TCM Schedule for Friday, September 3, 2021 -- Rock Robberies

In the daylight hours, TCM is saluting birthday boy, Alan Ladd (Sr!), born on September 3, 1913, in Hot Springs, Arkansas. From his IMDB mini-bio:

Alan Walbridge Ladd was born in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the only child of Ina Raleigh (aka Selina Rowley) and Alan Ladd, a freelance accountant. His mother was English, from County Durham, and his paternal grandparents were Canadian. His father died when he was four. At age five, he burned his apartment playing with matches, and his mother moved them to Oklahoma City. He was malnourished, undersized and nicknamed Tiny. His mother married a house painter who moved them to California--a la "The Grapes of Wrath"--when he was eight. He picked fruit, delivered papers, and swept stores. In high school he discovered track and swimming. By 1931 he was training for the 1932 Olympics, but an injury put an end to those plans. He opened a hamburger stand called Tiny's Patio, and later worked as a grip at Warner Brothers Pictures. He married his friend Midge in 1936, but couldn't afford her, so they lived apart. In 1937, they shared a friend's apartment. They had a son, Alan Ladd Jr., and his destitute alcoholic mother moved in with them, her agonizing suicide from ant poison witnessed a few months later by her son. His size and coloring were regarded as not right for movies, so he worked hard at radio, where talent scout and former actress Sue Carol discovered him early in 1939. After a string of bit parts in "B" pictures--and an unbilled part in Orson Welles' classic Citizen Kane (1941)--he tested for This Gun for Hire (1942) late in 1941. His fourth-billed role as psychotic killer Raven made him a star. He was drafted in January 1943 and discharged in November with an ulcer and double hernia. Throughout the 1940s his tough-guy roles packed audiences into theaters and he was one of the very few males whose cover photos sold movie magazines. In the 1950s he was performing in lucrative but unrewarding films (an exception being what many regard as his greatest role, Shane (1953)). By the end of the 1950s liquor and a string of so-so films had taken their toll. In November 1962 he was found unconscious lying in a pool of blood with a bullet wound near his heart, a probable suicide attempt. In January 1964 he was found dead, apparently due to an accidental combination of alcohol and sedatives.

In prime time, the theme is Rock Robberies - movies about jewels and the thieves who love them! Enjoy!


6:00 AM -- Guns of the Timberland (1960)
1h 31m | Western | TV-PG
Feud between ranchers and lumberjacks over the issue of environment protection versus profits.
Director: Robert D. Webb
Cast: Alan Ladd, Jeanne Crain, Gilbert Roland

Film producing debut for Aaron Spelling. Alan Ladd (I) had been so impressed by Spelling's work on two television pilots that he gave Spelling his first film producing job.


7:45 AM -- The McConnell Story (1955)
1h 47m | Drama | TV-PG
The true story of Korean war hero Captain Joseph McConnell, Jr.
Director: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Alan Ladd, June Allyson, James Whitmore

On August 25, 1954, while testing the fifth production F-86H (serial number 52-1981), at Edwards Air Force Base, Joseph C. McConnell, Jr. was killed in a crash following a control malfunction. The crash's cause was attributed to a missing bolt. Then Major Chuck Yeager was assigned to investigate the crash and replicated the malfunction at a much higher altitude, recovering before he hit the desert floor. The end of this movie had to be changed to reflect this event.


9:45 AM -- Drum Beat (1954)
1h 51m | Western | TV-PG
While negotiating a peace treaty with North California Indians, a presidential emissary has to fight off a renegade.
Director: Delmer Daves
Cast: Alan Ladd, Audrey Dalton, Marisa Pavan

This was the first production of Alan Ladd's own company. The main title reads: "Delmer Daves' Drum Beat." The film was shot around Sedona and in the Coconino National Forest, Arizona. Time reported that the film was made at a low cost of $1,100,000. The opening titles state that the story is based upon historical fact and that fictional incidents and characters have been introduced only where necessary to dramatize the truth. This was the first film in which Charles Buchinsky was billed as Charles Bronson.


11:45 AM -- The Deep Six (1958)
1h 50m | War | TV-PG
A pacifist finds his values challenged by the outbreak of World War II.
Director: Rudolph Maté
Cast: Alan Ladd, Dianne Foster, William Bendix

This film marks comedian Joey Bishop's feature film debut.


1:45 PM -- The Iron Mistress (1952)
1h 50m | Western | TV-PG
American adventurer Jim Bowie fights to make his way in the lumber business.
Director: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Alan Ladd, Virginia Mayo, Joseph Calleia

This film was physically hard on Alan Ladd - he injured a knee during the shoot and broke a hand on the last day of filming.


