TCM Premieres....

[Hibi]

Discuss away then.

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SUN., 3-17


8:00
pm (ET)

Far And Away (1992)
2h 20m | Adventure | TV-14

Seeking revenge, young Irishman Joseph Donnelly (Cruise) wounds his landlord and finds himself on the run from a law that favors the rich. Donnelly finds an unlikely ally in his landlord's daughter Shannon (Kidman), who agrees to sneak him out of the country. The two immigrants hop a boat and land in Boston, where they struggle to make ends meet and decide to risk everything in the Oklahoma Territory, where a race promises land to anyone with the courage to stake it out.

Director
Ron Howard
Cast
Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Thomas Gibson

"On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 36 critics. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Handsome and simplistic, Far and Away has the beauty of an American epic without the breadth."[30]
On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[31]
Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A" on scale of A to F.[32]

Roger Ebert praised the film's cinematography while criticizing its script:
"Far and Away is a movie that joins astonishing visual splendor with a story so simple-minded it seems intended for adolescents... It's depressing that such a lavish and expensive production, starring an important actor like Tom Cruise, could be devoted to such a shallow story."

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_and_Away

[CinemaInternational]

SUN., 3-17


8:00
pm (ET)

Far And Away (1992)
2h 20m | Adventure | TV-14

Seeking revenge, young Irishman Joseph Donnelly (Cruise) wounds his landlord and finds himself on the run from a law that favors the rich. Donnelly finds an unlikely ally in his landlord's daughter Shannon (Kidman), who agrees to sneak him out of the country. The two immigrants hop a boat and land in Boston, where they struggle to make ends meet and decide to risk everything in the Oklahoma Territory, where a race promises land to anyone with the courage to stake it out.

Director
Ron Howard
Cast
Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, Thomas Gibson

"On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 50% based on reviews from 36 critics. The site's critics' consensus reads: "Handsome and simplistic, Far and Away has the beauty of an American epic without the breadth."[30]
On Metacritic it has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[31]
Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "A" on scale of A to F.[32]

Roger Ebert praised the film's cinematography while criticizing its script:
"Far and Away is a movie that joins astonishing visual splendor with a story so simple-minded it seems intended for adolescents... It's depressing that such a lavish and expensive production, starring an important actor like Tom Cruise, could be devoted to such a shallow story."

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_and_Away

The best that can be said about the film is that the photography is beautiful, and this closing musical piece is quite interesting.

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THURS., 3-21


3:45
pm (ET)

The Fifth Day of Peace (1969)
1h 43m

based on the true story of two German sailors, leading seaman Bruno Dorfer and machinist's mate Rainer Beck, both executed for desertion on 13 May 1945, after being found guilty of cowardice by fellow POWs. The sentence was carried out by German POWs who were under Canadian command.

Director
Giuliano Montaldo

Cast:
Bud Spencer as Cpl. Jelinek
Richard Johnson as Capt. John Miller
Franco Nero as Ens. Bruno Grauber
Larry Aubrey as Cpl. Reiner Schultz
Helmuth Schneider as Col. von Bleicher (as Helmut Schneider)

".... features a fine leading cast. Richard Johnson is excellent as the war-torn Canadian Captain. Helmut Schneider is equally great and very believable as the authoritarian German Colonel. Franco Nero's performance as an anti-Hitler, quick-to-anger deserter is incredibly good ....
There is no combat in the entire film. The action takes place within the camp. There are no escape attempts; it's more psychological warfare between von Bleicher and Miller. The two deserters are just the catalysts. The film does a magnificent job of showing how innocent people are often the victims of circumstances beyond their control.
The cinematography is marvelous; while practically the whole movie takes place within the camp, it's established quite early that's a muddy, dirty and horrible place to live.
The musical score by Ennio Morricone is quite unusual and fits perfectly. The ending is unexpected and very well set up; at an appropriate moment, the story is simply over."

