TCM will showcase a not-too-shabby lineup of primo films noir this evening beginning at 8pm with Double Indemnity (1944), Mildred Pierce (1945) following at 10, and The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) at midnight. If you’ve never seen any of these movies—get some Jiffy-Pop on the stove and settle in for six hours of cinematic bliss. (And if you have seen them, watch ‘em again—it won’t kill ya, as my friend Elisson is wont to observe.)
But the gem you’re gonna want to power up the recording device for comes on at 2:00am—the 1955 trash classic Shack Out on 101, which I cannot stress the importance of seeing at least once. You get Nightbeat’s Frank Lovejoy as a professor who discusses the U.S. Constitution while making out with hash slinger Terry Moore, and TDOY fave Lee Marvin as Slob…a fry cook who’s really a Commie spy! Add to this appearances by Keenan Wynn, Whit Bissell, Frank “F Troop” DeKova, and Len Lesser (“Uncle Leo!”) and you have a real time capsule of Cold War paranoia that is a must-see movie—Vince Keenan also recommends you have a watch, and if you can’t believe VK…well, I don’t know what the world is coming to.
“The apes have taken over…while we were busy watching television and filling our freezers, they’ve come out of the jungle and moved in!” Words of caution or just gloriously goofy dialogue from a man who also scripted The Falcon Strikes Back (1943) and Boston Blackie’s Rendezvous (1945)? You be the judge.
Thrilling Days of Yesteryear 