By David in TN
July 22, 2022 at 11:59:00 P.M. EDT
TCM’s Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:15 and 10 a.m. is Phil Karlson's 5 Against the House (1955) with Guy Madison, Kim Novak, Brian Keith, Alvy Moore and Kerwin Mathews.
Film Noir Guide: “Four law students (Madison, Keith, Moore, and Mathews) and a nightclub singer (Novak) attempt to hold up a Reno gambling joint. It’s all a lark at first, the brainchild of the rich but bored Mathews. Madison and Novak, planning a Reno wedding, don’t even realize they’re involved until it’s too late. But Keith, an unstable Korean War veteran who swears he’ll never go back to the Army’s psycho ward, is taking the plan seriously.”
“It’s slow going at first and the dialogue borders on silly, but Keith (Family Affair’s Uncle Bill like you’ve never seen him) makes it a pleasurable experience. Madison took time off from his role as TV’s Wild Bill Hickock to make this enjoyable noir. Moore went on to be a regular in TV’s Green Acres.”
David in TN: Brian Keith played a murderous bank robber in Jacques Tourneur’s Nightfall (1956).
N.S.: Brian Keith had incredible range, and directors loved him.
Sam Peckinpah made him the co-star, with Maureen O’Hara, of his first feature picture, The Deadly Companions (1959), and the star of his failed but brilliant Western TV series, The Westerner (1960). Peckinpah wanted Keith to star in The Wild Bunch (1969), but Keith’s obligations to Family Affair made that impossible, so Sam had to “settle” for Bill Holden. (Peckinpah had also wanted Lee Marvin for Bunch, but had Marvin singed on, it would have been a disaster, because viewers and critics alike would have thought of Marvin’s performance in The Professionals (1966), which Peckinpah had ripped off for Bunch.
Sorry about the oversight, David.
Episodes of The Westerner (1960) previously aired at WEJB/NSU:
“TV Like You’ve Never Seen It! A Foray into Hell: The Premiere Episode of Sam Peckinpah’s The Westerner (1960)”;
“A Lynching: Classic Sam Peckinpah on TV; The Westerner (1960), Episode 2” “School Days”;
Episode 3: “Brown” (1960), starring Brian Keith and John Dehner;
Episode 4: “Mrs. Kennedy”;
Episode 5, “Dos Pinos”; and
Episode 6, “The Courting of Libby,” Guest Starring John Dehner (1960).
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2 comments:
Just checking in to say we had a monster storm in GR last night.Power out,trees down--my block missed out on the 80 mph winds by that short distance of one block.Still the power outage is widespread and not expected back at least until tomorrow 330 pm(they said this morning it was to be back on by 24 minutes ago--nyet.)
Later.
--GRA
TCM's Film Noir of the Week Saturday Night-Sunday Morning at 12:30 and 10 a.m. ET is Anthony Mann's Raw Deal (1948) with Dennis O'Keefe, Claire Trevor, Marsha Hunt, John Ireland, Raymond Burr.
Film Noir Guide: "O'Keefe plays an escaped convict on the run with his moll (Trevor). Along the way, they grab a hostage (Hunt) who works for O'Keefe's lawyer. O'Keefe and Hunt eventually fall for each other, leaving the jealous Trevor feeling like a third wheel.
Burr is the hood O'Keefe took the rap for, and Ireland is Burr's vicious henchman. The cast in this hard-boiled and fast-paced noir is excellent, especially Trevor as the lovesick tag-a-long. "
David In TN: This is likely Raymond Burr's most notable noir "heavy" role.
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