Our Trip to the TCMFF 2024–Part 3

Previous Coverage:

Our Trip to the TCMFF 2024–Part 4

Our Trip to the TCMFF 2024–Part 3

Our Trip to the TCMFF 2024–Part 2

Our Trip to the TCMFF 2024–Part 1

TCMFF 2024: It’s a Wrap!

TCMFF 2024: Updates From the Field

Saturday, April 20, 2024

I feel like I’m really milking my trip to this year’s TCMFF, but I’m almost done, so here goes. Saturday at the film festival was the single most important day of the festival as it contained my most important screening– The Long, Long Trailer (1954). This is my absolute favorite film of all time. I have seen it at least a hundred times, no exaggeration. However, I have never seen it in the theater! I was ready to rent a theater in Portland, OR just so I could see my favorite film in the theater. Thank you, TCM for showing my movie. I didn’t have to rent a theater. Even better, The Long, Long Trailer was screened in 35mm.

My husband and I woke up at 6am Saturday morning so we could hoof it down to the multiplex for the 9am screening. It figures that it would be the early morning screening in the smallest theater–though maybe this was a blessing as it allowed us to get up early to guarantee entrance into the theater. As a superfan of The Long, Long Trailer, my goal was to be #1. I am happy to say that I succeeded. We were in line at about 7:15am. Hilariously enough, at around 7:30am this other lady and her husband showed up, because she wanted to be #1 because she was also a huge fan of the film. Ha ha. She had to settle for #3.

The Long, Long Trailer screening was everything I’d hoped it could be. Ben Mankiewicz was great in his introduction, though frankly, I could have done a better job discussing it than the guest–Kate Micucci, who admitted that she hadn’t even seen the film since she was 8 years old! Please! Ben and I could have discussed how six different characters wore the same blue jacket in the film. We could have discussed how hilarious Marjorie Main is. We could have laughed at my favorite part: Lucy falling out of the trailer into the mud. We could have wondered why Lucy insisted that processed, canned parmesan cheese was the superior choice for a Caesar salad. Such a lost opportunity. LOL.

After The Long, Long Trailer, we were at a quandary as to what to see next. My choices were She Done Him Wrong (1933) with Mario Cantone introducing, or The Big Heat (1953) with Dana Delany introducing. We opted for the latter, as the Mae West pre-code already looked like a lost cause. We’re happy we did as The Big Heat line was crazy! It was being screened in #6 in the multiplex and the line looked insanely long. There was also an equally long line on the other side of the hallway, for A Little Romance (1979) screening in #1 with Diane Lane introducing. When the queue numbers were handed out for The Big Heat, we were actually surprised that we were only #86 and #87. I thought for sure we would be shut out. But no, we got in. When we first entered the theater, they wanted to guide us to seats in the front; but then the staff asked if we’d rather sit in the back as there were open seats. Yes! The back please!

The Big Heat ended up being an awesome screening. Dana Delany is a Gloria Grahame superfan, so she and Eddie Muller had a great conversation about Gloria and the film. I personally was super excited that I didn’t have to sit at the front of the theater. After that screening, my husband and I hoofed it down to the Egyptian Theater to see The Mad Miss Manton, with my fave Barbara Stanwyck.

Donald Bogle was on-hand to introduce the film. He had a fantastic introduction, focused mostly on Hattie McDaniel, who appears in the film as Stanwyck’s maid. Bogle was excellent and I hope he will continue to be invited by TCM to discuss film both at the festival and on the channel. The Mad Miss Manton wasn’t without drama however. Less than five minutes into the film, the 35mm film in the projector broke! I saw Charles Tabesh (Senior VP of Programming at TCM) jump up and head to the projection booth. I heard the woman next to him (his wife, presumably) say that she had tape. About 15-20 minutes later, the film was repaired and it was screened.

After The Mad Miss Manton, we headed back to the multiplex. This was a difficult choice for my husband and I as we wanted to see Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman introduce The Shawshank Redemption at Grauman’s; but ultimately we decided to go see the Back from the Ink: Restored Animated Shorts presentation, introduced by Seth MacFarland and Jacqueline Stewart. MacFarlane’s foundation provided the funding and support for the restoration project. He stated that Martin Scorsese, who runs his Film Foundation which also restores films, said that everything should be restored. Not just what is considered “the best.” I wholeheartedly agree. Who determines what “the best” is? My husband is a huge animation fan. Originally he was set on seeing Robbins and Freeman, but changed his mind when the full schedule was released and he saw the animation presentation. Ultimately, I think this was the right choice as I heard that the ‘Shawshank’ screening was a madhouse. The animation presentation was full (though I don’t know if it was sold-out) and it was delightful. We saw nine restored shorts from the Flesicher studios. The first short was silent and accompanist Ben Model was on-hand to accompany the short.

Because our Saturday started so early, we were looking for one more film to close out the evening, as we probably weren’t going to make it to the 10:00pm screenings. My husband also had a headache, but I talked him into going to the 8:00pm screening of Footloose at the pool. We made it over to the pool during Dave Karger’s interview with Dean Pitchford, songwriter of all the music in Footloose. I was happy to see that this poolside wasn’t nearly as packed as Clue was and we were able to find a seat easily without having to engage in cutthroat guarding of seats.

I got a sparkling wine at the bar and a water for my husband and asked the bartender if they had any Advil or something on-hand. He was hesitant at first and was going to refer me to the front desk at the hotel; but ultimately he hooked me up with some Advil after I promised him that my husband wouldn’t have any adverse effects. Shout out to the Tropicana pool bartender. He was awesome. Eventually, my husband and I ended up ordering food at the pool. He got a turkey club sandwich and I got chicken tacos and both were delicious.

Footloose poolside turned out to be the perfect way to close out our Saturday. We had great food. The vibe was relaxed and fun. Plus Footloose was playing, one of my favorite films. The only way that it could have been better is if Kevin Bacon had busted in and screamed “Let’s dance!”