Raquel Welch and Robert Osborne.
TCM ‘Guest Programmer’ Raquel Welch selects 4 Hollywood classics featuring strong female characters
Raquel Welch will be joining Robert Osborne on Turner Classic Movies to present four of her favorite films in TCM’s “Guest Programmer” series on Thursday, April 1.
The four titles are: Adam’s Rib, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and To Have and Have Not.
One thing those movies have in common is strong roles for women, even though Jean Arthur’s (Mr. Smith Goes to Washington) and Lauren Bacall’s (To Have and Have Not) are subordinate to those of, respectively, James Stewart and Humphrey Bogart.
To Have and Have Not (1944)
Adapted by William Faulkner and Jules Furthman from Ernest Hemingway’s 1937 novel, Howard Hawks’ adventure drama To Have and Have Not stars future Best Actor Academy Award winner Humphrey Bogart (The African Queen, 1951) as a skipper hired to help the French Resistance (obviously, not found in the novel).
In her screen debut, future Best Supporting Actress Oscar nominee Lauren Bacall (The Mirror Has Two Faces, 1996) becomes the skipper’s (and, in real life, the married Bogart’s) romantic interest.
Adam’s Rib & Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
George Cukor’s Adam’s Rib stars Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy as sparring married lawyers, while Frank Capra’s Mr. Smith Goes to Washington stars Washington insider Jean Arthur and newly arrived politico James Stewart as an ardent believer in the Tooth Fairy.
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
The last presentation of evening will be Blake Edwards’ Breakfast at Tiffany’s, based on Truman Capote’s novella, and starring Audrey Hepburn as a small-town girl who a) becomes a New York City-based “escort” (not that you’d be really allowed to understand what the character does for a living) b) finds both both love (George Peppard, delivering the movie’s most believable performance) and her expelled-gone-missing cat.
Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer’s plaintive song “Moon River” won an Oscar, as did Mancini’s score for the film.
Lastly, it’s too bad TCM’s Raquel Welch evening won’t include the 1970 box office bomb – and latter-day cult classic – Myra Breckinridge, especially since it also has a couple of strong roles for women: One for Welch herself, the other one for Mae West.
Not coincidentally, Welch’s new book, Raquel: Beyond the Cleavage, comes out on April 1.
Immediately below is the list of TCM Guest Programmer Raquel Welch’s movies.
Raquel Welch and Robert Osborne on TCM.
Guest Programmer Raquel Welch’s movie selections: TCM schedule – April 1
8:00 PM Adam’s Rib (1949)
Director: George Cukor.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell, David Wayne, Jean Hagen, Hope Emerson, Eve March, Clarence Kolb, Emerson Treacy, Polly Moran, Will Wright, Marvin Kaplan.
101m10:00 PM Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Director: Frank Capra.
Cast: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Claude Rains, Edward Arnold, Thomas Mitchell, Guy Kibbee, Eugene Pallette, H.B. Warner, Beulah Bondi, Harry Carey, Ruth Donnelly, Astrid Allwyn, Grant Mitchell, Jack Carson.
130m12:15 AM Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
Director: Blake Edwards.
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, Mickey Rooney, José Luis de Vilallonga, John McGiver, Dorothy Whitney, Alan Reed, Orangey (as Cat).
115m2:15 AM To Have and Have Not (1944)
Director: Howard Hawks.
Cast: Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall, Walter Brennan, Dolores Moran, Hoagy Carmichael, Sheldon Leonard, Walter Surovy, Marcel Dalio, Walter Sande, Dan Seymour.
100m
“Raquel Welch on TCM” notes
Raquel Welch and Robert Osborne images: Courtesy of Turner Classic Movies.