TCM Schedule for Saturday, September 6 --- ROBERT MITCHUM

[lavenderdiva]

6 Saturday



5:00 AM Kings Row (1942)
Small town scandals inspire an idealistic young man to take up psychiatry. Cast: Ann Sheridan, Robert Cummings, Ronald Reagan. Dir: Sam Wood. BW-127 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

7:08 AM Short Film: Hail Columbia (1935)
BW-10 mins,

7:30 AM Nothing Sacred (1937)
When a small-town girl is diagnosed with a rare, deadly disease, an ambitious newspaper man turns her into a national heroine. Cast: Carole Lombard, Fredric March, Walter Connolly. Dir: William A. Wellman. C-74 mins, TV-PG

8:50 AM Short Film: Three On A Rope (1938)
BW-10 mins,

9:00 AM The Awful Truth (1937)
A divorced couple keeps getting mixed up in each other's love lives. Cast: Cary Grant, Irene Dunne, Ralph Bellamy. Dir: Leo McCarey. BW-91 mins, TV-PG, CC

10:32 AM Short Film: Littlest Diplomat (1937)
C-19 mins,

11:00 AM Quentin Tarantino (2008)
Celebrities reveal the classic movies that influenced their lives in interviews with acclaimed film critic/interviewer Elvis Mitchell. C-28 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

11:30 AM The Rounders (1965)
Two ne'er-do-well cowpokes look for sex and easy money in the modern West. Cast: Henry Fonda, Glenn Ford, Sue Ane Langdon. Dir: Burt Kennedy. C-85 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

1:00 PM The Big Country (1958)
Feuding families vie for water rights in the old West. Cast: Gregory Peck, Jean Simmons, Charlton Heston. Dir: William Wyler. C-166 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

4:00 PM The Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)
Three returning servicemen fight to adjust to life after World War II. Cast: Fredric March, Dana Andrews, Myrna Loy. Dir: William Wyler. BW-170 mins, TV-PG, CC

What's On Tonight: THE ESSENTIALS: ROBERT MITCHUM

7:00 PM The Night Of The Hunter (1955)
A bogus preacher marries an outlaw's widow in search of the man's hidden loot. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Shelley Winters, Lillian Gish. Dir: Charles Laughton. BW-93 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

8:39 PM Short Film: Wild Boar Hunt (1940)
BW-10 mins,

9:00 PM Track of the Cat (1954)
A murderous panther haunts a dysfunctional pioneer family. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Tab Hunter, Teresa Wright. Dir: William A. Wellman. C-103 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

10:45 PM The Red Pony (1949)
A rancher's son learns a valuable lesson when he's given a pony. Cast: Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, Louis Calhern. Dir: Lewis Milestone. C-89 mins, TV-G, CC

12:30 AM Man With the Gun (1955)
A man in search of his wayward wife agrees to defend a Western town from a ruthless landowner. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jan Sterling, Karen Sharpe. Dir: Richard Wilson. BW-84 mins, TV-PG

2:00 AM Thunder Road (1958)
A fast-driving moonshiner locks horns with a Chicago gangster. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Gene Barry, Keely Smith. Dir: Arthur Ripley. BW-93 mins, TV-PG, CC

3:45 AM Out of the Past (1947)
A private eye becomes the dupe of a homicidal moll. Cast: Robert Mitchum, Jane Greer, Kirk Douglas. Dir: Jacques Tourneur. BW-97 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

[Hidden Stillness]

1. Two Great Movies on Saturday

There are two really great movies on this day (and others, too, I'm sure): First, at 4 PM, (not with Robert Mitchum), "The Best Years of Our Lives," one of the great movies ever, about the difficult returns of three World War II veterans, and the re-adjustments they, and their families, all have to make, as they come back changed. This is one of the most real, perceptive, intelligent movie scripts ever, and a great cast; all of them, and their problems, are treated beautifully. There are many great scenes and sequences, but one of the most moving, that makes me cry every time, is where the soldier played by Harold Russell, a real injured soldier who won a special Oscar for this role, shows the fiancee what the artificial hands look like, and how they are put on and taken off, to test whether she will be shocked and repulsed, the soldier's greatest fear. It is a haunting movie, that I think grows on you more and more. Beautiful psychological writing.

Then, 7 PM, "The Night of the Hunter," with Mitchum. This is a movie directed by Charles Laughton, a very scary murder/thriller, with a disturbingly evil and creepy Mitchum, and the two kids of Shelley Winters's character, who are trying to escape. The weird thing about this movie is that it becomes progressively more poetic, abstract, and dreamlike, as it goes along. It stars as a realistic crime/suspense drama, then finally ends up as a kind of ethereal parable, complete with visually distorted sets and lighting. A really interesting movie.

[CBHagman]

2. I agree with you.

The Best Years of Our Lives is one of the most moving films I've ever seen. It hints at all the insecurities, estrangements, shifts, and out-and-out clashes that occur between partners/spouses, family members, members of a community. It even suggests how complex and acrimonious postwar politics are going to get.

As for The Night of the Hunter, I'm certainly glad I didn't see that during childhood. It ranks up with To Kill a Mockingbird for terrifying realism and genuine chills. :scared:

[Longhorn]

3. The Best Years of Our Lives is one of my all-time favorites!

I can't count how many times I've seen it but I still watch it every chance I get. Your assessment is spot on. It just feels real. It's a long movie but I never find it boring. All of the actors do an amazing job -- even the actors in smaller roles like Dana Andrews' character's parents and Harold Russell's character's family.

I don't think I've seen The Night of the Hunter -- I'll have to set up the DVR. Thanks! :hi: