Sullivan’s Travels

on TV – Preston Sturges’ comedy masterworks

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Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea in SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS
Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea in SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS

On May 9, Turner Classic Movies will be presenting the best work of Preston Sturges, the first workaday Hollywood screenwriter to transition into a major writer-director. TCM will be screening The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, Sullivan’s Travels, Hail the Conquering Hero and The Great McGinty, an impressive body of work that Sturges churned out between the ages of 42 and 46. Unfortunately, his turbulent personality led to conflict in his business affairs, which exacerbated his drinking. He burned out and was dead at age 60, but he left behind some of the very, very smartest and funniest movie comedies.

Preston Sturges’ masterpiece is Sullivan’s Travels, a fast-paced and cynical comedy about a pretentious movie director who goes on the road to be inspired by The Average Man – and gets more of an adventure than he expects. There has never been a better movie about Hollywood. (See the clip below.) It’s on my A Classic American Movie Primer – 5 to Start With.

And don’t miss the brilliantly funny Hail the Conquering Hero.  It’s one of Preston Sturges’ less well known great comedies.  Eddie Bracken plays a would-be soldier discharged for hay fever – but his hometown mistakenly thinks that he is being sent home a war hero.  Hilarity ensues.  All the funnier when you realize that this film was made in 1944 amid our nation’s most culturally patriotic period.

Eddie Bracken surrounded by his new Marine pals in HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO.

Movies to See Right Now

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Julian Dennison and Sam Neill in HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE
Julian Dennison and Sam Neill in HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE

The Movie Gourmet has been very quiet of late because I’m dealing with a major home remodel and a temporary move, as well as the demands of my day job, which seem to increase during even-numbered years. But I’ll be back in full force by mid-September, just in time for the big prestige movies of 2016. In the meantime:

  • Really liked the New Zealand teen-geezer adventure dramedy Hunt for the Wilderpeople.
  • Florence Foster Jenkins is not just a one-joke movie about a bad singer – it’s a love story about trying to protect the one that you love.
  • I found the documentary about Burt Reynolds and his stuntman/director Hal Needham, The Bandit, very enjoyable; it’s playing on CMT.
  • Woody Allen’s love triangle comedy Cafe Society is a well-made and entertaining diversion, but hardly a Must See.
  • I haven’t seen them yet, but readers with really good taste have recommended Captain Fantastic and Hell or High Water.

On September 1, Turner Classic Movies will be presenting the best work of Preston Sturges, the first workaday Hollywood screenwriter to transition into a major writer-director. TCM will be screening The Lady Eve, Sullivan’s Travels, Hail the Conquering Hero! and The Great McGinty, an impressive body of work that Sturges churned out between the ages of 42 and 46. Unfortunately, his turbulent personality led to conflict in his business affairs, which exacerbated his drinking. He burned out and was dead at age 60, but he left behind some of the very, very smartest and funniest movie comedies.

Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea in SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS
Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea in SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS

Movies to See Right Now

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Michael Caine in YOUTH
Michael Caine in YOUTH

This week I’ve got sixteen movie recommendations, beginning with six on my list of Best Movies of 2015.

  • Mustang, about exuberant Turkish teenage girls challenging traditional repression.
  • Creed, the newest and entirely fresh chapter in the Rocky franchise; it’s about the internal struggle of three people, not just The Big Fight.
  • The Irish romantic drama Brooklyn is an audience-pleaser with a superb performance by Saoirse Ronan.
  • Youth, a glorious cinematic meditation on life with Michael Caine.
  • Spotlight – a riveting, edge-of-your-seat drama with some especially compelling performances.
  • The Big Short – a supremely entertaining thriller – both funny and anger-provoking.

Here are ten more choices. There’s something for everyone.

    • Legend – a true-life story and the best crime drama of 2015. Tom Hardy plays both gangster twin brothers.
    • Carol – a vividly told tale of forbidden love.
    • Very Semi-Serious – a Must See documentary if you love the cartoons in The New Yorker. It’s showing on HBO.
    • Macbeth – an excellent new version of Shakespeare’s exploration of ambition. Michael Fassbender and Marion Cotillard star.
    • Hitchcock/Truffaut – a Must See for serious movie fans, this insightful documentary probes documentary Alfred Hitchcock’s body of work.
    • Chi-Raq: Spike Lee’s plea for inner city peace with justice, AND it’s a sex comedy.
    • Bridge of Spies – Steven Spielberg’s Cold War espionage thriller with Tom Hanks, featuring a fantastic performance by Mark Rylance.
    • Trumbo – the historical drama that reflects on the personal cost of principles.
    • Don Verdean – a dark satire on the faux scientists embraced by the Christian Right.
    • Spectre – action and vengeance from a determined James Bond.

