TCM Film Festival 2017 Recap

Once again, WAMG attended the 2017 Turner Classic Movie Film Festival in Hollywood, and as always, it did not disappoint!

Ahhh…so many movies, so little time to cover everything, but here are some highlights of my favorite movies of this year’s festival.

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

Shown poolside at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, this classic was perfect for opening night. Brightly colored inflatable balls and lights floated in the pool like some of Wonka’s best candies as guests enjoyed snacks and cocktails on a beautiful spring evening. In attendance for this special screening were some of the cast members of the original movie. Miss Veruca Salt herself, Julie Dawn Cole; Mike Teevee, also known as Paris Themmen; and one of the original Oompaloompas, Rusty Goffe.

Along with host Illeana Douglas, they recounted some great memories of being on the set of the film in Germany more than 45 years ago. They all agreed it was a kid’s dream come true….all that candy! All had fond memories of star Gene Wilder, who was never too busy to talk to them or play with them on the set. The favorite memory seemed to be that all of the kids, with the exception of Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca), saw the “candy room” set for the first time the day the scene was shot. Director Mel Stuart famously did that on purpose to capture the wonder and excitement of their experience.
Stuart was also known for doing multiple takes – 76 to be exact – and Rusty Goffe remembers having to do hundreds of cartwheels in his oompaloompa costume! The film goes down in history as an absolute treasure and it was fun seeing it on the big screen once again.

Memorable moment from the screening: Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca) sitting in the audience mouthing the words to “I Want It Now!”

Whatever Happened to Baby Jane (1962)

In this classic horror movie starring Bette Davis and Joan Crawford, Hudson sisters Blanche and Jane battle for control of their own sanity. Having been paralyzed in an accident, Blanche (Crawford) must endure the cruel torment from her sister, the faded and crazy former child star Baby Jane (Davis).

What made this classic fun to watch, also poolside at the Roosevelt Hotel, was the TV series “FEUD” currently running on FX. It covers the famous feud between Bette Davis and Joan Crawford that surrounded the filming of the movie in 1961 and all the on-set battles that occurred between the two actresses and director Robert Aldrich. The camp factor is elevated once you know funny tidbits like while having to be dragged across the floor by Davis in one scene, Crawford filled her pockets with heavy rocks just to antagonize Davis! The drama continued when only Davis was nominated for an Oscar that year, but Crawford still managed to steal the spotlight by graciously offering to accept the prize on behalf of eventual winner Anne Bancroft, who won for The Miracle Worker, but was absent that night. Literally the stuff of Hollywood legend and audiences never get tired of seeing this classic.

Memorable moment from the screening: The entire audience reciting the line “But ya are in the chair!! And ya ain’t ever gonna leave it!”

The Jerk (1979)

Best known for his stand-up comedy act and appearances on Saturday Night Live, this was Steve Martin’s first starring role in a feature film. There to introduce and talk about the film was none other than director Carl Reiner. He spoke about the ease with which Martin took to acting and filming on such a high profile movie at the time. Sharing a car and driver to the set everyday, Martin would often pitch ideas to Reiner for certain scenes and use jokes that he would come up with on the spot.

This movie is also a genuine classic and the TCL Chinese Imax theater’s almost 1200 seats were completely full.

Memorable moment of the screening: Steve Martin and costar Bernadette Peters’ sweet duet of “You belong to me” was met with spontaneous applause from the audience.

Saturday Night Fever (1977)

For the 40th Anniversary of this classic, Paramount Pictures provided a newly remastered directors cut that was absolutely glorious. With the Bee Gees award winning soundtrack practically a character in the movie, the experience of seeing and hearing it in the TCL Chinese Imax theater was nothing less than thrilling. There to introduce the film and share memories was director John Badham and star Donna Pescow (Annette). A native of Brooklyn, Pescow had spent years trying to lose her Brooklyn accent so as not to be type-cast when she began her career. Then along comes Badham who after casting her as local girl Annette, asks Pescow to go home and stay with her parents in Brooklyn to get back some of her accent!

Badham also recounted the role that star John Travolta had as “editor” on the film. Because he was already a tv star at the time (Welcome Back Kotter), the filmmaker had wanted as many close-ups of Travolta’s face as possible. Travolta balked when he saw dailies because after all the dance training that was required, he insisted audiences get more wide shots of him dancing the highly athletic choreography in the film. Once Badham realized just how good he was, Travolta’s requests were fulfilled. Said Travolta later in an interview, “when you see Fred Astaire dance, its not close-ups of his face.”

Memorable moment from the screening: Thunderous applause after every single Travolta dance scene.

Actor Donna Pescow (L) and director John Badham attend the screening of ‘Saturday Night Fever’

If you’re ever in Los Angeles, take the TCM Bus Tour. More info here: http://www.tcm.com/tours/tour_la.html