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064386/re ... _=tt_ov_rt

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FRI. 3-22

(times ET)


8:00
pm

Brian's Song (1971)
1h 30m | Adaptation

ABC Movie of the Week that recounts the life of Brian Piccolo (James Caan), a Chicago Bears football player stricken with terminal cancer, focusing on his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers (Billy Dee Williams). Piccolo's and Sayers's sharply differing temperaments and racial backgrounds made them unlikely to become friends but they did, becoming the first interracial roommates in the history of the National Football League. The film chronicles the evolution of their friendship, ending with Piccolo's death in 1970....

Director
Buzz Kulik

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian%27s_Song



10:00
pm

The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976)
2h | Biography

A teenager, born with no immunities and forced to live in an incubator-like environment isolating him from any direct human contact, is faced with a life-or-death decision when he falls in love with the girl next door. Diana Hyland, playing the boy's mother, won an Emmy Award for her performance.

Director
Randal Kleiser

Cast
John Travolta, Glynnis O'Connor, Diana Hyland, Robert Reed, Ralph Bellamy and P.J. Soles.

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Boy_i ... tic_Bubble

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SAT., 3-23


12:00
pm (ET)

Buena Vista Social Club (1998)
1h 44m | Documentary

Documentary focusing on the relationship between American music star Ry Cooder and a veteran group of Cuban musicians. Cooder worked to reunite as many of Havana's old guard as possible, first for the hugely successful Buena Vista Social Club album, and then for another record and shows in Havana, New York and Amsterdam. Here band members are interviewed, including the 90 year old guitarist Compay Segundo and the Cuban Nat King Cole, Ibrahim Ferrer.

Director
Wim Wenders
Cast
Compay Segundo, Eliades Ochoa, Ry Cooder

(sorry, late posting)

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late THURS., 3-28
SOTM: Debbie Reynolds....
(see article: https://www.tcm.com/articles/Programmin ... e-reynolds)

(times ET)
3:30
am

"This Happy Feeling" (1958)
1h 32m | Adaptation

Janet Blake (Debbie Reynolds) leaves a party when her boss drunkenly makes passes at her, and is offered a ride to the subway with Bill Tremaine (John Saxon). When she thinks Tremaine is making advances too, she flees into a rainstorm and ends up at the house of Tremaine's neighbor, retired actor Preston Mitchell (Curt Jurgens). Mitchell hires her as his secretary, and soon both he and Tremaine are pursuing Janet,

Director
Blake Edwards
Cast
Debbie Reynolds, Curt Jurgens, John Saxon, Alexis Smith and Mary Astor

".... what puts this over is the cast. Curt Jurgens is relaxed and charming and Debbie her usual perky self but where this really excels is the supporting players. Mary Astor, Gloria Holden, Hayden Rorke and even the usual stiff Troy Donahue all have little moments to shine and John Saxon certainly cuts an attractive and personable figure but there are two performers that stand out from the rest.

The criminally undervalued Alexis Smith is grace and style personified as the sly and sexy Nita Holloway, a famous actress and former flame of Curt's who is anxious to both relight the flame and get him back on stage. The other is Estelle Winwood as the daffy, eccentric housekeeper Mrs. Early. ..."
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0052291/re ... _=tt_ov_rt
====================================================================
(seems there's an apparent gap in schedule tween 6-10 pm)

my DTV schedule says:
7:00 pm
"The Rat Race" 1960
a jazz saxophonist, Pete Hammond Jr. takes a bus from his home in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to New York City and optimistically begins looking for work. However, jobs are extremely hard to find. He crosses paths with Peggy Brown, a model and taxi dancer who has become jaded and cynical after years of struggling to survive in the city.

Directed by Robert Mulligan,
stars Tony Curtis and Debbie Reynolds, Don Rickles


======================================================================

10:00
pm

"Goodbye Charlie" (1964)
1h 57m | Adaptation

a callous womanizer who gets his just reward (is reincarnated as a woman) after a jealous husband kills him.
It was adapted from George Axelrod's 1959 play "Goodbye, Charlie".

