TCM Schedule for Saturday, September 19, 2020 -- The Essentials: Damon Runyon

In the daylight hours, TCM has the usual Saturday matinee lineup of films and shorts. Then in primetime, TCM finally returns to the Essentials. Tonight, Ben Mankiewicz and special co-host Brad Bird are showing a pair of films based on stories written by Damon Runyon. Enjoy!


6:30 AM -- BLACKMAIL (1939)
A man in prison on false charges escapes to save his family from a blackmailer.
Dir: H. C. Potter
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Ruth Hussey, Gene Lockhart
BW-81 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Endre Bohem and Dorothy Yost.


8:00 AM -- MGM CARTOONS: THE FLEA CIRCUS (1954)
The entire entourage of a flea circus runs away to join a dog.
Dir: Tex Avery (Fred)
Cast: Francoise Brun-Cottan, Daws Butler, Bill Thompson
BW-7 mins, CC,


8:09 AM -- HOLLAND SAILING (1956)
This short film focuses on sailboat races in Holland.
BW-8 mins,


8:18 AM -- ALLURING ALASKA (1941)
This short film takes the viewer to Alaska.
C-9 mins,


8:27 AM -- GUNS OF HATE (1948)
Two drifters are falsely accused of murder.
Dir: Lesley Selander
Cast: Tim Holt, Nan Leslie, Richard Martin
BW-62 mins, CC,

Based on a story by Ed Earl Repp.


9:30 AM -- TERRY AND THE PIRATES: THE SECRET OF THE TEMPLE (1940)
Dr. Herbert Lee, an archaeologist seeking to decipher ancient Mara inscriptions, is aided by his son, Terry, Terry's pal, Pat Ryan, and Normandie Drake.
Dir: James W. Horne
Cast: William Tracy, Jeff York, Joyce Bryant
BW-17 mins, CC,

Final episode of the serial.


10:00 AM -- POPEYE: OLIVE OYL AND WATER DON'T MIX (1933)
Popeye and Bluto agree that women are too much trouble, so they agree to swear off them, which lasts about 5 seconds.
Dir: Dave Fleischer, Dave Tendlar (uncredited)
Cast: Margie Hines, Jack Mercer
BW-7 mins, CC,

One of a number of Popeye shorts which were sent off to Asia in the 80's to undergo the infamous redraw and colorization process.


10:08 AM -- AFRICAN TREASURE (1952)
Bomba the Jungle Boy takes on diamond smugglers.
Dir: Ford Beebe
Cast: Johnny Sheffield, Laurette Luez, Martin Garralaga
C-70 mins, CC,

Lyle Talbot, seen here as escaped convict Roy DeHaven, was one of Hollywood's busiest character actors, with over 330 titles in his Imdb filmography, including guest shots on almost every classic TV series of the '50s and '60s. Interestingly, given how many well-known productions he was associated with, he is best remembered for his role in what is widely considered one of the worst movies ever made, Edward D. Wood Jr.'s Plan 9 from Outer Space (1957).


11:30 AM -- ROARING GUNS (1944)
In this short film, farmers take up arms against miners whose operations are destroying their farms.
Dir: Jean Negulesco
Cast: Ray Jones, Fred Kelsey, Norman Willis
C-19 mins,

Fourth episode in Warner Bros. Santa Fe Trail 2-reel Western series


12:00 PM -- GOING HOME (1971)
An ex-convict who killed his wife while drunk tries to re-build his relationship with his son.
Dir: Herbert B. Leonard
Cast: Robert Mitchum, Brenda Vaccaro, Jan-Michael Vincent
C-97 mins, CC,

In his 2017 bio of Harlan Ellison, Nat Segaloff states that the story for this film was inspired by Ellison's 1956 short story, "No Fourth Commandment," which screenwriter Lawrence B. Marcus had originally adapted for Alfred Pongratz, which was also produced by Herbert B. Leonard, the director of this feature. "Ellison was neither credited nor paid for this reuse," Segaloff writes.


