TCM Schedule Saturday Aug. 24 - Summer Under the Stars: Grace Kelly

Last edited Wed Aug 21, 2024, 12:52 AM - Edit history (3)

AUGUST 24 AT A GLANCE

SUMMER UNDER THE STARS - ROBERT SHAW
Sting, The (1973)
(P) Luck of Ginger Coffey, The (1964)
Taking of Pelham One Two Three, The (1974)
Avalanche Express (1979)



- TCM DAYTIME
SUMMER UNDER THE STARS - GRACE KELLY
Fourteen Hours (1951)
Mogambo (1953)
High Society (1956)
Country Girl, The (1954)
Bridges at Toko-Ri, The (1954)
Green Fire (1955)
Dial M for Murder (1954)
To Catch a Thief (1955)
Rear Window (1954)
Swan, The (1956)
High Society (1956)
Wedding in Monaco (1956)



10:15 PM The Sting (1973)



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The Sting is a 1973 American caper film set in September 1936, involving a complicated plot by two professional grifters (Paul Newman and Robert Redford) to con a mob boss (Robert Shaw).[2] The film was directed by George Roy Hill,[3] who had previously directed Newman and Redford in the Western Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), and written by screenwriter David S. Ward, inspired by real-life cons perpetrated by brothers Fred and Charley Gondorff and documented by David Maurer in his 1940 book The Big Con: The Story of the Confidence Man.

The film plays out in distinct sections with old-fashioned title cards drawn by artist Jaroslav "Jerry" Gebr in a style reminiscent of the Saturday Evening Post. It is noted for its use of ragtime, particularly the melody "The Entertainer" by Scott Joplin, which was adapted (along with other Joplin pieces) for the film by Marvin Hamlisch (and a top-ten chart single for Hamlisch when released as a single from the film's soundtrack). The film's success created a resurgence of interest in Joplin's work.[4]

Released on Christmas of 1973, The Sting was a massive critical and commercial success and hugely successful at the 46th Academy Awards, nominated for ten Oscars and winning seven, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing and Best Original Screenplay; Redford was also nominated for Best Actor. The film rekindled Newman's career after a series of big-screen flops. Regarded as having one of the best screenplays ever written, The Sting was selected in 2005 for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry of the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". It was followed by a sequel, The Sting II, in 1983.

Dir: George Roy Hill Cast: Paul Newman, Robert Redford, Robert Shaw
Runtime: 127 mins Genre: Comedy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y



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Trivia: Paul Newman and Robert Redford were each paid $500,000 for their role, the highest rate for an actor working at that time. Adjusted for inflation, that is equal to about $3 million (2022). The year before this Marlon Brando earned $3 million from Last Tango in Paris (1972) but that included profit participation.

Trivia: George Roy Hill used some 1930s stylistic techniques. The film starts with a 1930s-era Universal logo, and used editing wipes to transition between scenes and iris shots.

Trivia: The movie was filmed on the backlot of Universal Studios and the diner in which Hooker meets Lonnegan is the same diner interior used in Back to the Future (1985) in which Marty McFly first meets his father and calls Doc Brown.

12:30 AM The Luck of Ginger Coffey (1964)



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An out-of-work Irish immigrant in Montreal remains hopeful that his luck is about to change but his disillusioned family grows tired of his pigheadedness and instability.
Dir: Irvin Kershner Cast: Robert Shaw, Mary Ure, Liam Redmond
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC:

Trivia: Robert Shaw and Mary Ure, who play a married couple, were husband and wife in real life.

2:30 AM The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (1974)



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Four ruthless terrorists take over a New York City subway train and hold the passengers for ransom. They threaten to shoot one each minute until a one million dollar ransom is fully paid.
Dir: Joseph Sargent Cast: Walter Matthau, Robert Shaw, Martin Balsam
Runtime: 104 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-MA CC: Y

Trivia: Since the film's release, no #6 train has ever been scheduled to leave Pelham Bay Park Station at either 13:23 or 01:23 by the New York City Transit Authority. This was the practice for many years until the policy was discontinued. Trains are still not scheduled to leave the Pelham Bay Park Station at either 1.23 am or pm.

4:30 AM Avalanche Express (1979)

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During the Cold War, a Soviet biological warfare expert plans to defect to the West. A CIA agent gets the man onboard a European train in order to aid his escape, but the Soviets are determined to stop at nothing to prevent this, including starting an avalanche which envelopes the train.
Dir: Mark Robson Cast: Lee Marvin, Robert Shaw, Linda Evans
Runtime: 88 mins Genre: Spy Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Robert Shaw and director/producer Mark Robson passed away during post-production. Both died of heart attacks within months of the other; Robson in June 1978 and Shaw in August 1978.

