Welcome to another edition of Fedya's “Movies to Tivo” Thread, for the week of October 10-16, 2016. Some of you may be lucky enough to have Monday off, so if you do, why not enjoy the short workweek with some good movies? I've used my good taste to pick out some more interesting movies for you. TCM is running more Christopher Lee on Monday night, some horror movies appropriate for Halloween on Friday, and other stuff in between. There are also interesting movies on the other movie channels. As always, all times are in Eastern, unless otherwise mentioned.
When you think of actors who would seem to be surprises to show up in a western, two that might spring to mind are Ray Milland and Hedy Lamarr (don't call her Hedley). Yet both of them show up in Copper Canyon, which will be on StarzEncore Westerns at 9:30 AM Monday. Milland plays Johnny Carter, who had served in the Confederate Army and even robbed a Union payroll, so now that the war's over, he's still a wanted man. However, there's need of him because a copper-mining town inhabited by southerners is having their ore waylaid by crooked northerners before they can get it to the smelters and make their money off of it. Since he's good with a gun, won't he protect them? The thing is, it's actually the local police, led by Travis (Macdonald Carey) who are leading the folks stealing the ore, so good luck getting it stopped. As for Lamarr, she plays the saloon owner Lisa, and Carter falls in love with her along the way, which is a problem, since the miners think she's actually on the side of the northerners.
Those of you who enjoy war movies may enjoy The Cockleshell Heroes, which TCM is showing at 1:00 PM Monday. This one is based on a true story, of a group of British commandos called “Royal Marines Boom Patrol Detachment”. Jose Ferrer plays their commander. In World War II, the British wanted to get at Nazi shipping, specifically the port at Bordeaux, since that was the one with the easiest access to the Atlantic. The problem is, Bordeaux is on an estuary, a good ways inland. So the commandos had to go up the river at night (several nights, actually) in kayaks and attach bombs to the Nazi ships in harbor, and then hope that they could get back out with the help of the French Underground. Obviously a difficult task. Trevor Howard plays the second-in-command. Sure, there's some of the typical backstory drama that you find in movies, but the action once the scene shifts to the raid is quite good.
A movie that showed up on FXM Retro back in August and has been running relatively regularly since is Ace Eli and Rodger of the Skies, airing at 1:30 PM Tuesday and 7:30 AM Wednesday. Cliff Robertson plays 1920s pilot Ace Eli, who in the movie's opening scene crashes (unintentionally) his plane with his wife as a passenger, killing her. He then plans to rebuild his plane, becoming a barnstormer and making money that way, and his son Rodger (Eric Shea from The Poseidon Adventure) wants to do it too. Eventually pushed by Rodger, the two go off, meeting flapper Pamela Franklin, prostitute Bernadette Peters, and others along the way. Also along the way, father and son have an interesting relationship. Dad treats his son like dirt; the kid idolizes and boasts about his father; the flapper takes a liking to both of them causing complexity in the relationship for all three. Unfortunately, the movie never quite goes anywhere in part because Robertson was really miscast in the role. Steven Spielberg wrote the original story, before his career as a director took off. (He didn't direct this one.)
The salute to trailblazing women continues on Tuesday night, this time looking at women who did their part in World War II, although the movies aren't all World War II-themed. The first one is, however: Hollywood Canteen, at 8:00 PM Tuesday on TCM. Actor John Garfield had seen the Stage Door Canteen in New York, where stage stars got together to give GIs going off to war a break. He liked the idea, and got together with Bette Davis to start something similar in Los Angeles for men going off to the Pacific theater. Pretty much everybody in Hollywood joined in, although when the movie was made Warner Bros. couldn't get the other studios to lend out their stars, thinking the profits would go to the studio and not the war effort. There's not much of a story here; two soldiers (Robert Hutton and Dane Clark) go to the Canteen and meet their dream girls; one of them is the one millionth man to enter and as a result gets the prize of a date with the woman of his choice. That flimsy plot is an excuse for all of Warner Bros.' stars to make cameo appearances or do musical numbers.