1:45 PM -- 3:10 TO YUMA (1957)
A sheriff must run the gauntlet to get his prisoner out of town.
Dir: Delmer Daves
Cast: Glenn Ford, Van Heflin, Felicia Farr
BW-92 mins, CC,

The theme song is sung by Frankie Laine. Well-known for singing the theme songs to westerns, and for having such sincerity in his voice when doing so, It was because of his very familiar contributions to westerns that Mel Brooks chose Laine to sing the theme for Blazing Saddles (1974). The inside joke was that Laine sang his heart out, never realizing that the lyrics were a spoof.


3:30 PM -- FAIL SAFE (1964)
A failure in the U.S. defense system threatens to start World War III.
Dir: Sidney Lumet
Cast: Henry Fonda, Dan O'Herlihy, Walter Matthau
BW-112 mins, CC,

Columbia Pictures produced both this movie and Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964). Director Stanley Kubrick insisted his movie be released first, and it was, in January 1964. When Fail Safe (1964) was released, it garnered excellent reviews but audiences found it unintentionally funny because of "Strangelove", and stayed away. Henry Fonda later said he would never have made this movie if he had seen "Strangelove" first, because he would have laughed, too.


5:30 PM -- 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

When Gary Cooper won the Academy Award for his portrayal of Sergeant York at the Academy ceremony in the spring of 1942, it was presented to him by James Stewart, who was wearing his uniform as a lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: THE ESSENTIALS: DAMON RUNYON



8:00 PM -- GUYS AND DOLLS (1955)
A big-city gambler bets that he can seduce a Salvation Army girl.
Dir: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Cast: Marlon Brando, Jean Simmons, Frank Sinatra
C-149 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Harry Stradling Sr., Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Oliver Smith, Joseph C. Wright and Howard Bristol, Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Jay Blackton and Cyril J. Mockridge

In 1952, Frank Sinatra was considered washed up. In 1953, he virtually paid Harry Cohn to allow him to play Maggio in From Here to Eternity (1953). By 1954, he had regained enough clout to force the creative team of Young at Heart (1954) to rewrite the original ending of their story, which he refused to play. In 1955, he swallowed his pride to play Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls , not yet having regained enough power to dethrone number one box office attraction Marlon Brando. One year later, obviously feeling he had once again reached the pinnacle, Sinatra walked off the set of Carousel (1956) in a fit of temperament on the first day of filming. Four years earlier, he could not get a job.


10:45 PM -- MIDNIGHT ALIBI (1934)
An elderly recluse shelters a gambler on the run from bogus murder charges.
Dir: Alan Crosland
Cast: Richard Barthelmess, Ann Dvorak, Helen Chandler
BW-58 mins,

The production featured in a real-life murder case when shots fired during the making at the Warner Brothers studio were mistaken for the shots fired when Nellie Madison shot her husband across the street from the lot thus giving Mrs. Madison time to briefly escape.


12:00 AM -- GILDA (1946)
A gambler discovers an old flame in South America, but she's married to his new boss.
Dir: Charles Vidor
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready
BW-110 mins, CC,

Rita Hayworth died from complications of early onset Alzheimer's in May of 1987 at the age of 68. One of her pallbearers was Glenn Ford.


2:15 AM -- ROLLERBALL (1975)
The star of a bloodthirsty future sport tries to clean up the game before it kills him.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: James Caan, John Houseman, Maud Adams
C-125 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The game sequences were filmed in the Olympic Basketball Arena in Munich, West Germany. Munich citizens were invited to the filming to serve as spectators to the games. Director Norman Jewison intended this movie to be anti-violence, but audiences so loved the action of the game that there was actually talk about forming rollerball leagues in the wake of this movie, which horrified him.


4:30 AM -- COUNTDOWN (1968)
An astronaut takes a one-way voyage to the moon.
Dir: Robert Altman
Cast: James Caan, Joanna Moore, Robert Duvall
C-101 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

The Pilgrim spacecraft is a ludicrous hybrid of the entire Gemini spacecraft grafted onto the descent stage of an Apollo lunar module. Such a thing was beyond impossible. There was a lunar Gemini program, the so-called "Big Gemini" which would have featured crew space for as many as 12 astronauts, but this never got past the concept stage and did not include a lunar lander. The model shown in the film has been assembled from plastic model kits of Gemini and Apollo available off the shelf in suburban stores during the late 1960s.