4:00 PM -- Santiago (1956)
1h 33m | Adventure | TV-PG
A hardened gun runner attempts to take a shipment to Cuba to assist with the rebellion against Spain.
Director: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Alan Ladd, Rossana Podestà, Lloyd Nolan

Stuntman Frank McGrath plays a Spaniard who is shot from his horse and is then dragged by the mount. Unable to get his foot loose McGrath suffered a bruised body.


6:00 PM -- The Big Land (1957)
1h 33m | Western | TV-PG
A cattleman tries to convince a group of farmers to build a small town as a railroad link.
Director: Gordon Douglas
Cast: Alan Ladd, Virginia Mayo, Edmond O'Brien

Four separate sets were built for the town - to show the town being built, to film the burning, after the burning and when it is completed.



WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: PRIMETIME THEME -- ROCK ROBBERIES



8:00 PM -- To Catch a Thief (1955)
1h 43m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-G
A retired cat burglar fights to clear himself of a series of Riviera robberies committed in his style.
Director: Alfred Hitchcock
Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis

Winner of an Oscar for Best Cinematography, Color -- Robert Burks

Nominee for Oscars for Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- Hal Pereira, J. McMillan Johnson, Sam Comer and Arthur Krams, and Best Costume Design, Color -- Edith Head

Cary Grant had announced his retirement from acting in February 1953, stating that, since the rise of Method actors like Marlon Brando, most people were no longer interested in seeing him. He was also angry at the way Charles Chaplin had been treated by the HUAC. He was lured out of his retirement to make this movie, and thereafter continued acting for a further eleven years.


10:00 PM -- The Hot Rock (1972)
1h 41m | Comedy
Dortmunder and his pals plan to steal a huge diamond from a museum. But this turns out to be only the first time they have to steal it...
Director: Peter Yates
Cast: Robert Redford, George Segal, Ron Leibman

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Film Editing -- Frank P. Keller and Fred W. Berger

Writer Donald E. Westlake stated in an interview that "The Hot Rock" started out to be one of his darker Richard Stark/Parker novels, but that "it kept turning funny."


12:00 AM -- Jack of Diamonds (1967)
1h 48m | Suspense/Mystery | TV-PG
A glamorous jewel thief tries to go straight.
Director: Don Taylor
Cast: George Hamilton, Joseph Cotten, Marie Laforêt

George Hamilton was able to demand and receive $100,000.00 for this film. He was at this time considered a hot commodity due in part to the fact that he was dating the president's daughter, Lynda Bird Johnson.


2:00 AM -- Without You, I'm Nothing (1990)
1h 34m | Adaptation
Film version of Sandra Bernhard's hit off-Broadway one-woman show.
Director: John Boskovich
Cast: Sandra Bernhard, John Doe, Steve Antin

Film debut of Djimon Hounsou.


3:45 AM -- Wigstock: The Movie (1995)
1h 25m | Documentary | TV-MA
A behind-the-scenes look at Wigstock, New York's famous annual drag extravaganza and gay pride celebration.
Director: Barry Shils
Cast: RuPaul, John Epperson, Debbie Harry


5:15 AM -- Delicious Dishes (1950)
12m | Short | TV-G
Experts demonstrate such innovative kitchen gadgets as the cheese slicer and the melon baller.
Cast: Arnold Morris

This theatrical short acts as an infomercial specifically targeted at the female audience who is taught how to use the kitchen tools which are promotional items for the theater. The first knife is able to cut vegetables into french curves, which can be combined in several different ways to make an interesting a colorful side dish. They are also told how they can use the rest of the vegetable in another interesting dish. The second knife cuts in a ripple pattern. The third knife is a hand held slicer with adjustable blade to allow different thicknesses of slices. The last knife demonstrated, the crowning glory in the set, is the mincing rolling knife. Beyond the specialized knife set, other items demonstrated include a melon baller, a pair of spring loaded tongs, a safety grater, a sharpening stone, a miniature can opener, a combination peeler/corer, a temporary pot and pan handle and a Sarah Bernhardt slicer. (Supposedly, the Sarah Bernhardt slicer is a good, old-fashioned potato slicer. No idea how it got that name!)


5:30 AM -- The Relaxed Wife (1957)
13m | Short | TV-G
The modern miracle of tranquilizers helps working men and their wives deal with life's little problems.
Cast: Tracy Ward, Dick Brophy, Joseph Cole

At the beginning and end of the film, it is mentioned that it is "presented by" the Roerig division of Pfizer, a pharmaceutical company. Later in the film, the definition of the Greek word "ataraxia" is given. It is no coincidence that Pfizer sold a prescription drug with the brand name Atarax (hydroxyzine). So, this "public service" film is actually a long commercial for their sedative (among other uses) Atarax.


5:45 AM -- The House in the Middle (1954)
12m | Short | TV-PG
Military tests demonstrate the dangers of poor home maintenance in the event of a nuclear attack.
Cast: Federal Civil Defense Administration, National Clean Up-Paint Up-Fix Up Bureau