2023 TCM Film Festival

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speedracer5
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by speedracer5 »

txfilmfan wrote: March 20th, 2023, 6:08 pm
speedracer5 wrote: March 20th, 2023, 4:30 pm I've been stalking the site because I'm anxious to see the final schedule. It's the final piece of the pie, so to speak, of my vacation. I've got every other facet of it planned. Every reservation made. Tickets purchased. But we don't have any idea what we're doing during the festival except seeing "Rio Bravo." Though for sure, we're seeing Ann-Margret whenever her event is scheduled, and I'd like to see Russ Tamblyn, preferably for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," because I think that'd be more fun to see in the theater. Though I do enjoy "Peyton Place," just for the sheer melodrama of it all.
If you're signed up for e-mail notifications about the festival, they'll send you an e-mail when they release the schedule.
Yes. I have the email notifications. I just want them to hurry up and post the schedule.
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Swithin
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by Swithin »

speedracer5 wrote: March 21st, 2023, 10:45 am
txfilmfan wrote: March 20th, 2023, 6:08 pm
speedracer5 wrote: March 20th, 2023, 4:30 pm I've been stalking the site because I'm anxious to see the final schedule. It's the final piece of the pie, so to speak, of my vacation. I've got every other facet of it planned. Every reservation made. Tickets purchased. But we don't have any idea what we're doing during the festival except seeing "Rio Bravo." Though for sure, we're seeing Ann-Margret whenever her event is scheduled, and I'd like to see Russ Tamblyn, preferably for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," because I think that'd be more fun to see in the theater. Though I do enjoy "Peyton Place," just for the sheer melodrama of it all.
If you're signed up for e-mail notifications about the festival, they'll send you an e-mail when they release the schedule.
Yes. I have the email notifications. I just want them to hurry up and post the schedule.
Speedy, I think you need to cancel all your plans and come to this festival in New York City:

https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/5566

https://press.moma.org/film-media/errol-flynn/
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by speedracer5 »

Swithin wrote: March 21st, 2023, 2:07 pm
speedracer5 wrote: March 21st, 2023, 10:45 am
txfilmfan wrote: March 20th, 2023, 6:08 pm

If you're signed up for e-mail notifications about the festival, they'll send you an e-mail when they release the schedule.
Yes. I have the email notifications. I just want them to hurry up and post the schedule.
Speedy, I think you need to cancel all your plans and come to this festival in New York City:

https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/5566

https://press.moma.org/film-media/errol-flynn/
I saw the Errol Flynn event at MOMA. It's killing me that it's so far away. If MOMA were in Seattle, or San Francisco, or even LA, I could probably find a long weekend. But NYC is a much longer and more expensive trip.
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HoldenIsHere
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by HoldenIsHere »

THE OLD MAID has been added to the final schedule for the festival.

In my opinion it's the better of the two Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins pairings.
(The other pairing ---- OLD ACQUAINTANCE ---- was originally scheduled but was removed).
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by TikiSoo »

Thanks TCM for streaming a few of the Festival interviews on their channel for giving us a glimpse of events. I imagine Sue Sue & speedy sitting in the audience when watching them on TV. I know speedy was in the Russ Tamblyn/7 Brides auditorium, she told us she had planned on that one.

This one cracked me up...Friedkin is relentlessly contradictory, often repeating himself, giving his interviewer a terrible time trying to stay on topic and engage a good discussion:



Reminds me of the most hilarious scene in ZELIG '83 where a character's Mother is interviewed and shuts down every question with a dismissive contradiction of whatever the interviewer asks. Whenever seeing the movie with others, I'm the only one who LOL at that scene.
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BagelOnAPlate
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by BagelOnAPlate »

I attended the TCM Film Festival for the first time this year!
On Tuesday April 11, my mom and aunt surprised my cousin and me with the news that the four of us had Classic Passes and plane tickets to Los Angeles!
We didn't stay at Hotel Roosevelt, but that was okay. Maybe another year . . .
My mom was very sneaky the way she made sure I didn't have plans those days.
We also spent a day in Santa Monica after the festival.

The movies I saw were:

Hairspray Ricki Lake attended, rocking the gray hair. It was supposed to be screened poolside, but it was moved inside the Hotel Roosevet because of rain.

That Touch Of Mink We missed the beginning because Hairspray ran over. It was great to hear the audience really getting into the humor of this one. I love Doris Day!

East Of Eden WOW!!!! Mario Cantone and Edde Muller spoke before the movie.

American Graffiti Candy Clark and Richard Dreyfus spoke to Dave Karger before the movie. Richard Dreyfus was hilarious. Candy Clark described how she mounted her own campaign for an Oscar nomination since the studio didn't campaign for one.

House Of Wax 3D: Amazing!!! My first time seeing a 1950s style 3D movie.

Bye Bye Birdie I don't think there were many empty seats at the Chinese Theatre IMAX for this one. Ann-Margret was in attendance. What an amazing person who seemed genuinely appreciative of the fans. A birthday cake was brought out and we all sang Happy Birthday to Ann-Margret!

The Exorcist William Friedkin spoke after the movie. What a hoot! The surround sound was amazing for this screening. My cousin and I jumped when the phone rang just as Father Karras did in the movie.

Enter The Dragon The movie's screenwriter Michael Allin and the RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan were interviewed by Jacqueline Stewart before the screening. Michael Allin said he's working on a stage version of Enter The Dragon. The audience (including me) really got into this one!

The Red Shoes The color was amazing!

The Music Man Shirley Jones attended the screening. It was amazing to see Robert Preston on the big screen.

The Old Maid I never tire of this movie! Mario Cantone attended the screening and did his Bette Davis impressions. He did make an error when he said the story was set in the South. (George Brent's character served in the Union Army in the Civil War, and the movie was adapted from a play that was adapted from one of Edith Wharton's Old New York novellas.)

I attended the following Club TCM events:

Looney Tunes At The Oscars
The Evolution of Henson Puppetry


This video was shown before every Warner Brothers movie that was screened:

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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

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BagelOnAPlate wrote: April 22nd, 2023, 1:22 pm I attended the TCM Film Festival for the first time this year!
On Tuesday April 11, my mom and aunt surprised my cousin and me with the news that the four of us had Classic Passes and plane tickets to Los Angeles!
We didn't stay at Hotel Roosevelt, but that was okay. Maybe another year . . .
My mom was very sneaky the way she made sure I didn't have plans those days.
We also spent a day in Santa Monica after the festival.

The movies I saw were:

Hairspray Ricki Lake attended, rocking the gray hair. It was supposed to be screened poolside, but it was moved inside the Hotel Roosevet because of rain.

That Touch Of Mink We missed the beginning because Hairspray ran over. It was great to hear the audience really getting into the humor of this one. I love Doris Day!

East Of Eden WOW!!!! Mario Cantone and Edde Muller spoke before the movie.

American Graffiti Candy Clark and Richard Dreyfus spoke to Dave Karger before the movie. Richard Dreyfus was hilarious. Candy Clark described how she mounted her own campaign for an Oscar nomination since the studio didn't campaign for one.

House Of Wax 3D: Amazing!!! My first time seeing a 1950s style 3D movie.

