“The mob doesn’t think. It has no mind of its own.”
Spencer Tracy and Sylvia Sidney in Fritz Lang’s FURY (1936) will be available on Blu-ray November 9th from Warner Archive
Joe Wilson, a wrongly jailed man thought to have died in a blaze started by a bloodthirsty lynch mob, is somehow alive. And dead to all he ever stood for and perhaps ever will. Because Joe aims to ensure his would-be executioners meet the fate Joe miraculously escaped. Spencer Tracy is Joe, Sylvia Sidney is his bride-to-be, and Fury lives up to its volatile name with its searing indictment of mob justice and lynching. In his first American film, director Fritz Lang (Metropolis, The Big Heat) combines a passion for justice and a sharp visual style into a landmark of social-conscience filmmaking. In the 49 years before this movie’s release, some 6,000 people in the U.S. were victims of lynch mobs. The Fury over those tragedies – and over other injustices to come – remains.
Extras: Commentary by Peter Bogdanovich with archival interview comments from Fritz Lang, Theatrical Trailer (HD)
“Lawyers should never marry other lawyers. This is called in-breeding; from this comes idiot children and more lawyers.”
Nothing’s more fun than The Wildey’s Tuesday Night Film Series. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn in the beloved comedy ADAM’S RIBfrom 1949 will be on the big screenwhen it plays at The Wildey Theater in Edwardsville, IL (252 N Main St, Edwardsville, IL 62025) at 7:00pm Tuesday September 14th. $3 Tickets available starting at 3pm day of movie at Wildey Theatre ticket office. Cash or check only. (cash, credit cards accepted for concessions) Lobby opens at 6pm.
Happily-married lawyers Adam and Amanda Bonner land on opposite sides in the courtroom after Doris Attinger is charged with the attempted murder of her philandering husband Warren. For assistant district attorney Adam, it’s a straightforward case: the facts aren’t in dispute and Doris took a shot at her husband after she caught him with his girlfriend. Amanda takes a different view, arguing that women are treated differently than men in the courts and that Doris should be set free. They do their best to keep their courtroom battles in the court and not at home, until they can’t manage that.
“Well, there’s no law against an opera singer being slender, young and beautiful.”
Clark Gable and Spencer Tracy in SAN FRANCISCO will be available on Blu-ray from Warner Archive February 16th. Ordering information can be found HERE
Romantic drama combines with humor, star-power combines with lavish spectacle and the walls come tumbling down! This Academy Award-winning extravaganza’s street-splitting, brick-cascading, fire-raging recreation of the cataclysmic earthquake remains “one of the greatest action sequences in the history of the cinema, rivalling the chariot race in both Ben-Hurs” (Adrian Turner, Time Out Film Guide).
Clark Gable plays rakish Barbary Coast kingpin Blackie Norton. Jeanette MacDonald portrays a singer torn by her love for Blackie and her need to succeed among the operagoing elite. Earning the first of nine career Best Actor Oscar® nominations, Spencer Tracy is a priest who supplements spiritual advice with a mean right hook. He urges Blackie to change. But if love and religion can’t reform Blackie, Mother Nature will.
Special Features: Alternate Ending Sequence; “Clark Gable: Tall, Dark and Handsome” featurette with Liam Neeson; Two vintage FitzPatrick Traveltalks: “Cavalcade of San Francisco”and “Night Descends on Treasure Island”; Classic Cartoon “Bottles”; Theatrical re-issue trailer (HD)
Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in WITHOUT LOVE (1945) is currently available on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Ordering info can be found HERE
Every rental is rented, every sublet is let in crowded Washington, D.C. So Jamie Rowan does her part for the wartime lodging crunch by sharing her home with military inventor Pat Jamieson. There are a few conditions, natch. First, for appearances, they must get married. Second, there’s plenty of room for each other…but no room for love. Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn team for the third time in Without Love, played for laughs and, above all, with love. Donald Ogden Stewart adapts Philip Barry’s play (five years earlier, both helped shape Hepburn’s comeback movie, The Philadelphia Story). And Keenan Wynn’s bibulous bon vivant, Lucille Ball’s wisecracking girl Friday and Gloria Grahame’s flower girl add to the movie’s urbane wit and warmth.
