Monday, June 11, 2007

Movie Alert!

A few months ago there was a flurry of blog postings about movies filmed in Arizona. An obscure, older Arizona film will be on TV this week:

Lust for Gold (1949) with Glenn Ford and Ida Lupino, searching for the Lost Dutchman Mine; filmed along the Apache Trail.

Watch for it on Turner Classic Movies (TCM, Channel 42 on Cox), very early Wednesday morning (3 to 4:30 A.M.). The time is rather inconvenient but that's why God made Tivo. Or VCR's, if you haven't made that technological leap yet.

Tom

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tom

Thanks for the tip, Glenn Ford and Ida Lupino are both favorites of mine. I'll try and catch the flick, but I'll have to do it the old fashion way, ...by staying awake until it comes on. If they had made that movie today, they probably would make it in Romania, or Canada.

As you can probably tell by the time stamp on this comment, 3 am is doable for me.

PS My technological level is still beta.

Mariah Fleming said...

At least your tech know how is beta.
Mine is Smith Corona.

The movie sounds cool, I will try to watch it. Did you guys hear about the film festival that is showing at the Tempe Dollar Cinemas for the next few weeks? Its all independent films, looks real cool.

Later, gators

Tom Wright said...

That movie was a hoot, wasn't it? Ridiculous script, massive historical inaccuracies, hammy acting, racial stereotypes, bad special effects... it had it all! Not to mention the "wrath of God" sequence in which all the schemers, cheaters, and liars get killed off in an earthquake, with the painted carboard boulders bouncing off poor Ida Lupino. And then the climactic fight scene with Gig Young and the corrupt lawman doing battle on the cliffs above Fish Creek Hill, with a metaphor-laden rattlesnake delivering the final judgement. Good actors, but not their finest moments. Nice use of actual locations, too.

Ironically, Ida Lupino did some of her best work in another Arizona-based film: "Junior Bonner," filmed in Prescott in 1972, in which she played the mother of aging rodeo star Steve McQueen and husband of drunken bum Robert Preston. Well worth seeing.

Tom Wright said...

Oops. Make that the WIFE of drunken bum Robert Preston. Unless there was some subtext I didn't quite catch.

Anonymous said...

Tom

I didn't catch "Lust for Gold" Wednesday (I completely forgot), but I did catch "Junior Bonner" this morning in the wee hours (2 or 3 am). Robert Preston was good in that movie. Always good to see ole Dub Taylor also.

Tom Wright said...

Lowell--

I got "Lust for Gold" on videotape. Let me know via private email if you want to borrow it.

Tom