muni's performance in the original version? It's not as if Muni was foreshadowing Marlon Brando's Don Corleone as the embodiment of softspoken mobsters. My sense is that the role called for the sort of over the top character that both of these actors portrayed, and that they both did terrific jobs of it.

Sorry about the confusion, LavenderBlue. I always separate my responses to different people's comments with one of these -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- As for General Yen, I'm just not a fan of casting white men in sexually charged non-white parts, when one of the reasons was that the film industry wanted to eat its cake and have it, too. It wanted to portray cross-racial attraction without bringing forth the censors who would have balked at the same plot if General Yen had been played by an Asian actor. I realize why they'd feel they were forced to make such a casting, but the whole thing just leaves me with a bad taste. It has nothing to do with either Stanwyck's or Asther's performances.

I thought Robert Osborne's comment a couple of years ago about A GREAT MAN'S LADY was that it was a TCM premiere but maybe it was more along the lines that it was not a Stanwyck movie that was played often or was very well known. Just for the record, A Great Man's Lady was shown in the 8:00 PM prime time slot, on Wednesday 9/8/2010. I make note of the time and date every time I record a movie, and that's when I recorded this one. I like SO BIG a lot. It's another example where one should not believe the Leonard Maltin review. Totally agree on both counts. So Big is one of my top 10 Stanwycks, one of the ones I can watch repeatedly without having it go stale on me. IMO that was her first truly transcendent performance, though she'd had plenty of very good ones before it.

A Great Man's Lady played in September of 2010, and I don't think it was a premiere then. Fine performance by Stanwyck, though I liked a similar "aging" role that she had in the 1932 So Big a lot better.

Just saw this mindblowing movie tonight, with an extraordinary performance by a child actor. TCM should go after it with a vengeance. Thomas Doret in The Kid With a Bike

mr6666Posted Today, 07:32 PM airs Thurs., 7-17 under Crime Remakes: following Scarface ('32) w/Paul Muni 2:00 am ET C- 170 min war Scarface (1983) A determined Cuban immigrant takes over a drug cartel while succumbing to greed in this adaptation of "Scarface" (1932). Dir: Brian De Palma Cast: Al Pacino , Steven Bauer , Michelle Pfeiffer . ARTICLE: http://www.tcm.com/t...e/articles.html I am SO glad that we're finally getting this. I rented it from Netflix a few months ago after having seen the Muni original 4 or 5 times. IMO the Pacino version is easily the better of the two, though the Muni's pretty d a m n good in its own right, as one of the Big Three groundbreaking gangster flicks of the early sound era. Too bad it's showing in the middle of the night, but if they tried it in prime time we'd probably have half the people around here dying of apoplexy and threatening legal action. It's not exactly Family Fare.

Andy, not even MIRACLE ON 34th STREET? That's very surprising, that's standard fare for the holiday season. Okay, I did like that movie, but as I hadn't seen it for several years I'd pretty much forgotten the cast other than Natalie Wood, and even in her case it's only because it got mentioned so often in one of those tributes to her. Like I said for me this was a great day. They maybe "50's cheapies" but anytime I get to see George Sanders as a killer, Raymond Burr as a very mean guy (not to mention Sterling with Barbara), and Cagney and Stanwyck in the only film they ever made together, I'm there, and happy. You and me both. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I guess in that case. But they arent some of her better films......(aside from Yen).....50s cheapies, The Cagney one isnt bad; though Barbara doesnt have much to do in it......... Guess it's just a matter of taste, since General Yen is one of only about 3 Stanwycks I don't like, out of the 65 or so I've seen. IMO Witness to Murder is every bit as good as the much more celebrated Rear Window, mainly because Stanwyck is light years over Grace Kelly as an actress. And These Wilder Years may be her most underrated movie----the way she does more with less in that film in terms of conveying wordless emotions is one of the many ways she demonstrates just how far above the crowd her talent took her. It's kind of a potboiler plot, but the acting brings it way beyond the script.

Great interviews with the greatest actress of all time. Didn't you also post these last year, or some other time before that? If it wasn't you, then someone else must have, because they've been put up here before.

I was watching today's programming since it is Barbara Stanwyck's birthday but am disappointed that all the movies of her they are showing are from 1950's! While her best movies belong to 30s and 40s period I mean best movies came from mid 30s to mid 40s (beside the silent/20's films like Chaplin or Keaton etc. era which were fantastic) the films made after 48-49 were mostly junk. In the 50s they mostly glorified crimes and murder along with gangs and mobs street crimes etc... in the 60's they glorified sex and so in the 70s +murder, & 80s ++murder and a lot more horror films and in 90s more of the same etc... The good scripts were and are mostly thing of the past.(few 50s and 60s exceptions) I wished the TCM programmers showed little more better taste in selecting movies. why couldn't they show Meet John Doe or Stella Dallas or other fantastic Stanwyck movies? "I'm Joseph I. Breen, and I approve this message." PS I think it is a disgrace that she never won an Oscar for any or all her performances! Well, on that I think we will all agree.