Bye Bye Birdie I don't think there were many empty seats at the Chinese Theatre IMAX for this one. Ann-Margret was in attendance. What an amazing person who seemed genuinely appreciative of the fans. A birthday cake was brought out and we all sang Happy Birthday to Ann-Margret!

The Exorcist William Friedkin spoke after the movie. What a hoot! The surround sound was amazing for this screening. My cousin and I jumped when the phone rang just as Father Karras did in the movie.

Enter The Dragon The movie's screenwriter Michael Allin and the RZA from the Wu-Tang Clan were interviewed by Jacqueline Stewart before the screening. Michael Allin said he's working on a stage version of Enter The Dragon. The audience (including me) really got into this one!

The Red Shoes The color was amazing!

The Music Man Shirley Jones attended the screening. It was amazing to see Robert Preston on the big screen.

The Old Maid I never tire of this movie! Mario Cantone attended the screening and did his Bette Davis impressions. He did make an error when he said the story was set in the South. (George Brent's character served in the Union Army in the Civil War, and the movie was adapted from a play that was adapted from one of Edith Wharton's Old New York novellas.)

I attended the following Club TCM events:

Looney Tunes At The Oscars
The Evolution of Henson Puppetry
I was at the film festival too! My husband and I were at a bunch of the same events as you were: Bye Bye Birdie, Enter the Dragon, the second screening of The Old Maid, and the Looney Tunes and Henson Puppetry panels!! The Henson Puppetry panel led by Brian Henson was one of the best things we saw at the whole festival. We could have easily watched a demonstration twice as long.
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

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Since it's now been almost a week, I figure that I would post some photos from our first-ever TCM film festival!

My husband (Jimmy) and my trip started on Sunday, April 9 with a 6am flight from Portland to Los Angeles. We had a last minute change in plans and instead of going to the beach, we decided to spend two days at Disneyland instead. Had Disneyland been part of the plans to begin with, I would have flown into Orange County. Anyway, we rode the shuttle and picked up our rental car. Our car ended up being exactly like my regular vehicle, except a lower trim level. It was even the same color. Anyway, we drove to Anaheim.

We managed to score a hotel room across from the Disneyland's main entrance. I'm not sure how or why, but there were still rooms available. Normally, we stay a little further away and ride the Anaheim Resort Transit bus, but we wanted to stay closer because our time was more limited. Being three blocks from the main entrance was awesome. I will definitely consider booking a room across from the gate the next time we go to the parks. Anyway, right after dropping the car off at the hotel, we went to the park. We were scanned into Disneyland by 10am.

Since this is a classic film board, I won't bore everyone with details of our two days at Disney, but it was a lot of fun. We got onto all our favorite rides, except Big Thunder Mountain, which was closed for refurbishment AGAIN. It was closed the last time we were at Disneyland in 2021. Anyway, we also got to see the newly refurbished ToonTown and went on the new ride--Mickey and Minnie's Runaway Railway. It was adorable and we loved it. We got to eat all our favorite foods and I even scored a last minute reservation at Oga's Cantina in the Galaxy's Edge Star Wars land. I got to drink my Fuzzy Tauntaun cocktail. This drink is amazing and has this buzz button flower foam on top that makes your lips and mouth numb.

On Monday the 10th, we started at California Adventure. Again, we rode all our favorite rides, and got to try the highly regarded Quesabirria at Cocina Cucamonga. It was pretty good, but not as good as the Quesabirria restaurant by our friend's house in Portland where we have our Monday game night. Jimmy also won me a Eve (Wall-E) stuffed animal from one of the carnival game booths. He won in a single attempt. We ended our Disneyland trip with a dessert party at World of Color and saw the new show dedicated to DIsney's 100th anniversary.

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On Tuesday the 11th, we went to the Los Angeles Zoo in Griffith Park. It was a pretty good zoo, but we didn't think it was as good as the Portland Zoo. And neither are anywhere near as good as the San Diego Zoo; but that zoo is in its own league. After a day at the zoo, we went to Hollywood and checked into our room at the Hollywood Roosevelt (!). I've always wanted to stay at this hotel and we were making it happen on this trip. After spending six nights there, I will say that it was fun being in such a fancy hotel, and it was a very convenient location for the festival (as it is one of the venues), but I think if we go to the festival next year, we'll stay at one of the cheaper hotels nearby. It was definitely nice though, but I think in many ways, it was a little too fancy, and many of the amenities (e.g. room service, stocked mini bar, spa, etc. etc.) are things that we just don't use when we stay in hotels. Not to mention that the prices at the Roosevelt were exorbitant, which didn't come as a shock.

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Anyway, the most exciting part of staying at the Roosevelt was that we were in Room 928, which is the room Montgomery Clift stayed in for 3 months when he filmed "From Here to Eternity." It is said that he still haunts the halls playing his bugle. I didn't even request this room, it was just the one we were given. Unfortunately, neither Jimmy nor I saw or heard Monty. Maybe we were just too tired. From here on out, we were in full TCM Film Festival (TCMFF) mode.

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On April 12, we woke up super early to head out to the Los Angeles Breakfast Club where Eddie Muller was scheduled to deliver a talk and sign two of his books--his newly revised Dark City, and his Art of Noir book. I already have a signed copy of Dark City. Prior to the festival, I purchased Art of Noir, with the hope of getting it signed during this event. I'm happy to report that it was a success.

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The Los Angeles Breakfast Club was weird. The event was scheduled to last about 2 hours. It officially started at 7am, but the doors opened at 6:45am. The breakfast was served buffet style and was available from about 6:45am through 7:30am. We arrived right at 7am and found a seat. Then all the hijinks started. We didn't participate in any of the hijinks, because they were just too obnoxious--especially for 7am. There were calisthenics, songs, staged heckling, board member meeting business, jokes, everything but Eddie Muller. The best part of this whole rigmarole was getting to "meet the board and the guest" which meant we got to shake hands with Eddie Muller. I could have done without shaking the hand of everyone else. Suffice it to say, if Jimmy and I ever lived in Los Angeles, we would not join the Los Angeles Breakfast Club. This club has been operating since the 1920s, and all the songs, calisthenics, etc. etc. are all traditions that date back to that time. Jimmy said he thinks that it is a send-up of the Elks Club and those other types of lodges with members.

Finally, at around 8:00am, Eddie got to speak. This was definitely the best part of the breakfast. He talked about how he got his Noir City festival off the ground, how he got involved with TCM, gave us a definition of "noir," and writing his books. I'm sure he has this talk memorized, as it seemed like a presentation that he would deliver often. He also had a Q&A session, where someone who said they disliked noir asked for recommendations. He recommended one of Jimmy and my favorites, "Odds Against Tomorrow." We later talked to Eddie at the TCM party and asked him about the breakfast. The look on his face and his reaction tells me that he had the same opinion of it that we did. Jimmy also told him how much he enjoyed "Odds Against Tomorrow." Apparently last year, Alicia Malone participated in the same breakfast. There's probably a reason why she didn't participate again. Anyway, I managed to be one of the first people in line for the book signing and Eddie signed my Art of Noir book.

