GRAND PRIX on Turner Classic Movies
May 7th, 2008 by Andre Soares
Wednesday, May 8, highlights on Turner Classic Movies:
John Frankenheimer’s speed-racing epic, Grand Prix, boasts an all-star cast, split screens, lots of noise, and one excellent performance, courtesy of the always reliable Eva Marie Saint.
Bachelor Mother (right) was a minor disappointment, but Charles Coburn is outstanding as the patriarch who doesn’t care if his son (David Niven) is the father of Ginger Rogers‘ baby — as long as he (Coburn) is the grandfather.
Written on the Wind is an overblown Douglas Sirk melodrama about sex, sin, and siblings that earned Dorothy Malone (top photo, with Rock Hudson) a somewhat undeserving best supporting actress Oscar. But even though she doesn’t deliver a Great Performance, Malone is very much watchable as a rich brat with an insatiable sexual appetite. The rest of the stellar cast, however, doesn’t fare as well.
Modern Times may be Charles Chaplin’s film, but the only (or almost only) reason I find it watchable is Paulette Goddard’s radiant presence.
Some consider Laurence Olivier’s Academy Award-nominated performance in The Entertainer one of the greatest ever committed to film. I don’t.
Schedule (Pacific Time) and synopses from the TCM website:
1:30am [War] Wings For The Eagle (1942)
Dedicated aircraft workers compete for the same girl.
Cast: Ann Sheridan, Dennis Morgan, Jack Carson. Dir: Lloyd Bacon. BW-84 mins, TV-PG
3:00am [Silent] Modern Times (1936)
The Little Tramp tries to build a home with a young slum girl.
Cast: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman. Dir: Charles Chaplin. BW-83 mins, TV-G
4:30am [Comedy] Bachelor Mother (1939)
A fun-loving shop girl is mistaken for the mother of a foundling.
Cast: Ginger Rogers, David Niven, Charles Coburn. Dir: Garson Kanin. BW-82 mins, TV-G (Close Captioned)
6:00am [War] Task Force (1949)
A naval officer devotes his life to the development of the aircraft carrier.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Jane Wyatt. Dir: Delmer Daves. C-117 mins, TV-PG (Close Captioned)
8:00am [Comedy] Love Crazy (1941)
A businessman concocts a series of harebrained schemes to keep his wife from divorcing him.
Cast: William Powell, Myrna Loy, Jack Carson. Dir: Jack Conway. BW-99 mins, TV-PG (Close Captioned)
9:45am [Drama] Written On The Wind (1956)
A young woman marries into a corrupt oil family then falls for her husband’s best friend.
Cast: Rock Hudson, Lauren Bacall, Robert Stack. Dir: Douglas Sirk. C-99 mins, TV-PG (Letterbox) (Close Captioned)
11:30am [Adventure] Buccaneer, The (1958)
French pirate Jean Lafitte tries to redeem his name helping the U.S. in the War of 1812.
Cast: Yul Brynner, Charlton Heston, Claire Bloom. Dir: Anthony Quinn. C-120 mins, TV-PG (Letterbox) (Close Captioned)
1:30pm [Adventure] Thunder Road (1958)
A fast-driving moonshiner locks horns with a Chicago gangster.
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry, Keely Smith. Dir: Arthur Ripley. BW-93 mins, TV-PG (Close Captioned)
3:15pm [Drama] Entertainer, The (1960)
A third-rate vaudevillian uses liquor and young women to escape the pressures of changing times.
Cast: Laurence Olivier, Brenda de Banzie, Joan Plowright. Dir: Tony Richardson. BW-104 mins, TV-PG (Letterbox) (Close Captioned)
5:00pm [Adventure] Grand Prix (1966)
Auto racers find danger and romance at the legendary European road race.
Cast: James Garner, Eva Marie Saint, Yves Montand. Dir: John Frankenheimer. C-176 mins, TV-14 (Letterbox) (Close Captioned)
8:00pm [Drama] Green Helmet, The (1961)
A race-car driver whose nerves are shot takes on one last job.
Cast: Bill Travers, Ed Begley, Sidney James. Dir: Michael Forlong. BW-89 mins, TV-PG
9:45pm [Romance] To Please A Lady (1950)
A ruthless race-car driver falls for a crusading journalist out to clean up the sport.
Cast: Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou. Dir: Clarence Brown. BW-92 mins, TV-G (Close Captioned)
11:30pm [Adventure] Crowd Roars, The (1932)
A race-car driver tries to keep his brother from following in his footsteps.
Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak. Dir: Howard Hawks. BW-70 mins, TV-G (Close Captioned)
1:00am [Adventure] Corvette Summer (1978)
A high school student takes off in search of his stolen, rebuilt Corvette.
Cast: Mark Hamill, Annie Potts, Eugene Roche. Dir: Matthew Robbins. BW-105 mins, TV-14
Technorati Tags: Turner Classic Movies, TCM, Grand Prix, Dorothy Malone, Written on the Wind, Rock Hudson, Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck
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