TCM Schedule for Friday, February 14, 2020 -- 31 Days of Oscar: 360 Degrees of Oscar

Last edited Mon Mar 23, 2020, 06:42 PM - Edit history (1)

More of 31 Days of Oscar, with the actors or actresses that connect the films added after a break at the end, in case you want to guess. Enjoy and have a happy Valentine's day!


7:30 AM -- AIR FORCE (1943)
A bomber crew sees World War II action over the Pacific.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: John Ridgely, Gig Young, Arthur Kennedy
BW-124 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- George Amy

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Dudley Nichols, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- James Wong Howe, Elmer Dyer and Charles A. Marshall, and Best Effects, Special Effects -- Hans F. Koenekamp (photographic), Rex Wimpy (photographic) and Nathan Levinson (sound)

In the scene on Wake Island where a Marine hands the dog to Assistant Crew Chief Weinberg (George Tobias), a voice can be heard telling the dog to give Weinberg a kiss. The voice was from the dog's owner and trainer, Frank Weatherwax. The dog, named Rommy, had appeared in numerous other movies including Reap the Wild Wind (1942), George Washington Slept Here (1942) and Without Love (1945).


9:45 AM -- SERGEANT YORK (1941)
True story of the farm boy who made the transition from religious pacifist to World War I hero.
Dir: Howard Hawks
Cast: Gary Cooper, Walter Brennan, Joan Leslie
BW-134 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Gary Cooper, and Best Film Editing -- William Holmes

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Walter Brennan, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Margaret Wycherly, Best Director -- Howard Hawks, Best Writing, Original Screenplay -- Harry Chandlee, Abem Finkel, John Huston and Howard Koch, Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Sol Polito, Best Art Direction-Interior Decoration, Black-and-White -- John Hughes and Fred M. MacLean, Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD), Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic Picture -- Max Steiner, and Best Picture

Alvin C. York had been approached by producer Jesse Lasky several times, beginning in 1919, to allow a movie to be made of his life, but had refused, believing that "This uniform ain't for sale." Lasky convinced York that, with war threatening in Europe, it was his patriotic duty to allow the film to proceed. York finally agreed - but only on three conditions. First, York's share of the profits would be contributed to a Bible School York wanted constructed. Second, no cigarette smoking actress could be chosen to play his wife. Third, that only Gary Cooper, could recreate his life on screen. Cooper at first turned down the role, but when York himself contacted the star with a personal plea, Cooper agreed to do the picture.


12:15 PM -- FURY (1936)
An innocent man escapes a lynch mob then returns for revenge.
Dir: Fritz Lang
Cast: Sylvia Sidney, Spencer Tracy, Walter Abel
BW-92 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Norman Krasna

This was Sylvia Sidney's only film for MGM, and according to the papers of director Fritz Lang, he stipulated that she be cast in the part before he signed his contract with the studio.


2:00 PM -- SUMMER WISHES, WINTER DREAMS (1973)
A New York City housewife faces a midlife crisis that forces her to re-consider her way of life.
Dir: Gilbert Cates
Cast: Joanne Woodward, Martin Balsam, Minerva Pious
C-88 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Joanne Woodward, and Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Sylvia Sidney

Features Sylvia Sidney's only Oscar nominated performance.


4:00 PM -- RACHEL, RACHEL (1968)
A small town teacher tries to overcome her shyness.
Dir: Paul Newman
Cast: Joanne Woodward, James Olson, Kate Harrington
C-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Joanne Woodward, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Estelle Parsons, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Stewart Stern, and Best Picture

Nell Potts, who plays Rachel as a young girl, is actually Joanne Woodward and Paul Newman's real daughter. The uncredited baby on the beach with Rachel at the end of the film is Claire Newman, then age 2, whose face is never shown because she was crying throughout most of the scene; the waves lapping against the shore scared her, as she didn't yet know how to swim.