Director
Vincente Minnelli
Cast
Tony Curtis, Debbie Reynolds, Pat Boone, Walter Matthau

".... New York Times critic Brooks Atkinson led his review of the film by panning the play and the movie: “… 'Goodbye, Charlie,' was bad enough on the stage. On the screen, it is a bleak conglomeration of outrageous whimsies and stupidities. And it has Debbie Reynolds and Tony Curtis so sadly cast in distasteful roles that it causes even a hardened moviegoer to turn away from it in pain and shame.”....
The film scores 50% on Rotten Tomatoes' Tomatometer,...
see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodbye_Charlie

[cmovieviewer]

Here are the TCM premieres for April, as determined by the TCM schedules database.

Notes:
- The dates shown are based on a programming day starting at 6 am ET and running past midnight.

Apr 2 - In the Name of the Father (1993)
Apr 5 - Mauvaise Graine (1934) 'Bad Seed'
Apr 5 - Rumble Fish (1983)
Apr 6 - One Touch of Venus (1948)
Apr 9 - Young Dillinger (1965)
Apr 10 - Last Tango in Paris (1972)
Apr 17 - The Ugly American (1963)
Apr 28 - The Seventh Continent (1989)
Apr 28 - Benny's Video (1992)

For additional details, please refer to my TCM schedule information page:

http://escapepress.com/tcmsched/tcm_overview.html

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SAT., 3-30
stars Jack Nicholson...


8:00
pm (ET)

"The Passenger" (1975)
2h 3m | Drama

A portrait of a drained journalist whose deliverance is an identity exchange with a dead man. He embarks on a treacherous journey through Africa, Spain, Germany, England, Spain.

Director
Michelangelo Antonioni
Cast
Jack Nicholson, Maria Schneider, Jenny Runacre

"Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote the film was "a suspense melodrama, a story so basically conventional that it isn't until you're at least half‐way through it you realize it's a magnificent nightmare, and that you are on the inside looking out."[18]
Gene Siskel of the Chicago Tribune gave the film a complete four-star review, stating "The Passenger is a complex film that is obvious only in its physical beauty. And if you don't hook into that cerebral adventure story, you'll probably find the pace of the chase story to be much too slow. Viewers who connect to that other layer, however, will find a remarkable richness of image and idea ... Nicholson turns in another superior performance, managing to communicate his own brand of wise anger without puncturing Antonioni's grand design."[19]
Jay Cocks, reviewing for Time magazine, praised the film's cinematography, writing the film "has some of the boldest and most supple imagery that Antonioni has achieved in years—more memorable than anything in Blow-Up or the unfortunate Zabriskie Point ... The Passenger ends with a scene that seems destined for cinematic history.".....

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Passenger_(1975_film)
& tcm article: https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/3162/th ... eId=134204

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late TUES., 4-2
starring Emma Thompson...


1:00
am (ET)

"In the Name of the Father" (1993)
2h 7m | Biography

Story of Gerry Conlon, purported ringleader of the Guildford Four, a group of three Irishmen and one English woman wrongly imprisoned for the 1974 IRA bombing of a pub in Guildford, England, that left five people dead.
Conlon's father Guiseppe was subsequently imprisoned along with six other Conlon relatives who became known as the Maguire Seven.

-Co-written and directed by Jim Sheridan

Cast: (tcm schedule has it all wrong...again)
Daniel Day-Lewis as Gerard Patrick "Gerry" Conlon
Pete Postlethwaite as Patrick "Giuseppe" Conlon
Emma Thompson as Gareth Peirce
John Lynch as Paul Hill
Corin Redgrave as Inspector Robert Dixon

"....The film received very positive reviews from most critics. The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a score of 94% based on 49 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10.
The site's consensus states: "Impassioned and meticulously observed, In the Name of the Father mines rousing drama from a factual miscarriage of justice, aided by scorching performances and director Jim Sheridan's humanist focus.".....