“That’s all, honey, that’s all, say no more. Of course, there’s always a chance you could be an escaped fruitcake.”
Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn in PAT AND MIKE (1952) is aailable on Blu-ray From Warner Archive. Ordering information can be found HERE
The sun will sneak by a rooster before sports promoter Mike Conovan (Spencer Tracy) lets opportunity pass him by. So the first time he sees genteel Pat Pemberton (Katharine Hepburn) swing a five-iron, he decides to ink her to a pro contract. “Not much meat on her ,” Mike later says, “but what’s there is cherce.” For this chercest of romantic comedies, George Cukor directs, Ruth Gordon and Garson Kanin provide the Oscar®-nominated screenplay, and a deft cast plays various Damon Runyonesque types, including Aldo Ray as a dim-bulb palooka and Charles (Bronson) Buchinski as a tough guy who finds Pat tougher. Sports stars of the day (like Babe Didrikson Zaharias and Gussie Moran) add to the Jocks-and-Jills fun. Let the games begin!
Oscar-winning screen legends Sidney Poitier, Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy — in his final film role — star in the classic comedy-drama GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER, which shattered on-screen taboos exactly 50 years ago, andreturns to movie theaters nationwide for two days only on December 10 and 13 to celebrate its golden anniversary.
It’s the final film in Fathom Events’ 2017 TCM Big Screen Classics Series. (Look for details on the 2018 series to be announced soon!) Tickets are available now.
GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER will play in more than 750 theaters nationwide on Sunday, December 10, and Wednesday, December 13 only, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. each day. Before and after the film, TCM host Tiffany Vazquez will present commentary about this groundbreaking classic, which is filled with dazzling dialogue, perfect performances and a remarkable mid-century style.
Still as riveting, thought-provoking and thoroughly entertaining as the day it was released (exactly 50 years ago, Dec. 12, 1967), GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER was produced and directed by legendary Stanley Kramer from a screenplay written by William Rose, and proved to be a box-office smash, grossing the inflation-adjusted equivalent of $386 million in the U.S.
Both Hepburn and Rose’s screenplay won Oscars for GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER, in which she and Tracy play a liberal San Francisco couple whose daughter (Katharine Houghton in her screen debut) returns from a trip to Hawaii with an unexpected fiancé: John Prentice (Poitier). He sounds like everything they hope: a doctor who’s even a candidate for the Nobel Peace prize. What they don’t realize is that he’s black, and their leisurely dinner becomes an evening fraught with tension.
Their meeting together offers a microcosm of a nation in the midst of social upheaval, and got audiences talking about its treatment of subjects that had never before explored by a major Hollywood film.
Tickets for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinnercan be purchased online by visiting www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.S. will be able to enjoy the event in more than 750 select movie theaters through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network (DBN). For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
“Oh, that’s silly. No woman could ever run for President. She’d have to admit she’s over 35!”
STATE OF THE UNION plays on the big screen at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater this weekend as part of their Classic Film Series. It’s Saturday, November 12th at 10:30am at the Hi-Pointe located at 1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO 63117. Admission is only $5.
It’s election week so the Hi-Pointe is rolling out a vintage political film to screen for this month’s Classic Film Series. STATE OF THE UNION is a 1941 Frank Capra film that comes off fresh and timely. A plain speaking, likable man, Grant Matthews (Spencer Tracy) is convinced to run for President by the publisher of a newspaper, Kay Thorndyke (Angela Lansbury) who is also his mistress, and before he knows it, his words and intentions are no longer his own. Because he wants to win, he compromises and lies down with the dogs. When he stands up, he’s got fleas.