Well isn't it kind of hard to judge an actor if you only seen one of their movies? Like I said, I understand the genre factor but as others have pointed out O'Hara did make movies outside of Pirate \ fantasy type pictures and westerns. I have seen these and O'Hara is very good in them. But I'm not judging O'Hara as an actor, for the simple reason that I have no interest in the movies she was in. For all I know she may be the greatest actor in history, but as long as all I see her acting in is the sort of genres I don't like, I'll never know one way or the other. I did see her in The Quiet Man, but the movie turned me off (I don't find John Wayne or Barry Fitzgerald particularly charming) so completely I tried to put it out of my mind as quickly as possible. In this case O'Hara was mostly an innocent bystandress. And Allyson is about as close to a cipher as I can imagine, a programmer-level actress who happened to be in a few movies I liked. She played Holden's wife well enough in Executive Suite, and maybe if O'Hara had been in a movie on that level I'd have an opinion of her as an actor.

I've read this entire thread and I don't think I've missed anything. I find it very telling that not one person has mentioned the most famous and popular (for her time) child actress of all, Shirley Temple. No, I'm not really a fan, but I don't loathe her either. I neither hate nor like her.I just think it's interesting that she was, as I said, overwhelmingly the biggest child star ever, in terms of popularity and fame, and she's not been cited once here, not even in a negative way. I don't have anything against our curly haired wonder, but she was never one of my favorites, either. Give me Sybil Jason any day. Shirley would probably be somewhere around 20th or 25th on my all-time list of child stars. (So there, I've mentioned her.)

There's a great article about FOR THE DEFENSE at the TCM database. The writer mentions her masculine haircut which I think looks great. She's chic, feminine and androgynous in this picture. Glad the story does not take place in a moral universe. It's a work of fiction about people who exist in grey areas, and the article writer goes over some of that. http://www.tcm.com/t...e/articles.html FOR THE DEFENSE will air again on September 12th. Good tout, TB. Read the article, and I agree that it not only does the movie justice, it does a very good job of framing it in context. I watched For The Defense on Monday night and enjoyed it anyway, but this TCM piece added to my appreciation of it.

Forget abiut her movies. Are you saying that Allyson herself is more bearable than Williams or O'Hara?. If so, that leaves me scratching my head to the extent that my scalp may just disappear. Bearable as what? Pin-up girls? I've never seen any Williams movies, and the only O'Hara I've seen (The Quiet Man) I loathed. Again, both of them were used almost exclusively in my least favorite genres, and so their personal charms are irrelevant. OTOH I've seen at least a few Allyson movies that were either great (Executive Suite), very good (Right Cross) or at least uncringeworthy (The Reformer and the Redhead), which means that in this particular comparison, the one eyed woman is Queen.

Here's one I can't believe I forgot. Anyone who was a kid in the New York City of the 40's through the early 60's would identify with Richie Andrusco. I can't ever remember seeing it on TCM.

I strongly suspect there are more than a few TCM fans out there who might also remember the 90's TV series set in Cleveland, the one that was introduced every week by one of Johnny Mercer's most beloved compositions.

Hmmmm...kinda sums up the feelings I've had for a certain Christmas perennial about a guy who wishes he was never born and since I first started watching it YEARS before NBC jumped on the bandwagon and purchased the rights to show it every year! (...yep, I ALWAYS knew Capra was doin' what he was doin', but DANG IT, I fall for that flick of his every single time 'cause it's done SO darn well) I love It's a Wonderful Life more than almost any Hollywood movie I know, and I think it's because in this movie, Capra shows that he knows the difference between "honest" sentimentalism and the phony kind. Can anyone think of a film that better blends the spirit of a strong personality with the spirit of community? Of course the whole thing is aspirational rather than statistically realistic (not even mentioning the Angel bit), but it's one of those movies that beautifully expresses the possibilities of what we stupid humans can accomplish if we'd only open up and listen to our better selves and tell the Mr. Potters of the world to take a hike. I only wish that NBC hadn't bought it up and stuffed it with commercials, but fortunately there are still plenty of inexpensive DVDs floating around to provide an alternative.

