Playwright Day (?) -- June 10, 2026

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Since I got out of the hospital, I have been watching a lot of movies on TCM. I guess Thursday was Playwright Day. We watched two movies based on plays by Tennessee Wiliams and one by Maxwell Anderson.

12:15pm PDT

Key Largo (1948)

2 hrs|Action|TV-G

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I don't know how many times I have seen Key Largo. I watch it every chance I get. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall work together so well, especially when she has her head down and the hurricane is over. Claire Trevor played an older woman. When she sings a song, it is heart-breaking. Lionel Barrymore is a grumpy old man, not much acting required. Edward G Robinson has my favorite lines, which I frequently quote:

Frank McCloud (Bogart): He knows what he wants. Don't you, Rocco?

Johnny Rocco (Robinson): Sure.

James Temple (Barrymore): What's that?

Frank McCloud: Tell him, Rocco.

Johnny Rocco: Well, I want uh ...

Frank McCloud: He wants more, don't you, Rocco?

Johnny Rocco: Yeah. That's it. More. That's right! I want more!

James Temple: Will you ever get enough?

Frank McCloud: Will you, Rocco?

Johnny Rocco: Well, I never have. No, I guess I won't.

And I love the end, where Humphrey Bogart talks to the Coast Guard and then with Lauren Bacall.

John Huston directed,

2:00pm PDT

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

2 hrs 30 mins|Drama|TV-PG

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I don't know how many times I have seen A Streetcar Named Desire. My favorite time was with my Fiancée at the Parkside Theater on Taraval. It was a nice 35mm print. I was surprised when she said she would not have cast Vivien Leigh as Blanche. Elia Kazan directed a somewhat bowdlerized version of the play by Tennessee Williams. 

4:15pm PDT

The Night of the Iguana (1964)

2 hrs|Drama|TV-14

This was the first time I saw Night of the Iguana all the way through. I can't picture how it would have worked as a stage play. I liked the conclusion.

John Huston directed.

Candy Clark 75 -- June 20, 2022

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Some sources say that actress Candy Clark was born 75 years ago today, on 20-June-1947. She played some great parts in Fat City, American Graffiti and The Man Who Fell to Earth. 

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Audie Murphy 50 Years -- May 28, 2021

 

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Audie Murphy's father abandoned the family when Audie was young. Audie's mother worked hard to hold her children together. Audie developed great skill at shooting by hunting to feed the family. His mother died when he was 16 and he took care of all of the children as well as he could. After Pearl Harbor, he tried to volunteer for the Army, the Navy and the Marine Corps, but they all rejected him for being below minimum weight and age. He lied about his age and joined the Army. He took part in Operation Husky, the invasion of Sicily, and Torch, the invasion of the south of France. He earned a battlefield commission and nearly every decoration that was out there up to the Medal of Honor.

His experiences left him with a bad case of PTSD, but he went to Hollywood and became an actor, starring in To Hell and Back, his own biography. He appeared in many westerns and in John Huston's adaption of The Red Badge of Courage. When I was young, San Francisco television stations did not play many westerns, so I did not become familiar with his work. 50 years ago today, on 28-May-1971, he died in a plane crash. I knew his name, but not a lot about him at that time.

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Sean Connery, RIP -- October 31, 2020

 

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I looked at my tablet this morning and saw a headline that said Sean Connery had died. To people of my generation, he was James Bond, but he did a lot more in his career. He worked with Alfred Hitchcock, John Huston and Brian De Palma. I think The Man Who Would Be King is my favorite. 

He was a proud Scotsman.

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Herman Melville 200 -- August 1, 2019

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Author Herman Melville was born 200 years ago today, on 01-August-1819.  I don't remember reading any of his novels in high school, but I read Moby Dick (twice) and Billy Budd in college.  Later I read Typee, Omoo and The Confidence-Man.  I need to read some of his others.

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Melville's centennial in 1919 led to a rediscovery of his work, but as far as I can tell, the first film adaption was The Sea Beast, a 1926 adaption of Moby Dick.  John Barrymore played Ahab.

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The second adaption was a talkie remake of Moby Dick, again starring Barrymore.

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John Huston directed the 1956 version of Moby Dick.  He also wrote the screenplay with Ray Bradbury.

I am surprised that no one adapted the short story "Bartleby the Scrivener" until 1956.  This was a French television production.

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In the 1962 Billy Budd, Peter Ustinov played the captain, co-wrote the scenario and directed.

Harry Dean Stanton, RIP -- September 16, 2017

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Harry Dean Stanton has died.  He was in a lot of good movies and he kept working until just recently. 

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John Huston's Wise Blood is one of my favorite Harry Dean Stanton movies. 

Maltese Falcon -- March 21, 2014

Dashiell Hammett's The Maltese Falcon was first published in three issues of The Black Mask in 1929.

Warner Brothers released an adaption in 1931.  It featured Bebe Daniels as Brigid, Ricardo Cortez as Sam, Una Merkel as Effie, and Thelma Todd as Mrs Archer.  Warners made a loose adaption in 1936 called Satan Met a Lady.  It featured Bette Davis as sort-of Brigid, Warren William as sort-of Sam and a female sort-of Gutman.   John Huston made another version in 1941, which was the first movie he directed.  I saw all three versions in a triple feature at the Richelieu Theater, at Geary and Van Ness. 

Huston's version starred Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade, Mary Astor as Brigid O'Shaughnessy, Sidney Greenstreet as Caspar Gutman, Peter Lorre as Joel Cairo, and Elijah Cook, Jr as Wilmer the gunsel.  I have often said I will watch any movie with Elijah Cook, Jr. 

The trade ad is from the 09-October-1941 Motion Picture Daily.