TCM Schedule for Thursday, May 6, 2021 -- What's On Tonight: TCM Classic Film Festival

The theme for the daylight hours is I Miss ... Concerts, a collection of films about popular music stars from Elvis to the Beatles to ABBA. The in prime time, it's the start of the virtual TCM Classic Film Festival, running throughout the weekend. Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Midnight Mary (1933)
1h 11m | Drama | TV-PG
An abused orphan sinks into a life of crime.
Director: William Wellman
Cast: Loretta Young, Ricardo Cortez, Franchot Tone

The original working title "Lady of the Night" was changed after the Hayes Office objected (the title was thought to be obscene).


7:30 AM -- Hold On! (1966)
1h 25m | Comedy | TV-PG
Rocket scientists consider naming a space ship after Herman's Hermits.
Director: Arthur Lubin
Cast: Peter Noone, Karl Green, Keith Hopwood

An unsuccessful attempt at turning Herman's Hermits into the Beatles.


9:15 AM -- Jamboree! (1957)
1h 25m | Musical | TV-G
Two young people attempt to find love and success by making it in the music industry.
Director: Roy Lockwood
Cast: Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jimmy Bowen

In addition to the musical performers, this film had a number of cameo appearances by disc jockeys from across the United States, Canada and Great Britain. This insured the producers of some free radio plugs for the film upon its release.


10:45 AM -- Don't Knock the Rock (1957)
1h 20m | Musical | TV-G
A disc jockey fights prejudice against rock 'n' roll and the kids who dance to it.
Director: Fred F. Sears
Cast: Bill Haley And His Comets, Alan Dale, Alan Freed

This movie was a follow-up to Rock Around the Clock (1956) and shares many of the same sets and cast.


12:15 PM -- Don't Look Back (1967)
1h 36m | Documentary | TV-MA
D.A. Pennebaker follows Bob Dylan on his 1965 tour of England.
Director: D. A. Pennebaker
Cast: Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Alan Price

Several scenes in this film were parodied, shot for shot, in the Tim Robbins film "Bob Roberts (1992)." These include the "Wife of the Sheriff of Nottingham" scene, and the segment in which Joan Baez is singing "Percy's Song" while Dylan composes on a typewriter in the background. In "Bob Roberts" (1992), Tim Robbins is updating his investment portfolio on his computer while his lover sings about "Marching For Ourselves". Other unmistakable references include the "Subterranean Homesick Blues" parody and the motorcycle 'accident'.


2:15 PM -- ABBA - the Movie (1977)
1h 34m | Comedy | TV-G
A disc jockey tries to land an in-depth interview with the Swedish rock group during their hit Australian tour.
Director: Lasse Hallström
Cast: Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus, Agnetha Fältskog

Agnetha Fältskog was frequently filmed above the neck in close-ups due to disguise the fact that she was pregnant at the time.


4:15 PM -- A Hard Day's Night (1964)
1h 32m | Comedy | TV-PG
A rock and roll mockumentary that follows "a day in the life" of those four lads from Liverpool.
Director: Richard Lester
Cast: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, Ringo Starr

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Alun Owen, and Best Music, Scoring of Music, Adaptation or Treatment -- George Martin

During the opening sequence of the group running, George stumbles and falls, with Ringo falling over him in turn. This wasn't intended and George ripped the suit he was wearing, but he quickly recovered, laughed, and continued running, it was decided to retain the shot in the movie.


6:00 PM -- Elvis: That's The Way It Is 2001 (1970)
1h 48m | Documentary | TV-14
Restored version of the King's classic Vegas concert film.
Director: Denis Sanders
Cast: Elvis Presley

The filming of the concerts were at Elvis Presley's third season in Las Vegas.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- TCM CLASSIC FILM FESTIVAL



8:00 PM -- West Side Story (1961)
2h 35m | Musical
A young couple from dueling street gangs falls in love.
Director: Robert Wise, Jerome Robbins
Cast: Natalie Wood, Richard Beymer, Russ Tamblyn, Rita Moreno

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- George Chakiris, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Rita Moreno, Best Director -- Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins (For the first time a directing award is being shared.), Best Cinematography, Color -- Daniel L. Fapp, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Boris Leven and Victor A. Gangelin, Best Costume Design, Color -- Irene Sharaff, Best Sound -- Fred Hynes (Todd-AO SSD) and Gordon Sawyer (Samuel Goldwyn SSD), Best Film Editing -- Thomas Stanford, Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Saul Chaplin, Johnny Green, Sid Ramin and Irwin Kostal, and Best Picture

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Ernest Lehman

Rita Moreno went on Jack Benny to promote West Side Story in 1961. Jack Benny said he liked the movie but one thing that really bugged him was at the ending, Tony is dying, he's just been shot, and instead of helping him or getting a doctor Maria just stands there singing to him. "Well we tried that scene with a doctor, but he couldn't sing, so we cut it out", Rita quipped.


11:15 PM -- Mean Streets (1973)
1h 50m | Crime
A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.
Director: Martin Scorsese
Cast: Robert DeNiro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval

The film is semi-autobiographical: a film about life as Marty knew it, growing up in his NYC neighbourhood and dealing with a formative period in his life during the early 60's. He had tried to depict this a couple of times previously. Once in a comic short called "It's Not Just You, Murray." (A rough draft of it would later become "Goodfellas." Harvey Keitel plays the same character in both.) And in an attempt at his first feature "Who's That Knocking At My Door," which he felt was a black-and-white rough draft for "Mean Streets."


1:30 AM -- Doctor X (1932)
1h 16m | Horror
A reporter investigates a series of cannibalistic murders at a medical college.
Director: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Lee Tracy

This is the film for which Michael Curtiz is quoted as saying, "This will make your blood curl!"


3:00 AM -- Ocean's Eleven (1960)
2h 7m | Comedy
A group of friends plot to rob a Las Vegas casino.
Director: Lewis Milestone
Cast: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr.

According to Frank Sinatra Jr. on the DVD commentary, Sammy Davis Jr. was forced to stay at a "colored only" hotel during the filming because Las Vegas would not allow blacks to stay at the major hotels despite his appearing with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and the others at the Sands Hotel. He was only allowed to stay at the major hotels after Frank Sinatra confronted the casino owners on his behalf, therefore breaking Vegas' unofficial color barrier.


5:45 AM -- My Favorite Wife (1940)
1h 28m | Comedy
A shipwrecked woman is rescued just in time for her husband's re-marriage.
Director: Garson Kanin
Cast: Irene Dunne, Cary Grant, Randolph Scott

Nominee for Oscars for Best Writing, Original Story -- Leo McCarey, Bella Spewack and Sam Spewack, Best Art Direction, Black-and-White -- Van Nest Polglase and Mark-Lee Kirk, and Best Music, Original Score -- Roy Webb

In addition to the Doris Day/James Garner remake Move Over, Darling (1963), this film's script also served as the basis for Marilyn Monroe's final, unfinished project, Something's Got to Give. That version featured Dean Martin in the Cary Grant role, and Cyd Charisse as the second wife. Some of the sets built for that version were "repurposed" for the Day/Garner film, after production on the Monroe/Martin movie was shut down due to Monroe's chronic tardiness and eventually abandoned when she died in August of 1962.