The People
One of the absolute best things about TCMFF is the people you meet and the friends you make.
I debated whether to include this story, because it has virtually nothing to do with TCMFF. I include it because it happened while I was up there, and for two other reasons. First every year, I hear people complain about Hollywood. Is it safe. Is it okay to walk around at night etc. Second, it was something I witnessed, an act of kindness, and it happened right on Hollywood Blvd. As we were coming out from lunch on Tuesday, half a block from the Egyptian Theatre. I saw a very old woman with a walker. She was too old and moving too slow to make it all the way across on the walk signal. I man was stopping traffic so that she could get across. Was traffic honking? No, they were waiting patiently for her to make it across. I don't know who the man was. Possibly the man was her son or her nephew. Possibly, he was a complete stranger, helping someone in need. When I posted this, someone on Facebook said the woman played the piano at Miceli's about a half a block away.
All I know was that this someone helping to keep another person safe. There are good or bad people wherever you go. It doesn't matter if it's Hollywood or New York or Prairie Stop in rural Indiana (you never know when there's a cropduster with your name on it. The picture above on the left is not the greatest. I was not particularly close. I put it together with the photo on the right I took on Thursday on the way to the Roosevelt (they seemed to go together).
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Every year, I tell myself I need to take more pictures at the festival, and I think I did a little better at it this year, though many of the selfies were too blurry to use. I'm going to intersperse these throughout the post.
Pre-Fest Shenanigans
My wife and I drove up from San Diego in an uneventful two and a quarter hour drive, which as good as you could ever expect, considering that any part of the trip might be marred by terrible San Diego, Orange County, or LA traffic.
- Food – My wife doesn't attend most years but likes to come up on Tuesday and hang out and then do something in LA on Wednesday before heading home. Over the years, we've found a few good restaurants. I had been on intermittent fasting for the couple months leading into TCMFF, meaning I have an 8-hour window to eat noon to 8 pm. The result is by the time noon rolls around I'm pretty darn hungry. It was well after one when got all our stuff dropped off in the room, so we headed out for a sushi place we found last year:
Kino Sushi and Ramen is right across the street from the Egyptian Theatre. We each ordered a sushi roll and shared the pork belly appetizer. The sushi was really good, and the pork belly was absolutely amazing.
For dinner that night, we went to the Pink Pepper on La Brea Ave, very good Thai food.
Both places were reasonably price, about $50-60 for two people including a drink and a tip. I hope both will still be there next year, not necessarily a guarantee in Hollywood.
- Amoeba Records – A must for us is a trip to Amoeba Records on Hollywood Blvd. near Vine. Both my wife and I are still physical media people, both music and movies. Amoeba has a great selection of both. I still buy a lot of CDs, like 30 or 40 a month. At Amoeba, I'm looking for things that I can't find locally in $1 to $3 a disk bins. This equates to newer and old out-of-print stuff. My top score was Robert Mitchum, Calypso is Like So....
When I brought it to the register, the 25 YO kid ringing it up wanted to take a picture of it (both sides). He even read the quote on the back out loud, "Surprised that Robert Mitchum sings Calypso? It would be stranger if he couldn't." I've listed to it since I got home. He sings in a Calypso accent, and by about three songs in, you kinda forget it's Mitchum singing.
- Into The Woods – For the last however many years, since before COVID, I've set up a night at a bar within walking distance of the festival area with reasonably priced drinks, at least by Hollywood standards. For the last couple of years, this has meant The Woods Hollywood on La Brea Ave. It's a bit of a hole in the wall and on a Tuesday night, it's perfect if you want to be able to talk about old movies. Due to my wife and I getting Thai food, we showed a bit late and missed out on the group photo. The people at The Woods were great, and a good time was had by all.
- Pre-Fest Party – Every year at TCMFF, the Going to the TCM Classic Film Festival Facebook group party is held, and normally, I'm only able to attend part of it. Up until this year, there was a Media mixer that runs at the same time as the party. This year they didn't have a Media mixer, a bit of a disappointment but it did mean that I got to stay and enjoy the party. Back when, this party was held on the low-down at the Roosevelt pool, but the party got to be too big for that. For the last few years, it's been held at the Hollywood Heritage Museum on Highland up the hill from the Ovation Mall. The party is put together by Kelly Wickersham and Ruth Mundsack of the Facebook group. There is a nominal fee to attend that covers the rental of the museum, pizza, donuts, and sodas (BYOB for the rest of the drinks). I brought some of my mango jalapeno lemon peel infused tequila and some of my homemade sour mix. There was a bit of a shortage of good mixers. Next year, I may need to bring some homemade grenadine and something like ginger syrup, so there's more available.