Since you're not a fan of musicals I'm somewhat surprised by your Allyson comment. I'm also not a big fan of musicals (other then the WB gritty ones and the Astaire\Rogers films from the 30's). So even if I was to like Allyson as an actress there would still be few her movies that I would list as favorites. I agree 100% about Esther Williams, but O'Hara was in some fine films and a few great ones (discounting the pirate films which I know you're not a fan of). Here's my take on SOTM choices that leave me less than thrilled, a category that would include June Allyson, Maureen O'Hara, Esther Williams, and about half of the choices in any given year: If I read the synopsis of one of their movies and decide it's not likely I'll want to see it, I just don't watch it and hope that others will enjoy it. In the case of O'Hara, it's not O'Hara herself that I have anything against, it's the sort of genres that she was always cast in. In the entire month, she doesn't appear in a single contemporary urban drama set in the United States. Let's just say that's not the sort of star that I gravitate towards. Anyhow it is likely that O'Hara was SOTM as a tribute to her coming to the TCM event last year (not that I feel she didn't deserve to be SOTM but her being alive and all could of pushed her ahead of others). Live and let live, I say. I don't have any problem with Maureen or June or Esther or even (holding my nose with an atomic powered clothespin) Mickey Rooney being SOTM, as long as (1) they only get chosen once a decade, and (2) The people who love them don't p & m when TCM at other times shows "obscure" or "artsy" movies that they don't like.

My heart will always be with Sybil Jason in Little Big Shot and The Captain's Kid, but there are a starting eleven of ohers that come to mind, in a mix of brutally realistic and more typical Hollywood roles: Mohamed Ben Kassen as the boy Omar in The Battle of Algiers Margaret O'Brien in Meet Me in St. Louis Ivan Jandl in The Search Virginia Weidler in The Philadelphia Story Edmund Moeschke in Germany: Year Zero Tatum O'Neal in Paper Moon Jean-Pierre Leaud in The 400 Blows - He never should've grown up The entire cast of Our Gang, AKA The Little Rascals Fernando Ramos da Silva as the title character in Pixote Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz Jodi Foster in Taxi Driver

Ok that was funny but the real question here is; why is it taking so long for TCM to lease additional Hayward films so they can give Hayward the STOM treatment she deserves. Don't get me wrong. If I had a free hand in choosing the upcoming SOTM, I'd put Hayward second in line, behind only George Sanders. But I also don't have anything particular against Allyson, whose movies are a lot more bearable to me than SOTM honorees like Esther Williams or the current Maureen O'Hara.

Love the way Jerry pushes Kramer's head around with the golf club. And the way that Newman and Kramer so quickly and willingly go along with being the props in Jerry's mocking "re-enactment".

1942 wasn't great, but it wasn't as bad as 1943. 1942 Top 10: 1. The Hard Way (my favorite Lupino movie) 2. The Glass Key 3. This Gun For Hire 4. Casablanca 5. In This Our Life (Bette Davis as pure evil) 6. Johnny Eager 7. Tales of Manhattan (another movie that TCM needs to get from Fox) 8. Moontide (I'll take Gabin and Lupino over any screen couple) 9. Orchestra Wives 10. Rings on Her Finger (another great Laird Cregar performance) Best of the rest: Now, Voyager, Juke Girl, The Man Who Came to Dinner, To Be Or Not To Be, All Through the Night (dirty Nattzis and Fifth Col-yoo-mists!) Underrated: Everything from 5 through 10 on the above list Worst Movie: The sound version of The Gold Rush. What on Earth was Charlie Chaplin thinking? It's as if he took a perfect prime rib and dunked it in cold brine and mayonnaise. Best Actor: Humphrey Bogart (Casablanca) Best Actress: Ida Lupino (The Hard Way) Supporting Actor: Laird Cregar (This Gun For Hire) Supporting Actress: Joan Leslie (The Hard Way) But 1943 was like jumping off a cliff: Even if you moved Casablanca from 1942 it wouldn't change things very much. 1. Old Acquaintance - the only movie of 1943 I'd have put on a top 10 list in any other year. 2. Crime Doctor - the first of the highly enjoyable Warner Baxter series 3. Mr. Lucky 4. Stormy Weather - a piece of fluff, but what a cast! 5. Frank Capra's Why We Fight series - propaganda, but at least it was up front about it and hence much more interesting 6. The Dark Tower 7. After Midnight With Boston B l a c k i e - another great comic detective series, featuring one of my favorite B-movie actors (Chester Morris) 8. Heaven Can Wait - damn, did Laird Cregar ever die way too young! 9. Thank Your Lucky Stars - no plot whatever, but of course that wasn't the point for this all-star cast 10. What a Woman! - only because of Roz Russell's performance Best of the rest: none Underrated: none Overrated: Shadow of a Doubt Best Actor: Cary Grant (Mr. Lucky) Best Actress: Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins (Old Acquaintance) Supporting Actor: Fats Waller (Stormy Weather) Supporting Actress: can't think of any that stood out

...and June Allyson is Marv Throneberry. That's a bit mean. I'd say she's more like Freddy Lindstrom or Rube Marquard, not terrible players but decidedly marginal honorees.