At 10:00am, we did the WB Studio Tour that was geared specifically toward classic film. I didn't really take any photos as nothing that we saw was instantly recognizable as anything. Jimmy and I sat at the front of the cart with the driver, which was awesome. The driver said two people could sit with him and everyone started moving to the back of the cart. I wanted to sit in the front--you get the best views. Anyway, we saw the facades of the ACME bookshop and AA Geiger Rare Book Shop storefronts from The Big Sleep. We also saw facades used in The Music Man, House of Wax, Casablanca, and Cool Hand Luke. I think there were some others, but I don't remember now. We also went inside the prop warehouse, inside one of the buildings on the lot, and saw some original costumes.

We then headed back to the Roosevelt and picked up our TCMFF passes and swag bag. We then headed down to the Hollywood Heritage Museum at Hollywood & Highland near Musso & Frank's. The museum features a replica of Cecil B DeMille's 1924 office and the building itself was a studio during the silent era. There was also a collection of Robert Osborne's correspondence with friends like Olivia de Havilland and Bette Davis. We also saw a Creature from the Black Lagoon head and statues of Laurel & Hardy. In their little new and used bookshop, I found an "I Love Lucy" commemorative plate for $10, which I couldn't pass up. Now I have 2 of the plates from that 1989 collection. After the museum, we went to Musso & Frank's where I had quite possibly the best pork chop I've ever had in my life, it was so good. There were rumors swirling about that Ann-Margret was there that evening, but I didn't see her.

---

Anyway, in my next post, I'll cover the festival.
Last edited by speedracer5 on April 22nd, 2023, 7:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

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Our first day of the festival was April 13. We had spotlight passes which got us into the opening night film and the cocktail gala afterward. We had to wear fancier clothes than we normally wear, and frankly I felt a little uncomfortable. I'm not posting my photos from that event, because I hated my picture. But here is a picture of my shoes. This was the best picture I took of myself that evening.

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Anyway, we were planning on seeing the opening night film regardless of what it was, because we wanted to be part of the festivities. In March, the opening film was announced to be a 4k restoration of "Rio Bravo." Directors Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson appeared before the film to talk about Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation (of which Spielberg and Anderson are members) and their restoration of not only "Rio Bravo," but hundreds of other films. Spielberg stated that they've restored almost 1000 films in the 30-ish years that the board has existed.

After the interview, star Angie Dickinson made an appearance. She is 91 and her interview was pretty funny, albeit a little scattered. Not sure if that was indicative of age, or nerves, or maybe a combination of both. Or maybe that's just how she is, I have no idea. Ben Mankiewicz handled the interview well and they both bonded over their love of See's Candies. As a side note, there are See's Candies in Oregon, but I never knew how big See's was in California. See's is everywhere, including the San Jose and Los Angeles airports. But I digress.

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Pardon the quality of the photo. We were a ways back and so I took a photo of Angie on the screen.

"Rio Bravo" was also my first time in the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre, now the TCL Chinese IMAX. For all intents and purposes, it is Grauman's to me. The ceiling is absolutely breathtaking and despite the name change, I'm happy that TCL is committed to keeping the theatre true to its original aesthetic. I will also say that the Ladies Bathroom at Grauman's is enormous. There is an entire round room full of floor length mirrors to walk through before you even get to the bathroom.

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I was surprised by how much I enjoyed "Rio Bravo." I had never seen it before, but knew it was a Western and it had John Wayne. I'm not a big fan of Westerns nor a big fan of Wayne (as an actor). However, the revelation in this film was Dean Martin who was absolutely fantastic. His acting talents were definitely wasted in those films with Jerry Lewis. Ricky Nelson was also a lot of fun. I was hoping for a Dean Martin/Ricky Nelson duet and Howard Hawks did not disappoint. Angie Dickinson was also fantastic and gorgeous in this movie.

We came out of the movie and it was raining. Par for the course in Oregon, but it was a little disappointing in Hollywood. Regardless, we walked through the rain and boarded the shuttle to go to the venue for the cocktail party. The venue was an Italian restaurant on Wilcox Ave. The food was fantastic. I'd never been to a fancy event like that where waiters walked around with hors d'oeuvres on trays and offered them to the guests. Jimmy and I wisely stationed ourselves near the kitchen so fresh trays of hors d'oeuvres were offered to us constantly. While standing next to the kitchen, we also saw the RZA from Wu-Tang Clan who was a scheduled speaker at the festival. Jimmy managed to get his photo taken with him. We surprisingly saw a lot of the RZA during the TCMFF. We also saw the hosts and met Ben Mankiewicz and Mario Cantone. I was surprised by how small Ben was. He's short and skinny. Jimmy is about 6' and Ben was at least 4-5" shorter. Eddie Muller was about the same height as Jimmy, maybe a little taller. The party was awesome. We had so much fun. If we go again next year, the cocktail party would definitely be an incentive to buy the fancy pass again.

---

Friday, April 14 was our first full day of the festival. We started with the 9am screening of "Harvey," a film that neither Jimmy nor I had seen. During the introduction, there was a funny moment when Harvey himself, all 6'3.5" of him, made a special appearance at the screening. He was escorted to his seat and even had his picture taken. The film was absolutely fantastic, we both loved it and made a note to purchase it and add it to our collection.

We then headed into the screening of "Footlight Parade," which was being introduced by Bruce Goldstein, the director of repertory programming at NYC's Film Forum. He was hilarious and had put together an excellent presentation for both before and after the film. After this film was announced, I knew I wanted to see it, as I wanted to see Busby Berkeley's musical numbers up on the big screen. I'd seen "Footlight Parade" before, but it was absolutely fantastic on the big screen. Since this was my first festival, I'm not sure if a Bruce Goldstein introduction is a regular thing, but if so, I'd definitely make a point to see him again. In his closing presentation, he put together a montage of scenes from "Footlight Parade" that were censored and what countries/provinces/states banned them. Let's just say that Quebec should have just banned the movie all together and not even tried to salvage it for viewing.

After this we headed to the Roosevelt for the Looney Tunes panel which was excellent. Who doesn't love Looney Tunes? With the festival celebrating legacy as well as WB's 100th birthday, the Looney Tunes couldn't be left out. This presentation specifically focused on Looney Tunes' Oscar winning and nominated shorts. The presentation started with Bugs Bunny's cartoon where he tries to launch an Oscar campaign for his work. We saw an Oscar winning Sylvester & Tweety short which I'd seen before, but it was still hilarious. We also saw the Oscar-winning Pepe Le Pew cartoon, "For Sentimental Reasons," which I think I'd seen before but I couldn't remember. There was a hilarious short called "Mouse Wreckers" which I'd never even heard of, let alone seen. The presentation closed with the Bugs Bunny cartoon, "What's Opera Doc?" which I've seen multiple times, but it is still hilarious.

When the schedule for the TCMFF was announced, I told my husband that I wanted to do at least one of each of the special events (so to speak), I needed to do at least 1 panel, 1 poolside, 1 midnight screening and see each venue. I'm happy to report that we were able to do all four. If we go next year, I'll be a little more flexible, as I know what everything is about.

