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| NBC Saturday Night at the Movies |
As stated Wednesday, NBC wasn't in the best shape by the mid-'60s, but the network carried on with its popular Saturday Night at the Movies. While Wednesday featured the first made for TV movies and plenty of dramatic titles, Saturday featured bigger spectacles and plenty of titles that are remembered today, 55 years later.
The three-season deal with Fox expired, so to fill the movie schedule along side MGM titles, Paramount's library was mined for 31 of the 60 new movies airing on Wednesday and Saturday this season. The Saturday lineup is largely bigger, lavish movies covering several genres, but much more variety than Wednesdays. Here you find plenty of musicals and comedies alongside westerns and war flicks. (White Christmas, Last Train from Gun Hill, Adam's Rib, Bad Day at Black Rock, Annie Get Your Gun)
It was needed boost to its programming because while the movie program remained popular in many demographics, the positivity had dropped.
The runtime is still all over the place, which is notable this season because in January, stations had the option to air The Tonight Show reruns on Saturday (or Sunday) night.
Programmer's Corner: NBC wiped away its previous Saturday night openers and started fresh, finding a big hit in family show Flipper but the animated Famous Adventures of Mr. Magoo and dramedy Kentucky Jones (the lineup's sole black and white show) failed against the powers of Jackie Gleason, Gilligan's Island, and Lawrence Welk. While the movie night (yet again) didn't do gangbuster ratings, it performed incredibly well. CBS tried two shows against it at 9 (adventure drama Mr. Broadway, variety series The Entertainers); Neither survived. British import Secret Agent did well, but it aired in the late spring and summer. Gunsmoke slipped again. ABC stuck with The Hollywood Palace. Also, all of the competition remained in black and white.
Despite the family shows all premiering on 19 September, the Saturday night movie wouldn't kick off until October.
NBC SATURDAY NIGHT AT THE MOVIES, 1964–65
Regular season
19 Sep 1964: The Mating Game (1959, 2 hours; Original Air Date: 21 Oct 1963)
Programming Note: Flipper, Mr. Magoo, and Kentucky Jones all premiered this night.
Programming Note: Flipper, Mr. Magoo, and Kentucky Jones all premiered this night.
26 Sep 1964: The Tall Men (1955, 2 hours 30 minutes; Original Air Date: 19 Oct 1963)
3 Oct 1964: Strategic Air Command (1955, 2 hours 20 minutes)
Director: Anthony Mann; with James Stewart, June Allyson, Frank Lovejoy, Barry Sullivan
An ex-pilot and current baseballer is recalled into the U.S. Air Force and assumes an increasingly important role in Cold War deterrence. (War / Color, Paramount)
Ratings Note: Arbitron had this movie at #13 for the week.
10 Oct 1964: Escape from Fort Bravo (1953, 2 hours)
Director: John Sturges; with William Holden, Eleanor Parker, John Forsythe
During the Civil War, a group of Confederates escapes from the Union POW camp at Fort Bravo but has to contend with the desert, the Mescalero Apaches and the pursuing Union troops. (Western / Color, MGM)
Ratings Note: Arbitron had this movie at #16 (20.1) for the week.
17 Oct 1964: Never So Few (1959, 2 hours 30 minutes)
Director: John Sturges; with Frank Sinatra, Gina Lollobrigida, Peter Lawford, Steve McQueen
During WW2, the American OSS mounts covert operations with the native Kachin against the Japanese army in the jungles of Burma. (War / Color, MGM)
24 Oct 1964: Last Train from Gun Hill (1959, 2 hours)
Director: John Sturges; with Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Carolyn Jones
A marshal tries to bring the son of an old friend, an autocratic cattle baron, to justice for his role in the rape and murder of the marshal's Native American wife. (Western / Color, Paramount)
Programming Note: I think a presidential address aired in the half-hour prior.
Programming Note: I think a presidential address aired in the half-hour prior.
31 Oct 1964: The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956, 2 hours 30 minutes)
Director: Daniel Mann; with Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford, Machiko Kyô, Eddie Albert
In post-WWII Japan, an American captain is brought in to help build a school, but the locals want a teahouse instead. (Comedy / Color, MGM)
Programming Note: After Flipper, an hour-long GOP paid program aired.
Programming Note: After Flipper, an hour-long GOP paid program aired.
Ratings Note: This was one of the softer movies, losing more than three ratings points from its peak to conclusion.
7 Nov 1964: The Jayhawkers! (1959, 2 hours)
Director: Melvin Frank, Daniel McCauley; with Jeff Chandler, Fess Parker, Nicole Maurey
Before the U.S. Civil War rebel leader Luke Darcy sees himself as leader of a new independent Republic of Kansas but the military governor sends an ex-raider to capture Darcy. (Western / Color, Paramount)
Ratings Note: Arbitron had the movie at #17 (21.3) for the week.
Director: Vincente Minnelli; with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Shirley MacLaine, Martha Hyer, Arthur Kennedy, Nancy Gates
Dave Hirsch, a writer and an army veteran winds up in his small Indiana hometown, to the dismay of his respectable older brother. He meets and befriends various different characters and tries to figure out what to do with his life. (Drama / Color, MGM)
21 Nov 1964: Three Violent People (1956, 2 hours)
Director: Rudolph Maté; with Charlton Heston, Anne Baxter, Gilbert Roland, Tom Tryon
When Confederate officer Colt Saunders returns to his Texas ranch after the war he finds his lands wanted by carpetbaggers and by corrupt provisional government commissioners Harrison and Cable. (Western / Color, Paramount)
Ratings Note: This movie finished at #21 (23.4) for the week.
28 Nov 1964: Designing Woman (1957, 2 hours 25 minutes)
Director: Vincente Minnelli; with Gregory Peck, Lauren Bacall, Dolores Gray
A sportswriter and a fashion-designer marry after a whirlwind romance, and discover they have little in common. (Romantic Comedy / Color, MGM)
5 Dec 1964: Bad Day at Black Rock (1955, 2 hours)
Director: John Sturges; with Spencer Tracy, Robert Ryan, Anne Francis, Dean Jagger
A one-armed stranger comes to a tiny town possessing a terrible past they want to keep secret, by violent means if necessary. (Crime / Color, MGM)
12 Dec 1964: War and Peace (1956, 3 hours 25 minutes)
Director: Sergey Bondarchuk; with Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda, Mel Ferrer
Napoleon's tumultuous relations with Russia including his disastrous 1812 invasion serve as the backdrop for the tangled personal lives of two aristocratic families. (Drama / Color, Paramount)
Programming Note: With War and Peace's long runtime, Mr. Magoo and Kentucky Jones were preempted, the first time a Saturday movie was in an expanded timeslot for its first airing.
Programming Note: With War and Peace's long runtime, Mr. Magoo and Kentucky Jones were preempted, the first time a Saturday movie was in an expanded timeslot for its first airing.
19 Dec 1964: White Christmas (1954, 2 hours 30 minutes)
Director: Michael Curtiz; with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen
A successful song-and-dance team become romantically involved with a sister act and team up to save the failing Vermont inn of their former commanding general. (Musical / Color, Paramount)
26 Dec 1964: Adam's Rib (1949, 2 hours)
Director: George Cukor; with Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Judy Holliday, Tom Ewell
Domestic and professional tensions mount when a husband and wife work as opposing lawyers in a case involving a woman who shot her husband. (Romantic Comedy / Black & White, MGM)
2 Jan 1965: The Last Hunt (1956, 2 hours)
Director: Richard Brooks; with Robert Taylor, Stewart Granger
In 1883 South Dakota, two buffalo hunters start a personal feud over a captured squaw and a stand-off with a Dakota raiding party over some stolen horses. (Western / Color, MGM)
Programming Note: Mr. Magoo and Kentucky Jones flipped timeslots.
Programming Note: Mr. Magoo and Kentucky Jones flipped timeslots.
9 Jan 1965: Just for You (1952, 2 hours)
Director: Elliott Nugent; with Bing Crosby, Jane Wyman, Ethel Barrymore
Jordan Blake, a widower, is a successful Broadway Producer who has always been to busy for his children. His girlfriend, a musical comedy star, urges Jordan to take his kids on a vacation and get to know them before they are all grown up. (Musical Comedy / Color, Paramount)
16 Jan 1965: The Swan (1956, 2 hours 15 minutes)
Director: Charles Vidor; with Grace Kelly, Alec Guinness, Louis Jourdan
Princess Beatrice's days of enjoying the regal life are numbered unless her only daughter, Princess Alexandra, makes a good impression on a distant cousin. Prince Albert has searched all over Europe for a bride and he's bored by the whole courtship routine. He is more interested in the estate's dairy than Alexandra's rose garden. (Romantic Comedy / Color, Paramount)
23 Jan 1965: The Rainmaker (1956, 2 hours 30 minutes)
Director: Joseph Anthony; with Burt Lancaster, Katharine Hepburn, Wendell Corey, Lloyd Bridges
During the Depression, a con-man promises rain to a desperate drought-ridden Kansas town and marriage to a local desperate spinster. (Western Romance / Color, Paramount)
Programming Note: This movie ended at 11 p.m. because Mr. Magoo was preempted.
Programming Note: This movie ended at 11 p.m. because Mr. Magoo was preempted.
30 Jan 1965: Houdini (1953, 2 hours)
Director: George Marshall; with Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh
The spectacular but tragically short career of magician and illusionist Harry Houdini whose tricks defied explanation and safety. (Drama / Color, Paramount)
6 Feb 1965: Don't Give Up the Ship (1959, 2 hours)
Director: Norman Taurog; with Jerry Lewis, Dina Merrill, Diana Spencer
John Paul Steckler gets stuck with the job of sailing a ship to the states to be decommissioned. Now years latter, no one knows where the ship is. He has a choice. Find the ship, or pay for it... now! If only Prudence, to whom he just got married, could understand why he isn't there for his honeymoon. (Comedy / Black & White, Paramount)
13 Feb 1965: Betrayed (1954, 2 hours 15 minutes)
Director: Gottfried Reinhardt; with Clark Gable, Lana Turner, Victor Mature
A Dutch intelligence officer recruits an allied woman to act as liaison with dashing Resistance leader 'The Scarf' for a British attack on Arnhem. (Drama / Color, MGM)
20 Feb 1965: Les Girls (1957, 2 hours 15 minutes)
Director: George Cukor; with Gene Kelly, Mitzi Gaynor, Kay Kendall, Taina Elg
The former members of a dance troupe are suing because of recently published memoirs. Each one insists on own point of view. (Musical Comedy / Color, MGM)
27 Feb 1965: Riding High (1950, 2 hours 15 minutes)
Director: Frank Capra; with Bing Crosby, Coleen Gray, Charles Bickford, Frances Gifford
A horse trainer who has fallen on hard times looks to his horse, Broadway Bill, to finally win the big race. (Musical Comedy / Black & White, Paramount)
6 Mar 1965: Battleground (1949, 2 hours 30 minutes)
Director: William A. Wellman; with Van Johnson, John Hodiak, Ricardo Montalban, George Murphy
True tale about a squad of the 101st Airborne Division coping with being trapped by the Germans in the besieged city of Bastogne, Belgium during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944. (War / Black & White, MGM)
Programming Note: This movie ended at 11 p.m. because Mr. Magoo was preempted.
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd
More: Wikipedia, Rotten Tomatoes, Letterboxd
13 Mar 1965: Li'l Abner (1959, 2 hours 15 minutes)
Director: Melvin Frank; with Leslie Parrish, Stubby Kaye, Peter Palmer
As Sadie Hawkins Day approaches, Daisy Mae hopes to win the hand of Li'l Abner by catching him in the traditional race. (Musical Comedy / Color, Paramount)
20 Mar 1965: The Caddy (1953, 2 hours)
Director: Norman Taurog; with Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis, Donna Reed
Although gifted golfer Harvey Miller is too nervous to golf in public tournaments, he acts as coach and caddy for friend Joe Anthony. (Comedy-Music / Black & White, Paramount)
27 Mar 1965: Trial (1955, 2 hours)
Director: Mark Robson; with Glenn Ford, Dorothy McGuire, Arthur Kennedy, Juano Hernandez
Courtroom drama set in 1947 and underlying post-WW2 acute problems facing the USA such as stormy race relations and the growing threat of local communism. (Drama / Black & White, MGM)
3 Apr 1965: Warpath (1951, 2 hours)
Director: Byron Haskin; with Edmond O'Brien, Dean Jagger, Forrest Tucker, Harry Carey Jr.
John Vickers joins Custer's cavalry regiment seeking private revenge. (Western / Color, Paramount)
10 Apr 1965: Wild Is the Wind (1957, 2 hours 15 minutes)
Director: George Cukor; with Anthony Quinn, Anna Magnani, Anthony Franciosa
An immigrant Nevada rancher brings a woman from Italy to be his second wife but when he neglects her, she becomes involved with his trusted assistant. (Drama / Black & White, Paramount)
17 Apr 1965: Rhapsody (1954, 2 hours 15 minutes)
Director: Charles Vidor; with Elizabeth Taylor, Vittorio Gassman, John Ericson, Louis Calhern
A rich, young beauty follows the man she loves and hopes to marry to where he studies violin at the conservatory. Then a piano student falls madly in love with her. The violinist loves his music first; the pianist loves her first. (Musical Drama / Color, MGM)
24 Apr 1965: Annie Get Your Gun (1950, 2 hours)
Director: George Sidney; with Betty Hutton, Howard Keel, Louis Calhern, Keenan Wynn
The story of the great sharpshooter Annie Oakley, who rose to fame while dealing with her love/professional rival, Frank Butler. (Musical / Color, MGM)
Summer repeats
1 May 1965: To Catch a Thief (1955)
8 May 1965: The Naked Jungle (1954)
15 May 1965: The Rack (1956)
22 May 1965: The Jayhawkers! (1959)
29 May 1965: Three Violent People (1956)
5 Jun 1965: The Rainmaker (1956, 2 hours 30 minutes)
Programming Note: This movie ended at 11 p.m. because Mr. Magoo was preempted.
12 Jun 1965: Don't Give Up the Ship (1959)
19 Jun 1965: Betrayed (1954, 2 hours 15 minutes)
Original Air Date: 13 Feb 1965
26 Jun 1965: Detective Story (1951)
3 Jul 1965: Atlantis: The Lost Continent (1961)
10 Jul 1965: Warpath (1951)
17 Jul 1965: But Not for Me (1959)
Programming Note: Mr. Magoo was preempted for the news special Report from Mars: The Mariner Probe, which reported on the early findings and photographs from Mariner 4, which was doing the first ever flyby of the Red Planet.
Programming Note: Mr. Magoo was preempted for the news special Report from Mars: The Mariner Probe, which reported on the early findings and photographs from Mariner 4, which was doing the first ever flyby of the Red Planet.
24 Jul 1965: Wild Is the Wind (1957, 2 hours 15 minutes)
Original Air Date: 10 Apr 1965
31 Jul 1965: Escape from Fort Bravo (1953)
7 Aug 1965: The Catered Affair (1956)
14 Aug 1965: Trial (1955)
21 Aug 1965: The Last Voyage (1960)
28 Aug 1965: The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)
Programming Note: The movie started at 8:30 p.m.
4 Sep 1965: Some Came Running (1958, 2 hours 40 minutes)
Programming Note: The movie started at 8:30 p.m.
11 Sep 1965: Battleground (1949)
Programming Note: The movie started at 8:30 p.m.
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NBC's NIGHT AT THE MOVIES
Sources: IMDb for movie information; Cedar Rapids Gazette, and San Bernardino Sun for listing and programming information; Broadcasting for various ratings notes; if you see bad links or incorrect information, please let me know in the comments.
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