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Na ... her_(film)

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late FRI., early SAT., 4-6


12:00
am

"Mauvaise Graine" (1934) (aka 'Bad Seed')
1h 26m | Drama

After his father sells his car, Henri "borrows" a stranger's car in order to make a date with a young woman. This act sees him fall foul of a gang of car thieves but after some discussion he joins their gang. Things seem to be going well but he and the boss don't see eye to eye.
The screenplay by Wilder, Jan Lustig, Max Colpet, and Claude-André Puget

Director
Billy Wilder
Cast
Danielle Darrieux, Pierre Mingand, Raymond Galle

"....When Nazis took over Austria, Wilder fled to Berlin, and later to Paris. While he was there, he wrote and directed one movie. This is it. While the film is pretty rough and not nearly as tight as his later movies, it definitely shows early aspects of his later films. You will see lots of gags similar to those he would later write with I.A.L. Diamond. Particularly the scene at the water park. Watch carefully for a make-up mirror shot, he later duplicated in The Apartment.

In between scenes there are one to three minute montages of music and shots that don't do much for the story, and tend to make your mind wander off a bit. However, one of the film's most redeeming factors is Franz Waxman's score. ..."

IMDB rating: 6/10
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0025480/re ... _=tt_ov_rt
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3:30
am

"Rumble Fish" (1983)
1h 34m | Action

Disaffected and restless, Rusty James (Matt Dillon) is spoiling for a fight. Abandoned by his mother and living with his alcoholic father (Dennis Hopper), he hangs out with his girlfriend, Patty (Diane Lane), and his similarly aimless friends Midget (Larry Fishburne), Smokey (Nicolas Cage) and B.J. Jackson (Christopher Penn).
When his brother, the Motorcycle Boy (Mickey Rourke), returns to town, Rusty hopes to gain guidance and wisdom from someone most people think is crazy.


Director
Francis Ford Coppola

"....The film is notable for its avant-garde style with a film noir feel, shot on stark high-contrast black-and-white film, using the spherical cinematographic process with allusions to French New Wave cinema and German Expressionism. Rumble Fish features an experimental score by Stewart Copeland...

Film critic Roger Ebert gave the film three-and-a-half out of four stars and wrote, "I thought Rumble Fish was offbeat, daring, and utterly original. Who but Coppola could make this film? And, of course, who but Coppola would want to?"[30]
In her review for The New York Times, Janet Maslin wrote that "the film is so furiously overloaded, so crammed with extravagant touches, that any hint of a central thread is obscured".[31]
Gary Arnold in The Washington Post wrote, "It's virtually impossible to be drawn into the characters' identities and conflicts at even an introductory, rudimentary level, and the rackety distraction of an obtrusive experimental score ... frequently makes it impossible to comprehend mere dialogue".[32]
Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, "In one sense, then, Rumble Fish is Coppola's professional suicide note to the movie industry, a warning against employing him to find the golden gross. No doubt: this is his most baroque and self-indulgent film. It may also be his bravest."....

See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumble_Fish

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SAT'., 4-6
Don't see it on the schedule

so I checked my DTV schedule & I see it @8:45 pm (CT)


one of Scorsese's picks...

"One Touch of Venus" (1948)

Humorous fantasy about a young man who falls in love with a statue of Venus in a department store window. His wildest dreams are fulfilled when the figure comes to life at his kiss, but he already has a fiancée, who is unwilling to share him with a shop decoration. A Broadway hit, with music by Kurt Weill.

directed by William A. Seiter
starring Robert Walker, Ava Gardner, Dick Haymes, and Eve Arden.

".... the film omits most of Weill's music. The actors did their own singing, except for Ava Gardner (Venus) whose singing was dubbed by Eileen Wilson. The plot is from an original 1885 novella by Thomas Anstey Guthrie. ...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Touch_of_Venus_(film)

"..... the stellar cast all give strong performances. There was the initial worry on my part that Robert Walker would be too intense(he went on to play one of the greatest screen villains in Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train) for a role where a light touch is necessary, but he actually is very earnest and likable and his comic timing is nimble.

