TCM Schedule for Friday, November 11 -- What's On Tonight: James Garner

[Staph]

This evening's theme is the films of James Garner, an appropriate choice for Veteran's Day. Garner dropped out of high school at 16 to join the Merchant Marine. He worked in a variety of jobs and received the Purple Heart when he was wounded during the Korean War. During the daylight hours, TCM is commemorating the day with a series of films during and about World War II. Enjoy!


What a hunk!





And one who only got better with age!






6:00 AM -- Buck Privates (1941)
Two small-time con artists enlist in the Army to avoid the police.
Dir: Arthur Lubin
Cast: Lee Bowman, Alan Curtis, Bud Abbott.
84 min, TV-G , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Hugh Prince (music) and Don Raye (lyrics) for the song "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Charles Previn

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's drill routine ran only two-and-a-half minutes in the script, but was allowed five minutes of screen time because of their ad-libbing. In fact, much of their dialogue in the film was ad-libbed.


7:30 AM -- The Navy Comes Through (1942)
An old freighter single-handedly takes on a Nazi war fleet.
Dir: A. Edward Sutherland
Cast: Pat O'Brien, George Murphy, Jane Wyatt.
82 min, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects -- Vernon L. Walker (photographic) and James G. Stewart (sound)

Art directors Carroll Clark and Albert S. D'Agostino developed a special "sky and horizon" machine which created the effect of water motion against the horizon. All the sea shots were filmed on land using rocking arc lamps that projected waves on an acre of muslin.


9:00 AM -- God Is My Co-Pilot (1945)
A flyer dismissed as too old fights to prove himself against the Japanese.
Dir: Robert Florey
Cast: Dennis Morgan, Dane Clark, Raymond Massey.
88 min, TV-PG , CC

Both "God is My Copilot" and "Flying Tigers" had major footage filmed in the same area of Southern California, Iverson's Ranch in the Thousand Oaks area, due to it's resemblance to portions of China.


10:30 AM -- The Fighting 69th (1940)
A braggart soldier learns the true meaning of heroism when he joins World War I's all-Irish unit.
Dir: William Keighley
Cast: James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, George Brent.
90 min, TV-PG , CC

Actual archived war combat footage was used in the film, as was footage of soldiers marching through the Arch of Triumph.


12:00 PM -- Never So Few (1959)
A U.S. military troop takes command of a band of Burmese guerillas during World War II.
Dir: John Sturges
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford.
C-125 min, TV-PG , CC

Steve McQueen's role was originally going to be played by Sammy Davis Jr.. A feud had broken out between Davis and Frank Sinatra after Davis had claimed in a radio interview that he was a greater singer than Sinatra. Sinatra demanded he be dropped from the cast, and McQueen got the part.


2:15 PM -- A Walk in the Sun (1946)
A platoon of American soldiers captures an Italian farmhouse.
Dir: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Dana Andrews, Richard Conte, George Tyne.
117 min, TV-14 , CC

Nominated for a BAFTA Film Award for Best Film

Based on the novel by Harry Brown, who also wrote the screenplay for Sands of Iwo Jima (1949) and Ocean's Eleven (1960 -- the Frank Sinatra / Ratpack version).


4:15 PM -- To the Shores of Tripoli (1942)
A brash young Marine has to redeem himself after trying to romance a female officer.
Dir: Bruce Humberstone
Cast: John Payne, Maureen O'Hara, Randolph Scott.
C-86 min, TV-PG , CC

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Edward Cronjager and William V. Skall

Maureen O'Haras' first film in Technicolor. She looked so good in it that she later earned the nickname "Queen of Technicolor".


5:45 PM -- Darby's Rangers (1958)
An Army Major leads his men behind enemy lines during World War II.
Dir: William A. Wellman
Cast: James Garner, Etchika Choureau, Jack Warden.
C-121 min, TV-PG

Leading man James Garner was originally only supposed to have a supporting role here with Charlton Heston being top-billed. When Heston quit, Garner stepped into his shoes



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: JAMES GARNER



8:00 PM -- Up Periscope (1959)
A U.S. frogman infiltrates a Japanese-held island during World War II.
Dir: Gordon Douglas
Cast: James Garner, Edmond O'Brien, Andra Martin.
C-112 min, TV-PG , CC

Warren Oates character, Seaman Kovacs, is constantly eating. You can tell how many takes each scene required by the size of the bites he takes. In some he wolfs the food, in others he just picks at it.


10:00 PM -- The Americanization of Emily (1964)
A British war widow falls for an opportunistic American sailor during World War II.
Dir: Arthur Hiller
Cast: James Garner, Julie Andrews, Melvyn Douglas.
115 min, TV-14 , CC

Nominated for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Black-and-White -- George W. Davis, Hans Peters, Elliot Scott, Henry Grace and Robert R. Benton, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Philip H. Lathrop

The role of Lt. Cmdr. Charles E. Madison was originally offered to William Holden, while James Garner was considered for the part of "Bus" Cummings.


12:00 AM -- Marlowe (1969)
Detective Philip Marlowe probes the seedy underbelly of Los Angeles in search of a woman's missing sister.
Dir: Paul Bogart
Cast: James Garner, Gayle Hunnicutt, Carroll O'Connor.
C-96 min, TV-MA , CC

In the nightclub scene, Marlowe (James Garner) takes a sip of wine and smirking, judges it "impertinent. . .even baroque." These were the exact words that a character in Gore Vidal's Myra Breckinridge (published a year earlier) had used to describe Garner's butt in an excerpt from an obtuse film journal that appeared in the novel. Obviously, an inside joke and from Garner's smarmy delivery of what was otherwise a pointless remark, he was very much in on the gag.


2:00 AM -- The Iron Rose (1973)
A young couple finds they are trapped in a cemetery and soon their fears begin to overtake them.
Dir: Jean Rollin
Cast: Françoise Pascal, Hugues Quester, Natalie Perrey
C-80 min, TV-MA

Originally titled La Rose de Fer.


3:30 AM -- Carnival of Souls (1962)
After surviving a car crash, a church organist is haunted by the undead.
Dir: Herk Harvey
Cast: Candace Hilligoss, Herk Harvey, Frances Feist.
83 min, TV-PG

The backdrop is the Saltair Amusement Park outside Salt Lake City. The Saltair that appears in the film actually burned down in the early '70s. In the early '80s another version of Saltair was rebuilt, although it was a much smaller design. Shortly after it was built, the Great Salt Lake rose and flooded it out. In 1993, the building was remodeled and reopened, now it's mainly used as a small venue for musical acts.


5:00 AM -- There's a Message in Every Bottle (1968)
0 min, TV-G


5:30 AM -- Destination Earth (1956)
Dir: Carl Urbano
14 min, TV-G

If you look closely at the front of the "Ogg Cafe", you can see that the Martian unit of currency is the 'bukko'.