The party includes entry into the museum but it's more of a social gathering than anything else. Still, the museum is a nice bonus. The party does have a freebie table. I normally do some sort of tchotchkes to give out at TCMFF. This year it was Jaws buttons and postcards, both promoting my weekly classic movie cartoon series, Reel Gags. I put about 20 buttons and about 40 postcards and was very happy to see they were all gone by the end of the party.
- Talking Pictures – Next up was a live taping of Talking Pictures where Ben Mankiewicz interviewed Eli Roth. To be honest, I had no idea who Eli Roth was. I soon found out. Per Ben, he was the world's most badass Jew, i.e., because of his performance in Inglourious Basterds. They talked about how Roth became an actor because he wanted to be a director and figured he needed to be able to relate to actors. Roth also talked about how he came to work with David Lynch. He also told how he was so enamored with horror movies when he was about 12 that they made him violently sick, and he decided then and there that he wanted to direct horror films. It was very interesting and I made a point of watching some of his horror film. I only know Eli Roth from Inglourious Basterds and as it turns out his documentary TV series on horror films. A picture is work a thousand words, but a video has to be worth ten times as much, so you can watch the whole podcast here or just Google it yourself.
Early Thursday
The first part of the day on Thursday is always sort of the same, Meet TCM panel, trivia panel, and then the opening night party. I got out fairly late on Thursday. With the 12 noon to 8 pm eating window. I showed up at the Roosevelt at about 11:30 in hopes of finding someone to have lunch with. I ended meeting up with Joel Williams one of the founders of #TCMParty on Twitter and now Bluesky. We went to the Indian restaurant on Hollywood Blvd. It was very good. Thanks again, Joel.
The Meet TCM panel was about like it always is. TCM staff talking about what is up and coming for the network and the festival, including a question and answers session where it alternates between people airing minor grievances on why the network doesn't do this or that anymore or a love fest where people say how much they love something or other, and are they planning to do that again. I asked a question about whether what we consider Essential classics is influenced by the libraries TCM has access to, and were there more Essentials out that we haven't been exposed to. Charlie Tabish explained that this is why they focus on discoveries, to give the lesser known good films the exposure they deserve. On a side note, about two weeks ago, it dawned on me that I might have asked a similar question several years ago, so I'm probably as guilty as anyone.
Between the Meet TCM panel and the Trivia panel, there was the #TCMParty group photo. For those not in the know, #TCMParty is hashtag on Twitter started in 2009, I think, where people live tweet about whatever is showing on TCM and talk about classic film in general. Recently, they have made the switch to Bluesky. That said, #TCMParty is still active on Twitter, but it seems like most of the cool kids moved over to Bluesky.
The trivia panel, So You Think You Movies, is put together by Bruce Goldstein founder of Rialto Pictures and the NYC Film Forum Repertory, and to say it is difficult is a huge understatement. The questions are not just obscure, but often contain tricks. I know a lot about classic film, and I almost always feel like the only contribution I ever make to any team I'm on is by agreeing with the others on the two or three questions that almost everyone else on the team knows. I had made arrangements to be on a team put together by Theresa Brown, but due to a mix up, we had too many people on our team and I had to bow out when the team won. Now, I would feel bad about this, but my biggest contribution to the team was being confidently wrong about one question that another team member was confidently right about. I would have bet $20 on it, but when he asked if I wanted to bet $100 on it, I thought better of it. Besides I really don't need anymore TCM-branded swag. I've got more than my share over the years. By the way, on the picture below, I probably should've noticed that there were six people sitting at the table, and I was the one crouched behind the table in the back.
