The 16th Annual TCM Classic Film Festival kicks off this week in Hollywood and Cherry the Geek TV will be there! This is our first year attending and with this year’s theme being Grand Illusions: Fantastic Worlds on Film, with many of the programmed films leaning into the fantasy and sci-fi realms, we can’t think of a better first year to attend!
The festival kicks off on Thursday night April 24th with a 45th Anniversary screening of The Empire Strikes Back with George Lucas and other special guests in attendance at the famous TCL Chinese Theater in Hollywood. What an amazing choice for an opening film and the conversation with George Lucas and guests sounds incredible!
With almost eighty films spread out over four days at historic Hollywood theaters like the TCL Chinese, the Egyptian, and the El Capitan, and many great films, panels, and guests programmed against each other with overlapping time slots, this is going to come down to some hard choices.
Here are our Top 5 highlights:
- Colossus:The Forbin Project (1970)– (Saturday April 26th, 12:00pm-2:30pm)– With a premise ahead of its time and no major stars attached, this 1970 science fiction thriller was initially a box-office failure for Universal upon its release. As technology continues to advance, however, it’s developed a cult following. Eric Braeden stars as Dr. Charles Forbin, the creator of Colossus, a super-computer designed to control U.S. weapons systems. Instead, it develops a mind of its own and sets out to control the world. Using actual computer parts on loan from Control Data Corporation, director Joseph Sargent created a very convincing depiction of the rising information age. Although the studio initially wanted to cast Charlton Heston or Gregory Peck, Sargent and producer Stanley Chase insisted on unknown talent to make the plot more believable. That opened the door for Braeden—who would go on to star on The Young and the Restless for 45 years and counting—as well as Susan Clark, William Schallert, Gordon Pinsent, and Marion Ross.
The film will include a discussion with the film’s star Eric Braeden, sound designer Ben Burtt, and VFX expert Craig Barron.
2) The Time Machine (1960)– (Friday, April 25th, 12:15pm-2:15pm)– A barber’s chair, oatmeal and a large sled were some of the ingredients from which director George Pal made magic in the first big-screen adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1895 novella. Wells had long dreamed of seeing his tale of time travel filmed, but it was his son Frank who put the wheels in motion. Impressed by Pal’s The War of the Worlds (1953), Wells pitched the story to him. Seven years later, it reached the screen, with Rod Taylor as the 19th-century inventor who travels through time to the world of peaceful Eloi and cannibalistic Morlocks. Art director William Ferrari used a 19th-century barber’s chair in a large sled as the basis for the time machine, while Pal’s special effects team dyed oatmeal red to create the lava that destroys London. Their work was so impressive it helped make the film a big hit and captured the Oscar for Best Special Effects.
The film will be introduced by George Pal historian Justin Humphreys and film historian Sloan de Forest.
3) Fantastic Voyage (1966)– (Sunday, April 27th, 5:30-7:30pm)– Prepare for a trip “where no one has ever been before.” At least, that’s what the opening titles to this science-fiction feature promise. When a defecting Russian scientist is critically injured, the U.S. government shrinks a submarine and its crew to sail through the man’s bloodstream and destroy an otherwise inoperable blood clot threatening his life. Twentieth Century-Fox spared no expense bringing this original idea to life. Half of the film’s budget went to sets that would win an Oscar (along with the film’s special effects). Director Richard Fleischer had previously helmed another underwater science fiction adventure, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), and insisted that Harper Goff, who had designed the Nautilus, design the submarine for this film. Goff’s submarine was so large, Fleisher and his crew were even able to use it for interior shots. The studio cast seasoned pros like Stephen Boyd, Edmond O’Brien, and Donald Pleasence alongside newcomer Raquel Welch, marking the start of her rise as a sex symbol.
The film will be introduced by Raquel Welch historian Luis Reyes.
4) Blue Velvet (1986)– (Sunday, April 27th, 2:30-4:45pm)– Director David Lynch’s breakthrough film establishes one of his trademarks: exposing the seedy underbelly of a seemingly idyllic small town. After the fiasco of Dune (1984), Lynch took a salary cut to maintain complete control over this film. The result was a contentious, very personal mixture of surrealism, film noir, and coming of age tale. After an arbitrary change to his walk home, college student Jeffrey (Kyle MacLachlan) discovers a severed ear. Digging into the mystery behind it leads him to the twisted world of criminal Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) and introduces him to the masochistic singer Dorothy Vallens (Isabella Rossellini), whose husband and son have been kidnapped by Booth. It’s a voyage that leaves Jeffrey and the audience changed forever. The film also established Lynch as one of the screen’s most visionary and controversial directors.
I just watched this in a theater just four weeks ago. What makes this particular screening a highlight is that the film’s star, Kyle MacLachlan, will be there to discuss the film and his work with David Lynch in person. MachLachlan is one of my favorite actors, Blue Velvet is my 2nd favorite film of all-time, and Twin Peaks, in which MacLachlan also starred, is one of the two greatest television series ever made. This one is going to be amazing!
5) Gunfight at the O.K. Corral (1956)— (Saturday April 26th, 9:30pm-11:45pm)– During the making of the second of their six big screen pictures together, Kirk Douglas and Burt Lancaster became lifelong friends. While their first collaboration, I Walk Alone (1948), had cast them as rival gangsters, in their second, however, they played allies. They star as gunfighter Doc Holliday (Douglas) and lawman Wyatt Earp (Lancaster), who set out to help Earp’s brother deal with the villainous Clanton Gang in Tombstone, Arizona. The famed showdown between the Earps and the Clantons had been filmed at least three times before, most notably in John Ford’s My Darling Clementine (1946). However, Sturges’ version stands out for sheer grandeur, with Charles Lang shooting the action in VistaVision and Technicolor. Sturges also turned the showdown, which originally lasted only 30 seconds, into a five-minute tour-de-force of suspenseful acting and editing. Rhonda Fleming and Jo Van Fleet co-star as Lancaster and Douglas’ love interests, respectively, with John Ireland as Clanton ally Johnny Ringo and Earl Holliman as the Earps’ loyal deputy.
What makes this screening special is that it is being presented in it’s original VistaVision format. A special VistaVision projector is being installed in the TCL Chinese Theater IMAX to present this film and also 1955’s We’re No Angels. In addition, Lol Crawley–who won the Oscar this year for Best Cinematography for his work in The Brutalist, will be in attendance to talk about shooting in VistaVision.
These five films are just the tip of the iceberg. Alexander Payne will be there to present a brand-new restoration of Ben-Hur. Kathy Bates and Rob Reiner will be there for a screening of 1990’s Misery. Rob Reiner and Aaron Sorkin will introduce 1995’s The American President. Lorraine Gary will be there for a screening of Jaws. Sean Young will be there for Blade Runner. Ben Vereen will discuss 1979’s All That Jazz. Mike DeLuca will introduce 1978’s Superman-The Movie. Barry Bostwick will introduce The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Michelle Pfeiffer will get her hands and feet placed in cement at a ceremony at the Chinese Theater before attending a screening of her 1989 film The Fabulous Baker Boys. James Cromwell will be there for 1995’s Babe. Shawn Cassidy will introduce Oklahoma. Westside Story’s George Chakiris will introduce 1954’s Brigadoon. Thunderball. Cinderella. Back to the Future. Heat. I could go on and on.
Other notable guests include Patton Oswalt, Guillermo del Toro, and Michael Mann.
To see the complete schedule and list of guests, and find out information about purchasing passes or individual tickets, visit the festival’s website at https://filmfestival.tcm.com/
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