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I'd read that to get one of the cushy lounge chairs by the pool, you needed to get to the Roosevelt pool screening early. Because of how the last two blocks of films were scheduled and how the poolside screening was scheduled, we would need to dip out of something early to make the poolside--so we opted to just skip those blocks all together. The poolside screening this evening was "Beach Party" with Frankie Avalon in attendance. Of the three poolside screenings scheduled ("Hairspray," "Beach Party," and "A Mighty Wind"), "Beach Party" was my pick. The big conflict of the evening was that George Clooney was scheduled to appear at the "Ocean's 11" screening across the street at Grauman's. I'm not one for watching only parts of movies, so dipping out of a screening early was not appealing to me. However, we were contemplating it to see Clooney. Anyway, we were very early for the poolside, first in line in fact. When we got to sit down, Jimmy and I sat in one of the big, round, cushy 2-person seats...UNDERNEATH A HEAT LAMP. It was chilly outside. Frankie Avalon appeared and was interviewed by Dave Karger. Avalon looked fantastic. He talked very sweetly about Annette and said that he missed her. Anyway, suffice it to say, with the cushy chair, the heat lamp, and the cocktail service, Jimmy and I weren't going anywhere. We watched the entirety of "Beach Party."

We were going to see the midnight movie, "The Batwoman" from 1968, but by now it was 10:00pm and we'd have to wait 2 hours for it to start. There weren't any other movies that were starting at 10 that we could see, and we were still exhausted from getting up at 5am for the Eddie Muller breakfast the day prior. We opted to go back to our room and watch TCM. On the TV, one of my faves, "Gentleman Jim" was starting. But prior to getting into our room, Jimmy and I found ourselves in the elevator with both Alicia Malone and Jacqueline Stewart!!

---

Saturday, April 15

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This was our big day. We were on-the-go from 9am to 2am. We started the day at the 9am screening of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" with Russ Tamblyn in attendance. Dave Karger interviewed him. Tamblyn was hilarious. He talked about how 'Seven Brides' could never be made today, then he pretended to be a filmmaker pitching the film to a producer. Tamblyn also talked about the day when he and all the brothers had to have their hair dyed red to play the Pontipee brothers. He said after all of them had their hair dyed, they all piled into Howard Keel's convertible and drove from the studio to somewhere else for lunch. Tamblyn said that the sight of 7 red-headed men riding together in a convertible turned heads as they drove down the street. He also gave a funny movie idea for a Mormon remake of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." He called it "Seven Brides for One Brother."

The barn raising dance was absolutely spectacular on Grauman's IMAX screen aka "the largest screen in North America." It was FANTASTIC.

Anyway, after that movie, we headed over to the Laurel & Hardy presentation. For this specific presentation, we were planning on leaving early. However, it was a presentation of 3 separate shorts. We'd already seen 2/3 of them. Fortunately the one we hadn't seen, "Going Bye Bye!" was showing first. We planned on watching the entirety of the first short and then leaving. Unfortunately the guest brought in to introduce the Laurel & Hardy shorts was very lackluster. They could have easily had a TCM staffer introduce the film and it would have had the same effect. Anyway, "Going Bye Bye" was hysterical; but then we left to go to "The Evolution of Henson Puppetry" panel, being led by Brian Henson, Jim's son and director of the Jim Henson Company.

This panel was absolutely fantastic and one of the absolute best things we saw at the TCMFF. We were explicitly asked to not take photos, so there are no pictures from this event. We had missed Brian Henson introducing "Muppets Take Manhattan" earlier that morning. Had Russ Tamblyn not appeared in person, I probably would have opted for the Muppets. Tamblyn was also present on Friday for a screening of "Peyton Place," but we opted to see the Looney Tunes panel instead, because I knew that I wanted to see the barn raising dance in 'Seven Brides' on the big screen. I digress. Brian Henson was fascinating and you can tell he really loves his dad and loves puppetry. He started with a demonstration of one of his father's early puppets and did an early routine. These were simple hand puppets and the presentation was funny and absolutely adorable. As the presentation progressed, Henson demonstrated how the puppets changed, hence the panel title, "Evolution of Henson Puppetry." He did multiple demonstrations of puppets that have built in gloves (for muppets that need to be able to hold things), and even explained how the scene of Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog riding bikes in "The Great Muppet Caper" was achieved. Even after his explanation, I still couldn't envision it. Henson concluded the presentation with a demonstration of their new technology--digital puppetry. It was absolutely fascinating. Unfortunately, we didn't see any famous puppets, e.g. Kermit, but I imagine that the security involved would be expensive and/or it could be too much of a risk.

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After the panel, we were back at Grauman's for another special presentation--ANN-MARGRET being interviewed before a screening of "Bye Bye Birdie." When Ann-Margret was introduced as a guest, neither Jimmy nor I cared what was scheduled against it. We were seeing Ann-Margret. Dave Karger interviewed her and the interview was excellent. She also looks fantastic for 81. She said that she has the same energy now that she had 60 years ago when she made "Bye Bye Birdie." Good for her. She also just released a rock n' roll album. Ann-Margret talked about filming the famous scenes bookending the film and also briefly talked about Elvis being the inspiration for Conrad Birdie as well as being first choice for the part. She said it was surreal that her next film was "Viva Las Vegas" with Elvis. At the end of the interview, TCM presented Ann-Margret with a birthday cake inspired by her legs.

After 'Birdie,' we headed up to the multiplex (just regular old movie theaters, nothing special) to see "Sorry Wrong Number." This was Jimmy and my compromise because I wanted to see "In the Heat of the Night" and he wanted to see "Enter the Dragon." I have seen 'Night' before, so I agreed to 'Dragon,' which I haven't seen, but normally kung-fu movies wouldn't be my bag. We also hadn't been to the Hollywood Legion venue yet, so it seemed like a good opportunity. Anyway, because we still had some time before 'Dragon,' we saw "Sorry Wrong Number" with Eddie Muller introducing. I'd seen this film before and knew the ending, but a majority of the people in the screening hadn't seen it. That was exciting. After the film, we boarded the shuttle and headed down to the Legion for "Enter the Dragon."

"Enter the Dragon" was introduced by Jacqueline Stewart. Prior to the film there was a discussion between Stewart, the screenwriter Michael Allin, and Jimmy's BFF the RZA. It was an excellent conversation and then we ended up sitting behind the RZA during the screening! I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. It was also the first time I'd seen a Bruce Lee movie. I also didn't know that John Saxon had studied martial arts with Lee. Anyway, I really enjoyed this movie--so good choice Jimmy.

Then it was time for my midnight movie--XANADU. By this point, I had changed out of my Ann-Margrock shirt and into my Xanadu shirt. I also wore a silver sequin bomber jacket, sparkly shoes, and ribbons in my hair a la Olivia Newton-John in the movie. I love "Xanadu" and it was even better on the big screen. I absolutely loved it and Jimmy hadn't seen it before. The Gene Kelly "glitz makeover" scene is everything. And it's no surprise that the dance scene between Gene and Olivia that Gene choreographed himself was the best part of the movie. By the time we got out of "Xanadu," it was 2:00am and we were exhausted.

My favorite "Xanadu" gif:

Image

---

Sunday, April 16. The final day of the festival.

We were going to get up at 9am to see Leonard Maltin introduce "Heaven Can Wait" (1943). However, after having gotten to bed after 2am for "Xanadu," this screening was NOT happening. Instead, we got up at around 10am and went down to Ghirardelli for an ice cream/coffee breakfast. We then went over to Grauman's to see the classic to end all classics: "Casablanca." I've seen this movie 4 times previously in the theater, but not in the IMAX. Seeing it in a packed house (almost 1,000 seats!) on the biggest screen in North America was absolutely fantastic. Ben Mankiewicz and Eddie Muller introduced it. No theater experience can top this one. I probably won't be needing to see "Casablanca" on any of the puny Portland-area screens any time soon. Lol.