I’m not a fan of Joy or The Danish Girl.

MUSTANG
MUSTANG

This week, you can set your DVR for two classic film noir classics on January 9. The 1962 Cape Fear features Robert Mitchum at his most menacing. Kiss of Death includes Richard Widmark’s breakthrough performance as psychopath Tommy Udo.

On January 11, Turner Classic Movies will present Sullivan’s Travels (1941). The great Preston Sturges created this fast-paced and cynical comedy about a pretentious movie director who goes out to be inspired by The Average Man – and gets more of an adventure than he expects. There has never been a better movie about Hollywood. It’s on my A Classic American Movie Primer – 5 to Start With.

Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea in SULLIVAN'S TRAVELS
Veronica Lake and Joel McCrea in SULLIVAN’S TRAVELS

Movies to See Right Now

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Rumsfeld: unruffled by the Errol Morris documentary treatmentThe Unknown Known, master documentarian Errol Morris’ exploration of Donald Rumsfeld’s self-certainty, opens widely today. It’s a Must See for those who follow current events.

You can still find Jake Gyllenhaal’s brilliant performance in two roles in the psychological thriller Enemy. Like all Wes Anderson movies, The Grand Budapest Hotel is wry and imaginative, but it’s not one of his most engaging. Dom Hemingway is a fun and profane romp.

My DVD/Stream of the Week is the well-paced, well-acted and intelligent sci-fi adventure fable The Hunger Games: Catching Fire with Jennifer Lawrence. HG: Catching Fire is available on DVD from Netflix and Redbox and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube, Google Play and Xbox Video.

Tune up your TiVo – this is a particularly strong week for Turner Classic Movies.  There are two of the best comedies of all time – My Man Godfrey and Sullivan’s Travels.   An essential element in film noir is a guy’s lust for a Bad Girl driving him to a Bad Decision, and when John Garfield first sees Lana Turner in The Postman Always Rings Twice, you can tell that he’s hooked.  And there’s that guilty pleasure, Shaft; it’s not a good movie, but it always makes me wish that I had my own theme song.

John Garfield's first look at Lana Turner in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE
John Garfield’s first look at Lana Turner in THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE

Coming up on TV: Sturges classics

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William Demarest and fellow Marines comfort Eddie Bracken in HAIL THE CONQUERING HERO

On June 30, Turner Classic Movies is broadcasting six classic comedies by the great writer-director Preston Sturges.  Sturges’ masterpiece, of course, is Sullivan’s Travels, a fast-paced and cynical comedy about a pretentious movie director who goes out on the road to be inspired by The Average Man – and gets more of an adventure than he expects.

The brilliantly funny Hail the Conquering Hero is one of Sturges’ less well-known great comedies.  Eddie Bracken plays a would-be soldier discharged for hay fever – but his hometown mistakenly thinks that he is sent home a war hero.  Hilarity ensues.  All the funnier when you realize that this film was made in 1944 amid our nation’s most culturally patriotic period.

TCM’s other Sturges choices are thigh slappers, too: The Lady Eve, The Palm Beach Story, The Great McGinty and Christmas in July.

Here’s a snippet from Sullivan’s Travels.

5 Classic American Movies to Start With

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All About Eve: "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!"

My sister-in-law just asked me a great question:  name five movies that will introduce a high school student to classic American films.  (Even more interesting, the student is here on an exchange program from Europe.)   So I came up with a list in just a few minutes: a drama, a comedy, a Western, a suspense thriller and a film noir:

All About Eve

The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Strangers on a Train

Double Indemnity

Sullivan’s Travels

If you see these five movies, you will be introduced to directors John Ford, Billy Wilder, Alfred Hitchcock, Joseph L. Mankiewicz and Preston Sturges, plus movie stars John Wayne, James Stewart, Barbara Stanwyck, Bette Davis, Marilyn Monroe, Edward G. Robinson, Lee Marvin, George Sanders, Joel McRae and Veronica Lake – not a bad intro.

To see descriptions along with trailers or clips, go to A Classic American Movie Primer – 5 to Start With.