Welcome to another edition of Fedya's “Movies to Tivo” thread, for the week of August 7-13, 2017. We're entering the dog days of August, so why not deal with the heat and tedium by watching some good movies? TCM has seven more stars in Summer Under the Stars, and there are interesting movies on the other channels as well. As always, all times are in Eastern, unless otherwise mentioned.
Monday brings a full day of films starring Eleanor Parker. One that I think I haven't recommended before is Many Rivers to Cross, which will be on at 6:00 PM Monday on TCM. Robert Taylor plays Bushrod, a hunter and trapper in Kentucky at the end of the 18th century who often stays with families for a few days. The daughters always fall in love with him, although he has no intention of getting married. And then he gets attacked by Indians and is saved by young Mary Cherne (Eleanor Parker), who brings him back to her family so they can nurse him back to health. Of course, she falls in love with him along the way. Making matters worse for Bushrod is that he's laid up long enough that he can't just leave the way he'd normally do. And Mary isn't about to give up on marrying Bushrod! This despite the fact that she was already betrothed to Luke (Alan Hale Jr., later of Gilligan's Island). The cast also includes Victor McLaglen as Mary's father, and Russ Tamblyn and another future Gilligan's Island cast member Russell Johnson as Mary's brothers.
On Tuesday, TCM is giving us 24 hours of Franchot Tone. Again I'll recommend a movie I don't think I've mentioned before, Exclusive Story at 9:30 AM. Franchot Tone plays Dick Barton, who is the legal counsel for one of those newspapers that populated films of the 30s, crusading against crime. Specifically, it's reporter Tim Higgins (Stuart Erwin) who is investigating gang, led by Werther (Robert Barrat) and Ace (Joseph Calleia). Higgins wants Barton to be named a special prosecutor so that he can go after the mob more directly, but Barton would rather enjoy high society. And then things get more complicated when Barton falls in love with the daughter of one of the gang's victims. Making things even more nuts, one of Barton's star witnesses is coming back from Havana, and the cruise ship catches fire, so Barton has to save the day! OK, so the movie defies reality. But MGM's movies were always glossy, and this is no exception.
Over on FXM Retro, we have North to Alaska this week, at 9:25 AM Wednesday. John Wayne plays Sam, who has beein prospecting for gold in Alaska circa 1900 together with his business partner George (Stewart Granger) and George's adolescent brother Billy (Fabian). They've struck gold, which means Sam has a lot of money to throw around and pick up better equipment down in Seattle. George's French fiancée is in Seattle, so could Sam bring him back? Well, it turns out the the fiancée married another guy in the three years George has been away, so Sam brings back another Frenchwoman Angel (Capucine) he met in a house of ill-repute; perhaps she can satisfy George. But she's interested in Sam, and Billy is the one most interested in her. Meanwhile, the unscrupulous Frankie (Ernie Kovacs) has shown up in Alaska trying to fleece everybody out of their claims, and it's no different with Sam and George. This is more comedy than anything else, and good until you have to sit through Fabian's singing.
Back on TCM, they're spending Wednesday with the movies of Sandra Dee. One that I don't think I've mentioned before is That Funny Feeling, at 8:00 PM. Sandra plays Joan, who works for one of those Merry Maids-type companies, not seeing her client, a wealthy businessman Tom (Bobby Darin; at the time Bobby and Sandra were married) with a nice apartment. Except that she does see him here and there, not realizing that it's he whose apartment she's cleaning. And Tom of course doesn't know that Joan is the maid. But since they keep meeting each other, Tom and Joan start dating. One night when Tom wants to go back to Joan's place, she doesn't want to go to her actual residence, which she shares with roommate Audrey (Nita Talbot). So she goes to the apartment she cleans…. You can guess the complications that ensue. One of those complications involves Tom's boss Harvey (Donald O'Connor), who has some paintings hanging on Tom's walls, and would like them back.
Moving ahead to Thursday, it's a day for the films of Sidney Poitier. One of his later films that again I think I haven't mentioned in these parts before is A Warm December, which will be on at 8:00 AM. Poitier plays Dr. Matt Younger, an American widower with a young daughter (Yvette Curtis) who decides to vacation in London to get away from it all. While there, he keeps running into the mysterious Catherine (Esther Anderson), who seems always to be trying to escape from men who are chasing her because, well, that will come up later in the movie. Dr. Matt “rescues” Catherine time again, and the two strike up a romantic relationship. And Matt's daughter really likes Catherine, so you think she'd make a good stepmother and wife. But then Catherine reveals who she is and the tragic reason why she's in London and has those guys following her around. Poitier also directed this, but unfortunately he was a better actor than director which is why the later movies he directed aren't so well remembered.
