TCM Schedule for Thursday, December 30 -- Star of the Month -- Mickey Rooney

[Staph]

Our last day with Star of the Month Mickey Rooney. Enjoy!



6:00am -- My Outlaw Brother (1951)
A ranger tries to pry his brother from the Mexican bandit gang he's joined.
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Wanda Hendrix, Robert Preston, Robert Stack
Dir: Elliot Nugent
BW-82 mins, TV-G

Filmed in Mexico.


7:30am -- Drive a Crooked Road (1954)
A mechanic gets caught up with the mob when he falls for a gangster's girlfriend.
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Dianne Foster, Kevin McCarthy, Jack Kelly
Dir: Richard Quine
BW-83 mins, TV-PG

Working titles -- Little Giant, and Speedy Shannon.


9:00am -- The Last Mile (1959)
Jail house tensions mount as a killer's execution approaches.
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Frank Overton, Michael Constantine, John Vari
Dir: Howard W. Koch
BW-82 mins, TV-PG

Film debuts of Milton Selzer and Michael Constantine.


10:30am -- King of the Roaring 20s: The Story of Arnold Rothstein (1961)
A gangster rises to the top of the gambling racket.
Cast: David Janssen, Dianne Foster, Mickey Rooney, Jack Carson
Dir: Joseph M. Newman
BW-106 mins, TV-14

Final film of Jack Carson.


12:30pm -- The Secret Invasion (1964)
Five criminals win early pardons to infiltrate a Nazi outpost.
Cast: Stewart Granger, Raf Vallone, Mickey Rooney, Edd Byrnes
Dir: Roger Corman
C-98 mins, TV-PG

Roger Corman came up with the idea for the film during a visit to the dentist, when he read a magazine article about Dubrovnik. To take his mind off the pain while the dentist was working, he tried to create a story which could be filmed there. After leaving the dentist, he returned to his office and wrote the first treatment for the script.


2:19pm -- One Reel Wonders: The Rock (1967)
A promotional short for the MGM feature Point Blank (1967).
Cast: John Boorman, Angie Dickinson, Lee Marvin.
C-9 mins

Point Blank was the first major picture to film on location at Alcatraz Island after the closure of the federal prison in 1963.


2:30pm -- Ambush Bay (1966)
During WWII, nine Marines try to escape from the Japanese.
Cast: Hugh O'Brian, Mickey Rooney, James Mitchum, Tisa Chang
Dir: Ron Winston
C-109 mins, TV-PG

The camouflage uniforms worn by the American raiders are not WWII military camouflage uniforms. They are wearing commercial duck hunter suits that were sold in the USA after World War II. They are based on wartime USMC camouflage uniforms and bear a passing resemblance.


4:30pm -- It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963)
A group of greedy clowns tears up the countryside in search of buried treasure.
Cast: Spencer Tracy, Milton Berle, Sid Caesar, Buddy Hackett
Dir: Stanley Kramer
C-159 mins, TV-G

Won an Oscar for Best Effects, Sound Effects -- Walter Elliott


Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Ernest Laszlo, Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson, Robert C. Jones and Gene Fowler Jr., Best Music, Original Song -- Ernest Gold (music) and Mack David (lyrics) for the song "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World", Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Ernest Gold, and Best Sound -- Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD)

The roles of Melville and Monica Crump were originally larger roles and written for Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland in mind. However, when production on Garland's TV variety show ran into trouble, she had to turn down the part. Rooney was eventually given the supporting role of Ding "Dingy" Bell. Edie Adams, who was originally cast in the role of Emeline, was given the role of Monica. Ernie Kovacs was then cast as Melville but was tragically killed in a car crash before shooting began and was replaced by Sid Caesar.


