TCM Schedule for Thursday, October 25, 2007 (Star of the Month Henry Fonda)

[Staph]

4:15am -- God's Country (1985)
Minnesota farmers deal with overproduction and foreclosures.
Cast: Narrated by Louis Malle.
Dir: Louis Malle.
C-95 mins

This program benefited from a grant by National Environment for Humanities.


6:00am -- The Long Voyage Home (1940)
A merchant ship's crew tries to survive the loneliness of the sea and the coming of war.
Cast: John Wayne, Thomas Mitchell, Barry Fitzgerald.
Dir: John Ford.
BW-106 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Gregg Toland, Best Effects, Special Effects -- R.T. Layton (photographic), Ray Binger (photographic) and Thomas T. Moulton (sound), Best Film Editing -- Sherman Todd, Best Music, Original Score -- Richard Hageman, Best Writing, Screenplay -- Dudley Nichols, and Best Picture.

Writer Dudley Nichols had to distill four of Eugene O'Neill's one-act plays (Bound East for Cardiff, In the Zone, The Long Voyage Home, and The Moon of the Caribees) into one cohesive screenplay.


8:00am -- Hide-Out (1934)
Farmers take in an injured racketeer and try to reform him.
Cast: Robert Montgomery, Maureen O'Sullivan, Mickey Rooney.
Dir: W.S. Van Dyke II.
BW-81 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Mauri Grashin


9:22am -- Short Film: One Reel Wonders: Southern Exposure (1935)
Charley Chase pretends to be a wealthy southern plantation owner in order to get a distant relative's lawyer husband to help with a lawsuit.
Cast: Constance Bergen, Robert Burns, Charley Chase
Dir: Charley Chase
BW-21 mins

Charley Chase is one of the great but today unknown stars of the silent era and early talkies. In an interview on the David Letterman show, director Hal Roach said that Chase auditioned for him by saying he could play ANY part. Chase then proceeded to do his impression of a lighthouse by turning his head around in a circle, stopping straight forward with his eyes wide open after each rotation.


10:00am -- Tomorrow Is Forever (1946)
A scarred veteran presumed dead returns home to find his wife remarried.
Cast: Orson Welles, Claudette Colbert, George Brent.
Dir: Irving Pichel.
BW-104 mins, TV-PG

Natalie Wood and Richard Long (Jarrod Barkley in the tv series The Big Valley) have scene-stealing roles as children in this film. It was Richard Long's debut film.


12:00pm -- Houseboat (1958)
An Italian socialite on the run signs on as housekeeper for a widower with three children.
Cast: Cary Grant, Sophia Loren, Martha Hyer.
Dir: Melville Shavelson.
C-110 mins, TV-G

Nominated for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Jay Livingston and Ray Evans for the song "Almost in Your Arms (Love Song from Houseboat)", and Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Melville Shavelson and Jack Rose

The original screenplay was written by Betsy Drake, Cary Grant's wife at the time. Grant originally wanted Drake as his co-star, but his extra-marital affair with Sophia Loren complicated the project. Drake's script was drastically re-written by two other writers to accommodate Loren and bears little resemblance to Drake's concept.


2:00pm -- This Happy Breed (1944)
A middle-class family faces personal triumphs and tragedies when they move to a new home in the suburbs.
Cast: Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, John Mills.
Dir: David Lean.
BW-111 mins, TV-G

Based on a play by Noel Coward.


4:00pm -- Come Blow Your Horn (1963)
A big city swinger teaches his sheltered brother how to become a chick magnet.
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Lee J. Cobb, Molly Picon.
Dir: Bud Yorkin.
C-112 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hal Pereira, Roland Anderson, Sam Comer and James W. Payne

Lee J. Cobb is only four years older than his screen son Frank Sinatra.


6:00pm -- To Sir, With Love (1967)
A substitute teacher changes the lives of the slum children in his class.
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Christian Roberts, Judy Geeson.
Dir: James Clavell.
C-105 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for a Grammy for Best Original Score Written for a Motion Picture or Television Show -- Ron Grainer, Don Black and Mark London

Director James Clavell is much better known as the author of the Asian Saga novels: King Rat, Tai-Pan, Shogun, Noble House, Whirlwind and Gai-Jin. But Clavell's script for this movie is based on the novel by E.R. Braithwaite.


What's On Tonight: STAR OF THE MONTH: HENRY FONDA


8:00pm -- Yours, Mine And Ours (1968)
A widow with eight children marries a widower with ten, then gets pregnant.
Cast: Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Van Johnson.
Dir: Melville Shavelson.
C-111 mins, TV-PG

Lucille Ball co-produced the film under her company, Desilu Productions. When the film became a surprise smash hit grossing over $17 million on a $2.5 million investment, she became furious about it. She hadn't anticipated the film's huge box-office success and failed to provide a tax shelter for her personal profits, resulting in most of her share going in taxes.


10:00pm -- Spencer's Mountain (1963)
A Wyoming farmer fights to build a better life for his oldest son.
Cast: Henry Fonda, Maureen O'Hara, James MacArthur.
Dir: Delmer Daves.
C-118 mins, TV-G

Earl Hamner Jr.'s novel Spencer's Mountain was the basis for this movie, as well as for the television series The Waltons.


12:15am -- On Golden Pond (1981)
During a summer holiday, an elderly couple comes to grips with aging and their troubled relationship with their adult daughter.
Cast: Henry Fonda, Katharine Hepburn, Jane Fonda.
Dir: Mark Rydell.
C-109 mins, TV-14

Won Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Henry Fonda (Henry Fonda was not present at the awards ceremony. His daughter and co-star Jane Fonda accepted the award on his behalf.), Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Katharine Hepburn (Katharine Hepburn was not present at the awards ceremony. Presenter Jon Voight accepted the award on her behalf.), and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ernest Thompson

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Jane Fonda, Best Cinematography -- Billy Williams, Best Director -- Mark Rydell, Best Film Editing -- Robert L. Wolfe, Best Music, Original Score -- Dave Grusin, Best Sound -- Richard Portman and David M. Ronne, and Best Picture.


2:15am -- A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966)
A pioneer woman replaces her ailing husband in a poker game after he loses most of their money.
Cast: Henry Fonda, Joanne Woodward, Jason Robards Jr.
Dir: Fielder Cook.
C-95 mins, TV-G

If you've never seen this one before, watch it! It's a delightful comedy!


4:00am -- The Male Animal (1942)
A college professor fights censorship and an amorous football player who's after his wife.
Cast: Henry Fonda, Olivia de Havilland, Jack Carson.
Dir: Elliott Nugent.
BW-101 mins, TV-G

Studio chief Jack L. Warner later turned screenwriting twin brothers Julius and Philip Epstein's names over to the House Un-American Activities Committee; when they were asked in a questionnaire whether they had ever belonged to a subversive organization, they responded, "Yes. Warner Bros."

[Staph]

1. A Big Hand for the Little Lady

The stakes were high and so was the star power in A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966). Director Fielder Cook, known mostly for his TV work (Patterns (1956), the 1966 Emmy Award-winning version of Brigadoon), plays out a hand of aces in only his second feature outing, with a cast that includes Henry Fonda, Jason Robards, Joanne Woodward, Charles Bickford and Burgess Meredith. And that's just to start. The lucky draw runs deep, with a second-to-none supporting cast of trump cards like Paul Ford as the local banker and Kevin McCarthy as a love-struck poker player.

Fielder also directed the original teleplay, Big Deal in Laredo (1963), on which A Big Hand for the Little Lady was based. The teleplay (along with the later big-screen adaptation) was penned by Sidney Carroll for the DuPont Show of the Week. Both Carroll and Fielder received Emmy nominations for their hand in Big Deal in Laredo, along with another familiar name - Walter Matthau. Matthau was nominated for an Emmy for Best Single Performance by an Actor (presumably for the role Henry Fonda would take to the big screen), but sadly, no record of this live performance exists. As Jason Robards later said it, television in those days was "like a one-night stand."

But perhaps the biggest star of A Big Hand for the Little Lady is the poker game itself. While there are no violent gun battles in this Western, the card game at the center of the film is just as suspenseful as a shootout. Of course this is no ordinary poker hand. It's a sure winner - so big that it causes one player to have a heart attack and another to secure a bank loan. Fielder captures the tension of the game masterfully, every draw a life or death situation that leaves the audience holding its breath. And that's no small feat considering that most of the movie takes place in the back room of a saloon, without an outlaw or a gunfight in sight. But A Big Hand for the Little Lady is a comedy at heart. The surprise ending lets us in on the joke and makes a second viewing of the movie even more amusing.

Movie buffs will want to keep a sharp lookout for silent screen veteran Chester Conklin, who appeared with Charlie Chaplin in many of his Keystone comedies, not to mention his role in Erich von Stroheim's Greed (1924). Conklin makes his last film appearance here, billed in the credits as simply "Old Man in Saloon" (whose name just happens to be Chester). And there's a cameo by Mae Clarke, a leading lady in the '30s. Clarke's most memorable role was probably opposite James Cagney in The Public Enemy (1931). She's the gangster's moll who receives the old grapefruit in the face courtesy of Cagney. Clarke went on to play the bride of Frankenstein (1931) opposite Colin Clive and to co-star in several other 1931 successes like Waterloo Bridge and The Front Page. But Clarke's career fizzled fast, reducing the actress to bit parts, walk-ons and B movies. Her final leading role came in King of the Rocket Men (1949). In A Big Hand for the Little Lady, look fast and you might recognize Clarke, in her second-to-last film appearance, as Mrs. Craig, the woman at the bank window.

Producer/Director: Fielder Cook
Screenplay: Sidney Carroll
Production Design: Robert Emmet Smith
Cinematography: Lee Garmes
Film Editing: George Rohrs
Original Music: David Raksin
Principal Cast: Henry Fonda (Meredith), Joanne Woodward (Mary), Jason Robards, Jr. (Henry Drummond), Charles Bickford (Benson Tropp), Burgess Meredith (Doc Scully), Paul Ford (C.P. Ballinger), Kevin McCarthy (Otto Habershaw), Robert Middleton (Dennis Wilcox).
C-95m.

By Stephanie Thames

[lavenderdiva]

2. hey, staph-

I just wanted to let you know how much I enjoy reading your posts! I always enjoy your format, and interesting tidbits about every film. thank you!! :pals:

[Staph]

3. You are most welcome!

I love movies, and it's wonderful to find a bunch of other folks who feel the same way. (And who don't think that The Terminator and the Ernest films are the height and breadth of western civilization. I love my friends from college, but ....)