Around 1936 and 1937, James Cagney was in a contract dispute with Warner Bros., so he moved over to fledgling Grand National Pictures and made two movies, including Something to Sing About, which TCM will be showing at 8:30 AM Wednesday. In this one, Cagney plays Terry Rooney, the dancer for a band. He's in love with the band's singer Rita (Evelyn Daw), but his dancing gets him noticed by Hollywood, so out west he goes. Unfortunately, his contract doesn't allow him to get married to Rita, so his publicity man, Hank (William Frawley), sets him up with new starlet Steffie (Mona Barrie) as a publicity stunt, which of course causes a strain with his true love back home. The fledgling studio went to great lengths to make a name for themselves by getting Cagney, but they didn't really have the resources necessary as can be seen from the rest of the cast. The film flopped and took the studio down with it, which is a bit of a shame since Cagney actually does well here and gets a few more all too rare opportunities to dance.
TCM is spending a good portion of Thursday with actress Laraine Day. One of her movies that I think I haven't recommended before is Unholy Partners, which you can watch at 6:45 AM. Edward G. Robinson plays reporter Bruce Corey, who returns from World War I to start a newspaper of his own in the big city. It's a cutthroat business, and the only way for Corey to get the funding he needs to stay afloat is to have Lambert (Edward Arnold) as a silent partner providing the money. The only thing is, Lambert is a gangster, and Corey eventually decides that he's going to be honest enough to report the truth, which ultimate results in his reporters writing about Lambert's activities, something that Lambert unsurprisingly doesn't want. The result is that one of Corey's reporters gets kidnapped. As for Day, she plays Corey's secretary Cronin. Also appearing as Lambert's girlfriend is Marsha Hunt, who will be turning 99 next week.
Returning to FXM Retro after a substantial absence is Rawhide, at 9:45 AM Friday. Tyrone Power plays Owens, learning the ropes of the stagecoach business by working at an out of the way station under Sam (Edgar Buchanan). One stage stops, and out comes Vinnie (Susan Hayward) with her infant child; the father's out of the picture. Unfortunately, there's been a breakout, and Sam doesn't want to risk anybody taking a stage further on that line, so Vinnie is waiting for the next stage in the opposite direction. Well, wouldn't you know it, that was the wrong decision as the four men who broke out (led by Hugh Marlowe) descend upon the station and decide to hold the folks there hostage, waiting for the next stage which they just know is carrying a shipment of bullion. Meanwhile, Owens is beginning to fall in love with Vinnie, and is trying not to let on just how much he really knows. Tyrone Powers didn't do many westerns, but he does just fine here.
For those of you who like more recent movies, you could always watch Back to School, which is showing up on StarzEncore Classics at 1:05 PM Friday, as well as a bunch of times on Monday on the regular Starz channel. Rodney Dangerfield plays rich businessman Thornton Melon, who never got the chance to have the college experience when he was young because he had to help out the family business. Now, Thornton is rich and has a son (Keith Gordon) going off to college but unsure about it. Thornton decides to help his son by… enrolling in college himself! Thornton is a fun-loving guy, and this combined with his wealth makes him one of the most popular people on campus. However, there's the little problem of actually having to go to classes. Sally Kellerman plays the English professor; Sam Kinison the history professor; Robert Downey Jr. plays a drug-addled student decrying the college experience; and Ned Beatty plays a dean with the unfortunate surname Martin. It's all a vehicle for Dangerfield, however.
Over on TCM, Friday's theme is car racing. An unlike car racer might by Mickey Rooney, but he played one in The Big Wheel, which is showing up at 4:30 PM Friday. Here, he plays Billy Coy, driving midget cars in the small-time racing circuit. His father was a big-time racecar driver, but Dad died in a crash, and the reputation precedes Billy. Indeed, Billy has become too brash himself trying to race in the Indy 500 where Dad failed. Eventually, another driver (Steve Brodie) gets killed, and all the other drivers blame Billy. Can Billy overcome this and get to the Indy 500? (Of course. It's a Hollywood movie.) Billy's mom is played by Spring Byington; she has a relationship with her late husband's old mechanic (Thomas Mitchell). But you'll probably want to watch this one for the vintage car racing footage, including scenes from the real Indy 500 (in 1949, I believe).
Halloween comes at the end of the month, and TCM is shwoing a lot of horror movies. Christopher Lee is the Star of the Month on Monday nights, and on Friday nights into Saturday morning they're showing classic horror movies. Perhaps the most interesting thing this week ties in to the Saturday matinee Bowery Boys movies they've been running. Apparently the Bowery Boys made several movies in which they meet various monsters, and TCM is running six of the Boys' movies that fit the horror genre starting at 4:30 AM Saturday.