After "Casablanca," we went to see Leonard Maltin introduce the little known British film, "Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk." I literally just picked this film because Maltin was introducing it and I wanted to see him. It also fit perfectly between "Casablanca" and our 4:45pm film. This was a nice, sweet film. And I agreed with Maltin's assessment: this is not a great film, but it's a good film and deserves to be seen. After 'Mr. Cohen,' we got back in line to see Edward G. Robinson in "Larceny Inc." a film that neither Jimmy nor I had seen. This film was hilarious. After "Larceny Inc.," we got back in line again and sat down to watch Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis duke it out in "The Old Maid." Mario Cantone's introduction was hilarious. He had actually introduced this film during the film's first showing on Friday (Part of Sunday afternoon is reserved to give people who missed popular screenings a second chance. We were actually watching "Harvey" during the first screening), and he was so popular he gave an encore performance. Miriam and Bette were amazing per usual.

Image

This was our last screening of the festival. We closed out our festival and our vacation, with the closing party. It was very crowded, however, we were able to finally meet Dave Karger, the only host we hadn't talked to yet. He was so nice and friendly. All the hosts were extremely nice and amiable to the fans. That was refreshing to see. Anyway, we got our picture taken with Dave Karger, Alicia Malone, and Eddie Muller.

---

This was an absolutely amazing trip. The TCMFF is expensive. I'm not going to pretend it's not. Our passes were expensive--more expensive than going to Disneyland. However, it was absolutely worth it because it was so much fun. We already want to go back next year, providing I can get the funds together. We'd probably stay at a cheaper hotel, get the same passes (I'd rather have the fancy passes than the fancy hotel room), and do a long weekend, without the extra days tacked on the beginning. I worked months planning and researching our trip and I'm happy to say that my efforts paid off. My husband said at the end of our trip: "I expected to have a great time; but I didn't expect to have as much fun as I did." While he watches classic films and even has favorites, he probably wouldn't watch them on his own. He's a gamer. But he said he had an absolute blast at the TCMFF and wants to go again next year.

Sorry this is so long, but thank you for staying with me!
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TikiSoo
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by TikiSoo »

Omigod-THANK YOU! I know that post must have taken you a long time, very much appreciate it!
It sounds like loads of fun, glad you both had the opportunity to attend.

Your post reinforces my feeling that it's far more than I could handle & I'd be sleeping through most of the screenings. I attend several annual Film Festivals and can usually only handle 2 days worth of 8-10 hours of screenings. Some old people tire easily, haha.
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txfilmfan
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by txfilmfan »

speedracer5 wrote: April 22nd, 2023, 7:32 pm Our first day of the festival was April 13. We had spotlight passes which got us into the opening night film and the cocktail gala afterward. We had to wear fancier clothes than we normally wear, and frankly I felt a little uncomfortable. I'm not posting my photos from that event, because I hated my picture. But here is a picture of my shoes. This was the best picture I took of myself that evening.

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Anyway, we were planning on seeing the opening night film regardless of what it was, because we wanted to be part of the festivities. In March, the opening film was announced to be a 4k restoration of "Rio Bravo." Directors Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson appeared before the film to talk about Martin Scorsese's Film Foundation (of which Spielberg and Anderson are members) and their restoration of not only "Rio Bravo," but hundreds of other films. Spielberg stated that they've restored almost 1000 films in the 30-ish years that the board has existed.

After the interview, star Angie Dickinson made an appearance. She is 91 and her interview was pretty funny, albeit a little scattered. Not sure if that was indicative of age, or nerves, or maybe a combination of both. Or maybe that's just how she is, I have no idea. Ben Mankiewicz handled the interview well and they both bonded over their love of See's Candies. As a side note, there are See's Candies in Oregon, but I never knew how big See's was in California. See's is everywhere, including the San Jose and Los Angeles airports. But I digress.

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Pardon the quality of the photo. We were a ways back and so I took a photo of Angie on the screen.

"Rio Bravo" was also my first time in the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre, now the TCL Chinese IMAX. For all intents and purposes, it is Grauman's to me. The ceiling is absolutely breathtaking and despite the name change, I'm happy that TCL is committed to keeping the theatre true to its original aesthetic. I will also say that the Ladies Bathroom at Grauman's is enormous. There is an entire round room full of floor length mirrors to walk through before you even get to the bathroom.

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I was surprised by how much I enjoyed "Rio Bravo." I had never seen it before, but knew it was a Western and it had John Wayne. I'm not a big fan of Westerns nor a big fan of Wayne (as an actor). However, the revelation in this film was Dean Martin who was absolutely fantastic. His acting talents were definitely wasted in those films with Jerry Lewis. Ricky Nelson was also a lot of fun. I was hoping for a Dean Martin/Ricky Nelson duet and Howard Hawks did not disappoint. Angie Dickinson was also fantastic and gorgeous in this movie.

We came out of the movie and it was raining. Par for the course in Oregon, but it was a little disappointing in Hollywood. Regardless, we walked through the rain and boarded the shuttle to go to the venue for the cocktail party. The venue was an Italian restaurant on Wilcox Ave. The food was fantastic. I'd never been to a fancy event like that where waiters walked around with hors d'oeuvres on trays and offered them to the guests. Jimmy and I wisely stationed ourselves near the kitchen so fresh trays of hors d'oeuvres were offered to us constantly. While standing next to the kitchen, we also saw the RZA from Wu-Tang Clan who was a scheduled speaker at the festival. Jimmy managed to get his photo taken with him. We surprisingly saw a lot of the RZA during the TCMFF. We also saw the hosts and met Ben Mankiewicz and Mario Cantone. I was surprised by how small Ben was. He's short and skinny. Jimmy is about 6' and Ben was at least 4-5" shorter. Eddie Muller was about the same height as Jimmy, maybe a little taller. The party was awesome. We had so much fun. If we go again next year, the cocktail party would definitely be an incentive to buy the fancy pass again.

---

Friday, April 14 was our first full day of the festival. We started with the 9am screening of "Harvey," a film that neither Jimmy nor I had seen. During the introduction, there was a funny moment when Harvey himself, all 6'3.5" of him, made a special appearance at the screening. He was escorted to his seat and even had his picture taken. The film was absolutely fantastic, we both loved it and made a note to purchase it and add it to our collection.

We then headed into the screening of "Footlight Parade," which was being introduced by Bruce Goldstein, the director of repertory programming at NYC's Film Forum. He was hilarious and had put together an excellent presentation for both before and after the film. After this film was announced, I knew I wanted to see it, as I wanted to see Busby Berkeley's musical numbers up on the big screen. I'd seen "Footlight Parade" before, but it was absolutely fantastic on the big screen. Since this was my first festival, I'm not sure if a Bruce Goldstein introduction is a regular thing, but if so, I'd definitely make a point to see him again. In his closing presentation, he put together a montage of scenes from "Footlight Parade" that were censored and what countries/provinces/states banned them. Let's just say that Quebec should have just banned the movie all together and not even tried to salvage it for viewing.

