Sci-Fi Monday on TCM (December 16)

Auntie Mame is an odd choice to round out the night.

Why is Mame Sci fi?

Meet Me In St. Louis is on Friday 12/20 at 8pm Eastern!

It's my birthday on the 16th and I might just stay on the couch and watch movies in front of a fire with my sweet dog all day long.

Do it, R4.

Perfect day to watch movies in front a fire.

[quote]Why is Mame Sci fi?

Well., she did sort of look like an alien.

One thing for sure though, Lucy/Mame is of the horror genre.

Looks like I picked the wrong week to address my couch bedsores, that's a great lineup!

The Omega Man is on right now.

I don't think I can sit through 10 hours of movies.

I'm going to have to go with my favorites: Westworld, Logan's Run, and Auntie Mame.

I'm excited to watch Close Encounters, followed by Auntie Mame.

Two of my favorite movies from two very different eras and genres.

I'll also get to see Teri Garr again. RIP.

Was "I Am Legend" based on "The Omega Man?"

R12 Yes. It's essentially a remake.

James Brolin and Richard Benjamin had some strong chemistry with each other in Westworld.

At the beginning of the movie (on the hovercraft to Westworld) James Brolin kept shooting these adoring glances at Richard Benjamin.

Were there ever any bi rumors about James Brolin? That would be so hot. He supposedly has a big dick, too.

Plus, he IS married to Barbra Streisand. He must have a little bit of queeniness in him.

I love omega 3 fatty acids

Sci-Fi? This JUST ghastly!

Logan's Run is wonderful.

What is that lusty room supposed to be? I loved seeing all the naked men.

And I also loved seeing that Logan's first option for "circuit," was a man! But the bitch shook his head and moved on to a female. Boo!

Watching Close Encounters now. I thought Flight 19 was found a few years ago but apparently not! Maybe it will show up now that all this "drone" activity is happening.

Watching Close Encounters right now and I just noticed at the beginning when all the toys and electronics turn on in Melinda Dillon's house in the middle of the night, an episode of Police Woman with Angie and the dearly departed Earl Holliman is playing on the TV set.

The Richard Dreyfuss and Terri Garr family reminds me of my own family back in those days.

Just fucking chaos and craziness!!

What are mashed potatoes for if not for sculpting a giant Devil's Tower on your dinner plate?

R20 That's one of the things I love about this movie. It captures the essence of the 1970s suburban family so perfectly.

Did Terri get one of those TCM Remembers montages?

Always the same movies on rotation at TCM. They have stopped showing any movies I don't already own or can't watch on most apps like Max or Criterion. TCM is a thing of the past.

Sorry, Teri.

I’ve enjoyed the collaboration with Carol Burnett on Sunday nights where they follow up the classic movie with Carol’s spoof and discussion. I get the same kick out of watching movies on “Svengoolie” where he (a horror film host) will geek out on cast and crew info and perform a song montage of the feature.

I love Rosalind Russell but after reading about her, I was so disappointed to learn she was a rapid Republican.

In in the McCarthy era, no less.

What a contrast to her ultra liberal character in Mame.

Now THAT is acting.

MISter Babcock, knowledge is POWER!

Does anyone know who was the actor who played Mame's boss at Macy's, when she met Jackson Pickett Burnside?

He was handsome, and I'm pretty sure he was gay.

[quote] Does anyone know who was the actor who played Mame's boss at Macy's, when she met Jackson Pickett Burnside?

Cris Alexander (born Allen Smith, January 14, 1920 – March 7, 2012) was an American actor, singer, dancer, designer, and photographer.

Cris Alexander was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in 1920. He began using the name Christopher, which he thought more distinguished, in his teens. On the advice of a spiritualist, he removed the "h" and went by Cris from then on.

Alexander attended the University of Oklahoma while working as a radio announcer in Oklahoma City. He moved to New York City in 1938 to study at the Feagin School of Dramatic Art.

Among the multiple roles he played in the original Broadway production, Cris Alexander repeated his part of store manager Mr. Loomis for the 1958 film version also titled Auntie Mame.

Alexander became involved with New York City Ballet dancer Shaun O'Brien in the 1940s, beginning a relationship that would last nearly 60 years. The couple retired to upstate New York in 1993, and married in 2011 when same-sex marriage became legal in New York State. Cris Alexander died in Saratoga Springs in 2012.

