AndyM108

Interwesting. By the way, have you seen Wancho Natawious? All joking aside, it's a film I saw wecent...a few months ago and than re-watched some of again when it re-aired recently and I really liked it a lot. Never seen it, since Westerns are just about at the bottom of my interest list and my eyes usually glaze right over them on the TCM schedule, but now that I know it's a Lang film I'll catch it the next time it shows up. Thanks for the tip.

I'm a big fan of George Sanders but I can see logical reasons why he isn't SOTM; In his most famous films Sanders isn't the lead actor. I don't think it has anything to do with Sanders NOT being a traditional hero, but instead that his best work was as a supporting player. IOW he's not a "star" in the same sense that Cooper (groan) or Rooney (triple groan) or the Hepburns (both of whom I love) were. I get it, but I'd like to think that the concept of SOTM could be expanded to go beyond that limited category, especially considering that half of them didn't have half his acting talent. Others have made the same point about other actors such as Susan Hayward, and I'd agree that Sanders isn't the only one who's been ignored for superficial reasons, but IMO his omission stands out more than any other.

Just curious- because I like your style- what are your favorite Fitz Lang films? God, where to begin? I'll restrict myself to ten, but I've yet to see a Lang movie I didn't like, and at least four of the ones below might be among my favorite 50 films of all time, with Ministry of Fear and The Big Heat knocking on the door. Dr. Mabuse/The Gambler Metropolis Spione M The Testament of Dr. Mabuse Liliom Moontide Ministry of Fear The Big Heat The Blue Gardenia I've never seen The 1000 Eyes of Dr. Mabuse, and I only hope TCM will eventually get around to showing it. The only director I'd put above Lang is Kurosawa, and the only other one who's even in the same neighborhood would be Hitchcock. I only wish we could see more of his Weimar era films.

I don't want to alter what others wrote. The only alteration I make when quoting others is to boldface a particular section. I may be the only one here who never uses the quote tab, because I don't trust it not to malfunction. I still use the former method where above your own comment you just copy and paste the parts of the comment you want to respond to, and then italicize them in order to indicate that the words aren't yours. The only disadvantage is that it doesn't automatically indicate the name of the person to whom you're responding, but if that's important (which it usually isn't), you can always add that information separately.

THE WOMAN IN THE WINDOW is rarely shown anywhere. In the last 5 years I saw it once shown on PBS. Luckily I've always had both tapes. FWIW The Woman in the Window was shown on TCM on November 7, 2010. Not quite five years, but close enough. Although I seem to remember having the chance to record it again before last night, but decided against it. Neither it nor Scarlet Street are among my favorite noirs, and they're nowhere near my favorite Fritz Langs.

But I have to admit I am underinformed about her film career. I wonder if TCM can/would sponsor a day or evening of a representative sample of her films. Given that she appeared in 60 feature films, I'd think that this would be the least that TCM could do, perhaps on October 27th, which would have been her 92nd birthday. They've scheduled similar tributes to scores of lesser actors and actresses over the years.

Duryea was to me, a lovable slimeball. I hope he wouldn't be insulted by this if he were alive to hear it, but I never saw him as the truly terrifying and psychopathic weirdo that, say, Widmark could play so well. If I had to be alone in an alley with one of these guys, I'd take Duryea over Widmark. I'd be genuinely scared Widmark would kill me, maybe torture me first. Duryea would just give one of those snarky laughs of his, and probably let me go if I gave him five bucks. As I like to make note of about once every few months, Widmark, Duryea and the often psychopathic racist onscreen villain Robert Ryan may have been the three best family men in Hollywood, whereas the pious onscreen saint Bing Crosby was one of the worst. You can't beat a good publicity department.

Not only was Ruby Dee a terrific actress over the course of well over half a century, but it should also be noted that she and her late husband Ossie Davis formed one of the great performing arts couples of all time. Married for 57 years, other than Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward it's hard to think of any similarly situated couple that led such completely full lives. R.I.P. Ms. Dee.