6:00 AM Fourteen Hours (1951)



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A policeman tries to talk a desperate young man off the ledge of a New York skyscraper.
Dir: Henry Hathaway Cast: Paul Douglas, Richard Basehart, Barbara Bel Geddes
Runtime: 92 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y



Trivia: Film debut of Grace Kelly.

Trivia: This film is based on a real-life incident that happened July 26, 1938, in New York City. John William Warde, 26, after a 12 hour standoff, leaped 17 floors to his death from the ledge outside a room at the Gotham Hotel. The film was shelved for six months because the daughter of Fox exec Spyros P. Skouras leaped to her death on the very day the film was previewed. By the time of its eventual release, some Spyros-mandated compromises were made to the film's storyline.

8:00 AM Mogambo (1953)



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In this remake of Red Dust, an African hunter is torn between a lusty showgirl and a married woman.
Dir: John Ford Cast: Clark Gable, Ava Gardner, Grace Kelly
Runtime: 115 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-PG CC: Y



Trivia: Clark Gable did not get along with director John Ford during filming, and at one point walked off the set in protest at Ford's treatment of Ava Gardner. Ford also made several remarks about Gable's age and weathered appearance.

Trivia: Ava Gardner was pregnant at the start of filming, and as her pregnancy progressed she began to suffer greatly from the heat. Finally, she took a break in England, where she wound up in the hospital. Publicity flacks, who had not released news of her pregnancy, said she was suffering from anemia. A few years later, she would say that she had suffered a miscarriage, but in private she told the wife of cinematographer Robert Surtees that she had had an abortion. At that point in her relationship with Frank Sinatra, she hated him so much she did not want to bear his child.

10:00 AM High Society (1956)



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High Society is a 1956 American musical romantic comedy film directed by Charles Walters and starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and Frank Sinatra. The film was produced by Sol C. Siegel for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and shot in VistaVision and Technicolor, with music and lyrics by Cole Porter.

The film is a musical remake of the 1940 screwball comedy film The Philadelphia Story, which was based on the 1939 play The Philadelphia Story by Philip Barry. High Society's screenplay was written by John Patrick and involves a successful popular jazz musician (Crosby) who tries to win back the affections of his ex-wife (Kelly), who is preparing to marry another man. The cast also features Celeste Holm, John Lund, and Louis Calhern, in his final film, with a musical contribution by Louis Armstrong. The film was Kelly's last professional appearance before she married Prince Rainier III and became Princess consort of Monaco.
Dir: Charles Walters Cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra
Runtime: 107 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-PG CC: Y



Trivia: Grace Kelly's last feature film before retiring from acting.

Trivia: The song "True Love", written by Cole Porter especially for the movie, was a million seller and both Grace Kelly and Bing Crosby were awarded platinum records for the song. This is the only platinum record ever given to sitting royalty as Grace Kelly had become Princess Grace by the time it was awarded.

12:00 PM The Country Girl (1954)



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The Country Girl is a 1954 American drama film written and directed by George Seaton and starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, and William Holden. Adapted by Seaton from Clifford Odets's 1950 play of the same name, the film is about an alcoholic has-been actor who is given one last chance to resurrect his career. The film was entered in the 1955 Cannes Film Festival.

Seaton won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay while Kelly won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role, which previously had earned Uta Hagen her first Tony Award in the play's original Broadway production. The role was as the alcoholic actor's long-suffering wife.
Dir: George Seaton Cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, William Holden
Runtime: 104 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: Y



Trivia: Grace Kelly won her only Oscar for her role in this movie beating out Judy Garland, the sentimental favorite, in reportedly the closest Best Actress race in Academy history besides the Barbra Streisand and Katharine Hepburn tie for 1968. Hedda Hopper reported that 6 votes was all that separated Grace Kelly and Judy Garland.

Trivia: Bing Crosby almost turned down the film because he thought he was too old for his character.

Trivia: During filming Grace Kelly managed to have affairs with Bing Crosby, Clark Gable, William Holden and David Niven.

2:00 PM The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1954)



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During the Korean War, a Navy fighter pilot must come to terms with with his own ambivalence towards the war and the fear of having to bomb a set of highly defended bridges.
Dir: Mark Robson Cast: William Holden, Grace Kelly, Fredric March
Runtime: 102 mins Genre: Drama Rating: TV-PG CC: N



4:00 PM Green Fire (1955)



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An emerald prospector clashes with a beautiful plantation owner in South America.
Dir: Andrew Marton Cast: Stewart Granger, Grace Kelly, Paul Douglas
Runtime: 100 mins Genre: Adventure Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Only four months before meeting Prince Rainier of Monaco and less than 18 months prior to their wedding, Grace Kelly's character delivers this quote: "Well, there's always the chance that Prince Charming may come riding down off the mountain someday."