Dick Haymes is very charming, Tom Conway is effortlessly suave(though on a side note few actors beat Conway's brother George Sanders in the 'suave' factor) and Olga San Juan plays plenty of energy and feistiness. The two best performances come from Eve Arden and Ava Gardner. Arden is a true scene-stealer and a breath of fresh air, she has some of the film's best lines and she is hilariously acerbic. Gardner is also fabulous, not only does she look absolutely wonderful but she plays Venus with a genuine warmth, alluring sexiness and womanly charm, she also handles the comic timing well if not ingeniously.

In summary, a lovely film and well worth giving a chance. Gardner, Arden and the song Speak Low are the high-points. ....."
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040669/reviews

IMDB rates 6.6/10

[Bronxgirl48]

Cannot wait to see ONE TOUCH OF VENUS again after so many years. I remember it fondly.

"Speak low when you speak love, our summer day hurries away, too soon, too soon..."

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TUES., 4-9

(times ET)
6:30
am

"Young Dillinger" (1965)
1h 42m | Biography

With help from Elaine, his girlfriend, young John Dillinger breaks into her father's safe. They are caught, but Dillinger takes the rap by himself.

In prison, he meets Pretty Boy Floyd and Baby Face Nelson, who join Dillinger's gang after he masterminds a prison break....

Director
Terry O. Morse

Cast
Nick Adams, Robert Conrad, John Ashley, Mary Ann Mobley

"....Cinema Retro later wrote "the movie breezes along at a brisk pace even if the style is quite unimpressive and pedestrian. In fact, the film looks like a standard TV episode of "The Untouchables" in terms of production values...The performances are adequate, nothing more.".....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Young_Dillinger

=================================================

late WED., early THURS., 4-11

1:15
am

"Last Tango In Paris" (1972)
2h 5m | Drama

A landmark erotic drama and among Academy Award winning director Bernado Bertolucci's masterworks. Screen icon Marlon Brando plays a businessman who pursues a steamy affair with a young Parisian woman, played by Maria Schneider, on the grounds that it remains strictly sexual. While, for Brando, the affair is a means to forget his grief over his dead wife, for Schneider, it's a complication that sends her turbulent relationship with her fiancé, played by Jean-Pierre Léaud, into a tailspin.

An intelligent, visually rapturous exploration of how sexual obsession can be a dangerous drug with powerhouse performances from its leads.....

Director
Bernardo Bertolucci
Cast
Marlon Brando as Paul, an American expatriate and hotel owner
Maria Schneider as Jeanne, a young Parisian woman
Jean-Pierre Léaud as Thomas, a film director and Jeanne's fiancé
Maria Michi as Rosa's mother

"....The American critic Roger Ebert repeatedly described Kael’s review as "the most famous movie review ever published", and he added the film to his "Great Movies" collection.[54]
American director Robert Altman expressed unqualified praise: "I walked out of the screening and said to myself, 'How dare I make another film?' My personal and artistic life will never be the same."[22]

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected 43 reviews and gave the film an approval rating of 84%, with an average rating of 7.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Naturalistic but evocative, Last Tango in Paris is a vivid exploration of pain, love, and sex featuring a typically towering Marlon Brando performance."...

see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_Tango_in_Paris

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FYI forgot to mention...

early THURS., 4-18
SOTM: Marlon Brando...

1:30
am (ET)

"The Ugly American" (1963)
2h | Adaptation

American ambassador Harrison MacWhite (Brando) travels to a Southeast Asian country beleaguered by rival factions, but MacWhite views the political situation only in the simplest terms: as a struggle between communism and democracy. By the time that the ambassador finally sees the resultant political upheaval as something far more complicated, it may be too late.

Director
George Englund
Cast
Marlon Brando, Eiji Okada, Sandra Church

"....The New York Times reported that Brando “moves through the whole picture with authority and intelligence,” and the New York Daily News said it was “one of Brando’s best performances.” But the negative view was reflected by the critic in Time who wrote that Brando “attempts an important voice but most of the time he sounds like a small boy in a bathtub imitating Winston Churchill” and called it a “lousy picture.”[8]

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reports that 80% of critics have given the film a positive review, with a rating average of 6.1/10...."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ugly_American_(film)