For me, Dan Duryea is one of the great fun heels of the movies. I guess, no matter how dispicable his character may be, I can somehow never really hate Duryea. When he died in the movies, as he often did, I used to think, "Thanks Dan, for the great ride you gave us." That's why I created a tribute thread to him last year. But my deep appreciate of "Slimy Dan," as I called him, started with these two Lang films, which were crucial in boosting his career. Tom, I couldn't agree more, and in fact Duryea would be a great pick for a future SUTS day. And since you asked, here's a 24 hour lineup that might be the greatest day of noirs and gangster movies TCM has ever presented. It'd be a relief after all these musicals and Rock Hudson movies. You might have to cut one or two to fit the schedule, but it'd depend on the framing. Ball of Fire (1942) Sahara (1943) Ministry of Fear (1944) The Woman in the Window (1944) Scarlet Street (1945) Lady on a Train (1945) The Great Flamarion (1945) Black Angel (1946) Manhandled (1949) Too Late For Tears (1949) IMO this is Duryea's best film, if not his best performance. Criss Cross (1949) One Way Street (1950) Terror Street (1953) World For Ransom (1954) Storm Fear (1954) In which Duryea plays a cuckolded failed novelist Slaughter on Tenth Avenue (1957) Night Passage (1957) And please don't spoil my fantasy by telling me how many of these titles are unavailable. A fella can dream, can't he?

Ladd and Colbert are both getting SUTS days in August, and Kerr's already been SOTM twice. We get enough repeats as it is.

Please excuse this test: Моє судно на повітряній подушці наповнене вуграми I should have no problems! I once put my "entire French section" on display in one of my book shop's windows. The titles were "****!" and "**** Encore!" So does the autocensor speakka da snail? Let's see. (Curses, foiled again! Or as the French might say, "M e r d e encore!")

I doubt if the autocensor would ever approve Edward G. Robinson's original dying line in Little Caesar: M##########r of Mercy, is this the end of Rico? Nah, didn't think so.

Movie decency when I was growing up was dictated by the state. Only movies which were approved by the state could be shown. Sexual content was of little importance in approval. Major standard for approval was adherence to: "good people work for the common good and bad people want material objects." So in which country did you grow up?

So, did anyone set their recorders for an ultra-rare opportunity to get this small but quite special movie? Hey, do birds eat worms? I wouldn't have missed it for anything. ------------------------------------------ I did. And I think it would make a perfect double-feature with the Joan Crawford picture A WOMAN'S FACE. I see the connection, but a better pairing for that movie would be Dark Passage, since both of them involve criminal coverup plots rather than public shunning. Face of Fire is more of a variant of The Scarlet Letter, or other movies where the real shame is in the community's reaction to an event rather than anything that the protagonist has done.

I think winning an Oscar, which for members of the film community is their highest award IS meaningful to them. True. Now, maybe not you or me, And even more true, at least for me. I doubt if more than a small fraction of my favorite movies ever won a non-honorary Oscar. Nor did Barbara Stanwyck or Cary Grant. Oscars are little more than a popularity contest and a marketing gimmick.

If anyone ever wanted to see death portrayed realistically, they should check out Alain Resnais' Night and Fog (1955), which just played on TCM earlier this month. That's a movie that should be played in prime time during each and every war movie festival. But that's a documentary. When it comes to the usual fictional depiction of death other than in Itchy and Scratchy cartoons, I think a little bit of gore goes a long way, and beyond that it's mostly a case of the filmmaker trying to draw attention to himself. The final shootout in Bonnie and Clyde and the many depictions of wholesale mayhem in The Wild Bunch come close to crossing that line between honesty and exhibitionism, especially considering the extreme improbability of the "losing side" being able to hold out as long as was the case in either of those movies. The shootout scenes in those two films were more like those Hollywood fistfights where two middle aged men are somehow able to spring up to their feet instantly after being hit with thirty hard rights to the jaw and a few flying chairs. It makes for great drama but not much for realism. OTOH when it comes to "real" war movies like Come and See, or Letters From Iwo Jima, then Hollywood exaggeration isn't necessary to get the point across, while at the same time there's no need to hold back for the sake of disturbing the kiddies. Films like those really hit the sweet spot.

And Andy, while I got the feelin' your post here was offered up in sort of a tongue-in-cheek fashion, Don't shoot, mister, ya got me! And yes, my initial list was just a bit of fun I was having, a combination of shooting first and thinking later, along with a few of my own biases. It wasn't an attempt at any serious consideration of the Western or neo-Western or revisionist Western genres, a discussion for which I'm completely unqualified both by lack of knowledge and lack of interest. Apologies to anyone who feels that they need one.