After this we headed to the Roosevelt for the Looney Tunes panel which was excellent. Who doesn't love Looney Tunes? With the festival celebrating legacy as well as WB's 100th birthday, the Looney Tunes couldn't be left out. This presentation specifically focused on Looney Tunes' Oscar winning and nominated shorts. The presentation started with Bugs Bunny's cartoon where he tries to launch an Oscar campaign for his work. We saw an Oscar winning Sylvester & Tweety short which I'd seen before, but it was still hilarious. We also saw the Oscar-winning Pepe Le Pew cartoon, "For Sentimental Reasons," which I think I'd seen before but I couldn't remember. There was a hilarious short called "Mouse Wreckers" which I'd never even heard of, let alone seen. The presentation closed with the Bugs Bunny cartoon, "What's Opera Doc?" which I've seen multiple times, but it is still hilarious.

When the schedule for the TCMFF was announced, I told my husband that I wanted to do at least one of each of the special events (so to speak), I needed to do at least 1 panel, 1 poolside, 1 midnight screening and see each venue. I'm happy to report that we were able to do all four. If we go next year, I'll be a little more flexible, as I know what everything is about.

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I'd read that to get one of the cushy lounge chairs by the pool, you needed to get to the Roosevelt pool screening early. Because of how the last two blocks of films were scheduled and how the poolside screening was scheduled, we would need to dip out of something early to make the poolside--so we opted to just skip those blocks all together. The poolside screening this evening was "Beach Party" with Frankie Avalon in attendance. Of the three poolside screenings scheduled ("Hairspray," "Beach Party," and "A Mighty Wind"), "Beach Party" was my pick. The big conflict of the evening was that George Clooney was scheduled to appear at the "Ocean's 11" screening across the street at Grauman's. I'm not one for watching only parts of movies, so dipping out of a screening early was not appealing to me. However, we were contemplating it to see Clooney. Anyway, we were very early for the poolside, first in line in fact. When we got to sit down, Jimmy and I sat in one of the big, round, cushy 2-person seats...UNDERNEATH A HEAT LAMP. It was chilly outside. Frankie Avalon appeared and was interviewed by Dave Karger. Avalon looked fantastic. He talked very sweetly about Annette and said that he missed her. Anyway, suffice it to say, with the cushy chair, the heat lamp, and the cocktail service, Jimmy and I weren't going anywhere. We watched the entirety of "Beach Party."

We were going to see the midnight movie, "The Batwoman" from 1968, but by now it was 10:00pm and we'd have to wait 2 hours for it to start. There weren't any other movies that were starting at 10 that we could see, and we were still exhausted from getting up at 5am for the Eddie Muller breakfast the day prior. We opted to go back to our room and watch TCM. On the TV, one of my faves, "Gentleman Jim" was starting. But prior to getting into our room, Jimmy and I found ourselves in the elevator with both Alicia Malone and Jacqueline Stewart!!

---

Saturday, April 15

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This was our big day. We were on-the-go from 9am to 2am. We started the day at the 9am screening of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers" with Russ Tamblyn in attendance. Dave Karger interviewed him. Tamblyn was hilarious. He talked about how 'Seven Brides' could never be made today, then he pretended to be a filmmaker pitching the film to a producer. Tamblyn also talked about the day when he and all the brothers had to have their hair dyed red to play the Pontipee brothers. He said after all of them had their hair dyed, they all piled into Howard Keel's convertible and drove from the studio to somewhere else for lunch. Tamblyn said that the sight of 7 red-headed men riding together in a convertible turned heads as they drove down the street. He also gave a funny movie idea for a Mormon remake of "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers." He called it "Seven Brides for One Brother."

The barn raising dance was absolutely spectacular on Grauman's IMAX screen aka "the largest screen in North America." It was FANTASTIC.

Anyway, after that movie, we headed over to the Laurel & Hardy presentation. For this specific presentation, we were planning on leaving early. However, it was a presentation of 3 separate shorts. We'd already seen 2/3 of them. Fortunately the one we hadn't seen, "Going Bye Bye!" was showing first. We planned on watching the entirety of the first short and then leaving. Unfortunately the guest brought in to introduce the Laurel & Hardy shorts was very lackluster. They could have easily had a TCM staffer introduce the film and it would have had the same effect. Anyway, "Going Bye Bye" was hysterical; but then we left to go to "The Evolution of Henson Puppetry" panel, being led by Brian Henson, Jim's son and director of the Jim Henson Company.

This panel was absolutely fantastic and one of the absolute best things we saw at the TCMFF. We were explicitly asked to not take photos, so there are no pictures from this event. We had missed Brian Henson introducing "Muppets Take Manhattan" earlier that morning. Had Russ Tamblyn not appeared in person, I probably would have opted for the Muppets. Tamblyn was also present on Friday for a screening of "Peyton Place," but we opted to see the Looney Tunes panel instead, because I knew that I wanted to see the barn raising dance in 'Seven Brides' on the big screen. I digress. Brian Henson was fascinating and you can tell he really loves his dad and loves puppetry. He started with a demonstration of one of his father's early puppets and did an early routine. These were simple hand puppets and the presentation was funny and absolutely adorable. As the presentation progressed, Henson demonstrated how the puppets changed, hence the panel title, "Evolution of Henson Puppetry." He did multiple demonstrations of puppets that have built in gloves (for muppets that need to be able to hold things), and even explained how the scene of Miss Piggy and Kermit the Frog riding bikes in "The Great Muppet Caper" was achieved. Even after his explanation, I still couldn't envision it. Henson concluded the presentation with a demonstration of their new technology--digital puppetry. It was absolutely fascinating. Unfortunately, we didn't see any famous puppets, e.g. Kermit, but I imagine that the security involved would be expensive and/or it could be too much of a risk.

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After the panel, we were back at Grauman's for another special presentation--ANN-MARGRET being interviewed before a screening of "Bye Bye Birdie." When Ann-Margret was introduced as a guest, neither Jimmy nor I cared what was scheduled against it. We were seeing Ann-Margret. Dave Karger interviewed her and the interview was excellent. She also looks fantastic for 81. She said that she has the same energy now that she had 60 years ago when she made "Bye Bye Birdie." Good for her. She also just released a rock n' roll album. Ann-Margret talked about filming the famous scenes bookending the film and also briefly talked about Elvis being the inspiration for Conrad Birdie as well as being first choice for the part. She said it was surreal that her next film was "Viva Las Vegas" with Elvis. At the end of the interview, TCM presented Ann-Margret with a birthday cake inspired by her legs.

After 'Birdie,' we headed up to the multiplex (just regular old movie theaters, nothing special) to see "Sorry Wrong Number." This was Jimmy and my compromise because I wanted to see "In the Heat of the Night" and he wanted to see "Enter the Dragon." I have seen 'Night' before, so I agreed to 'Dragon,' which I haven't seen, but normally kung-fu movies wouldn't be my bag. We also hadn't been to the Hollywood Legion venue yet, so it seemed like a good opportunity. Anyway, because we still had some time before 'Dragon,' we saw "Sorry Wrong Number" with Eddie Muller introducing. I'd seen this film before and knew the ending, but a majority of the people in the screening hadn't seen it. That was exciting. After the film, we boarded the shuttle and headed down to the Legion for "Enter the Dragon."