Katharine Hepburn costars as Grant’s wife Mary in a role intended for Claudette Colbert, and she’s excellent. All the performances in this film are marvelous. Van Johnson is very funny and charming as a newspaperman who becomes Grant’s campaign manager. Adolphe Menjou is perfect as Kaye’s mouthpiece who wants to go after the money people and court big business and the union heads. Lansbury is fantastic as the ambitious, cutthroat Kaye, who took over the paper from her father and knows how to use and abuse power. By today’s standards, STATE OF THE UNION is probably too naïve and talky – Capra often has big monologues in his films, but they’re always delivered powerfully. Here is no exception. A rousing film about the breakdown of idealism before political realities. Go see it on the big screen Saturday morning!
“No one paid any attention to the orchestra. I could have saved that 85 bucks!”
After his daughter selects a mate, the father must endure sleepless nights, sticker shock, and the disruption of his household as he navigates through the nightmare of wedding planning. In the original 1950 comedy classic FATHER OF THE BRIDE, Spencer Tracy is terrific as Stanley banks, the harried father whose plans for a small wedding go awry. As his wife and daughter, Joan Bennett and Liz Taylor aren’t given much to do except look supportive and lovely, respectively (Interestingly, both actresses played Amy in film versions of LITTLE WOMEN; Bennett in 1933 and Taylor in 1949). Don Taylor, who plays the groom, would have a long career as a TV director. Director Vincent Minnelli does a nice job of balancing the comedy and the sentimentality in FATHER OF THE BRIDE, which was a huge hit in 1950, spawning a sequel (FATHER’S LITTLE DIVIDEND) and the ubiquitous Steve Martin remake in 1995.
Now you’ll have the chance to see FATHER OF THE BRIDE in all of its big screen glory when it screens this Saturday morning (August 9th) at St. Louis’ fabulous Hi-Pointe Theater (1005 McCausland Ave., St. Louis, MO). The movie starts at 10:30am and admission is only $5.
Check out the original FATHER OF THE BRIDE trailer:
This week’s WAMG Top 10 is having a look at all the on and off-screen couples of Hollywood. The Drew Barrymore/Justin Long romantic-comedy, GOING THE DISTANCE, comes out next Friday on September 3rd, so we thought we’d give it a go with our list of favorite “Work and Play Couples.” Let us know what you think and who you would put on the list in the comments section below.
Honorable Mention: Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz
Lucille Ball was a rising star under contract to RKO Studios when she was cast as the female lead in the film version of the Broadway smash TOO MANY GIRLS. Prior to the start of filming she was introduced to the young Cuban singer who had taken New York City by storm, Desi Arnaz. Stories from several sources in that RKO office said that sparks flew when they locked eyes on each other. In a little over a decade these sparks would grow into a flame that swept thru the entertainment world( and engulf the RKO studio which would become the home of Desilu). TOO MANY GIRLS did not duplicate its stage success on the big screen, but both stars would continue to star on stage and screen and eventually become man and wife. By the late 40’s, Lucy’s film career would begin to stall as did Desi’s music career. She decided to jump into radio by starring in MY FAVORITE HUSBAND alongside Richard Denning. With stories beginning to herald the advance of television, Lucy thought about taking her show into this new medium, but with her real life hubby Desi instead of Denning. The result, I LOVE LUCY, would become one of the most successful and influential TV shows of all time. Because of the shows incredible popularity, the movie studios came calling on Lucy and Desi to bring some of their magic to the silver screen . Their first film with MGM, Vincent Minnelli’s THE LONG, LONG TRAILER, proved to be a box office hit in 1953 while a follow up film, Alexander Hall’s FOREVER DARLING fizzled in 1956 even with the great James Mason cast as their guardian angel. A few years later Lucy and Desi split, and although they’re known mostly for their TV work, their movie efforts are definitely worth a look.
10. ANGELINA JOLIE AND BRAD PITT
You know that a list like this can’t be complete without the hottest it couple in Hollywood today. Starring in Mr. and Mrs. Smith sparked such chemistry between them that they began dating. Now, with six children and rumors of more, the two are going strong. They can often be seen either on outings or doing humanitarian work as a unit. Might I add, that this is one good looking family!
