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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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. -
hobnob53 — 11 years ago(February 02, 2015 09:37 PM)
Rod and Maggie had a brief affair when they co-starred in
The V.I.P.s
in England in 1963. They remained friends, so starring together again in
Young Cassidy
I've read was a pleasant experience for them.
The film's original director, by the way, was John Ford, but he left the production after only one day. Jack Cardiff replaced him. Superb cinematographer, good director, but it would have been interesting to have had Taylor directed by John Ford, particularly given the movie's Irish setting.
I read in Taylor's bio that in 1963, after arriving in London and before meeting Smith, he and an old pal from Australia went to see her in a West End stage production. After seeing the play, Rod, anticipating their scenes together in
The V.I.P.s
, said to his friend, "She's going to eat me alive!"
Which, in a more pleasant way, I presume she did. -
Bogmeister — 11 years ago(February 02, 2015 11:38 PM)
This might be some more unusual trivia about
Young Cassidy- I watched most of it again during that TCM tribute and noticed this: as the credits begin, it reads "A JOHN FORD FILM" (btw, I thought I read months back that Ford was on it for 25b4 weeks before being replaced by Cardiff). So, I think when I see that credit '
hmm they gave the directing credit to Ford after all, strange
' but, at the end of the credits, it reads "Directed by JACK CARDIFF." So, this was one of those unusual instances when credit is given to two directors for one film, but in a sly kind of way. I guess they (whomever made the decision) wanted to acknowledge Ford somehow, even though Cardiff Directed 95% of the film. But, I wonder if Cardiff was annoyed by it being labeled A JOHN FORD FILM at the beginning.
- I watched most of it again during that TCM tribute and noticed this: as the credits begin, it reads "A JOHN FORD FILM" (btw, I thought I read months back that Ford was on it for 25b4 weeks before being replaced by Cardiff). So, I think when I see that credit '
-
hobnob53 — 11 years ago(February 03, 2015 02:53 PM)
I think you're right, it was two weeks. I re-read the portion of Rod's bio about the film and it said Ford left after two weeks, suffering from pneumonia. I was recalling something I'd read well over a decade ago, where it said Ford had been able to shoot only one day before leaving (although he was on the picture for longer than on16d0e day), but two weeks makes more sense. When he fell ill production shut down for two weeks until a replacement was found. The producers insisted on leaving Ford's footage in but some directors wanted to start from scratch and so were bypassed. Jack Cardiff was happy to keep Ford's footage, and he came to like Rod very much.
It's too bad Ford didn't get co-director credit, as he had with
Mister Roberts
. I assume the credit "A John Ford Film" was meant as a thank-you and as you say a way of crediting Ford in some alternate way. But I'm sure Cardiff didn't mind probably quite the reverse: to be associated with John Ford was an honor, and after all he wanted to retain Ford's scenes, so he obviously felt no jealousy, or territoriality over the film. -
Bogmeister — 11 years ago(February 03, 2015 09:00 PM)
But I'm sure Cardiff didn't mind probably quite the reverse: to be associated with John Ford was an honor, and after all he wanted to retain Ford's scenes, so he obviously felt no jealousy, or territoriality over the film.
The reason I brought that up is that I just read something yesterday in the IMDb trivia section for Young Cassidy, where it mentions that Cardiff made a point of telling people that only 4 & 1/2 minutes of footage in the film was Ford's. I also read earlier somewhere (can't remember where) how Cardiff did 99% of the film (probably too high a percentage - more like 95%). I'm not sure if Cardiff himself was saying this or others were. This doesn't mean that Cardiff was belittling Ford's involvement or being territorial, but I know that many film directors are touchy about who gets what credit. Not knowing Cardiff, I can only guess on how he felt about the whole thing. I just find it very unusual because I thought there are certain rules in the film business and that only one person can get credit as a director, unless it's a joint effort from the beginning and split 50/50 (for example, Richard Lester got sole directing credit on Superman II because he did about 51% of the film, Donner did 49% or less). So, they couldn't give the standard directing credit to both Cardiff & Ford, but managed to work Ford's name in there.