TCM Schedule for Saturday, February 9, 2019 -- What's On Tonight: 31 Days of Oscar - Race Relations

Last edited Mon Feb 25, 2019, 10:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Today's Oscar-adjacent themes -- in the daylight hours, Biopics (Flo Zeigfeld, Louis Pasteur, Young Abe Lincoln, baseball player Monte Stratton, George M. Cohan, Calamity Jane and Michelangelo), in prime time, Best Race Relations (oh, those snarky TCM programmers -- the movies are In the Heat Of The Night (1967) and The Defiant Ones (1958)), and in the late night hours, Runner Up: 1980 Best Song (the song Nine to Five from 9 to 5 vs On The Road Again from Honeysuckle Rose - the actual winner was Fame from Fame). Enjoy!


8:00 AM -- THE STORY OF LOUIS PASTEUR (1936)
True story of the French scientist's battle to establish modern medical methods.
Dir: William Dieterle
Cast: Paul Muni, Josephine Hutchinson, Anita Louise
BW- 86 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Paul Muni, Best Writing, Original Story -- Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney, and Best Writing, Screenplay -- Pierre Collings and Sheridan Gibney

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Picture

An electrician for Warner Bros. studio came up to Paul Muni after an advanced screening of the film and told him that his nine-year-old son asked him to buy him a microscope because of Muni's performance. Even though he went on to win the Oscar for his performance, Muni said that this was the greatest compliment he had ever received and that all other accolades meant nothing compared to that one.


9:30 AM -- YOUNG MR. LINCOLN (1939)
The future president considers a political career while practicing law.
Dir: John Ford
Cast: Henry Fonda, Alice Brady, Marjorie Weaver
BW- 100 mins, CC,

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Writing, Original Story -- Lamar Trotti

Henry Fonda originally turned down the role of Lincoln, saying he didn't think he could play such a great man. He changed his mind after John Ford asked him to do a screen test in full makeup. After viewing himself as Lincoln in the test footage, Fonda liked what he saw, and accepted the part. He later told an interviewer, "I felt as if I were portraying Christ himself on film."


11:15 AM -- THE STRATTON STORY (1949)
True story of Monty Stratton, the baseball star who fought to continue his career after losing a leg.
Dir: Sam Wood
Cast: James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Morgan
BW- 106 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Writing, Motion Picture Story -- Douglas Morrow

After the events of the movie, the real Monty Stratton went on to be a coach for the Chicago White Sox for a couple of years before going back to his home town of Greenville, TX to start his own farm team. In 1946 he shocked the world when he took the mound once again, this time in the minor leagues, and he posted an 18-8 record for that season.


1:15 PM -- YANKEE DOODLE DANDY (1942)
Spirited musical biography of the song-and-dance man who kept America humming through two world wars.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: James Cagney, Joan Leslie, Walter Huston
BW- 126 mins, CC,

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- James Cagney, Best Sound, Recording -- Nathan Levinson (Warner Bros. SSD), and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf and Heinz Roemheld

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Walter Huston, Best Director -- Michael Curtiz, Best Writing, Original Story -- Robert Buckner, Best Film Editing -- George Amy, and Best Picture

In a voice-over, James Cagney, as George M. Cohan, says "I was a good Democrat, even in those days." In reality, Cohan was a lifelong ultra-conservative Republican who despised President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Initially, Cohan was a supporter of Roosevelt, but became disenchanted with him and his New Deal policies. Cohan's dislike for the President was such that, although awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 1936, he put off meeting with Roosevelt until 1940 to receive it. This occurred when the White House staff noted that Cohan would be in Washington, D.C. for the out-of-town tryout of his play THE RETURN OF THE VAGABOND. It seemed an opportune time to arrange the meeting, and Cohan agreed. It was fortunate timing: that play turned out to be Cohan's last, and he never appeared onstage again - in Washington or New York.


3:30 PM -- CALAMITY JANE (1953)
The Wild West heroine helps bring a star attraction to Deadwood and finds love.
Dir: David Butler
Cast: Doris Day, Howard Keel, Allyn McLerie
C- 101 mins, CC,

Winner of an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Sammy Fain (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) for the song "Secret Love"

Nominee for Oscars for Best Sound, Recording -- William A. Mueller (Warner Bros. Sound Department), and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf

Warner Bros. studio head Jack Warner decided to make "Calamity Jane" after he tried - and failed - to buy the movie rights to "Annie Get Your Gun" as a vehicle for Doris Day. He not only drew on another legendary "wild woman" of the Old West for his heroine, he hired the same male star, Howard Keel, who'd appeared in the film of Annie Get Your Gun (1950).


