TCM will run a tribute to Rod Taylor on Thursday, January 29, 2015, beginning at 8:00 PM EST. Here's their schedule, fi
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hobnob53 — 11 years ago(January 10, 2015 12:07 PM)
I think they should have chosen a couple of different Taylor films because they've shown most of the five they picked a lot in recent weeks.
But while Rod is of course great in
The VIPs
it isn't a starring vehicle for him, with most of the screen time taken up by Burton and that other Taylor. I think TCM is right to show only films where Rod is the unquestioned star. -
clore_2 — 11 years ago(January 27, 2015 10:34 PM)
Not to hijack the thread, but there's a film on earlier that day titled
The Mystery of Mr. X (1934)
that I highly recommend. There's a series of murders of policemen and it's blamed on jewel thief Robert Montgomery. He has to stay one step ahead in order to find the killer. This one is going on a disc that day at 815am. Check it out, you won't be disappointed. They don't air this one too often.
It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me -
pouncemo — 11 years ago(January 28, 2015 01:53 AM)
Thanks Hobnob, I'll be watching knowing that other fans are watching too.
I watched "Sunday In New York" the other day and I just couldn't wrap my head around the fact that he is gone. You look at those young, vibrant, gorgeous people and it doesn't seem possible that they were but mere mortals. -
hobnob53 — 11 years ago(January 28, 2015 04:04 PM)
I know what you mean, pouncemo. Many of us have been watching these movies from the 60s for so long that it comes as a shock when we stop to realize how old everyone is now if they're even still with us.
Not a Rod Taylor film, but the other week I watched a bit of
The Odd Couple
(1968), and when Jack Lemmon walks into a strip club early in the film, it suddenly struck me that the beautiful young girls up on the stage are all about 70 now. And I was very much alive, a teenager, then!
Many of Rod's early leading ladies are still very much alive too, even if (appallingly!) in their 70s and 80s.
Anyway, things start tomorrow night at 8 PM EST: Thursday, January 29, 2015. Too bad TCM didn't give RT a full 24 hours, so they could have included other films they show less often, including
36 Hours, Dark of the Sun, Ask Any Girl, Fate is the Hunter, World Without End, The V.I.P.s
and several others. -
clore_2 — 11 years ago(January 28, 2015 07:06 PM)
I'd like to see a good print of
Darker Than Amber
, I have a lousy grey-market one that almost unwatchable.
Today I got a copy of one that I've never seen -
Colossus and the Amazon Queen
, a spoof of peplum sagas. Unfortunately it's pan-and-scan, but I've never known this one to air on TV in NYC, so I'm stuck with what I can get.
It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me -
hobnob53 — 11 years ago(January 28, 2015 10:12 PM)
Never saw either one, clore. I'm a bit surprised that
Darker Than Amber
isn't on DVD (I checked last week); in the bio of Rod the film sounds intriguing if a failure.
CATAQ
was one he did solely in order to get a trip to Italy to pursue his affair with Anita Ekbergwho just died on Rod's birthday. Not sure the movie was worth it, even for the opportunity for a paid trip to bed Anita. -
clore_2 — 11 years ago(January 28, 2015 10:55 PM)
Let's see, a free trip, a movie role and Anita - that would have worked for me in 1961. Of course, I was only ten, so she might not have found the experience fulfilling.
It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me -
Big G-2 — 11 years ago(January 29, 2015 07:42 AM)
Too bad TCM didn't give RT a full 24 hours, so they could have included other films they show less often, including 36 Hours, Dark of the Sun, Ask Any Girl, Fate is the Hunter, World Without End, The V.I.P.s and several others.
I was curious about that as well. Even here in the West Coast, some of the movies will be playing well past 11:00 pm, including the one I want to see the most YOUNG CASSIDY. But with our modern day recording devices, it won't be a problem (and I think TCM knows that!). -
hobnob53 — 11 years ago(January 29, 2015 09:36 AM)
The other thing, which I believe I alluded to someplace above, is that as it happens TCM had run some of these films namely,
The Time Machine, The Birds
and
Sunday in New York
two or three times in the past six or eight weeks. Granted the importance to Rod's career of the first two, especially
TTM
, nonetheless you'd think they'd have sprung for a couple of different titles not recently shown.
Sunday in New York
is an okay romantic comedy and something different from Rod's action roles, but it's not
that
great and since it's been on very recently could easily have been jettisoned in favor of, say,
Hotel
, which also has romance and drama.
I guess he wasn't quite a big enough star to warrant a full 24, but on the other hand how many major stars covered by TCM's programming are left nowadays? Maybe they need to devote more time to the dwindling number of older movie stars as they pass away.
For the record, here is the list of movies TCM is preempting tonight (1/29/15) in order to run its tribute to Rod:
I Want to Live
(1958);
The Hoodlum Priest
(1961);
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
(1956);
Nora Prentiss
(1947);
The Ceremony
(1963). Crime dramas all, and an interesting mix.
But let's just say I wish they were still on the schedule meaning, that there were no need to preempt them in order to present a posthumous remembrance of Rod Taylor. -
clore_2 — 11 years ago(January 29, 2015 09:58 AM)
They can hold off on
Nora Prentiss
until they upgrade the print. It looks like a dupe of a 16mm print, Alpha Home Video quality.
I was looking forward to
The Ceremony
though as that one has escaped me all these years and the cast has me really curious.
It ain't easy being green, or anything else, other than to be me -
pouncemo — 11 years ago(January 29, 2015 05:08 PM)
Do you remember "old" people telling us that "inside, I still feel 25" or whatever? Now we know what they mean, and know that it is true.
I totally agree that Rod deserves a full 24 hour tribute. To me, Rod was a full-fledged
A-lister, a household name for anyone our generation.
I love what they are choosing to show, but would have liked to see some of his lesser known and more off-beat work.
I'm taping the 14 day SNL marathon on VH1 Classics, but will take a break to be in on the Rod tribute. -
Big G-2 — 11 years ago(February 02, 2015 09:05 PM)
Well, in seeing YOUNG CASSIDY for the16d0 first time, I agree Rod Taylor should have deserved an Oscar nom. Ending was hard for John Cassidy - damn that Maggie Smith! Speaking of Maggie Smith, I would later realize that this movie had three future CLASH OF THE TITANS actresses - Smith, Sin Phillips and Flora Robson.
Interesting seeing Julie Christie and I think this was done just before her breakthrough, DARLING.
Anyway, eventhough it was a smaller tribute and done virtually on late night / early morning, still glad TCM does these memorials when other outlets do not even mention the passing of older Hollywood stars anymore.