09. DIANE KEATON AND WOODY ALLEN
You didn’t think that we would actually leave the ANNIE HALL duo out of this, did you? Diane Keaton’s career really began with her romance, both on and off screen with Woody Allen. Together, they were in SLEEPERS, LOVE AND DEATH and PLAY IT AGAIN, SAM. Of course, the most famous between the two is ANNIE HALL. Despite splitting up, Diane Keaton appeared in his film INTERIORS, MANHATTAN, RADIO DAYS, and MANHATTAN MURDER MYSTERY, proving that ex’s can still work together.
08. ANNETTE BENING AND WARREN BEATTY
For several decades starting tin the late 50’s, the number one swinging Hollywood bachelor was Warren Beatty. During this time he was linked to some of the big screen’s most popular leading ladies: Natalie Wood, Joan Collins, Leslie Caron, Julie Christie, Diane Keaton, and many others. In 1991 Beatty was cast in the lead in Barry Levinson’s BUGSY, a bio of the notorious gangster Benjamin Siegel. Tapped to play the actress who would help lead Bugsy to his doom was Annette Benning, who had earned critical praise in performances in VALMONT, REGARDING HENRY, and THE GRIFTERS. According to several sources on the set nothing unusual was occurring between the actors. However, their scenes together in front of the camera seemed to sizzle. After BUGSY was released to much praise and great box office, the stars revealed that they were indeed a couple off screen. Then came the event that stunned Hollywood (and most of the planet) : Warren and Annette marry. The ultimate ladies man was finally domesticated. In 1994 they shared the screen again for Glen Gordon Caron’s adaptation of the classic LOVE AFFAIR. Though this version did not find success at the box office, the real life love affair has had much success( and several children).
Let’s hope that Annette and Warren will be burning up the screen again in the near future.
07. JILL IRELAND AND CHARLES BRONSON
Their meeting was rather bizarre. Bronson met Ireland on the set of THE GREAT ESCAPE while she was married to David McCallum. Bronson apparently told McCallum that he was going to marry his wife. Two years later, just that happened. The two starred in 15 movies together including LOVE AND BULLETS, FROM NOON TILL THREE, CHINO, HARD TIMES and BREAKOUT. Ireland use to joke “I’m in so many of Charles Bronson films because no other actress will work with him.” Now that right there is love! Their last film together was ASSASSINATION. During which, she was in the advanced stages of cancer. Ireland passes away in 1990 but will remain infamous in of one heck of a love story.
06. GOLDIE HAWN AND KURT RUSSELL
This is a couple that just will not quit! Kurt and Goldie have been together for over 25 years. Snubbing their nose at marriage, Goldie believes that their relationship is so strong because they have never tied the knot. Hawn and Russell met on the 1968 film THE ONE AND ONLY, GENUINE, ORIGINAL FAMILY BAND. In 1984 the two reconnected on SWING SHIFT and went on to film OVERBOARD in 1987, while still a couple. Now, I know that Overboard did not do that well at the box office, but it is still one of my favorite movies. KEEP IT GOING KURT AND GOLDIE!
05. JOANNE WOODWARD AND PAUL NEWMAN
Legendary “cool man” icon Paul Newman first worked with Joanne Woodward on THE LONG, HOT SUMMER (1958) about a drifter that arrives in Mississippi, targeting a wealthy family with Woodward as their daughter. This professional encounter would ultimately lead to a spark between the two Hollywood favorites in real life. This unlikely relationship would survive for fifty years, a feat of its own in tinsel town, but Newman and Woodward would also go on to work together on other films, including FROM THE TERRACE (1960) and PARIS BLUES (1961
04. LAUREN BACALL AND HUMPHREY BOGART
The relationship of Bacall and Bogart all began as a Hollywood affair off camera, while making memories as an on screen couple in TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT. This is where they met, the handsome and charismatic Bogey and the beautiful Bacall, together on film for the first time. TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT is the film in which Bacall established her trademark “The Look” quite by accident, nervous on set, putting her chin against her chest and turning those big eyes upward. Of course Bogey would fall for Bacall. From here, Bacall and Bogey transferred their passion to the big screen for three legendary film noir titles… Howard Hawks’ THE BIG SLEEP, the unconventional DARK MASSAGE and John Huston’s KEY LARGO.
