Also, Sam Raimi's EVIL DEAD 2: DEAD BY DAWN on at 2AM tonight.

Yes, on TCM.

Joe Bob Briggs would be so proud.

The other night I watched (again) "The Wild One," without a doubt the most iconic American movie of the Fifties. Despite being a "B" movie (and not a particularly brilliant one at that), "The Wild One" contains one of Brando's most forceful and definitive performances. Every serious compendium of film criticism (print or video) rates this movie at or near the top of the most influential films of the Fifties. Unlike "Streetcar," "On the Waterfront," "Viva Zapata" or "The Men," where Brando was surrounded by other capable actors, here he has a near-solo showcase for his ability to totally dominate everything (although Lee Marvin turns in an early, effective performance as a convincingly wretched fellow-biker).
One of the reasons I love "The Wild One" is that, when it came to our neighborhood moviehouse in '54 (almost a year after it was released), I was the only kid who had a real, leather motorcycle jacket. Andy Warhol once said everyone would be famous for 15 minutes. My 15 minutes of fame came on that matinee when all the neighborhood kids and I watched "The Wild One." And every one of them begged me to let them wear my motorcycle jacket while watching the film. Ah, what a moment... Afterward, we all attached a clothespin to a playing card, mounted the clothespin to the rear wheel of our bicycles, and let the playing card flap against the spokes of the wheel--making a sound like a motorcycle. Perfect!

Yep, TCM Underground RAWKS! You gotta love that!

I really think the pendulum is about to swing back to classic movies, this station in particular. People are discovering these movies for the first time b/c they weren't very accessible even 15-20 years ago. I once heard a story on TCM about Cary Grant not being recognized by a 'celebrity-seeker' on the streets of Hollywood during the 80's. It's b/c there's never been a medium for these movies -- until NOW.

And I did some research on DC's "Little Fugitive (1953)" and found it's been regarded as one of the pioneering works in the "New Wave" movement. Director Abrashkin died from Lou Gehrig's disease at Coney Island during the making of the film.

In general this whole month of June has been a VERY good one for TCM, as they are honoring the great directors both past and present, American and foreign...devoting 24 hour days to their films.
It's really been a fabulous series and I really would love to see them make it an annual event like 'Summer Under the Stars' every August.

But, the real appeal was just how fine Elvis looked. Even looking today at these old films, reminds me of how he was so easy to look at.

The Singing Nun is a 1966 semi-biographical film about the life of Jeanine Deckers, a nun who recorded the chart-topping hit song "Dominique". It starred Debbie Reynolds in the title role.

Jeanine Deckers (October 17, 1933 – March 29, 1985), better known in English as The Singing Nun, was a Belgian nun, and a member (as Sister Luc Gabriel) of the Dominican Fichermont Convent in Belgium. She became internationally famous in 1963 as Soeur Sourire (Sister Smile) when she scored a hit with the song "Dominique". In the English language world, she is mostly referred to as "The Singing Nun".

Deckers rejected the film as "fiction".[2] Sally Field spoofed the role starting the following year as the title character in the television series The Flying Nun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singing_Nun


Despite the film's criticism, Debbie Reynolds is every bit as good a singing nun as Julie Andrews

... it was a few years' worth of pre-adolescent woodies following that.

Well, it's no surprise that Turner saved Sinatra for the final Friday of "Summer Under the Stars." Impossible for me to pick a favorite role. Sinatra won his only Oscar for his supporting role in 1954 in "From Here to Eternity," a film that also featured two of the best roles ever in the careers of Burt Lancaster and Monty Clift.

Now, Frank was in competition that year with not one but with two characters from one of the greatest Westerns ever; Shane (1953), a film shown today on Turner starring Alan Ladd and the beautifully funny and talented Jean Arthur, who was featured today on TCM's final day of "Summer Under the Stars."

I had no idea that "Shane" would mark Arthur's final role ever on screen. She was SO pretty and talented, and one of tne pioneers in 'screw-ball comedy' of the 30's and 40's, and was also known for doing a number of roles with Jimmy Stewart. Despite being 51 at the time Of "Shane," she still had the look of a young, flaxen goddess. But it would be her only film ever done in color and the only time the world ever got to see her beautiful golden hair in color on screen. She dropped out of film altogether, apparently never remarrying the next 40 yrs and remaining childless. Obviously this was unheard of for women in those days, and she was really a true hero just for her efforts to stay her own course in life and not let herself be defined by society's norms.


Now, as for the competition that year for the Oscar's best supporting role, among others, Sinatra was up against was an 11 year old and a guy who had spoken only a handful of lines, both from "Shane." It was the young boy who played Arthur's son, Joey, and a future contemporary American star in big, bad Jack Palance (who would of course many years later co-star in the modern western acclaim, "City Slickers") for his role as the gunfighter; Jack Wilson, despite his character only speaking only a handful of lines the entire film. But this was just a such a powerful, stirring film that each of the characters resonated right off the screen and into our laps.

Shane is a film that filmmakers have tried to emulate over and over again thoughout the generations, I know for a fact that guys like Turnbull and SC revel in this film, and I've been watching Westerns since youth and I'd say it's the pinnacle of the genre. Arguably one of the best climaxes to any film ever, it's as if every moment of the film leads specifically and exculsively to the final gunfight - a gunfight was featured in the film's trailor, apparently producers had no problem filling in the audience to the film's ending. Thus, I'm not really spoiling the film by showing this classic ending b/c the producers put in the trailor for everyone to see.

Notice the powerful performance from the young boy in this closing scene, absolutely Oscar worthy even at such a young age! And Jack Palance is stone-faced and chilling in the villian role as he squares off to meet Shane. Again, arguably the greatest finale to any film ever made...But there was never any doubt about how this one was gonna end. 'He never would have even cleared the holster, would he, Shane.'


And Jack,
"I've heard that you're a low-down, Yankee liar."