TCMFF Top Five

Last week, TCM announced new films for the upcoming Turner Classic Movies Classic Film Festival (TCMFF), being held April 21–24, 2022. My guess is that we probably won't get many more film announcements until the complete schedule drops about 3 weeks out from the Festival. Oh, there might be a handful more that'll squeak through. Usually. these will be ones that are tied to a guest or a special screening of something that is newly restored/newly available. I'm sure the good folks at TCM are trying to pin these down now. Still, if they follow the pattern of previous years, we probably won't get a big drop of films like we did last week until we get the full schedule.

Thus, welcome to my perennial top five list of what's been announced so far. This time, I'm going to include three honorable mentions at the end, all dramas. Bear in mind, that this is kind of an academic exercise. I know that when the complete schedule drops almost all of these are going to fall by the wayside. Inevitably, something you think is one of your top picks at this point in time ends up being scheduled against something that you want to see a whole lot more. With that in mind, let's get to the list.

5. The Flame and the Arrow (1950) – The Flame and the Arrow is kind of an odd film to show up on this list. It's an enjoyable film, I'll give you that. Who can argue with young Burt Lancaster in a period film doing all kinds of crazy acrobatics. That's not the reason though, this is going to be an Academy Conversations with Craig Barron and Ben Burtt. These guys are great, and their presentations are both entertaining and informative. I saw them do a incredible presentation for Adventures of Robin Hood on my first TCMFF and they did a very cool presentation on sound effects one year before a screening of War of the Worlds. On the strength of this, The Flame and the Arrow wins out over several films that I like way better.

4. Baby Face (1933) – Baby Face is one of my favorite Pre-Code films. Nothing beats Barbara Stanwyck sleeping her way to the top, with Friedrich Nietzsche philosophy running around in her head. It also has a really great performance by Teresa Harris, a beautiful, talented African-American actress who never got enough good roles. This was one of them.

3. The Legend of Drunken Master (1994) – Legend of Drunken Master is kind of an odd film to be showing at TCMFF, but once you think about it, maybe not so much. Jackie Chan made his first film appearance uncredited in 1962 at about the age of 8. By the 70s, he was working steadily in the Hong Kong doing Kung Fu movies. He learned early on that there was no way to compete against the ultimate Kung Fu movie star, Bruce Lee, so Jackie took a different approach, he made Kung Fu comedies, and nowhere is that on better display than in Legend of Drunken Master. Yes, the plot, what there is of it, is kind of nonexistent, but it's a pretty incredible movie in terms of stunts and physical comedy. I saw him speak in the mid-90s and he cited Gene Kelly as one of his big influences. Gene Kelly often uses very long takes so you can see the choreography as a whole. Jackie Chan approaches his fight and action scenes in much the same way.  Like Kelly, he's a master of integrating props into the choreography. If he's in a fish market, you're going to get Fish Fu. His mother tries to hide her gambling from his father, you're going to get Mahjong Tile Fu. You'll find both in Legend of Drunken Master. I swear, I'm not making this up.

2. After the Thin Man (1936) – After the Thin Man is not my favorite Thin Man movie, but it is still quite good. They all are. I'm not even sure where it would place among them. Still, how often do you get to see any Thin Man movie on the big screen with a TCMFF audience. They did screen The Thin Man in 2014, and with the sequels all being as good as they are, it doesn't make sense to reshow the first one. After the Thin Man is a natural pick, especially since it is one of James Stewart's first good roles.

1. The Sting (1973) – My top pick is The Sting. I haven't seen it in the theater since I saw it on its first run when I was  about 11 years old. It is probably the best con-man movie of all time. It is probably also George Roy Hill's best movie and arguably both Paul Newman and Robert Redford's best movie. This is a great great film. There were many many good films made in the 1970s. The Sting ranks up there with any of them. Of all the films on this list, this is the one I feel most likely that it will stick.

As promised, I give you the following Honorable Mentions:

Lilies of the Field – Great feel good movie, would be awesome to see on the big screen. Amen. Ayyyyy-men Ayyyyy-men Ayyyyy-ayy-ayy-ayy-ayy-ayy-men.

Angels with Dirty Faces – One of Cagney's best, and for a gangster movie with a heart, this is a gangster movie with a heart. Yeah, I know that doesn't make any sense.      

The Slender Thread – I only saw this once. Very good film, and it's a great pic for TCMFF.

The films announced for TCMFF so far are as follows:

After the Thin Man (1936)
Angels with Dirty Faces (1938)
Annie (1982)
Baby Face (1933)
Counsellor at Law (1933)
The Flame and the Arrow (1950)
Force of Evil (1948)
The French Way (1945)
The Gay Divorcee (1934)
Giant (1956)
The Gunfighter (1950)
Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
It's Always Fair Weather (1955)
Jewel Robbery (1932)
Key Largo (1948)
The Last of Sheila (1973)

Legend of Drunken Master (1994)

Lilies of the Field (1963)
A Man Called Adam (1966)
The Pajama Game (1957)
Peggy Sue Got Married (1986)
Polyester (1981)
Portrait of Jennie (1948)
The Slender Thread (1965)
A Star Is Born (1937)
The Sting (1973)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)