Topper is on sometime Christmas Day. I like that one.

[quote]I love Rosalind Russell but after reading about her, I was so disappointed to learn she was a rapid Republican.

Oh, dear.

I love Mame. And I really love Rosalind Russell. Back in '76 I was stopped at a light on Burton Way in Beverly Hills and this older woman assisted by an aide was crossing the street in front of me. She was wearing a tasteful black suit but she was walking very slow and looked to be in some pain. As she passed by me, I realized it was Rosalind Russell. Whenever I see Mame I wish I had rolled down the window that day and yelled out how much I love her and that I thought she was Top Drawer. I would've told her she was my favorite movie star because she was. She'd been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in several years earlier and passed away a few months after I saw her that day. Damn she was good! How come they never gave her an Oscar?

While watching Close Encounters for probably the 50th time last night, I noticed a glaring error for the first time.

When all the science dudes are in the room trying to figure out what the signals they're getting from space mean, Bob Balaban tells everyone that he used to be a map reader before he became an interpreter for Francois Truffaut's character, then says that the signals are earth coordinates. While he's telling the story, Francois Truffaut is looking at him and beaming at him like he's a proud father.

But wait. Francois Truffaut doesn't speak English, and Bob Balaban is his interpreter. How is he understanding what Bob Balaban is telling the group?

[quote] While he's telling the story, Francois Truffaut is looking at him and beaming at him like he's a proud father.

[quote] But wait. Francois Truffaut doesn't speak English, and Bob Balaban is his interpreter. How is he understanding what Bob Balaban is telling the group?

He doesn't understand what Bob is saying.

He's just basking in the afterglow of them having just fucked.

Truffaut was kinda hot in that movie.

This has been said before, but people were right to say that the Dreyfuss character was an asshole for leaving his family behind.

He had a wife and three kids, for fuck's sake!

He had already put them through so much trauma with his lunatic ravings, and then he just disappears after that.

Those kids must have grown up to be drug addicts or something.

R36 I crushed on him big time when I first saw the movie in high school.

[quote]This has been said before, but people were right to say that the Dreyfuss character was an asshole for leaving his family behind.

R37, I went to see an anniversary screening of Close Encounters this past summer, then came home and created a thread which addressed that very issue. It invited some interesting comments.

R39 Yes, Roy Neary was not father of the year, and yes, he caused his family much undo anguish.

But I think what the movie tries to depict is how strong the compulsion was for Neary to learn and understand and get answers, and that made him lose his mind. The only way for him to regain his sanity and his soul was to leave this planet. It was the best thing for him and for his family.

By contrast, Jillian's compulsion to regain the son she had lost is what drove her out of her mind. The only way for her to regain her sanity was to regain her son, and that's why she stayed on Earth and let Roy go.

[quote] But I think what the movie tries to depict is how strong the compulsion was for Neary to learn and understand and get answers, and that made him lose his mind. The only way for him to regain his sanity and his soul was to leave this planet.

This made me think of that famous line from the movie.

"They were invited!"

Did the aliens plant something in their mind, causing them to be drawn to Devil's Tower?

R41 Yes, the implication is that everyone who witnessed the arial phenomena were somehow mentally implanted with something that "invited" them to the celestial event at Devil's Tower.

In the scene where Truffaut tries to convince the Army dude to let the civilians who were drawn to Devil's Tower come to the event, he mentions that there may have been many more who witnessed the UFOs, but who "never made the psychic connection."

R41, I would say yes, without a doubt. That was why Neary was able to sculpt a perfect replica of Devil's Tower in his house because the aliens had implanted every minute detail about it in his mind (as well as in the minds of all the invitees). In Jillian's case, some have theorized that the reason they took her son was to guarantee that she would come to the mountain.

Shifting gears for a moment back to Auntie Mame.

Watching it last night, I noticed for the first time Forrest Tucker's huge bulge in the scene where he was wearing his white riding jodhpurs.

[quote]he caused his family much undo anguish.

Oh, dear.

R45 I'll "Oh, dear" myself on that one.

Undue.

My apologies.

Forrest Tucker and Milton Berle were neck and neck in the big dick sweepstakes.