I don't disagree with your premise but the idea that there are only Cowboys AND Indians disqualifies a lot of great westerns. Same for color films but I get that it is like WWII films in color. After seeing so many films, real footage and Hollywood, to see it in color seems distracting. Well, you'll note that I said "real" Westerns, by which I meant "classic" Westerns that those of us of a certain age use to devour on Saturday afternoons for 35¢. You know, the kind where villains who got shot full of holes only grunted and said "just grazed an artery". But okay, now that I think about it, neither of my two favorite Westerns (The Naked Spur and The Violent Men) have any Indians that I can remember. And uh, oh, they're also both in color. Guess we have to scratch that requirement as well. So much for writing off the top of my head. But it must feature horses. No exceptions.

Did Rock Hudson ever make a good movie? Sure, though not as many as about 100 to 200 other actors or actresses, from the silent era to the present day. I could probably take a deep breath and list about 30 or 40 of them before coming up for air, but I don't want to be snarky.

A "real" Western has to have these characteristics: 1. Cowboys and Indians 1a. In case of a final showdown shootout, the cowboys have to win. 1b. Alternately, the good guy Indians help the good guy cowboys foil the bad guy cowboys. 2. Transportation solely by horse 3. Black and white film only 4. Any character known as a "dude" is by definition a villain 5. Girls can be either frightened pacifists or six-shooting tomboys, but if they're under 30 they also have to be eye candy. But if they're over 40 they're allowed to smoke cigars or spit tobacco. This is for the purpose of arousing cigarjoe. In addition, a "real" Western must have one of three endings: ---Cowboy rides off into sunset ---Cowboy kisses or marries girl ---Cowboy kisses horse And all traces of moral ambiguity are to be wiped out before the final shootout. No exceptions.

There is an even more outrageous nuke PSA shown on TCM, don't recall the title. It makes the claim that having your house in good condition, including the paint, can help it survive a nuclear blast! I guess that people were ignorant about nukes enough then, that they could believe that stuff. Even they weren't as bad as those early Formica ads that claimed that they repelled radiation.

Regarding Eva, you become a good friend of TCM, you get to be SOTM. That's the way the world works. Obviously true, and it probably explains quite a few marginal SOTM selections. And it's kind of hard to interview George Sanders or Lon Chaney.

Very early this morning TCM aired the 1950s short "Duck and Cover" that was intended to teach kids what to do to survive an atomic bomb attack, specifically to "duck and cover." I wonder if this was taken seriously at the time or was considered humorous by the audience. Well, it was supposed to be taken seriously, but in my 50's elementary school in Washington, we took it about as seriously as those mandatory Bible readings we were forced to roll our eyes through every day. We went through the motions but that was about it. The truth is that the only time during the Cold War where we ever really felt any imminent danger of a possible nuclear attack was the week of the Cuban missile crisis in 1962. BTW if you ever want to see a great comedy set during that week of terror, check out the 1993 John Goodman flick Matinee.

George Sanders. Stop making excuses for why the most distinctive Hollywood actor who's never had even a SUTS day is being left out in the cold once again. TCM could easily fill a month with movies had major roles in. Nothing against Eva Marie Saint, but her film repertory pales in comparison. I get the strong feeling sometimes that Sanders gets bypassed simply because he wasn't a traditional hero or a particularly charismatic / sexy anti-hero, and in part because he's also not around to be interviewed. He just happened to be a supreme craftsman with a talent for enhancing every movie he was in, but for whatever reason that sort of actor doesn't seem to appeal to any particular sub-demographic of the TCM core audience. Pity that.

By coincidence, I finally got around to watching The Wild Bunch just the other night. Terrific acting, especially by Ryan and Borgnine, very good character development, and an absolutely perfect final resolution with the human vultures riding off into the sunset. The irony was ladled on pretty thick, but the look on Ryan's face as he got up to join them made the entire movie worth the viewing time. That was one great actor. BUT-----once you've seen one 10,000 round shootout you've seen em all. Influential, maybe, but not in all that interesting a way.