TCM | dual personalities

Tag: TCM

Friday movie pick(s)

by chuckofish

Anyone who reads this blog on a regular basis knows that I take advantage of any opportunity to feature a picture of Steve McQueen. Well, today it’s Steve McQueen day on TCM all day–12 movies!

So quick, set your DVRs! They’re not showing The Great Escape (1963), but they are showing The Magnificent Seven (1960), which stars many of the same actors and is also directed by John Sturges. It’s the classic re-make of Akira Kurosawa’s The Seven Samurai–a great idea which they actually pulled off pretty well. In this version embattled Mexican peasants hire seven American gunfighters to protect their village from Eli Wallach and his army of bandits. The seven include Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, James Coburn, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter, and the German Horst Buchholtz as “Chico”. What a line-up! It also features the famous score by Elmer Bernstein.

Bonus points to anyone who can explain to me what Vin means when he says: “It took me a long, long time to learn my elbow from a hot rock.”

P.S. I just got my pillow back from the finisher.

Isn’t it adorable? It is a present for someone. Lucky, eh?

Have a great weekend!

6 Comments

September 7, 2012

More good news

by chuckofish

Really. Where was I at the beginning of the month? No one told me that it’s Lauren Bacall month on TCM! Or if I knew, I promptly forgot (which happens a lot) until I was escaping from convention-land and happened upon To Have and Have Not Wednesday night. Oh happy day!

Don’t you just love Lauren Bacall?

Born Betty Joan Perske, she first became a star in To Have And Have Not in 1944 at the age of 19. What an auspicious start to a fine career! Although I had recently seen this movie, I happily watched it again the other night. Besides the sultry young Bacall and an engaging Humphrey Bogart (who clearly likes his young co-star and is putting in extra effort), this movie boasts one of the best Walter Brennan performances ever (“Was you ever bit by a dead bee?”) and Hoagy Carmichael. If that isn’t enough, the screenplay was written by Jules Furthman and (yes) William Faulkner–based on a novel by Ernest Hemingway. You can’t get much better than that. Seriously.

Our mother always liked Lauren Bacall, in large part, I think, because the actress never allowed Hollywood to do crazy things with her hair. It was (almost) always its beautiful natural color styled in a conservative, part-on-the-side pageboy–even in the 1940s! She had class. Once when I was in college a friend’s father told me I had Lauren Bacall eyes, and I was actually flattered.

Anyway, September is Lauren Bacall’s month on TCM where they will spotlight her movies every Wednesday night. Oh boy. By the way, she made two movies with John Wayne. Blood Alley (1955) will be shown on September 19 (at 12 am.–set your DVR!)