Normally, between trivia and the opening party I usually try to get food, but with the intermittent fasting and Indian food for lunch, I wasn't hungry at all so I went back to the room to change for the Opening Night Party. I always wish I had more time to mingle at the party, which is odd because under normal circumstances, there is very little I hate more than being at party where I'm expected to mingle. The difference is that at TCMFF, I know so many of the regulars that I always have someone to talk to. On the few occasions when I don't, it's not an issue to talk to someone I've never met before, because I'm not making small talk. I'm talking about old movies, and I can always do that anytime, anywhere.
The Screenings
Over the course of TCMFF, I saw 13 films. All were great, but I decided to mostly focus on the ones the really stand out.
- Thunderball – First off, Thunderball is my all-time favorite Bond film. I was too young to see it in the theater, but it was always looked forward to it on TV. The intro had Eddie Muller interviewing Luciana Paluzzi (who played Bond villainess, Fiona Volpe). I had forgot how racy some of the film was, until Eddie brought up how he had to ask ask his mom about what she was doing with her hands on the bars on the bed headboard. Looking at the scene again, it's as steamy as anything in any Bond movie, any Era. The other thing I have to say is that Luciana Paluzzi has one of the greatest Bond villain deaths.
************** Spoiler Alert *****
She is dancing with Bond during the Mardi Gras scene while killers wait just off the dancefloor. Bond spins her just as they shoot and she takes the bullet to the back intended for him. He quickly hides the wound with his hand. Then he dances her over to an empty chair and sets her down. To the people sitting next to here, Bond says, "She's just dead."
************* End of Spoiler Alert *****
- Servant's Entrance – I was very close to switching to Babe here, but decided that this was one of only two films on my schedule I had never seen. It was a very cute movie and I'm glad I stuck to the original plan. The only problem was something that never happened to me. Well, at least not in a movie theater. About 20 minutes into the film. Someone in my row got up to leave. I did that thing where you put your knees up to give the guy more room to get by. Right as i did this I got a major cramp in the back of my thigh, and of course the one thing you want to do when that happens, you need to straighten your leg out. Of course, I couldn't do that until he got out of the way and even then, I only had so much room to do so.
- The Lady Eve – I love the film. It's amazing and great in the theater. The intro by Dana Gould (subbing in for Bill Hader) was very funny.
- Now Voyager – This probably was my favorite screening, or at least my favorite intro, Eddie Muller interviewed Mario Cantone, who did pretty much the entire intro as Bette Davis, and switched between young Bette, middle age Bette, old Bette, and post-stroke old Bette whenever there was a change in the beat of the conversation. Eddie Muller even did the two cigarette thing with him, umm her, him.
- Monty Python and the Holy Grail – The film of course was hilarious, and I probably hadn't seen it in the theater in about 30 years. The intro was with Patton Oswalt and Eddie Muller. Patton Oswalt showed up in pajamas and a bathrobe. Anytime you expect a standup comedian to show up someplace at 9 am, this is what you get, he quipped. As is often the case, Eddie Muller had a story that was one of the most memorable of the festival. Graham Chapman was one of the funniest members of the group, but he had a drinking problem. He needed to drink to perform and that kind of consumed him. Eddie told a story about John Cleese having written a sketch about a man returning a broken toaster to the store. Cleese was reading the sketch to Chapman, who sat there the whole time with his eyes closed listening. Then when he got finished, Graham Chapman said, "It's a parrot." The point of the story, Eddie continued was that they didn't get on Graham Chapman for not pulling his weight as a writer. They let him contribute in the way that he could, and that's one of the things that made them great.
- Colossus: The Forbin Project – Normally, when I see a Craig Barron/Ben Burtt screening, it's all about their presentation about the technical aspects of the film. This time, while good, it wasn't as in depth, because they split the time with an interview with the film's star, Eric Braedon. Still, they did have a few tricks up their sleeves as the video below shows. Plus, Braedon was interesting, and it was a treat to hear him talk about the film. The film was great. Going in, I thought that probably I had seen it before. I had not, and it was way cool.