6:00 PM -- BONNIE AND CLYDE (1967)
The legendary bank robbers run riot in the South of the 1930s.
Dir: Arthur Penn
Cast: Warren Beatty, Faye Dunaway, Michael J. Pollard
C-111 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Estelle Parsons, and Best Cinematography -- Burnett Guffey

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Warren Beatty, Best Actress in a Leading Role -- Faye Dunaway, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Gene Hackman, Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Michael J. Pollard, Best Director -- Arthur Penn, Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- David Newman and Robert Benton, Best Costume Design -- Theadora Van Runkle, and Best Picture

Since this was Estelle Parsons' first film, she was amazed at the extent of the special effects. When she and Gene Hackman attempt an escape from a motel room using a mattress for protection from police gunfire, Parsons was required to crank a concealed wheel that sequentially detonated squibs embedded in the foam, simulating police bullet hits.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: 360 DEGREES OF OSCAR



8:00 PM -- THE FIRM (1993)
A young lawyer joins a prestigious law firm only to discover that it has a sinister dark side.
Dir: Sydney Pollack
Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Gene Hackman
BW-155 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Holly Hunter, and Best Music, Original Score -- Dave Grusin

Gene Hackman's contract called for his name to come before the title in all promotional materials. Tom Cruise's contract called for his name, and his name only, to come before the title in all promotional materials. Hackman opted to leave his name off all promotional materials, making his presence a surprise to most audiences. In the film, Hackman's name comes after Cruise's and before the title.


10:45 PM -- BRUBAKER (1980)
A new prison warden takes on corruption that has spread to the state government.
Dir: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Roy Poole, Ritch Brinkley, Yaphet Kotto
C-131 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Written Directly for the Screen -- W.D. Richter (screenplay/story) and Arthur A. Ross (story)

Making his film debut, Nicolas Cage appears as an extra. This was also the first credited film of Morgan Freeman.


1:05 AM -- AN AMERICAN DREAM (1966)
A man suspected of murdering his wife has to elude the police and a gang of hoodlums.
Dir: Robert Gist
Cast: Stuart Whitman, Janet Leigh, Eleanor Parker
C-103 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Johnny Mandel (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) for the song "A Time for Love"

Director Robert Gist had a small acting role in the 1958 film adaptation of Norman Mailer's novel, The Naked and the Dead (1958). "An American Dream" has been the only other Mailer novel filmed to date, though a number of other films have been based on Mailer's nonfiction books.


3:00 AM -- COOL HAND LUKE (1967)
A free-spirited convict refuses to conform to chain-gang life.
Dir: Stuart Rosenberg
Cast: Paul Newman, George Kennedy, J. D. Cannon
C-127 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of an Oscar for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Kennedy

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Newman, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Donn Pearce and Frank Pierson, and Best Music, Original Music Score -- Lalo Schifrin

Two hundred hard-boiled eggs were provided for one of the film's most famous sequences. Due to clever editing, Paul Newman only ate about eight altogether. The rest were consumed by the cast and crew, which led to extreme cases of flatulence the next day.


5:15 AM -- PAPILLON (1973)
Two Devil's Island prisoners devote all of their time to hatching escape plans.
Dir: Franklin J. Schaffner
Cast: Steve McQueen, Dustin Hoffman, Victor Jory
C-151 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Dramatic Score -- Jerry Goldsmith

Two cast members were already acquainted with Devil's Island. Victor Jory was in Escape from Devil's Island (1935) and George Coulouris (Dr. Chatal) was in I Accuse! (1958), the story of Devil's Island's other most famous real-life prisoner, Alfred Dreyfus.




















Don't scroll any farther if you don't want to know who the connecting actors and actresses are!



















Air Force (1943)
George Tobias)
Sergeant York (1941)
Walter Brennan)
Fury (1936)
Sylvia Sidney)
Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams (1973)
Joanne Woodward)
Rachel, Rachel (1968)
Estelle Parsons)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Gene Hackman)
The Firm (1993)
Wilford Brimley)
Brubaker (1980)
Murray Hamilton)
An American Dream (1966)
JD Cannon)
Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Anthony Zerbe)
Papillon (1973)
Victor Jory)
Cheyenne Autumn (1964)