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Classic News
It's 31 Days of Oscar on Turner Classic Movies once again, as the classic movie station brings Oscar winners and nominees from around the world. This weekend TCM will travel to New York City, where some of Classic Hollywood's best films were set.
On Saturday, TCM will air 1933's 42nd Street and 1948's Naked City, before showing Elia Kazan's 1954 classic On the Waterfront, starring Marlon Brando in his first Oscar-winning performance, Eva Marie Saint in her Academy Award winning role, and Best Supporting Actor nominee Karl Malden.
That evening features Audrey Hepburn and Alan Arkin in 1967's Wait Until Dark, but the main feature comes at 10 EST with Billy Wilder's Best Picture winning comedy, The Apartment, starring Jack Lemmon as a spineless insurance clerk who allows his cheating boss (Fred MacMurray) to use his apartment for his infidelities, only to fall for his mistress (Shirley MacLaine).
Night owls can enjoy Sydney Pollack's classic espionage thriller Three Days of the Condor, John Casssvetes' iconoclastic drama Gloria, and Robert Benton's divorce drama Kramer vs. Kramer, starring Dustin Hoffman and Meryl Streep.
On Sunday, TCM will showcase a pair of Gene Kelly musicals, On the Town and It's Always Fair Weather, and continue with two George Cukor classics, It Should Happen to You and Let's Make Love. In between, try not to miss Rock Hudson in Lover Come Back and Ethel Merman in There's No Business Like Show Business.
That night you can see Barbra Streisand's Academy Award-winning performance in Funny Girl, Carol Kane's Oscar-nominated turn in Hester Street, and 1955's Best Picture, Marty, which also earned star Ernest Borgnine a statue for Best Actor.
Sleep-challenged viewers can catch Penny Marshall's endearing drama, Awakenings, starring Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, and Michael Curtiz's slice-of-life comedy Life With Father, starring William Powell and a young Elizabeth Taylor.
Marlon Brando in 'On the Waterfront'/Sony Pictures
Robert Redford on the run in 'Three Days of the Condor'/Paramount Pictures
Barbra Streisand as Fanny Brice in 'Funny Girl'/Sony Pictures
Spend a Weekend in New York with Turner Classic Movies originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 15:22:45.
He was born on Feb. 8, 1931 and died just 24 years later. His career was all too brief, but his legend has been one of Hollywood's most enduring.
James Dean was a promising young actor who rose to stardom off the strength of his first leading performance in Elia Kazan's adaptation of John Steinbeck's East of Eden. He starred in two more films, Rebel Without a Cause and Giant, but never saw either one released during his lifetime.
On Sept. 30, 1955, while driving his Porsche 550 Spyder down U.S. Route 466, Dean was killed when his vehicle crashed into a Ford Coupe taking a left-hand turn. It was Hollywood's most tragic and legendary deaths.
Dean's death was mourned the world over, as Dean went from rising young star to icon virtually overnight. He was posthumously nominated for Beat Actor at the Academy Awards for East of Eden and Giant, though it was Rebel Without a Cause that defined his short, but bright career.
Lots can happen in a lifetime and no one can say for sure if Dean would have lived to see 81 years of age. But celebrating a posthumous birthday can be bittersweet, filled with both fond remembrances and questions of what could have been.
Happy Birthday, James Dean.
Dean as 17-year-old Jim Stark in 'Rebel Without a Cause'/Warner Bros.
On This Day: James Dean Would Have Been 81 originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Wednesday, February 8th, 2012 at 10:28:46.
Hard to believe that it has been 50 years since Gregory Peck delivered the most iconic performance of his career, playing small town lawyer, Atticus Finch, who defends an innocent black man (Brock Peters) against charges of rape while protecting his two children (Mary Badham and Phillip Alford) from the specter of racism in To Kill a Mockingbird.
One of the most beloved films ever made, Robert Mulligan's Oscar-nominated adaptation of Harper Lee's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel was as acclaimed by critics as it was adored by audiences. While the film is exemplary in every way, it's Peck's career-defining performance as Finch that elevated the film into an all-time classic. Peck was identified as the noble Finch for the rest of his life, a distinction the actor fully embraced.
Released on Jan. 31st, the combination Blu-ray and DVD limited edition features commentary by Mulligan and producer Alan J. Pakula, two documentaries, A Conversation with Gregory Peck and Fearful Symmetry, Peck's acceptance speech for Best Actor at the 1963 Academy Awards, and the featurette 100 Years of Universal: Restoring the Classics, which details the film's restoration process.
Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in 'To Kill a Mockingbird'/Universal Pictures
Limited 50th Anniversary Blu-ray of 'To Kill a Mockingbird' Now Available originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Tuesday, February 7th, 2012 at 14:37:55.
One of the saddest and most romantic movies ever made, Love Story, will be released on the Blu-ray format just in time for Valentine's Day.
The tearjerker to end all tearjerkers starred Ryan O'Neal as Oliver, a well-to-do pre-law student at Harvard who earns the disapproval of his wealthy father (Ray Milland) after falling for the foul-m0uthed, blue-collar Jenny (McGraw).
Despite their inherent differences, Oliver and Jenny fall head-over-heels in love, only to find their happiness tragically reversed when Jenny learns she has terminal cancer. Both try to hang onto their romantic bliss, but know in their hearts that Jenny's death looms ever closer.
Love Story was a giant hit for Paramount Pictures and turned both McGraw and O'Neal into big stars. Meanwhile, the haunting "Love Story" theme was a chart topping hit, while O'Neal's final line, "Love means never having to say you're sorry," entered the cultural lexicon.
The Blu-ray has only a few extras: audio commentary from director Arthur Hiller, the behind-the-scenes featurette Love Story: A Classic Remembered, and the original theatrical trailer. Still, the transfer has received raves from fans and critics.
Love Story releases next week on Feb. 7th.
Ali McGraw and Ryan O'Neal in 'Love Story'/Paramount Pictures
'Love Story' to Release on Blu-ray Next Week originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Friday, February 3rd, 2012 at 17:43:07.
It may have taken 71 years, but the Hearst family appears to have finally forgiven Orson Welles for drawing uncomfortable comparisons between newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst and fictional character Charles Foster Kane in Citizen Kane, often considered the greatest movie ever made.
On March 9th, the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival will screen Citizen Kane at Hearst Castle, marking the first time the film will be shown at the famed tourist attraction, where the festival has taken place since 1993.
Hearst infamously tried to sabotage Welles' masterpiece after its release in 1941, refusing to allow advertisements in his newspapers, lobbying the the Academy to bestow its Oscars upon other films, and allegedly even using J. Edgar Hoover to investigate the director for over a decade.
Part of Hearst's fury over the film derived from its unflattering portrayal of Kane's alcoholic second wife, Susan Alexander (Dorothy Comingore), whom the newspaper mogul was certain reflected his own relationship with actress Marion Davies.
The screening was first suggested by festival director Wendy Eidson, who was promptly given the blessing by Heart's descendants.
Orson Welles as Charles Foster Kane in 'Citizen Kane'/Warner Bros.
Hearst Family Okays Screening of 'Citizen Kane' originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Monday, January 30th, 2012 at 14:23:00.
There's lots to check out on Turner Classic Movies this weekend...
After a morning of B-movies like The Cosmic Monsters, Queen from Outer Space and Phantom of the Rue Morgue, TCM will showcase a number of heavy hitters like Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey, the original Rocky starring Sylvester Stallone, King Solomon's Mines with Deborah Kerr and John Huston's stark drama The Misfits.
Night owls and insomniacs can see James Dean and Natalie Wood in Nicholas Ray's classic Rebel Without a Cause, followed by Stanley Kramer's race-themed drama Guess Who's Coming to Dinner? starring Sidney Poitier, Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.
On Sunday, TCM will air Busby Berkeley's Strike Up the Band with Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland, and Norman Jewison's romantic comedy The Thrill of It All, starring Doris Day and James Garner. Later that night, two films starring and directed by Jack Webb are featured: the 1957 military drama, The D.I., and 1959's -30-, which centered around the night shift at a city newspaper.
Movie poster for 'Rocky'/MGM Home Entertainment
What to Watch on TCM This Weekend originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Friday, January 27th, 2012 at 19:25:57.
On April 3, 2012, the Blu-ray for Paramount Pictures' Chinatown will hit the streets. Released in 1974, Chinatown was directed by Roman Polanski and starred an Oscar-nominated Jack Nicholson as the seedy private eye, Jake Gittes, who investigates a murder in 1930s Los Angeles, only to find himself an unwitting pawn in a land rights scheme involving powerful water mogul, Noah Cross (John Huston). Along the way, Gittes falls for Cross' emotionally twisted daughter, Evelyn Mulwray (Faye Dunaway), and unearths a disturbingly dark past.