One of my favorite things about it was the following:
************** Spoiler Alert *****
The story involves AI taking over the nation's nuclear arsenal, and the AI blackmails Eric Braedon (its inventor) into becoming its prisoner. While Braedon is entertaining a woman, he makes a batch of martinis by pouring about half a bottle of vermouth into a mixing glass with ice. The AI says that he is using far too much vermouth. Braeden ignores it and stirs the vermouth and ice. He then strains out all of the vermouth and adds gin, so that the only vermouth he gets is what sticks to the ice. This is more or less the same way Eddie Muller recommends in his book, Eddie Muller's Noir Bar: Cocktails Inspired by the World of Film Noir. I ran into Eddie later and mentioned to him later about the martinis in Colossus: The Forbin Project. I don't think he'd seen it.
************* End of Spoiler Alert *****
- Jaws – The intro was Ben Mankiewicz interviewing Lorraine Gary, who played Roy Scheider's wife. Early in the interview, Gary admitted that she really didn't get along with Roy Scheider, to which Ben said that made her the best interview of his life. The film was amazing. Going in, this was probably my biggest dilemma of the festival. Up against my second choice, The Bird Cage, which I'd never seen it in the theater, but have seen it dozens of times at home. It's been one of my go to, I don't what to watch, so I'll watch this films for years. Naturally, I had a real tough time deciding between the two. I love Robin Williams and think he's incredibly underated as an actor, and I tend like him best when he is not being funny. Not that he isn't funny in The Bird Cage, but he does spend much of the film play "straight man" to Nathan Lane's over-the-top drag queen. Still, he totally reads as gay in a subtle and nuanced way. I was very bummed to miss it.
Still, Jaws is Jaws. Yes, I could see it in the theater locally. Some theater in town plays it every summer, but this was a great print courtesy of the British Film Institute (BFI) and a full house at the Egyptian. There was no way I was missing that, and it was definitely the right call. If you're interested, TCM posted the Ben Mankiewicz interview of Lorraine Gary here.
- Blade Runner – It happens almost every year. There is some screening that I'm feeling fairly ambivalent about, and then it turns out to be one of my favorites of the whole festival. That's what happened with Blade Runner. First off, I wasn't looking forward to Sean Young, but she was great, very funny and self ingratiating. You hear the crazy stories, and while she didn't go into them, she didn't back away from them either. She seemed to have a good sense of humor about it all. The film I've always thought it was kind of overrated. Yes, it's a visual treat, and that is the main reason I like it as much as I do. I have seen it in the theater several times and am always glad to experience it again. Still, this was different. I don't know if it was the print or the screen or a completely full house or a combination of all of the above, but this was absolutely breathtaking.
- The Talk of the Town – On this screening, I ended up sitting with Danny Miller and Karin (from Norway), Sara (from Sweden) and Alayna (from Washington state), and that's what made this screening. The Talk to Town is all about the law, the rule of law, interpreting the law, and how important the law is to our democracy. If you've never been to TCMFF, there are times during screenings when the audience will clap when there's a great line, and often, when a handful of people clap, it will get the rest of the people going. Well, Alayna, Karin, and Sara were leading the charge on this. Every time, a poignant line came up about the importance of the law to democracy, they would start clapping to get others to join in. It was just a treat to me, to be sitting there next to these two young women from Europe and another American, all probably half my age or close to it anyway, reminding us how important our democracy is and how much at risk it is right now. On a side note, I hope that Karin and Sara come back next year, but I wouldn't blame them if they didn't. It has to be a big investment on their parts. Considering a Norwegian student was recently barred entry to the country for having an unflattering photo of the vice president on his phone. I wouldn't blame them if they didn't want to come to America until we reclaim out better nature.
Rounding out the rest of the films I saw this year, we have:
- Suspicion – Not my favorite Hitchcock movie nor my favorite Cary Grant movie, but seeing it in the theater, it was a lot better than I expected.
- Pat and Mike – I love the film. It was a lot of fun. There was no way I could miss Katherine Hepburn kicking a young Charles Bronson's ass.
- Back to the Future – To be honest, I wasn't planning on this. I switched at the last minute. It was my first and only screening in the TCL Chinese Theatre. I was a bit late getting there, and the intro was underway by the time I found a seat. Plus, the end time worked out well and allowed me to get a sandwich afterward and still make it to the Egyptian early for Jaws, my top pick of TCMFF. It's definitely a fun movie, and as it turns out, I think this was my first time seeing the film on the big screen.
