Visit MargaretPerry.org

Visit MargaretPerry.org
The Great Katharine Hepburn has relocated to margaretperry.org, where you will find even more amazing reviews and commentaries on films from the classic era to today!

15 October 2012

"And The Award Goes To... Spencer Tracy!"


Turner Classic Movies continues their celebration of Spencer Tracy this month with an evening of five of his Academy-nominated performances, today, October 15. Tracy was nominated for a total of nine Academy Awards for Best Actor in a Leading Role, two of which he won (BOYS TOWN (1938) and CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (1937)). Three of Tracy's Oscar-nominated films were directed by Stanley Kramer and will be featured on the 29th of October when TCM will air all four films on which the two collaborated. Next week will feature several of the films Tracy made with Katharine Hepburn.




BOYS TOWN (1938): 8:00 pm EST
                    Genre: biography, drama
                    Directed by: Norman Taurog
                    Written by: John Meehan, Dore Schary, Eleanor Griffin
                    Co-Starring: Mickey Rooney, Bobs Watson
"There's no such thing as a bad boy."

FATHER OF THE BRIDE (1950): 9:45 pm
                    Genre: comedy, romance, family
                    Directed by: Vincente Minnelli
                    Written by: Frances Goodrich, Albert Hackett, Edward Streeter (novel)
                    Co-Starring: Joan Bennett, Elizabeth Taylor, Don Taylor, Billie Burke
Stanley Banks (Tracy): :Who giveth this woman? 'This woman?' But she's not a woman. She's still a child. And she's leaving us. What's it going to be like to come home and not find her? Not hear her voice calling 'Hi, Pops' as I come in? I suddenly realized what I was doing. I was giving up Kay. Something inside me began to hurt."
Stanley Banks: "You fathers will understand. You have a little girl. She looks up to you. You're her oracle. You're her hero. And then the day comes when she gets her first permanent wave and goes to her first real party, and from that day on, you're in a constant state of panic."
Stanley Banks: "No one paid any attention to the orchestra. Ellie could have saved that 85 bucks!"

BAD DAY AT BLACK ROCK (1955): 11:30 pm
                    Genre: crime, drama, mystery, thriller, Western
                    Directed by: John Strurges
                    Written by: Millard Kaufman, Don McGuire (adaptation), Howard Breslin (story)
                    Co-Starring: Anne Francis, Walter Brennan, Ernest Borgnine
John J. Macreedy (Tracy): "You know, I know what your trouble is, son. You'd like me to die quickly, wouldn't you, without wasting too much of your time; or quietly so I wouldn't embarrass you too much; or even thankfully, so your memory of the occasion won't be unpleasant."
John J. Macreedy: "You're not only wrong; you're wrong at the top of your voice."
Reno Smith (Robert Ryan): "You must have strained every muscle in your head to get so stupid."
THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1958): 1:00 am
                    Genre: adventure, drama
                    Directed by: John Sturges
                    Written by: Ernest Hemingway, Peter Viertel
                    Starring: Spencer Tracy
Tagline: "Spencer Tracy in his most suspenseful role... Ernest Hemingway's story of Heroism... Defeat... Victory!"
CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (1937): 2:30 am
(I'm crying already...)
                    Genre: adventure, drama, family
                    Directed by: Victor Fleming
                    Written by: Rudyard Kipling (novel), John Lee Mahin, Marc Connelly, Dale Van Every
                    Co-Starring: Freddie Bartholomew, Lionel Barrymore, Melvyn Douglas, Mickey Rooney, John Carradine
Manuel (Tracy): [to Harvey] "15 years I've been fisherman, first time I catch fish like you." [to Dan on schooner] "I got new kind of fish. He got no tail. He got pants on his dorsal fin. I think maybe he about ten year old."
Manuel: "Wake up, little fish. Hey, wake up, wake up! Somebody think you dead, they have celebrations."
Manuel: "Oh sure, beautiful girls. I got maybe five, six girls in Gloucester. I tell each one I like her best. You gotta tell big lies to girl to make them happy."
Manuel: [to angry shipmate] "You touch that kid I tear you apart, see!"
SAN FRANCISCO (1936): 4:30 am
(I've got chills!)
                    Genre: drama, musical, romance
                    Directed by: W.S. Van Dyke
                    Written by: Anita Loos, Robert E. Hopkins
                    Co-Starring: Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald
Father Mullin (Tracy): "That's right. You're in probably the wickedest, most corrupt city, most godless city in America. Sometimes it frightens me. I wonder what the end's going to be. But nothing can harm you if you don't allow it to because nothing in the world, no one in the world, is all bad."

4 comments:

  1. "Cptain Courageous" was the first film I've watched on TCM. It was never shown again since that day. It is so moving, specially the end, with Manuel's last words. Tracy surely deserved the Oscar!
    I envy you for US TCM schedule. We don't have the same privilege to see these amazing films in Brazil. Actually I'm downloadin Manequin with Joan Crawford, in order to fill my Spencer absence.
    Kisses!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I hear you - I'm in England right now and I REALLY miss TCM! CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS in one of my all-time favorite movies. I cry literally every time.

      Delete
  2. I'm watching "Father of the Bride" right now - just saw the scene where Spencer Tracy tries to convince Elizabeth Taylor to elope. Tracy is so wonderful in this film; I can't imagine anyone else in this role.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Totally! Steve Martin can't even hold a candle to Spencer Tracy!

      Delete

Can't wait to hear your thoughts!

ShareThis