7:11pm -- One Reel Wonders: Some Of The Best - 1944 (1944)
Features highlights of MGM's productions from 1924 through 1943, in honor of the studio's twentieth anniversary. Hosted by Lewis Stone.
Cast: Lewis Stone
BW-49 mins, TV-G

Features clips from The Merry Widow (1925), The Big Parade (1925), Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ (1925), Tell It to the Marines (1926), Flesh and the Devil (1926), The Broadway Melody (1929), The Big House (1930), Min and Bill (1930), Trader Horn (1931), A Free Soul (1931), The Sin of Madelon Claudet (1931), Grand Hotel (1932), Tugboat Annie (1933), Dinner at Eight (1933), Naughty Marietta (1935), Mutiny on the Bounty (1935), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), San Francisco (1936), The Good Earth (1937), Captains Courageous (1937), Boys Town (1938), Goodbye, Mr. Chips (1939), Boom Town (1940), The Philadelphia Story (1940), Mrs. Miniver (1942), and Random Harvest (1942).


8:00pm -- The Strip (1951)
A jazz drummer fights to clear his name when he's accused of killing a racketeer.
Cast: Mickey Rooney, Sally Forrest, William Demarest, James Craig
Dir: Leslie Kardos
BW-86 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Bert Kalmar, Harry Ruby and Oscar Hammerstein II for the song "A Kiss to Build a Dream on"

Of Joe Pasternak's 57 MGM productions released between 1942 and 1966, this film was just one of two which failed to garner a contemporary New York Times review. The second movie was Looking for Love (1964).


9:30pm -- Requiem For A Heavyweight (1962)
A washed-up prizefighter tries to free himself from his ruthless promoters to build a new life.
Cast: Anthony Quinn, Jackie Gleason, Mickey Rooney, Julie Harris
Dir: Ralph Nelson
BW-85 mins, TV-PG

Anthony Quinn did this film when Lawrence of Arabia (1962) went on a two month hiatus between October and December of 1961. The film was released before "Lawrence" came out.


11:00pm -- Breakfast At Tiffany's (1961)
A young writer gets caught up in a party girl's carefree existence.
Cast: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen
Dir: Blake Edwards
BW-115 mins, TV-G

Won Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Henry Mancini (music) and Johnny Mercer (lyrics) for the song "Moon River", and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture -- Henry Mancini

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Audrey Hepburn, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hal Pereira, Roland Anderson, Sam Comer and Ray Moyer, and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- George Axelrod

The famous black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in the opening scenes of this movie was sold for $807,000 on December 4, 2006 at Christie's Auction House in London, making it the second most expensive piece of movie memorabilia ever sold. The first is the Best Picture Oscar for Gone with the Wind (1939).


1:00am -- The Comic (1969)
A silent comic's rampant ego ruins the lives of those around him.
Cast: Dick Van Dyke, Michele Lee, Mickey Rooney, Cornel Wilde
Dir: Carl Reiner
C-95 mins, TV-14

While starring in "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1961), Van Dyke called up Stan Laurel to ask for permission to do a Laurel & Hardy bit in an episode. Laurel told him that neither he nor Hardy's heirs owned the rights to the characters. Van Dyke and Reiner were horrified that Laurel didn't even own the rights to his own face, and this picture is the result.


2:39am -- One Reel Wonders: The Sunshine Boys (1975)
The Friar's Club honors the movie The Sunshine Boys and its creative team of Neil Simon, and stars Walter Matthau, George Burns and Richard Benjamin.
BW-7 mins

George Burns won his only Oscar (as Best Actor in a Supporting Role) for The Sunshine Boys.


3:00am -- Pulp (1972)
A pulp fiction novelist fights to survive an assignment to ghost write a controversial star's memoirs.
Cast: Michael Caine, Mickey Rooney, Lionel Stander, Lizabeth Scott
Dir: Mike Hodges
C-95 mins, TV-PG

The original title was "Memoirs of a Ghostwriter".


5:00am -- Short Film: The MGM Story (1950)
A collection of MGM previews with an introduction by Lionel Barrymore.
Cast: Lionel Barrymore, Dore Schary
BW-57 mins, TV-G