Young Jack Nicholson made some obscure movies in the 1960s. One that he wrote in addition to starring in is Ride in the Whirlwind, which will be on StarzEncore Westerns at 7:32 AM Thursday. Nicholson plays Wes who, along with Vern (Cameron Mitchell) and Otis (Tom Filer) are three cowhands romaing the west as itinerant labor. On the way from one job to the next, they pass a hanged man and then stop at a cabin to pass the night. What they don't realize is that their hosts, led by Blind Dick (Harry Dean Stanton) are actually outlaws, having held up a stage and killed a man in the hold-up. The authorities show up and a siege ensues, with the authorities burning everybody out. Otis is killed in the siege, but Wes and Vern get out, unable to inform the authorities that they were not part of the hold-up. So of course the authorities start pursuing Wes and Vern. The fact that they've stolen some horses to try to escape doesn't help matters.
TCM will be showing 24 hours of films on Friday starring Ginger Rogers, who made a lot of interesting films besides those dance movies she did with Fred Astaire. One of those non-Astaire movies is Twenty Million Sweethearts, which will be on at 10:45 AM Friday. Rogers plays Peggy, who's a radio star, but more on that in a bit. Pat O'Brien is the talent promoter Rush, who spots singing waiter Buddy (Dick Powell) at a restaurant. After Buddy gets fired, Rush offers to bring him to New York for a radio audition. That audition is at the station where Peggy's show is produced. She doesn't like him at first, but of course that changes. And when they do fall in love, Buddy proposes to Peggy, which would be great. Except that the sponsor doesn't want the marriage to go ahead because as things stand, Buddy is a heartthrob, and the sponsor thinks that won't remain the case if he gets married, which will cause a decline in ratings. So it's up to Rush to try to prevent Buddy and Peggy from getting married.
StarzEncore Classics is running what the box guide says is the 1969 version of The Italian Job, at 4:32 AM Friday. (The 2003 remake will be on AMC, loaded with commercials, multiple times next week.) Michael Caine plays Charlie, a recently-released convict who's heard about an interesting heist opportunity, although to get all the details, he'll have to see the mastermind Bridger (Noël Coward), who is still in prison. The plot involves stealing a shipment of gold from the airport in Turin, which will be made at the same time a big football match between England and Italy is taking place. For that alone it's not going to be an easy job, but there's also the fact that the Mafia don't want the robbery to go ahead. At any rate, Charlie assembles his team, including Benny Hill, and heads off to Italy. Eventually they steal the gold, but will they be able to escape? That's where the memorable chase scene involving a trio of Mini Coopers comes in, leading up to a surprise cliff-hanger ending.
On Saturday you get a kajillion John Wayne movies on TCM, including The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance at 5:45 PM. Aging US Senator Ransom Stoddard (James Stewart) returns from Washington to his western hometown with his wife Hallie (Vera Miles) when he learns that old friend Tom Doniphon (John Wayne) has died. A reporter asks Ransom about coming home, and we dissolve into a flashback of what happened ages ago that ultimately propelled Ransom to the Senate. Ransom was a young lawyer from the East who came to the growing territory to help bring the rule of law, and not the rule of the gun. There's the standard debate between the ranchers who want an open range and the farmers who want the land divided and want statehood. The ranchers have hired Liberty Valance (Lee Marvin) and his henchmen to frighten the farmers and townsfolk, and certainly they're all frightened. Except for the horrified Ransom who feels right needs to be done, even though he's never fired a gun before and could never take Liberty in the coming gunfight.
Finally, on Sunday we get 24 hours of Barbara Stanwyck. I think I've mentioned These Wilder Years before, but heck, why not mention it again, since the only movie Stanwyck made with James Cagney. Cagney plays industrial magnate Steve Bradford, who decides to take a break from business without telling the board why. It turns out that many years ago, when Steve was fairly young, he was a bit of a playboy, getting a woman knocked up out of wedlock and then sending her to a facility where the young woman could safely have the baby and then give it up for adoption. And now Steve wants to find out what became of that son. So he goes to the adoption agency, now run by Ann (that's Stanwyck), to try to get information on his biological son. Of course, in those days the records were sealed and trying to get them was nigh on impossible. But then Steve is a rich man with a high-priced attorney (Walter Pidgeon). Plus he's got the financial wherewithal to make the young man's life easier. But wil the rule of law be followed?