6:00 PM Dial M for Murder (1954)



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Dial M for Murder is a 1954 American crime thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock, starring Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings, Anthony Dawson, and John Williams. Both the screenplay and the successful stage play on which it was based were written by English playwright Frederick Knott. The play premiered in 1952 on BBC Television, before being performed on stage in the same year in London's West End in June, and then New York's Broadway in October.

Originally intended to be shown in dual-strip polarized 3-D, the film played in most theatres in ordinary 2-D owing to the loss of interest in the 3-D process (the projection of which was difficult and error-prone) by the time of its release. The film earned an estimated $2.7 million in North American box office sales in 1954.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Ray Milland, Grace Kelly, Robert Cummings
Runtime: 105 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y

Trivia: Sir Alfred Hitchcock had chosen a very expensive robe for Grace Kelly to wear when she answered the phone. Kelly balked and said that no woman would put on such a robe just to answer the ringing telephone while she was asleep alone; she would answer it in her nightgown. Hitchcock agreed to do it her way and liked the way the rushes turned out, and he allowed Kelly to make all costume decisions for herself in their subsequent movies together.

8:00 PM To Catch a Thief (1955)



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A retired jewel thief sets out to prove his innocence after being suspected of returning to his former occupation.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis
Runtime: 106 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y



Trivia: While working on this film in the French Riviera, Grace Kelly met Prince Rainier of Monaco. It wasn't love at first sight for Kelly, but the prince initiated a long correspondence, which led to their marriage in 1956. Afterward, she became Princess Grace of Monaco, and retired from acting.

Trivia: 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 Sir 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 Rear Window (1954)



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Rear Window is a 1954 American mystery thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and written by John Michael Hayes based on Cornell Woolrich's 1942 short story It Had to Be Murder. Originally released by Paramount Pictures, the film stars James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter, and Raymond Burr. It was screened at the 1954 Venice Film Festival.

Rear Window is considered by many filmgoers, critics, and scholars to be one of Hitchcock's best, as well as one of the greatest films ever made. It received four Academy Award nominations, and was ranked number 42 on AFI's 100 Years...100 Movies list and number 48 on the 10th-anniversary edition, and in 1997 was added to the United States National Film Registry in the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

The film was made with a budget of $1 million ($11,675,427.51 in 2024 inflation), and grossed $37 million ($431,990,817.84 in 2024 inflation) at the box office.

Dir: Alfred Hitchcock Cast: James Stewart, Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey
Runtime: 112 mins Genre: Suspense/Mystery Rating: TV-PG CC: Y



Trivia: The film negative was damaged considerably as a result of color dye fading as early as the 1960s. Nearly all of the yellow image dyes had faded. Despite fears that the film had been irrevocably damaged, preservation experts were able to restore the film nearly to its original coloration.

12:15 AM The Swan (1956)



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On the eve of her marriage to a prince, a noblewoman falls for her brother's tutor.
Dir: Charles Vidor Cast: Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan
Runtime: 112 mins Genre: Romance Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: This was Sir Alec Guinness' first American movie.

Trivia: During filming, Sir Alec Guinness met James Dean, and later recalled predicting that Dean would die in a car crash. When Dean showed Guinness his newly-bought Porsche, Guinness advised him to "Get rid of that car, or you'll be dead in a week!" Guinness unfortunately proved to be right.

2:30 AM High Society (1956)



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With socialite Tracy Lord about to remarry, her ex-husband - with the help of a sympathetic reporter - has 48 hours to convince her that she really still loves him.
Dir: Charles Walters Cast: Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra
Runtime: 107 mins Genre: Musical Rating: TV-PG CC: Y



Trivia: Grace Kelly's last feature film before retiring from acting.

4:45 AM Wedding in Monaco (1956)



Exclusive footage captures the wedding of Grace Kelly and Prince Rainier in this short film.
Dir: Jean Masson Cast: Grace Kelly, Jean Masson, Stan Kenton
Runtime: 31 mins Genre: Short Rating: TV-G CC: Y

Trivia: The cruise ship that brought Grace Kelly to Monaco for the wedding, as mentioned in the film, was the S.S. Constitution. It entered service in 1951 and was refitted in 1959, 1974 and 1980. It was featured in An Affair to Remember (1957), and also appeared in episodes of I Love Lucy (1951), Naked City (1958), and Magnum, P.I. (1980). It was retired in 1995 and sank while being towed to a scrapyard in 1997.