Angie Dickinson has fairly a number of tales about her star-making function in Howard Hawks’ “Rio Bravo,” that she is able to regale audiences with on the TCM Classic Film Festival on Thursday in Hollywood.
She was 27 when she performed Feathers, the quick-witted and strong-willed widow who stole scenes from the likes of John Wayne with traces like “Hey Sheriff, you forgot your pants.” And within the 64 years since “Rio Bravo” debuted, she has not uninterested in it within the least.
“I could watch it once a week,” Dickinson stated from her residence in Los Angeles. “It’s a delicious movie.”
But earlier than she sits right down to revisit certainly one of her most treasured roles, the sharp, humorous 91-year-old cinema legend has one little downside: She hasn’t but determined what to put on for her chat with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz.
“I could talk about ‘Rio Bravo’ forever, but that’s not the problem,” she stated. “The problem is getting all done up and finding a nice outfit for it. That’s not easy.”
Dickinson counts getting forged as Feathers because the happiest second in her profession and “one of the best memories of my life.” Though she was intimidated to share the display screen with Wayne, a film star and her political reverse, they bought alongside effectively, and he put her relaxed.
“He was so generous. He would just lean on that rifle and he never, ever showed any impatience,” she stated. “For all the scenes, especially the big one where I cry at the end for him, he just was as helpful as he could be by just being patient.”
Hawks was a special story, however she favored “most” of the expertise of working with him.
“He wasn’t a man of words,” she stated.
Her life didn’t change instantly when the movie got here out, nonetheless.
“It came out rather quietly. Not much hoopla about it,” Dickinson stated. “I remember one of my closest friends, she was kind of a mentor and we played poker every Saturday night. She said, ‘I saw your film.’ That was it. I think she was not impressed. It’s like ‘thanks a lot.’ But it worked out OK. Because of television it lives on.”
Dickinson retired from performing over a decade in the past and hasn’t been tempted to come back again. She additionally stated nobody has been knocking at her door both.
“I couldn’t do those long hours, you know?” she stated. But she’s additionally leaving the door open for potentialities: “Now watch me take a movie next week.”
Mankiewicz, who has interviewed her many occasions through the years, loves speaking to Dickinson, who’s each filled with tales and admirably protecting of the folks she was near. She famously declined a writer’s request to write down a dishier memoir, however she’ll additionally nonetheless play the sport with a self-deprecating wink.
“Right away you know there’s authenticity to her. She’s just herself in every way,” Mankiewicz stated. “It’s very refreshing. You feel like you’re having a conversation.”
The “Rio Bravo” screening and dialogue marks the world premiere of a brand new 4K restoration of the movie, achieved in partnership with Martin Scorsese’s The Film Foundation and as a part of the a hundredth anniversary of Warner Bros. Steven Spielberg and Paul Thomas Anderson are additionally planning to take the stage as a part of the celebration.
Pola Changnon, TCM’s basic supervisor, stated that over the previous yr they labored alongside the Film Foundation and Warner Bros. to establish 10 titles within the studio’s huge library to both restore or improve to be proven on the competition.
Events on Friday alone embody a screening of “Risky Business” with Rebecca De Mornay, “Groundhog Day” with Stephen Tobolowsky and “American Graffiti” with Candy Clark and Richard Dreyfuss. Also on Friday, Steven Soderbergh will introduce his remake of “Ocean’s Eleven,” one of many movies programmed below the tantalizingly provocative class “Better than the Original?” that’s certain to encourage debate amongst movie followers. On Saturday, William Friedkin will take part in a dialogue after a screening of “The Exorcist” on the TCL Chinese IMAX, whereas poolside on the historic Roosevelt Hotel, Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole will discuss “A Mighty Wind.”
Other stars planning to attend the competition embody Ann-Margret (for “Bye Bye Birdie”), Shirley Jones (for “The Music Man”), Frankie Avalon (for “Beach Party”) and Edward James Olmos (for “Stand and Deliver”). Tributes are additionally being held for Oscar-winning manufacturing designer Patrizia von Brandenstein (“Amadeus”) and actor Russ Tamblyn (“Peyton Place”), whereas movie historian Donald Bogle, who put a highlight on Black artists working in cinema, is getting the Robert Osborne award.
The competition will shut Sunday with a full day of flicks, together with “The Big Chill,” with Lawrence Kasdan, Tom Berenger and JoBeth Williams main a chat earlier than.
“I say it every year but it’s an embarrassment of riches,” Changnon stated. “It’s a hundred events across four days. I don’t think there’s any experience like it.”
For Mankiewicz, the true deal with of the competition, is seeing TCM followers join with each other in particular person.
“There’s no channel like us, where people’s identification is with the channel. People’s social media pages are like ‘lawyer, mother, wife, TCM fan.’ No one says that about Showtime,” he laughed. “At the festival, it’s a community who wants to sit around and talk about movies. If you’re a movie fan, I can’t imagine how to spend a better four days.”
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