5:30 PM -- THE AGONY AND THE ECSTASY (1965)
Michelangelo fights censorship and an autocratic pope to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Dir: Carol Reed
Cast: Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento
C- 139 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for Oscars for Best Cinematography, Color -- Leon Shamroy, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color -- John DeCuir, Jack Martin Smith and Dario Simoni, Best Costume Design, Color -- Vittorio Nino Novarese, Best Sound -- James Corcoran (20th Century-Fox SSD), and Best Music, Score - Substantially Original -- Alex North

The final two minutes and forty seconds of the film's running time consists of the musical score over a black screen. This was a well known film convention, going back to the early days of sound, particularly for Fox (pre-20th Century-Fox) productions, but often mystifies modern day film enthusiasts who haven't done their homework.



TCM PRIMETIME - WHAT'S ON TONIGHT: 31 DAYS OF OSCAR: RACE RELATIONS



8:00 PM -- IN THE HEAT OF THE NIGHT (1967)
A black police detective from the North forces a bigoted Southern sheriff to accept his help with a murder investigation.
Dir: Norman Jewison
Cast: Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates
C- 110 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Rod Steiger, Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material from Another Medium -- Stirling Silliphant, Best Sound, Best Film Editing -- Hal Ashby, and Best Picture

Nominee for Oscars for Best Director -- Norman Jewison, and Best Effects, Sound Effects -- James Richard

Sidney Poitier insisted that the movie be filmed in the north because of an incident in which he and Harry Belafonte were almost killed by Ku Klux Klansman during a visit to Mississippi. Hence the selection of Sparta, Illinois for the location filming. Nevertheless, the filmmakers and actors did venture briefly into Tennessee for the outdoor scenes at the cotton plantation, because there was no similar cotton plantation in Illinois that could be used. Poitier slept with a gun under his pillow during production in Tennessee. Poitier did receive threats from local racist thugs, so the shoot was cut short and production returned to Illinois.


10:00 PM -- THE DEFIANT ONES (1958)
Two convicts, a white racist and an angry black, escape while chained to each other.
Dir: Stanley Kramer
Cast: Tony Curtis, Sidney Poitier, Theodore Bikel
BW- 96 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Winner of Oscars for Best Writing, Story and Screenplay - Written Directly for the Screen -- Nedrick Young and Harold Jacob Smith (Nedrick Young had been blacklisted at the time and the Oscar went to his pseudonym 'Nathan E. Douglas'. In 1993 AMPAS restored Young's credit upon the request of his widow and recommendation of the Academy's writers branch.), and Best Cinematography, Black-and-White -- Sam Leavitt

Nominee for Oscars for Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Tony Curtis, Best Actor in a Leading Role -- Sidney Poitier (Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.), Best Actor in a Supporting Role -- Theodore Bikel, Best Actress in a Supporting Role -- Cara Williams, Best Director -- Stanley Kramer, Best Film Editing -- Frederic Knudtson, and Best Picture

A joke in industry circles at the time was that Kirk Douglas would only do it if he could play the black convict, and that his frequent co- star Burt Lancaster would only do it if he could play both convicts.


12:00 AM -- 9 TO 5 (1980)
Three female employees of a sexist, egotistical, lying, hypocritical bigot find a way to turn the tables on him.
Dir: Colin Higgins
Cast: Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin
BW- 109 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Dolly Parton for the song "Nine to Five"

This was Dolly Parton's theatrical film debut. In preparation for her role as Doralee Rhodes, she not only committed to memory her own part, but the parts of every other role in the film. Apparently, the two experienced starring actresses, Lily Tomlin and Jane Fonda, burst out laughing when Parton let on that she believed that pictures were filmed in the chronological order of a film's script.


2:00 AM -- HONEYSUCKLE ROSE (1980)
A country music star leads different lifestyles at home and on the road.
Dir: Jerry Schatzberg
Cast: Willie Nelson, Dyan Cannon, Amy Irving
C- 119 mins, CC, Letterbox Format

Nominee for an Oscar for Best Music, Original Song -- Willie Nelson for the song "On the Road Again"

This is the second remake of the Swedish movie Intermezzo (1936) - first remade as Intermezzo: A Love Story (1939) - replacing the classical music of the 1930s movies with country-and-western, and being made and released more than 40 years later.


4:15 AM -- ROMANCE ON THE HIGH SEAS (1948)
A singer on a Caribbean cruise gets mixed up in a series of romantic problems.
Dir: Michael Curtiz
Cast: Jack Carson, Janis Paige, Don DeFore
C- 99 mins, CC,

Nominee for Oscars for Best Music, Original Song -- Jule Styne (music) and Sammy Cahn (lyrics) for the song "It's Magic", and Best Music, Scoring of a Musical Picture -- Ray Heindorf

This was Doris Day's first acting role, and she was extremely naive about how movies were made. She wrote in her autobiography that the first scenes to be filmed would be aboard the cruise ship, and on the first day, she walked onto the sound stage and asked when they would be leaving for the boat. The crew broke up laughing.