Polanski's ode to 1940s film noir was nothing short of brilliant and earned 11 Academy Award nominations, including Best Director and Best Picture, and is widely considered to be one of the best films of the decade. It was also the last movie Polanski shot in Hollywood before fleeing to Europe as a fugitive from the United States after his conviction for statutory rape.
The disc contains a number of tantalizing extras, including commentary from Oscar-winning writer Robert Towne and director David Fincher; the three-part documentary, Water and Power; a retrospective featuring interviews with Steven Soderbergh, Roger Deakins and Kimberly Pierce; and three behind-the-scenes featurettes.
Inside the package, the Blu-ray has a slipcover with the original theatrical poster, as well as a collectable booklet.
Pre-orders are already being taken for the April 3rd release. This one is a must-have for anyone's collection.
Jack Nicholson and Faye Dunaway in 'Chinatown'/Paramount Pictures
'Chinatown' to be Released on Blu-ray originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Wednesday, January 18th, 2012 at 14:50:31.
Two months ago, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department reopened their investigation of the mysterious death of screen icon, Natalie Wood, after receiving what was then called substantial new evidence. But yesterday, detectives revealed that nothing new has been unearthed that would point to anything other than an accidental death.
The police conducted numerous interviews since reopening the case in November 2011, though they have declined to reveal a list. Wood's sister, Lana, and the boat's captain, Dennis Davern, both approached the police in 2010 with new information involving the actress' famous drowning off the coast of Catalina Island. But that information has amounted to little, if anything.
For decades, speculation by fans distraught over her sudden death has been that then-husband, Robert Wagner, was somehow complicit and remained an unsubstantiated suspect. Police, however, have consistently ruled out any foul play, and their latest investigation looks to have confirmed the same.
Despite no new revelations, the sheriff's department has kept the case open in order to wrap up loose ends.
Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood in 1972/Getty Images
Update on Reopened Natalie Wood Case originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Wednesday, January 11th, 2012 at 15:30:51.
Had he not been stabbed to death outside his apartment on Feb. 12, 1976, actor and 1950s teen idol Sal Mineo might well have lived to see his 73rd birthday. But as often happens in Hollywood, Mineo's story didn't have a happy ending.
He was born 73 years ago today in The Bronx and began acting at nine years old after being discovered by a talent scout. Mineo studied Method acting and made a name on Broadway before making the transition to film.
After a couple of small parts, Mineo's popularity skyrocketed when he played the love-starved best friend of James Dean in 1955's Rebel Without a Cause, a film that transformed both actors into overnight sensations. He would go on to co-star with Dean and Elizabeth Taylor in Giant, only to be the unfortunate beneficiary of Dean's sudden death - a tragedy that propelled his fame to unprecedented heights.
The loss of his close friend shook Mineo to his core, but he maintained his high-level of output with critically praised turns in Crime in the Streets, Dino and The Gene Krupa Story, in which he delivered an acclaimed performance as the troubled jazz drummer.
Following a supporting role opposite Paul Newman in Otto Preminger's Exodus, Mineo struggled to make the transition to more adult roles and saw his popularity crumble. His last film performance was as the ape Dr. Milo in 1971's Escape from the Planet of the Apes.
He attempted a comeback and looked to be well on his way until he was fatally stabbed by pizza delivery driver, Lionel Ray Williams, while returning home from rehearsals for the play P.S. Your Cat is Dead. He was 37 and left behind only the promise of what could have been.
Sal Mineo and James Dean in 'Rebel Without a Cause'/Warner Bros.
On This Day: Sal Mineo Would Have Been 73 originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 at 13:21:01.
It has become somewhat obligatory to celebrate even the most minor of milestones when it comes to the life and career of Alfred Hitchcock. And, of course, 2012 offers no exceptions.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of Hitchcock making his first-ever film, though the occasion was no cause for celebration at the time. In 1922, after working as a title designer and assistant director for producer Michael Balcon, who had taken over Paramount Picture's Famous Players-Lasky studio in London, Hitch was given a shot to make his first short film, No. 13/Mrs. Peabody.
But his time behind the camera proved to be short-lived. The production fell apart due to lack of funds after only a few scenes were filmed and Hitchcock was left licking his wounds. What was shot became lost, with some historians believing that the film was destroyed by Balcon's studio. Of course, Hitchcock made his proper debut in 1925 with The Pleasure Garden and went on to make some of the centuries greatest movies.
Hitchcock in action on the set of 1926's 'The Mountain Eagle'/Lost Film
Another Hitchcock Anniversary to Celebrate originally appeared on About.com Classic Movies on Monday, January 9th, 2012 at 14:49:59.