ElCid

You missed it. It was on last night. The interesting thing about it is that Jenny Agutter's name now is usually second in listings. For a long time Farah Fawcet-Majors was often listed first or second before Agutter.

I remember years ago I used to drink wine in a box. Then discovered I was allergic to whatever the bags were made from. Tried several different brands at different times - same result. Now I stick to bottled wine, cork or screw top. Although some corks are actually plastic.

If you need a Noir fix during Feb., try Fox Movie Channel between 3:00 AM and 3:00 PM ET. Usually without any commercials. Also, Movies! TV network frequently shows some noirish movies.

Only learned this in the last few years, but the Buick Electra 225 from 70's was called the 225 because it was 225 inches long - a garage full.

The hardtop nomenclature originally began as hardtop convertible. It gave the appearance of a convertible with the top up, but the top did not come down. Industry later shortened it to hardtop which came to mean a car without the "B" pillar. Ford did have the Skyliner hardtop convertible in 57 and 58, but that is another story.

This the 58 Mercury Montclair 4 door Phaeton. The top did not come off. Mercury was looking for a name to distinguish it from other cars in the line, so they stuck Phaeton on it. Automobile companies are notorious for changing the way car type names are used. Most interesting now is the use of "sedan" for some two door cars. Sedan has traditionally meant a four door car.

In that case, perhaps you should get a DVD or other recording of it? You forget that many people TCM wants to attract have not seen KSM "several times." The insights are new to them. If you want new insights, google KSM and read what is on the internet. Or start a thread here. Don't ask for Ben to be fired and replaced by someone who may not even be interested in the position. Also, do we know who decides what will be said during Ben's intros? Maybe he does not have as much input as you think.

I don't mind Ben at all. He does a good job. Comparing him to Eddie and the Film Noir series is unfair. As noted, Ben has to introduce a lot of different movies, whereas Eddie only introduces ones he likes. Maybe even likes too much. Another factor is that Eddie has much more time to discuss his movies. I'm sure Ben is under greater time constraints. While I enjoy Eddie's intros and outros, I would not want to have to sit through that much on every movie that Ben currently covers. As for the lack of information about King Solomon's Mines, the above is mostly tangential to the movie. And again, there is the time constraint.

Actually there has always been time between one movie and the next that had to be filled. It was unusual for TCM to go from one movie straight to the next because of trying to start them on the half hour or at least the quarter hour. Usually filled in with news from Hollywood in the good old days, promos for upcoming movies, the mini-bio commentaries or shorts. It is just that the wine and backlot ads are so prevalent (and irritating) now. Especially the wine ads. I think it is interesting that your first order will be 12 bottles of wine.

I have this on one of those bad girls DVD sets. It's OK, but not among the best for Heston or Scott.

9:15 AM, Mon., Jan 29. Kill the Umpire. A really good baseball comedy with William Bendix.

He did.

I enjoyed Mueller's comments, although I too think he went overboard in his praise of the movie. But, then he tends to do this since I assume he is somewhat invested in the choices. Sorry, Eddie. Glad I watched and can check it off my list, but not one I will watch again. Ruth Roman did change her character pretty quickly didn't she? A little too quickly, but then it was only a 90 minute "B" movie. As for Cochran, not terribly impressed. He did a fair job, but somehow he would switch from "too good" to "too bad" too quickly. As for the series, I like it but it does seem that Muller finds some really obscure movies that are mediocre to show. Maybe that is the purpose?

I did notice that and it really doesn't bother me. However, it does seem that more people are being chosen for on screen jobs because they have a British/Australian accent. Let's hope she will do a good job. I am one of those who watch the movies and not the "hosts." But I do watch Eddie Muller's intro and outro to the Sunday Noir movies. Sometimes I will watch Ben Mankiewicz's, but usually fast forward if possible.

I tend to think of Ford as an "every man" type of actor, rather than a "dynamic" or forceful actor.

I saw the movie in theater when it first came out and liked it. But I was younger and more easily influenced back then. I think it was the WW II scenario that got to me. Have watched it since, but not in a long time. Definitely a one star movie. Way too long. As for Ford, he is not a dynamic actor, but does quite well in many things. I particularly enjoy him in Affair in Trinidad, Plunder of the Sun, 3:10 to Yuma and some others.

For me, De Niro was way over the top as Max Cady. I like him in lots of roles, but not this one. Maybe its one of those things that the original was so good, the remake can only be inferior. Also, the writer and director contributed to De Niro's playing. One thing was De Niro riding under a vehicle for many, many miles. Totally unbelievable.

When the remake came out we rented it from a video store (for those who remember them). They also had the original on the shelf, so we later rented it. Had seen it when it first came out, but forgotten about it. No cable, no TCM, no AMC at the time. In fact had not had a VCR for very long as they had been pretty expensive in the 70's and early 80's as I remember. Anyway, the original is far superior to the remake in my opinion. Never watch the remake when it comes on TV.

I try to refrain from using terms such as great when discussing actors, directors, movies, etc. Especially people. There are some that are very good in many things, but not so good in others. Therefore in my opinion, they are not great. Semantics; yes, but it gets me by. As for movies, I try not to think of them as great either. I found Lawrence of Arabia entertaining and a very good movie. Very good screenplay, directing, acting, photography, etc. But I have not watched it in many years because it is too damn long. Same with Exodus and many more. Interestingly, Gone With the Wind used to be called the greatest movie ever made. Not so much now. But nothing about the movie has changed.

Never used TCM On Demand on website as I would have to create yet another website account. Guess I will have to at some point.

It helps when the title shows a date rather than "tomorrow." For info, this is now an obsolete title as tomorrow was 6:00 AM Jan 22.

In addition to the movies already mentioned other good ones are: The Big Steal (my favorite), Macao and His Kind of Woman. Big Steal co-stars were Jane Greer and William Bendix, Macao co-stars were Jane Russel and Bendix and Woman co-stars were Russel and Vincent Price. El Dorado with John Wayne is one of my wife's favorites (and mine). I think he was much better than Wayne. The Wonderful Country is another of my favorites. Mitchum was far cooler than McQueen in my opinion. The great thing about Mitchum was that you could believe him no matter what the role. Which sort of brings up Farewell My Lovely. Some talk here in the past that he was too old or too worn out for the role, compared to Dick Powell in the earlier version. Personally I think Mitchum was great in FML. While he may have been older than the book's character, he made the role believable.

I agree. I watch the intros mostly to find out about the movie itself and something interesting about the actors as it pertains to the movie. Or something special about the movie. There is already a ton of information about actors such as Mitchum and Garfield. Also having their relatives discuss them is too biased for me. Not looking for dirt, but objectivity.

Not relevant, but funny. Saw on the Weather Channel where the alligators in coastal NC were having problems with ice freezing over the swamps. They managed to poke a hole big enough to get nose through for breathing and then go in hibernation mode. Showed pictures of one guy (Wildlife agent?) using a hammer to enlarge the breathing holes and petting the gator's nose.

I get a lot of DVD catalogs and most have a noir or mystery or similar section. The DVD covers or posters featured are nothing like the movie. On a similar note, the pulp fiction books of yore were the same. Many noirs were made from these books. Hardcase Crime (http://hardcasecrime.com/) is a publisher who specializes in reprinting old mystery books and new books in the same style. The covers are specially done for the new issues. The covers are similar to above on almost all of them. Cover of a new issue of an oldie below. I have read most of the books from HC and pretty enjoyable, with some exceptions. Most recent covers are at http://hardcasecrime.com/books_bios.cgi