03. JANET LEIGH AND TONY CURTIS
In the 1950’s, not much was happening with real life movie couples. Gable lost Lombard in 43 and Bogie and Bacall did their final film together, KEY LARGO, in 48. There wasn’t a couple that captured movie going young people until Tony Curtis met Janet Leigh. Tony was the dark, handsome New Yorker who became the heart throb of bobby soxers, across the nation, by starring in a series of small films while under contract to Universal-International. Janet was the young movie princess that was groomed for stardom under the watchful eyes of Mr. Mayer over at MGM. The two met at a tinsel town party and immediately clicked. When Tony was loaned out to Paramount for George Pal’s big screen bio, HOUDINI in 1953 he hoped to pull some strings in order to have Janet, play Harry’s wife Bess. Their on screen chemistry helped turn director George Marshall’s movie into a box office smash. The two soon married and continued to share the screen in, THE BLACK SHIELD OF FALWORTH( 54), THE PERFECT FURLOUGH (58), and WHO WAS THAT LADY?(60). In their heyday they attracted media attention that would not be rivaled until Angelina and Brad several decades later. The marriage ended in 1962, but their movie legacy would live on thru their actress daughters: Kelly and movie scream queen, Jamie Leigh Curtis.
02. KATHARINE HEPBURN AND SPENCER TRACY
Hepburn and Tracy first graced the silver screen together in WOMAN OF THE YEAR. This is the movie that sparked a lifelong romance. Together, the pair appeared in eight other movies, including KEEPER OF THE FLAME, ADAM’S RIB, PAT AND MIKE, DESK SET, and GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER. Despite never marrying (Tracy refused to divorce his estranged wife due to his catholic beliefs), the two were very much a couple until Tracy’s death. The two hid their affair from the public to keep up appearances. They used back entrances and constantly tried to avoid the press. They are still considered one of Hollywood’s’ great romances.
01. ELIZABETH TAYLOR AND RICHARD BURTON
Altogether, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starred in 11 movies, it’s their first one together, CLEOPATRA, that the two are known for. During filming, Taylor met Richard Burton and the two began a very public affair, which made headlines worldwide. Taylor left her husband, Eddie Fisher (who had previously left Debbie Reynolds for Taylor), and married Burton the next year. Even though some were morally outraged by their affair and the scandal did bring publicity to what was a troubled production, Dick and Liz did have their supporters who flocked to the theaters to see their love affair played out on the big screen. Many U.S. housewives wrote to the two stars in Hollywood to make a go of it¬ that’s how people rolled back in the 60’s. While Elizabeth Taylor won 2 Academy Awards for WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? and BUtterfield 8 as well as the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award, Richard Burton was nominated for 7 Oscars, but unfortunately never won.
Here’s a list of the films that Taylor and Burton were in together:
CLEOPATRA (1963)
WHO’S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (1966) Best Actress Oscar Win for Taylor, Best Actor Nomination for Burton
THE V.I.P.s (1963)
UNDER MILK WOOD (1972)
THE TAMING OF THE SHREW (1967)
THE SANDPIPER (1965)
HAMMERSMITH IS OUT (1972)
DOCTOR FAUSTUS (1967)
DIVORCE HIS – DIVORCE HERS (1973) (TV)
THE COMEDIANS (1967)
BOOM! (1968)
Taylor had an uncredited cameo in Burton’s film ANNE OF THE THOUSAND DAYS (1969). Another Best Actor Nomination for Burton.
Watch as our pick for the #1 movie couple ignite the screen in CLEOPATRA.
