TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 22: Directed by Steven Spielberg

[Staph]

Today is the premiere of the fourth Indiana Jones movie, so TCM is celebrating Steven Spielberg. The prime time movies range from the sublime (Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and Jaws (1975)) to the ridiculous (1941 (1979)). Enjoy!



4:45am -- Some Came Running (1958)
A veteran returns home to deal with family secrets and small-town scandals.
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Shirley MacLaine, Dean Martin.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli.
C-136 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Arthur Kennedy, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Shirley MacLaine, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Martha Hyer, Best Costume Design, Black-and-White or Color -- Walter Plunkett, and Best Music, Original Song -- Jimmy Van Heusen (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "To Love and Be Loved".

It was during the making of this film that Shirley MacLaine found herself welcomed into what would later be called the "Rat Pack" fraternity that included Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, her co-stars in this film. Shirley MacLaine says the group known as the "Rat Pack" was actually called "The Clan" by the members while "Rat Pack" was a term given in the 1950s to Humphrey Bogart and his pals.


7:15am -- Miss Sadie Thompson (1953)
A moralist sets out to reform the legendary South Seas floozy.
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Jose Ferrer, Aldo Ray.
Dir: Curtis Bernhardt.
C-90 mins, TV-14

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Lester Lee (music) and Ned Washington (lyrics) for the song "Sadie Thompson's Song (Blue Pacific Blues)".

Based on a story by W. Somerset Maugham, and also filmed as Sadie Thompson (1928), Rain (1932), and Dirty Gertie from Harlem U.S.A. (1946).


9:00am -- Cripple Creek (1952)
Government agents infiltrate a gold smuggling ring preying on miners.
Cast: George Montgomery, Karin Booth, Richard Egan.
Dir: Ray Nazarro.
C-78 mins, TV-G

George Montgomery was the second husband of Dinah Shore.


10:30am -- Cargo to Capetown (1950)
A sailor and his captain fight over a beautiful girl.
Cast: Broderick Crawford, John Ireland, Ellen Drew.
Dir: Earl McEvoy.
BW-79 mins, TV-G

In the wake of the major success of All the King's Men (1949), Harry Cohn of Columbia Studios decided to put the same cast together to see if lightening would strike twice. It didn't. (Joanne Dru wisely chose not to join the cast, and Ellen Drew replaced her.)


12:00pm -- They Came To Cordura (1959)
Six American military heroes in Mexico fight treacherous conditions to get back to their base.
Cast: Gary Cooper, Rita Hayworth, Van Heflin.
Dir: Robert Rossen.
C-123 mins, TV-PG

Dick York suffered a back injury during the making of this movie and never fully recovered from it. Continuing back problems forced him off of the TV show "Bewitched" in 1969 and effectively ended his career. He spent his last years in poverty.


2:15pm -- Tulsa (1949)
A cattle owner's daughter risks everything to drill for oil.
Cast: Susan Hayward, Robert Preston, Pedro Armendariz.
Dir: Stuart Heisler.
C-88 mins, TV-G

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Effects, Special Effects


4:00pm -- Man in the Saddle (1951)
A farmer turns to violence when a land baron threatens him.
Cast: Randolph Scott, Joan Leslie, Alexander Knox.
Dir: Andre De Toth
C-87 mins, TV-PG

Based on a novel by Ernest Haycox, who also wrote the short story Stage to Lordsburg, on which the great film Stagecoach (1939) was based.


5:30pm -- The Big Sky (1952)
Trappers lead an expedition against river pirates and Indians along the Missouri River.
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Dewey Martin, Arthur Hunnicutt.
Dir: Howard Hawks.
BW-138 mins, TV-PG

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Arthur Hunnicutt, and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Russell Harlan


What's On Tonight: TCM PRIME TIME FEATURE: STEVEN SPIELBERG


8:00pm -- Jaws (1975)
The sheriff of an island town takes to the seas when a bloodthirsty shark invades the local waters.
Cast: Robert Shaw, Roy Scheider, Richard Dreyfuss.
Dir: Steven Spielberg.
C-124 mins, TV-MA

Won Oscars for Best Film Editing -- Verna Fields, Best Music, Original Score -- John Williams, and Best Sound -- Robert L. Hoyt, Roger Heman Jr., Earl Madery and John R. Carter

Nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture

In addition to the well-known nickname of "Bruce", Steven Spielberg also called the shark "the great white turd" when he really got frustrated with the troublesome animatronic fish.


10:15pm -- Spielberg on Spielberg (2007)
A TCM original documentary featuring exclusive interviews with Steven Spielberg, arguably the most popular and influential director of his time.
Dir: Richard Schickel.
BW-86 mins, TV-MA

On May 31, 2002, Spielberg graduated from California State University Long Beach with a bachelor's degree in film and electronic arts. He had dropped out of college in 1968 to concentrate on his career, but during the 2000s fulfilled his remaining graduation requirements via independent projects, which required correspondence courses and several term papers. For Spielberg, the school waived its requirement that all senior film majors must submit a completed 12-minute short film, accepting Schindler's List (1993) in its place. He donned cap and gown and marched in the commencement ceremony with his fellow graduates. When Spielberg received his undergraduate degree, the orchestra played the theme from the "Indiana Jones" series of films as he walked up to and across the stage.


