TCM TiVo Alert for September 15-22

TCM TiVo ALERT

For

September 15–September 22

DAVID’S BEST BETS:

OUT OF THE FOG (September 20, 4:45 pm): They Made Me a Criminal (1939) brought the great John Garfield to the attention of movie fans. Two years later, Out of the Fog proved that with the proper script, Garfield was among the elite actors of his era – an era that included Humphrey Bogart, Joseph Cotten, Cary Grant, James Stewart and Orson Welles. In this film, Garfield plays Harold Goff, a sadistic gangster who demands protection money from fishermen at a Brooklyn pier. He is incredibly cruel yet also charming as he falls for the daughter, played by Ida Lupino, of one of the fishermen he is terrorizing. It's one of Warner Brothers' best film noirs. There is nothing likable about Goff, but you won't be able to stop watching until you see how he gets it in the end.  

THE FRONT (September 22, 8:00 pm): I'm a huge Woody Allen fan, but it's a mixed bag when he's only acting, and not directing and/or writing a film. Watch Scenes from a Mall – if you dare – for evidence that acting-only films can be disasters for Allen. Thankfully, The Front is the opposite. This delightful comedy, with a healthy dose of anti-McCarthyism, has Allen as Howard Prince, a restaurant cashier/third-rate bookie in the 1950s who serves as a "front" for an old friend who is blacklisted from Hollywood. His friend writes scripts for a TV show, Prince puts his name on them and they split the money. Everyone's happy, right? Well, not exactly. Prince's friend knows other writers who want to get in on the action. Soon, Prince's name is on many scripts and his ego is running wild. Allen is flawless in the role as a lovable loser who has to convince people that he's actually brilliant. He is surrounded by an excellent cast. Of note is Zero Mostel, who was blacklisted in real life. He plays Hecky Brown, a beloved character on a TV show in which Prince is a "writer." Brown was sort of a Communist years ago because he was attracted to a woman who was a party member. After being blacklisted, Brown becomes desperate, humiliated and eventually kills himself. Prince is asked to testify before a House on Un-American Activities Committee subcommittee. The ending is priceless. The movie pays tribute to those who were blacklisted, but focuses more on comedy allowing the message to be delivered in a soft, but effective, way.

ED’S BEST BETS:

NOTHING SACRED (September 15, 4:45 am): A classic screwball comedy about a reporter (Frederic March) who exploits Vermont girl Lombard’s “immanent death” from radium poisoning for all the headlines he can get for his New York paper. It doesn’t matter that the diagnosis was wrong, March convinces Lombard to play along, resulting in a series of tearjerking news stories, national headliners and a wave of public sympathy. Ben Hecht’s script gets the most out of this cynical look at media darlings of the moment, and it’s helped along by sterling performances from the leads. Oscar Levant provides a musical score reminiscent of the Gershwins.

SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS (September 18, 2:45 am): This film is rightly said to be writer/director Preston Sturges’s masterpiece. John L. Sullivan is a noted director of light musical fare such as Ants in Your Plants of 1939 and Hey, Hey in the Hayloft. However, he wants to make an Important Film, and he has one in mind, namely O Brother, Where Art Thou, a leaden novel concerned with the struggle between Capital and Labor. The studio execs pooh-pooh it, noting that he grew up rich and never suffered. So, Sullivan sets out to see how the other half lives, and ends up with far more than he bargained for when everybody assumes he died. It’s both hilarious and touching with many insights from Sturges into the human ego versus the human condition. It’s best to record it to be seen again later – and you will definitely want to see it again.

WE DISAGREE ON ... COOL HAND LUKE (September 16, 5:45 pm)

ED: A+. The ‘60s was the time of the anti-hero, of rebellion, and no one more personified that on film than Paul Newman. Of all his roles, Lucas Jackson was the height of that type of character. Cool Hand Luke is actually based on the 1965 novel of the same name by Donn Pierce, and Newman does justice to the lead character. We don’t know why Luke is rebelling, or when things are going his way, he suddenly reverts to an anti-authority stand. Perhaps it had to do with the death of his mother (Jo Van Fleet), but Luke was acting up just before that crucial scene where he was informed of his mother’s death. Perhaps it is because Luke is a non-conformist who refuses to fit into a society he wants no part of. Anyway, the film is well-written and directed; populated with outstanding performances and memorable scenes, songs, and lines, such as “What we got here is failure to communicate,” “He’s a natural born world shaker,” and, of course, “Yeah, well sometimes nothing can be a real cool hand.” And who can forget the music? I know people who cannot be described as film fanatics, but can quote the lines and clearly remember scenes from the movie. Cool Hand Luke is one of those rare period pieces and one of the few films from the ‘60s that holds up well today.  

DAVID: B. I like this movie, but it gets far more praise than it deserves. Paul Newman gives a strong performance as Lucas Jackson, a decorated Korean War veteran who seems to have trouble respecting authority. Also, George Kennedy is solid as Dragline, a fellow inmate, and Strother Martin as Captain – "What we got here is failure to communicate" – is excellent. The problem with the film is we're never given a reason as to why "Cool Hand Luke" is such a screw-up. There's no motivation for his actions. He is sentenced to hard labor at a prison camp for cutting the tops of a town's parking meters with no reason for why he did it. When the Captain brings up Luke's Korean War record, he doesn't give an explanation for why he was demoted from a sergeant to a private. He wins a big poker hand with a bluff, decides he can eat 50 hard-boiled eggs as a challenge, and constantly gets in trouble resulting in time in the "box." Why? Even when his original sentence is coming to an end, he tries to escape, which adds more time. When I watch the movie, I wonder if Luke is a complete fool. His defiant actions and spirit bring him respect from the other inmates and the guards, known as "bosses," and Captain also admire him. But based on his character, Luke could care less about that respect. In one scene, he gets mad at the other inmates for admiring him. There's something in him that makes him restless and a rebel, but we never learn what it is. Towards the conclusion, Luke is in a church talking to God and is confused as me as to why he acts this way. It's a good movie, with a fantastic ending. Not all films need to be wrapped up with a pretty bow and logic. But Cool Hand Luke leaves me with more questions than answers, and less than satisfied.

For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click here.