"Enter the Dragon" was introduced by Jacqueline Stewart. Prior to the film there was a discussion between Stewart, the screenwriter Michael Allin, and Jimmy's BFF the RZA. It was an excellent conversation and then we ended up sitting behind the RZA during the screening! I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this film. It was also the first time I'd seen a Bruce Lee movie. I also didn't know that John Saxon had studied martial arts with Lee. Anyway, I really enjoyed this movie--so good choice Jimmy.

Then it was time for my midnight movie--XANADU. By this point, I had changed out of my Ann-Margrock shirt and into my Xanadu shirt. I also wore a silver sequin bomber jacket, sparkly shoes, and ribbons in my hair a la Olivia Newton-John in the movie. I love "Xanadu" and it was even better on the big screen. I absolutely loved it and Jimmy hadn't seen it before. The Gene Kelly "glitz makeover" scene is everything. And it's no surprise that the dance scene between Gene and Olivia that Gene choreographed himself was the best part of the movie. By the time we got out of "Xanadu," it was 2:00am and we were exhausted.

My favorite "Xanadu" gif:

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Sunday, April 16. The final day of the festival.

We were going to get up at 9am to see Leonard Maltin introduce "Heaven Can Wait" (1943). However, after having gotten to bed after 2am for "Xanadu," this screening was NOT happening. Instead, we got up at around 10am and went down to Ghirardelli for an ice cream/coffee breakfast. We then went over to Grauman's to see the classic to end all classics: "Casablanca." I've seen this movie 4 times previously in the theater, but not in the IMAX. Seeing it in a packed house (almost 1,000 seats!) on the biggest screen in North America was absolutely fantastic. Ben Mankiewicz and Eddie Muller introduced it. No theater experience can top this one. I probably won't be needing to see "Casablanca" on any of the puny Portland-area screens any time soon. Lol.

After "Casablanca," we went to see Leonard Maltin introduce the little known British film, "Mr. Cohen Takes a Walk." I literally just picked this film because Maltin was introducing it and I wanted to see him. It also fit perfectly between "Casablanca" and our 4:45pm film. This was a nice, sweet film. And I agreed with Maltin's assessment: this is not a great film, but it's a good film and deserves to be seen. After 'Mr. Cohen,' we got back in line to see Edward G. Robinson in "Larceny Inc." a film that neither Jimmy nor I had seen. This film was hilarious. After "Larceny Inc.," we got back in line again and sat down to watch Miriam Hopkins and Bette Davis duke it out in "The Old Maid." Mario Cantone's introduction was hilarious. He had actually introduced this film during the film's first showing on Friday (Part of Sunday afternoon is reserved to give people who missed popular screenings a second chance. We were actually watching "Harvey" during the first screening), and he was so popular he gave an encore performance. Miriam and Bette were amazing per usual.

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This was our last screening of the festival. We closed out our festival and our vacation, with the closing party. It was very crowded, however, we were able to finally meet Dave Karger, the only host we hadn't talked to yet. He was so nice and friendly. All the hosts were extremely nice and amiable to the fans. That was refreshing to see. Anyway, we got our picture taken with Dave Karger, Alicia Malone, and Eddie Muller.

---

This was an absolutely amazing trip. The TCMFF is expensive. I'm not going to pretend it's not. Our passes were expensive--more expensive than going to Disneyland. However, it was absolutely worth it because it was so much fun. We already want to go back next year, providing I can get the funds together. We'd probably stay at a cheaper hotel, get the same passes (I'd rather have the fancy passes than the fancy hotel room), and do a long weekend, without the extra days tacked on the beginning. I worked months planning and researching our trip and I'm happy to say that my efforts paid off. My husband said at the end of our trip: "I expected to have a great time; but I didn't expect to have as much fun as I did." While he watches classic films and even has favorites, he probably wouldn't watch them on his own. He's a gamer. But he said he had an absolute blast at the TCMFF and wants to go again next year.

Sorry this is so long, but thank you for staying with me!
What a great post.

You've probably been spoiled for life with the Spotlight pass. The worst part (and sometimes the best part) of the TCMFF is standing in a queue waiting to go in, and the Spotlight pass lets you bypass most of the waiting. The worst is because it's a time sink. The best is because you have a lot of time to meet others while standing in the queue.

We had no overlap in our film choices. We would have if you had made it to In the Heat of the Night. I was mostly concentrating on films I hadn't seen, and I had only seen a few scenes from this one. I was surprised to see that it was less than half full. Nearly everything else I saw was in a full or nearly full house.

Re: Mank's stature - LOL. A lot of celebrities are smaller than expected when you see them IRL. We ran into Ben and his wife in the elevator at Loews a few years back. He's shorter than I am, and I'm 5'8".

Re: Grauman's, it is fun seeing a movie there. It's been modified a few times inside (the latest was for the IMAX conversion, that changed the seating configuration) but the interior decoration still remains. It's actually not owned by TCL - they just bought the naming rights in 2013, originally a 10 year deal. So the name might be changing again shortly! Hopefully the other former Grauman property - the Egyptian - will again be available next year for TCMFF. While waiting for In the Heat... we met a former projectionist who worked at the Egyptian. He said the last he heard was that it might open by the end of 2023, but they've run into unexpected problems with the renovation. Netflix now owns the Egyptian. They've also used the El Capitan in years past. It's also a great place to catch a movie (usually with an organ mini-concert and sometimes a "curtain show" before the feature).
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speedracer5
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by speedracer5 »

TikiSoo wrote: April 23rd, 2023, 6:39 am Omigod-THANK YOU! I know that post must have taken you a long time, very much appreciate it!
It sounds like loads of fun, glad you both had the opportunity to attend.

Your post reinforces my feeling that it's far more than I could handle & I'd be sleeping through most of the screenings. I attend several annual Film Festivals and can usually only handle 2 days worth of 8-10 hours of screenings. Some old people tire easily, haha.
Lol. The only day when I felt like I was slightly nodding off was on Sunday, after staying up until 2am with Xanadu. But we just got some caffeine and were back in the game, lol. I'm sure it is definitely to our advantage that the festival is held in the same time zone where we already live, so we don't have to struggle with the time change. I could see it being hard to hang in there for the evening showings at 8-9pm when you're used to it being 11pm-12am at that same time.
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by speedracer5 »

txfilmfan wrote: April 23rd, 2023, 8:34 am
What a great post.

You've probably been spoiled for life with the Spotlight pass. The worst part (and sometimes the best part) of the TCMFF is standing in a queue waiting to go in, and the Spotlight pass lets you bypass most of the waiting. The worst is because it's a time sink. The best is because you have a lot of time to meet others while standing in the queue.

We had no overlap in our film choices. We would have if you had made it to In the Heat of the Night. I was mostly concentrating on films I hadn't seen, and I had only seen a few scenes from this one. I was surprised to see that it was less than half full. Nearly everything else I saw was in a full or nearly full house.

Re: Mank's stature - LOL. A lot of celebrities are smaller than expected when you see them IRL. We ran into Ben and his wife in the elevator at Loews a few years back. He's shorter than I am, and I'm 5'8".