11:45pm -- Short Film: From The Vaults: The Making of "Poltergeist" (1982)
A behind-the-scenes look at how some of the visual effects were accomplished in the feature film Poltergeist (1982).
Cast: Steven Spielberg, Craig T. Nelson, Tobe Hooper.
Dir: Frank Marshall.
C-8 mins

The 1982 film Poltergeist was nominated for Oscars for Best Effects, Sound Effects Editing -- Stephen Hunter Flick and Richard L. Anderson, Best Effects, Visual Effects -- Richard Edlund, Michael Wood and Bruce Nicholson, and Best Music, Original Score -- Jerry Goldsmith


12:00am -- Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977)
A blue-collar worker's encounter with a UFO leaves him a changed man.
Cast: Richard Dreyfuss, Francois Truffaut, Teri Garr.
Dir: Steven Spielberg.
C-137 mins, TV-MA

Won an Oscar for Best Cinematography -- Vilmos Zsigmond

Nominated for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Melinda Dillon, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration -- Joe Alves, Daniel A. Lomino and Phil Abramson, Best Director -- Steven Spielberg, Best Effects, Visual Effects -- Roy Arbogast, Douglas Trumbull, Matthew Yuricich, Gregory Jein and Richard Yuricich, Best Film Editing -- Michael Kahn, Best Music, Original Score -- John Williams, Best Sound -- Robert Knudson, Robert Glass, Don MacDougall and Gene S. Cantamessa, and a Special Achievement Award for Frank E. Warner for sound effects editing.

Real air-traffic controllers were used in the opening sequence. The synthesizer technician/performer (on the "dark side of the moon") was the actual engineer sent by ARP Instruments to install the synthesizer equipment (ARP 2500) on the set. Steven Spielberg watched his expert playing of the equipment and immediately cast him for the role. The name of the ARP engineer is Philip Dodds and he is actually listed in the credits.


2:30am -- Spielberg on Spielberg (2007)
A TCM original documentary featuring exclusive interviews with Steven Spielberg, arguably the most popular and influential director of his time.
Dir: Richard Schickel.
BW-86 mins, TV-MA

Repeat of the special from 10:15pm.



4:00am -- 1941 (1979)
In the days after Pearl Harbor, Californians prepare for a Japanese invasion.
Cast: Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Ned Beatty.
Dir: Steven Spielberg.
C-119 mins, TV-14

Nominated for Oscars for Best Cinematography -- William A. Fraker, Best Effects, Visual Effects -- William A. Fraker, A.D. Flowers and Gregory Jein, and Best Sound -- Robert Knudson, Robert Glass. Don MacDougall and Gene S. Cantamessa

The scene where Wild Bill Kelso slips and tumbles off of the wing of his airplane as he is about to take off was a real accident. John Belushi slipped as he was climbing into the plane. It was kept in the movie because it fit his character.

[Staph]

1. Spielberg on Spielberg

He is a director who, for more than three decades, has inspired audiences to a clearer understanding of history, challenged them to tackle questions of moral ambiguity and dilemma, left them unsure of what may come from the skies (or from the future) and even stirred in some a fear of swimming in the ocean. And in the Turner Classic Movies original documentary SPIELBERG ON SPIELBERG (2007), two-time Best Director Oscar® winner Steven Spielberg discusses his meteoric rise to success in Hollywood, as well as the motion pictures that took him there. The 90-minute special, which features exclusive and detailed interviews with arguably the most popular and influential director of his time, is produced by Richard Schickel, who created similar programs on Woody Allen and Martin Scorsese.

With the man himself as viewers’ personal guide, SPIELBERG ON SPIELBERG charts a path through the amazing and diverse canon that represents Spielberg’s body of work. He explains how during high school he got his start with Universal Studios – which he says felt more familiar to him than the house in which he grew up – by hiding in a bathroom while on a public tour and eventually securing a three-day pass from a film librarian. The skills he acquired on set led to Amblin’, his first college project and the film that earned him a seven-year contract with Universal. It also provided the name for his Amblin Entertainment production company.

Spielberg, who has never recorded a audio commentary track for the home video releases of any of his movies, reminisces about his earliest directorial efforts, including a segment of the movie pilot for Night Gallery, featuring the legendary Joan Crawford, who at first balked at the idea of being directed by a 22-year-old and later came to admire his talent; the television thriller Duel; and the critically acclaimed Goldie Hawn vehicle The Sugarland Express. Next he turns his attention to Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the blockbusters that made him a household name. He then evaluates what he believes were the reasons behind his first critical and box-office setback in 1941.

The bulk of SPIELBERG ON SPIELBERG features discussions about the more than 20 years of filmmaking that followed and the classics that resulted, from the action-adventure of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Jurassic Park to the touching poignancy of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial and The Color Purple to the uncompromising personal drama of Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and Munich.

“This is a director of staggering range,” said Schickel. “He’s a great entertainer, but he is also (and increasingly) a morally serious artist. He’s funny, self-deprecating, immensely knowledgeable technically and very smart about himself and his work. I think when they see this film, audiences will get to know him better than they ever have.”

(Added by Staph -- he's also a big supporter of the Democratic Party!)

[Longhorn]

2. That's so cool about Spielberg's college degree!

I had never heard about that before. Can you imagine being the professors who graded his work? ;)

Thanks for all the extra information. You find some great tidbits of info! :hi: