April has ended, which means we’ve wrapped up another TCM Classic Film Festival. This year’s theme is "Fantastic Worlds: Grand Illusions on Film." (Though, funnily enough, when I counted how many movies I thought really fit the theme as sci-fi or fantasy, it was only a fourth of the movies they were showing. Their themes are only so important, I guess is what I’m saying.)
Let’s begin.
Thursday
First up on the schedule is "The Empire Strikes Back." Introducing with Ben Mankiewicz was George Lucas. Alas, Ben made a tactical error when talking to George, by starting off with a question about his friendship with Francis Ford Coppola (being honored that weekend by the AFI); this meant that for much of the allotted time, George discussed the beginnings of his career and working with American Zoetrope rather than, you know, "Star Wars." It was only close to the end of the time they had that Ben was able to ask an "Empire"-related question: Why does Yoda talk backwards? (George knew that if he spoke normally, nobody would care about his philosophical dialogue, especially 12-year olds.)
Half-formed thoughts: I love that, even in what I assume is the special edition, the tauntauns look a little Ray Harryhausen-esque. I can hardly imagine how tough it must have been for audiences at the time to wait three years for the conclusion. I was almost in the mood to watch "Return of the Jedi" right after. Too bad there was a film festival in the way.
Here’s the video of George speaking, if you’re interested in hearing more about the first decade of his work.
Next, "Pat and Mike." This was introduced by Randy Haberkamp and Diane Baker, the latter of whom spoke of working with the film’s director, George Cukor. She discussed how Cukor made her introduce older legends such as Katherine Hepburn to get her to learn from them, also speaking of his generosity and elegance. Randy, for his part, highlighted Garson Kanin and Ruth Gordon, the husband-and-wife screenwriting team who wrote the film’s script on spec.
Half-formed thoughts: I was starting to doze near the end (blame the showtime of 10:15 PM), but I’m sure I got the gist of it. The film didn’t seem to have many real laugh-out-loud moments throughout.
Friday
First up on Friday was the hand and footprint ceremony for Michelle Pfeiffer. (I know, it’s a surprise they hadn’t already done it.) Joining her for the ceremony was Ben Mankiewicz and the Fanning sisters, the former joking that we were finally honoring the star of "Grease 2," and the latter of whom praised her kindness and acting. There’s not much to say about this one, other than that it played merry Hell on my already tired feet to be in the standing-room section. Here's probably the best of the pictures I took; apologies for the large umbrella that blocked the top of her head:
My first actual movie of the day was "The Time Machine." Introducing was Sloan de Forest and Justin Humphreys, who discussed George Pal’s career, as well as the talent behind the film and the cast who was mostly new to film, including Yvette Mimieux, who lied about her age to get the part. They also discussed how the film was shot in five weeks for $800,000, and how the film still resonates due to its lead character being dissatisfied with his current era.
Half-formed thoughts: I must be immature, because I can’t get over the name of the female lead being “Weena.”
After that was "The Fabulous Baker Boys," introduced by Michelle Pfeiffer and Ben Mankiewicz. They discussed how Michelle had only gotten into acting through a theater class she’d taken to fulfill an English credit in school (also mentioned during the earlier ceremony), how she wasn’t trained as a singer yet was offered the chance to record an album after the film’s release, and how the infamous "Making Whoopee" scene was something Michelle had forgotten was in the script at first and how she worried it would come off as corny.
Half-formed thoughts: I’m surprised this was made in the 80s; it almost seems like a 70s character study. Which makes it even odder that it played in the Chinese IMAX here.
Next was "Me and My Gal." Bruce Goldstein introduced, discussing how it was made by the floundering Fox Film Corporation before its merger with 20th Century, as well as the director, Raoul Walsh, who he placed in the pantheon of great one-eyed directors along Lang, de Toth and Nicholas Ray. After the movie, he also discussed cuts made by local censorship boards and how the Hays code wanted even more cut, nearly leading 20th Century Fox to junk the picture along with several others.
Half-formed thoughts: Delightful pre-Code comedy, with a surprising amount of spit jokes (not a typo) and a delightful parody of “Strange Interlude,” thankfully explained to us before we watched.
Finally for the day, "The American President." Introducing were Rob Reiner and Aaron Sorkin, who with Ben Mankiewicz discussed the films origin as a Robert Redford project, how Sorkin wrote a draft of the film that came in at 309 pages and didn’t have an ending, and how much of what was cut from that draft later inspired "The West Wing." In addition, during breaks from writing, Aaron would watch "Sports Center," meaning that the movie also led to the creation of "Sports Night." Rob discussed how he’d also thought of Warren Beatty for the lead role (he declined by saying that nobody would want to watch him in a movie romancing his own wife), and how Bill Clinton loved the film enough that he proposed a 20-percent cut in emissions because it sounded good in the movie.
Half-formed thoughts: Stirring music for a romantic comedy.
Saturday
First up was "Daisy Kenyon." First up was Bill Morrison (recently nominated for Best Documentary Short Film for "Incident"), who showed his new short film "Ghosts of the Past" before they brought up Donald Bogle to introduce the feature film. Donald discussed how Gene Tierney and Jennifer Jones were considered for the title role; Joan Crawford’s career, starting as an iconic flapper in silent films and into winning an Oscar for "Mildred Pierce;" and how surprisingly well the usually-demanding Otto Preminger and Crawford got along on set, even leading Crawford to buy him patio furniture when she thought his current set looked shabby.
Half-formed thoughts: Alas, I dozed off during this movie. I actually dozed off during a number of the movies I saw (blame getting maybe five or six hours of sleep a night), but this one was really impacted by it, to where I feel like I missed major plot elements. As such, I don’t feel like I can fairly comment on this one.
Next was "Colossus: The Forbin Project." Introducing were TCMFF regulars Ben Burtt and Craig Barron, who discussed the theme of artificial intelligence in sci-fi up to the movie’s release, as well as the crew of the film, who aside from Edith Head were mostly from the world of TV. They also discussed the effects in the film, from the sound of Colossus’s voice being created by using a vocoder on Paul Frees’ dialogue, to the complex animated matte paintings used for scenes in the film. They then brought out the lead of the film, Eric Braeden, who said he learned more from their introduction than he knew from actually making the film; he also discussed his auditioning for the movie and how they asked him to change his original German name into something more American, to which he initially responded that they could go fuck themselves. After the movie, the three of them discussed how a young Steven Spielberg was present on the set, and how James Cameron had referenced the last line of the movie on the set of "Titanic" to Braeden. It even included an "appearance" by Colossus, who pitched a sequel to the movie; Braeden responded that they should do lunch sometime.
Half-formed thoughts: The film itself is an interesting, downbeat 70s sci-fi film. But the presentation may have inflated my grade a bit.
After that was "Car Wash." Director Michael Schultz was interviewed by Jacqueline Stewart; the two of them discussed how the film was initially seen as a Broadway musical, how marketing didn’t know how to sell the movie because it was a "black" movie, and how Danny DeVito was cast in a role that was cut from the film’s theatrical release (later restored on network television). They also discussed how the movie was a surprise hit at Cannes, and how according to jury member Jacques Demy, it would have won the Palme d’Or had it not been for Rex Reed and Pauline Kael being on the jury, with the two of them hating the movie so much they refused to let it win.
Half-formed thoughts: I believe this is what the kids call "just vibes." Not much plot to speak of, just a really shaggy collection of scenes that occasionally build on each other.
Next was "We’re No Angels," presented in its original VistaVision format. Charlotte Barker and Eddie Muller introduced, discussing her obsession with VistaVision, how it inspired IMAX (which made the film’s screening at the Chinese IMAX even more appropriate), and how cost concerns brought a premature end to the format in the early 60s. The film was also preceded by a VistaVision-format trailer for Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another."
Half-formed thoughts: Loved how dark the comedy got near the end.
Finally, "Animal Crackers." The guests for the screening were Groucho Marx’s grandson Andy Marx, who discussed how he met the other two guests when they were all bidding on Marx brothers memorabilia; Larry Karaszewski, who discussed how the film was made as the play it was based on was performed on Broadway, and how rights issues kept the film from circulation until the 70s; and Larry’s screenwriting partner Scott Alexander, who told a story of his family going to the film's first screening in the 70s to see Groucho. Outside the premiere, his dad lied to get the family inside; Scott was too afraid to get Groucho’s autograph, but claimed to be a fan of the director (despite not knowing who he was) to get his autograph. (I wish I’d gotten video of this last story; it was amazing to hear all the twists and turns it took.)
Half-formed thoughts: Maybe not one of their finer Paramount movies, but still a fun Marx brothers movie.
Sunday
Up first was "The Big Combo." Ernest Dickerson and Eddie Muller introduced, discussing the cinematographer of the film (who, despite being best known for noir, somehow won a shared Oscar for lensing the ballet sequence in "An American in Paris"), how they shot a scene at an airport without an airport by using a doorway and some fog; and the two henchmen in the film who seem to be in a relationship, which one of the actors claimed nobody seemed to notice in 1955.
Half-formed thoughts: Mr. Brown: Smart criminal, but one hell of a lousy shot. (Yes, it was foggy, but the guy was talking to you!)
After that, I went to a panel on how "they don’t make ‘em like they used to." The panel consisted of Ben Mankiewicz, actor and filmmaker Robert Townsend, teacher Miranda Max, and Sony Pictures CEO Tom Rothman. Much of the discussion was dominated by Tom, which makes sense, given he’s in charge of making movies for an entire studio. They discussed the impact of streaming services, needing people to get others to go (via the general conversation of "Did you see it?" "No." "You’ve got to"), and getting the right ingredients together for movies. Tom summed up by discussing a framed fax he had in his office from David Lynch during the making of "Wild at Heart," responding to his various worries: “Stop worrying.”
Up next was a conversation between Eddie Muller and titles designer Dan Perri. The second name may not be familiar, but he’s designed many infamous title sequences, including "Star Wars," "The Exorcist" (Dan discussed how he was one of the few people making the movie that William Friedkin was gracious with), "Taxi Driver," "Nashville" (the opening of which makes more sense to people who remember K-Tel records), "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Gangs of New York" (where he used some trickery involving type sizes and how much screen space the title took up to get around contractual obligations). Eddie finished by promoting Dan’s book for which he had written the foreword, saying that there were more stories that Dan wasn’t willing to tell on stage.
After that was a book signing. It isn’t worth noting except for two things: These pictures…
And the fact that I bought so many heavy books that, by the time I finished lugging them to my hotel room about a fifth of a mile away, I was too exhausted to make it to the movie I’d planned to cap off the festival with, "The Ritz." And while I could’ve gone to later movies, I wanted to get to the closing night party early, meaning that I only saw a personal-record-low of 10 movies at this festival (11 if you count "Daisy Kenyon," which I won’t).
Ranking:
- Me and My Gal
- We’re No Angels
- The Empire Strikes Back
- Colossus: The Forbin Project
- Animal Crackers
- The Time Machine
- The Big Combo
- The Fabulous Baker Boys
- Car Wash
- Pat and Mike
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