Comments on: TCM Pick O’ The Day: Tuesday, March 31st

By: captaingrumpy

captaingrumpy — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 23:18:08 +0000

These were the days when men were men and actors only repeated what was on their script. Not like today when in hollywood the size of your brain is supposed to belike that of your mouth. Or is it your wallet.
Its a known fact that women can do two things at once. Why do the males of hollywood (Hanks,Penn Sheen etc) try to emulate them.

By: John_McClain

John_McClain — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:48:20 +0000

The original is great. What I got from it was we have nukes and we have space travel so Klatu and the gang had to show up to be the police.

By: ken

ken — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 04:01:08 +0000

"You have not learned the lessons of history. Democracies are appeasers."

By: Yelsew

Yelsew — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 21:15:12 +0000

TCM shows that it will air tonite at 11:00 PM

By: LawhawkSF

LawhawkSF — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:28:25 +0000

PS: I was referring in each instance to the original TDTESS, not the current one, which I haven't seen (and probably won't).

By: LawhawkSF

LawhawkSF — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:21:46 +0000

I've been told my comments are pithy. Except it sounded more like a double s in the middle, rather than a th.

By: YY4U

YY4U — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:15:08 +0000

The "moderation" filter keeps pithy (and often interesting) to a minimum. I miss the "no holds barred" of DHP.

By: Empty

Empty — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:03:03 +0000

Excellent pick, John–The 27th Day is one of my all-time favorites.

The last time TCM aired it was January of 2007 (I taped it on two VCRs because it it is so rarely shown).

TDTESS is overtly anti-war–it is an early example of productions by people disturbed by events of WWII. A great deal of SF (movies, novels and TV) from the fifties and sixties was anti-war, which is not surprising when you consider that much of it was produced by men who had served (often in lower ranks) in that war.

By: Kevin_Webb

Kevin_Webb — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 16:46:00 +0000

This movie is one of the reasons I still cling to my Laserdisc player. Like John said, it is a nice set piece sci-fi that tweaks the traditional formula. Plus the five represent the five world views at the time, so there is some exploration of what makes us different and what we can agree on. A nice, overlooked film that I hope doesn't get remade anytime soon.

By: Jettboy

Jettboy — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:38:21 +0000

I do see the original as anti-War, but I really can't see it as anti-American no matter how left it might be. The alien lands in Washington rather than any other nation. He finds friends in individuals and a good family. The governments of the world disregards him and seek his life. The U.N. proves to be useless. It is pro-scientist (vs. science), but actually somewhat anti-government because it is the people who ultimately have the power to disarm the world against aggression. He fails because the governments have too much power and seek to expand that power by fear and war. Honesty, integrity, hope and faith are dashed by self-serving dictators. It is conservative despite itself.

Conservatives are not pro-War. They are pro-freedom and know war and aggression are a necessary evil against evil. If anything, the movie proved that point by the failure of the alien to peacefully change the world.