Re: Grauman's, it is fun seeing a movie there. It's been modified a few times inside (the latest was for the IMAX conversion, that changed the seating configuration) but the interior decoration still remains. It's actually not owned by TCL - they just bought the naming rights in 2013, originally a 10 year deal. So the name might be changing again shortly! Hopefully the other former Grauman property - the Egyptian - will again be available next year for TCMFF. While waiting for In the Heat... we met a former projectionist who worked at the Egyptian. He said the last he heard was that it might open by the end of 2023, but they've run into unexpected problems with the renovation. Netflix now owns the Egyptian. They've also used the El Capitan in years past. It's also a great place to catch a movie (usually with an organ mini-concert and sometimes a "curtain show" before the feature).
I know I probably spoiled myself with the spotlight pass. We wanted to go all out and see what it was all about. I actually liked not having to wait in line, or having to leave screenings early to draw a good queue card. I hate the idea of only watching parts of different movies. Over the 3.5 days, we managed to watch 13 movies, 2 panels and a Laurel and Hardy short. We could have seen 15 movies if we'd had more energy. I know that the movie conflicts are par for the course with the festival, I just wish they would have either spread out the blocks a little bit or maybe staggered the movies a little better? I don't know. There were so many conflicts I had where the movies overlapped by 15 minutes or so. It's a real schedule killer when the poolside screenings are staggered in a way to block out two entire blocks of movies.

Some of our decisions were made based on the special guest. If Ann-Margret hadn't been there for "Bye Bye Birdie," I would have gone to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" because 'Birdie' isn't my favorite musical, but I do enjoy it. And if Russ Tamblyn hadn't been there for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," I would have seen "The Muppets Take Manhattan." Lol.

If we go next year, I hope that the Egyptian and/or El Capitan are open so that I can see the inside. I really want to do a nitrate screening, which I know can only be done at the Egyptian. If these venues were added, would the movies be more spread out? Or would there be more movies on the schedule?

RE: Mank. Yes, he is tiny, especially when standing next to Eddie. Jacqueline Stewart is very petite too, which was surprising because she strikes me as someone who would be tall. But I was literally standing next to her in the elevator and I was wearing flat sandals. I'm 5'2". Jacqueline is probably 5'3ish. Alicia was taller, but I didn't see what kind of shoes she had on. I would venture to say that she's at least 5'5-5'6". When we met Dave he was sitting, so I was never able to gauge how tall he was. On TV, it is hard to tell the host's heights because they're usually standing alone.
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Re: 2023 TCM Film Festival

Post by txfilmfan »

speedracer5 wrote: April 23rd, 2023, 11:30 am
txfilmfan wrote: April 23rd, 2023, 8:34 am
What a great post.

You've probably been spoiled for life with the Spotlight pass. The worst part (and sometimes the best part) of the TCMFF is standing in a queue waiting to go in, and the Spotlight pass lets you bypass most of the waiting. The worst is because it's a time sink. The best is because you have a lot of time to meet others while standing in the queue.

We had no overlap in our film choices. We would have if you had made it to In the Heat of the Night. I was mostly concentrating on films I hadn't seen, and I had only seen a few scenes from this one. I was surprised to see that it was less than half full. Nearly everything else I saw was in a full or nearly full house.

Re: Mank's stature - LOL. A lot of celebrities are smaller than expected when you see them IRL. We ran into Ben and his wife in the elevator at Loews a few years back. He's shorter than I am, and I'm 5'8".

Re: Grauman's, it is fun seeing a movie there. It's been modified a few times inside (the latest was for the IMAX conversion, that changed the seating configuration) but the interior decoration still remains. It's actually not owned by TCL - they just bought the naming rights in 2013, originally a 10 year deal. So the name might be changing again shortly! Hopefully the other former Grauman property - the Egyptian - will again be available next year for TCMFF. While waiting for In the Heat... we met a former projectionist who worked at the Egyptian. He said the last he heard was that it might open by the end of 2023, but they've run into unexpected problems with the renovation. Netflix now owns the Egyptian. They've also used the El Capitan in years past. It's also a great place to catch a movie (usually with an organ mini-concert and sometimes a "curtain show" before the feature).
I know I probably spoiled myself with the spotlight pass. We wanted to go all out and see what it was all about. I actually liked not having to wait in line, or having to leave screenings early to draw a good queue card. I hate the idea of only watching parts of different movies. Over the 3.5 days, we managed to watch 13 movies, 2 panels and a Laurel and Hardy short. We could have seen 15 movies if we'd had more energy. I know that the movie conflicts are par for the course with the festival, I just wish they would have either spread out the blocks a little bit or maybe staggered the movies a little better? I don't know. There were so many conflicts I had where the movies overlapped by 15 minutes or so. It's a real schedule killer when the poolside screenings are staggered in a way to block out two entire blocks of movies.

Some of our decisions were made based on the special guest. If Ann-Margret hadn't been there for "Bye Bye Birdie," I would have gone to "Treasure of the Sierra Madre" because 'Birdie' isn't my favorite musical, but I do enjoy it. And if Russ Tamblyn hadn't been there for "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers," I would have seen "The Muppets Take Manhattan." Lol.

If we go next year, I hope that the Egyptian and/or El Capitan are open so that I can see the inside. I really want to do a nitrate screening, which I know can only be done at the Egyptian. If these venues were added, would the movies be more spread out? Or would there be more movies on the schedule?

RE: Mank. Yes, he is tiny, especially when standing next to Eddie. Jacqueline Stewart is very petite too, which was surprising because she strikes me as someone who would be tall. But I was literally standing next to her in the elevator and I was wearing flat sandals. I'm 5'2". Jacqueline is probably 5'3ish. Alicia was taller, but I didn't see what kind of shoes she had on. I would venture to say that she's at least 5'5-5'6". When we met Dave he was sitting, so I was never able to gauge how tall he was. On TV, it is hard to tell the host's heights because they're usually standing alone.
The friend I was with doesn't like Humphrey Bogart, so what did I do? I dragged him to two of them in a row (African Queen and Treasure of the Sierra Madre), neither of which he had seen. I almost opted for Bye Bye Birdie, but only to see Ann-Margaret and the dance sequence for Gotta a Lot of Livin' to Do on the big screen. I've always wondered how long that took to rehearse and shoot.

If they do go back to the Egyptian, there likely won't be any additional films screened. They basically substituted the American Legion post for the Egyptian and I imagine that they would keep it at 5 main venues. Adding one would increase the cost - the event management company that runs the queues, etc would have to hire more folks. Venues like El Capitan and the now-defunct Cinerama Dome were always one-off venues - showing just a title or two. They've also used the Montalban Theatre in the past for interviews and the like. Most of the venues are scheduled in 3 to 3.5 hour blocks. The problem comes when you get a film that runs longer than 2:15 or so. That throws the schedule for that venue off w.r.t. the others for the rest of the day. It seems to me that the poolside showings never quite fit into the rest of the pattern. I've never been to one, and this was my 8th visit.

I asked the former Egyptian projectionist if they were going to continue showing nitrate prints after the renovation, but he wasn't sure.

I do wish they could find a bigger room for some of the panels or limit participation in some way. It's no fun standing for an hour in a wall-to-wall crowd.
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