- Spirted Away – Like Suspicion and Hitchcock films, Spirited Away is fairly far down my list of Miyazaki films. That said, it's still a great film, and I hadn't seen it in many years. It was very very good.
- To Be or Not to Be – This was my first pick when I switched to Back to the Future, and I was so glad that it made a repeat showing in one of the TBA slots. It did my heart good to see Carole Lombard and Jack Benny goof on and outwit Nazis, something that is proving to be more difficult in real life. I never thought I'd need to deal with Nazis in my lifetime, but here we are.
Guillermo del Toro
I have to admit when it comes to TCMFF, I always place emphasis on seeing films, and not on the other events that are happening in Club TCM. I consider Guillermo del Toro one of the best filmmakers of his generation the lure of seeing him speak in a small venue for the From Across the Pond: Sights & Sounds of the British Film Institute panel was enough to get me out of a dark theater. In the panel, the CEO of the British Film Institute (BFI), Ben Roberts spoke to del Toro about the importance of film restoration and the BFI's archive, the largest collection of American films outside of the US. del Toro was great, funny, and very humble. He said that by contrast film preservation in Mexico was almost nonexistent, and his early films had been lost, though he joked that it wasn't that big a loss. During the interview, occasionally Ben Roberts would steer the conversation toward del Toro's films, he would say something to the effect of we're not here to talk about me, we're here to talk about the BFI. Though toward the end of the panel, del Toro did tell about how when he was planning the production for the stop-motion animated Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio, the producers he spoke to were initially excited about the project. Then when he mentioned he wanted to have it set against the backdrop of Fascist Italy under Mussolini, they backed away. It's like they've never seen a del Toro film, and maybe they hadn't. To me, that's what make his films great. Yes, you could remake The Creature from the Black Lagoon as a modern fantasy romance, as del Toro did with The Shape of Water. Having it set against the backdrop of Cold War politics and the civil rights movement takes it to another level.
During the panel, I was sitting next to a woman I'd met a few times before named Jocelyn. We ended up getting an early dinner at Miceli's afterwards.
A Couple Surprises
It doesn't happen every year, but more often than not, I end up meeting someone at TCMFF I wouldn't have expected. This year it happened twice, though I didn't know it until after the fact on the first one.
- I Meet a Rock Star – On Wednesday I needed to pick up my Media badge at 3:30 before the Going to the TCM Classic Film Festival Facebook group party, which started at 4:00. I was hoping they might open early, so I could get my badge and get to the party early and help with the setup. I got to the Roosevelt at about 3 but they weren't open so I ended up at the poolside bar, talking to Jeremy Arnold one of the regular TCMFF guests and a good-looking blond woman. We got to talking and introduced ourselves. She said that she was kind of rock star, and I replied that I was kind of a rock star too. Now, if you asked me what I do for a living, I'd say I'm a technical editor, but if you asked if I was a good technical editor, I'd say was kind of a rock star, meaning I was kind of a rock star at being a technical editor. Naturally, I assumed that she kind of a rock star at whatever she did for a living. Her name was Emily Haines, and she was kind of a rock star at being kind of a rock star, in the band, Metric, and background/featured vocalist with bands like Delerium and The Crystal Method. Come to think of it, she might of said, she was a rock star and not kind of a rock star.
Well, none of that sunk in when I was sitting there. She was just a woman I was chatting with at the poolside bar on vacation. She had some crutches and when I looked down I could see the tell-tale sign of her having recently had foot surgery. Turns out I was right. She had had foot surgery and had been at the Roosevelt for about a week recovering, not there for TCMFF at all. That should have clued me in to the fact that she was not just a rock star human resources manager or whatever. I finished my beer, so I could pick up my badge. As I was leaving, she said that I would remember this day meeting her, and I agreed. I replied that she would remember meeting me, and she agreed. I think it's only going to be true for one of us. About twenty minutes later, as I was walking up the hill to the Pre-Fest Party, it dawned on me that maybe there was more going on there. I mean who has the kind of money to stay a week at the Roosevelt when they're not doing anything at the Roosevelt. That night when I got back to my room I googled her and sure enough, she was a rock star. When I saw Jeremy a couple days later and he confirmed that was her. Had I known, I would have looked for their CDs at Amoeba. I did know at least a two or three Metric songs including the following:
Nancy Kwan – One of the issues with being in an AirBnB and similar lodging options is that often you only have one key. With my wife coming back up on Sunday afternoon, I decided to skip the mid-day Sunday block of films, so we could have lunch and I could get her the key. We decided to meet at the sushi place across from the Egyptian. I got there a bit early. It's always hard to gauge when someone driving up to LA will show with traffic and all. Since I had extra time, I figured I would pop into Larry Edmunds Bookstore. It turns out the book signing with Nancy Kwan, star of The World of Suzie Wong and Flower Drum Song, was still going on. I knew it was scheduled, but I didn't figure I would get there before it was over. Not only was she still there, there weren't any lines I was able to buy the book, talk to her, and get a picture. I had seen her on The Daily Show about a week earlier. It was great.
