Peter O’Toole on Turner Classic Movies on Saturday, Aug. 28., TCM’s “Summer Under the Stars” series has only four more days to go. (See TCM’s Peter O’Toole movie schedule further below.)
TCM’s presentation includes O’Toole’s most famous film, David Lean’s Oscar-winning epic Lawrence of Arabia (1962); four other vehicles for which O’Toole received a Best Actor nomination – Becket (1964), The Ruling Class (1972), The Stunt Man (1980), and My Favorite Year (1982); and Richard Brooks’ Lord Jim (1965).
Many found Lord Jim, an adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novel, an artistic disappointment. Though hardly one of the greatest movies ever made, it’s an intriguing attempt to translate Conrad’s tale of human arrogance and cultural ethnocentrism to the screen.
Lord Jim, in fact, has a lot in common with Lawrence of Arabia, which many consider one of the greatest movies ever made. It’s certainly one of the longest. But the desert vistas are indeed beautiful (cinematography by Freddy Young), Alec Guinness and Claude Rains are flawless in supporting roles, and the sequences featuring Lawrence’s rape and its aftermath are undeniably memorable – even if for the wrong reasons.
The subtle David Lean of Brief Encounter, This Happy Breed, Blithe Spirit, The Passionate Friends, and Hobson’s Choice was no longer around.
Peter Glenville’s highly theatrical Becket – a gay love story if there ever was one – is all but unwatchable, but Richard Rush’s The Stunt Man – a surprise Academy Award nominee for Best Actor and Best Director – has some good things going for it, especially Barbara Hershey, a talented and underrated actress.
The Last Emperor (1987) is Bernardo Bertolucci gone Hollywood. One of the director’s most conventional and simplistic movies, this sentimental, by-the-book “history” of China’s last emperor (John Lone) won a basketful of Oscars, including Best Picture. But lush, sumptuous, and “epic” it is. If that’s your cup of ginseng, don’t miss it.
If you catch Richard Benjamin’s not-very-funny comedy My Favorite Year, in which O’Toole plays a sort of aging Errol Flynn (or aging O’Toole, to a certain extent), look for Gloria Stuart (The Old Dark House, Titanic) in a supporting role.
Anatole Litvak’s The Night of the Generals (1967) tackles the curious tale of a serial killer on the loose in Nazi Germany – making it sound quite a bit like Robert Sidomak’s Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nominee The Devil Strikes at Night (1957).
Peter O’Toole is excellent in the overdone musical Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1969), but TCM isn’t showing it this time around. But it should be back in the not too distant future.
Peter O’Toole TCM schedule (PDT)
3:00 AM The Day They Robbed the Bank of England (1960)
Director: John Guillermin.
Cast: Peter O’Toole, Aldo Ray, Elizabeth Sellars.
85m4:30 AM The Night of the Generals (1967)
Director: Anatole Litvak.
Cast: Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Tom Courtenay.
144m7:00 AM My Favorite Year (1982)
Director: Richard Benjamin.
Cast: Peter O’Toole, Mark Linn-baker, Jessica Harper, Joseph Bologna, Bill Macy, Adolph Green, Lainie Kazan, Anne De Salvo, Lou Jacobi, Cameron Mitchell, Gloria Stuart.
92m8:45 AM Becket (1964)
Director: Peter Glenville.
Cast: Richard Burton, Peter O’Toole, John Gielgud.
148m11:30 AM The Last Emperor (1987)
Director: Bernardo Bertolucci.
Cast: John Lone, Joan Chen, Peter O’Toole.
163m2:15 PM Lord Jim (1965)
Director: Richard Brooks.
Cast: Peter O’Toole, James Mason, Eli Wallach.
154m5:00 PM Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Director: David Lean.
Cast: Peter O’Toole, Omar Sharif, Alec Guinness, Claude Rains, Arthur Kennedy, Anthony Quayle, Anthony Quinn.
227m9:00 PM The Ruling Class (1972)
Director: Peter Medak.
Cast: Peter O’Toole, Arthur Lowe, Coral Browne.
153m12:00 AM The Stunt Man (1980)
Director: Richard Rush.
Cast: Peter O’Toole, Steven Railsback, Barbara Hershey.
131m
Peter O’Toole movies’ schedule via the TCM website.