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Greg in Hollywood recaps 2019 TCM Classic Film Festival: Kurt Russell, Angie Dickinson, Louis Gossett Jr. & more!
The TCM Classic Film Festival never fails to be rich, epic and legendary and the 2019 edition was no exception.
I have now attended 10 consecutive years.
My festival started with Bogie and Bacall in Dark Passage on Thursday night and by Sunday evening I had seen more than a dozen films and such stars as Kurt Russell, Angle Dickinson, Louis Gossett Jr., Burt Bacharach, Mario Cantone, Jennifer Grant, Ron Perlman, Diane Baker, director John Carpenter, and most wonderfully, 92-year-old actress Barbara Rush, among others.
It is absolute film lovers heaven to make your way from Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, the Egyptian Theatre, The Legion Theatre at Post 43, and back again for screening and to drop by then Roosevelt Hotel for a Q&A or a poolside screening.
There’s a reason why people come from all around the U.S. to attend this festival each year held in the heart of Hollywood. With over 100 events over four days, the Festival offers something for every movie lovers taste and it’s impossible to catch everything. You just have to go with your heart or your mood on that day. These are classics so you can’t really be disappointed!
I think I chose well this year.
Among the highlights:
Jennifer Grant, the daughter of Cary Grant and Dyan Cannon, was completely charming at the Egyptian Theatre where she discussed her father’s film My Favorite Wife with a hilarious Mario Cantone. The festival included another Cary Grant movie , Holiday, in which he starred in with Katharine Hepburn with whom he also appeared in Bringing Up Baby and The Philadelphia Story. Ron Perlman and Diane Baker were on hand to talk about Holiday.
Before the screening of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid — a film which I had somehow managed to have never seen in its entirety — Burt Bacharach appeared and shared many stories about writing the film’s score and the classic song Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.
Actress Barbara Rush, 92, was the star-attraction for the screening of Magnificent Obsession in which she co-starred with Rock Hudson and Jane Wyman … and the great Agnes Moorehead. Rush is a great storyteller and the last surviving cast member. She posed for photos after the screening with as many fans who wanted them.
Oscar-winning actor April 14: Louis Gossett Jr. prepares to take the stage to talk about “A Raisin in the Sun” in which he has a memorable scene Oscar winner Louis Gossett Jr. leaves the Egyptian Theatre to an appreciative ovation
Sleepless in Seattle executive producer Lynda Obst has some wonderful stories about the late writer-director Nora Efron who helmed the Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan romantic comedy. Composer Mark Shaiman was also on hand to talk about his Oscar-nominated score for the film.
TCM host Dave Karger introduced one of my all-time favorite movies, Steel Magnolias, which is impossible to see too many times. And what a treat to have Karger Interview screenwriter Robert Harling whose sister is the basis for Julia Roberts’s character. He also plays the preacher in the film.
I literally got the last available seat for the absolutely packed screening of Escape from New York. The energy and excitement in the room was absolutely palpable due too the presence of director John Carpenter and star Kurt Russell who spoke with Karger in a Q&A.
And finally, I was so tickled that we got to see Angie Dickinson before the screening of her film The Killers which also starred Ronald Reagan in his last role. Miss Dickinson has plenty of stories and so much charm. I’ve seen her at previous editions of the festival with some of her other films and she is a huge crowd favorite.
Can’t wait for next year to make it 11 in a row!
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