TCM is Showing John Wayne This Weekend, in McQ, Saturday Night at 8; and Film Noir of the Week is Back, with Edmond O’Brien’s Greatest Film Noir, D.O.A., Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight ET (and 10 a.m. ET Sunday Morning)

By David in TN
Thursday, March 7, 2019 at 8:40:00 P.M. EST

Speaking of John Wayne, one of his last movies is on TCM, Saturday Night, at 8 p.m. ET. The film is McQ (1974), co-starring Eddie Albert. Wayne plays a contemporary big city police detective in Seattle, of all places. It has a noirish plot—Wayne's character investigates his partner’s death, and finds widespread corruption.

McQ was a kind of Dirty Harry knockoff. Wayne was still a cultural figure but his box office appeal was declining by the mid-1970’s. McQ is a good film on its own terms.

It will be interesting to see if the TCM host refers to the recent “take his name off” talk. Wayne was criticized for the 1971 Playboy interview at the time, but it blew over.

Oh, just remembered. TCM's Film Noir of the Week returns Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at Midnight ET (and 10 a.m. ET Sunday). This week it’s D.O.A. (1950), starring Edmond O’Brien in perhaps his most famous film noir role. O’Brien’s character is given a slow-acting poison. He runs (literally) around San Francisco and Los Angeles to find his own killer.

O’Brien was known for his ability to perspire in his roles. In D.O.A., Neville Brand’s psycho henchman repeatedly hits him in the stomach. “Bigelow can't take it in the belly.”

N.S.: D.O.A. was re-made, starring Jason Statham, as Crank, in 2006.


The Complete John Wayne Playboy Interview

Part I: Overview;


Part II: “The State of the Art: ‘We’re in the business of magic’”;

Part III: “How Marion Michael Morrison Became Michael Burn, Duke Morrison and, Eventually, John Wayne”;

Part IV: “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: John Wayne on His Movies”;

Part V: “‘I believe in white supremacy…’: On Race and Rebellion”;

Part VI: “On the Indians”;

Part VII: “On Socialism, Rebellion, and Black Power”;

Part VIII: “On the War in Vietnam”;

Part IX: “On Communism, and the Hollywood Blacklist”;

Part X: “On Losing Money, and Losing a Lung”;

Part XI: On Drinking and Dope”;

Part XII: “As a Sex Symbol”.