Closing Night Party, Swag, and the 60s
I ended up not attending the last film on Sunday night. My choice would have been Heat, but I would have had to leave To Be or Not To Be early to make it, and I wanted to get to the Closing Night Party on time and not miss any of it. It always goes too fast. I still had swag, a few comics and postcards left to give out. I've been doing a weekly series of classic film related comics Reel Gags for two years now. I had printed up about 50 booklets which collected some of my favorites including several based on films being screened. I wanted to get as many of them in the hands of people who worked at TCM as possible.
On the postcards, I had 200 of the Bogart postcards printed and 60 each of three other designs to make sets. On the postcard, I had about 30 left of the Bogart ones, so I went around asking people if they wanted a postcard, and then explaining about the comic as I gave them one. One of the problems, a lot of people looked at it, thought it was a cool picture of Bogart, but then didn't bother to read the gag line. Damn, I miss magazines. Either that or they read it and didn't get it or worse, didn't think it was funny, but that couldn't be the case, right? Right? [sigh]
At about 10, the five host got up onstage and made a toast to another successful TCMFF. Cheers. I had a few drinks, and since I'd given out almost everything, I could just talk to people. When I stepped out into the lobby, I saw that they had set up a spot to have all fives hosts take pictures with attendees. I toyed with doing it, but the line seemed too long, so I didn't think it was worth the trouble. I went back in the party, and when I came out about 20 minutes later. The line only had four or five people in it. I have a feeling they had shut line down, but they let me and one or two others in anyway. When it was my turn, I handed the last two of my comics to Alicia Malone and Dave Karger, the only ones of the hosts that I had missed by that point. All told, I got my comic in the hands of all five TCM hosts, and Charlie Tabish, Genevieve McGillicuddy, and Yacov Freedman, not bad.
Before long, the party was over but I found a table where Theresa Brown, the women from The Talk of the Town screening a couple other die hards were sitting talking and nursing whatever drinks were still leftover from the party. I ended up sitting next to Rachel Boyce, whom I had met several times, but had never really talked to. If you have never met Rachel, she is obsessed with the 1960s. She exclusively wears exclusively vintage 1960s clothing. I find it fascinating that someone who is young enough to have not been alive in the 60s is obsessed with the 60s to the point where it dominates her life.
I ended up sort of low-key grilling her on the 60s. I don't remember the exact words, but it probably went something like this:
Me: Okay, so I know you're into 60s fashion, is it just fashion, or everything 60s?
Rachel: It's pretty much everything.
Me: What about movies? The Graduate, Cool Hand Luke?
Rachel: Definitely.
Me: What about music, the Beatles? The Rolling Stones?
Rachel: Yes.
Me: Let's see, Tommy James and the Shondells, Diana Ross and the Supremes?
Rachel: Oh yeah, all of it.
Me: Is there anything about the 60s you don't like?
Rachel: Hmmm, probably old white people stuff.
Me: You mean like Lawrence Welk?
Rachel: Most definitely.
Me: Okay, I'm totally with you on that one....
Not a bad way to close out TCMFF. I think it was about 2:30 or 3 by the time I decided to call it quits. It was a great TCMFF. I can't wait until next year.
Epilogue
I did want to take one last opportunity to thank everyone who bought pins or postcard sets or drinks or lunch as the case may be. I think I can safely say that I finally broke even on the Asta pins I bought to resell two years ago. I also want to thank TCM for allowing me to attend as Media again this year. I had a great time.
