DVR Alert! Monty Clift Day on TCM
Friday, August 19, 2011 at 9:03AM 
Clift's Big LiftIt's been too long since I preached the good news: Montgomery Clift made movies. That's it. Easy holy words to remember. Pass them on. Amen.
Saturday August 20th (tomorrow!) on TCM
6:00 am Raintree County (1957)
His troubled southern epic with bestie (and best co-star) La Liz.
9:00 am Lonelyhearts (1958)
A minor curiousity for a number of reasons (Myrna Loy!) but mostly important for being Maureen Stapleton's debut. She was Oscar nominated as a lonely wife chasing some Monty tail on the side.
11:00 am The Big Lift (1950)
Love this one (pictured left). There's something so relaxed about him here not a quality one tends to associate with his work.
1:00 pm Red River (1948)
Must- see entertaining Howard Hawks western with awesome gay coding and Monty at his all time prettiest. John Wayne don't like pretty!
3:30 pm From Here to Eternity (1953)
1953's Best Picture. A star-powered soap opera in war film's clothing. The star wattage is so bright it's visible across the entire Pacific: Clift, Kerr, Lancaster, Sinatra, Reed.
5:45 pm The Misfits (1961)
Appropriately elegaic given that it's the last film for both Clark Gable and (a fantastic) Marilyn Monroe. Monty is wonderfully broken, too.
8:00 pm A Place in the Sun (1951)
Stone cold classic.
10:15 pm The Heiress (1949)
Olivia de Havilland ♥ Montgomery Clift. But what does Clift ♥ ?
Monty watching himself in The Heiress
12:15 am The Search (1948)
His Oscar-nominated debut performance. That doesn't happen often for male actors but he was an instant sensation at 27.
2:15 am I Confess (1953)
His only Hitchcock. He plays a priest because you know, that buttoned up guilty quality of Clift always added great friction to his übersexiness.
4:00 am The Defector (1966)
His last movie, released just months after his death, in which he plays a physicist mixed up with the shady plans of one Roddy McDowall.
And if I just typed all that up about my all time favorite actor and none of you watch any of them, you deserve all the opening weekends of Conan versus Spy Kids that come your way*.
*That was uncalled for. I apologize. No one deserves that.
Montgomery Clift, Oscars (40s), Oscars (50s)
Reader Comments (26)
I'll forgive you for that last remark, because I too love Montgomery Clift so much. :) The Search is one of my all-time favorites.
Ooh thanks for the heads-up, Nat! There are several of these I've never seen so I just stuffed the DVR with to-do's. The boyfriend's going outta town so maybe I'll just lay around here and pretend Monty's my boyfriend...
"maybe i'll just lay around and pretend Monty's my boyfriend..."
I RECOMMEND IT. it's surprisingly easy to do.
Aren't we all just lonely wives wanting to chase some Monty tail ?
thanks for the head's up, nathaniel! monty is one of my favorites as well. you know, he's buried in brooklyn in prospect park. i still haven't been to see his tombstone. should get on that. i mean, i took a day trip for james dean to fairmont indiana. you think i would take the time to visit monty in the city that i actually live in...
Unfortunately the cemetery that Monty's buried in is closed to the public and you can't see his grave. I've gone and pressed my face to the fence but you can only get in if you've got family buried inside.
Ok, I give in, I give in. *inserting DVD of 'From Here to Eternity' on the DVD player*
I love Montgomery Clift. He doesn't get the credit he deserves sometimes.
Meanwhile, since I've talked about 'Mysteries of Lisbon' here yesterday, I bring you some sad news: RAUL RUIZ passed away last night. May he rest in peace.
Point: Billy
but monty is family. surely that should count...
Montgomery does not fail to depress, and not even because of his tragic death. The first three Monty films I saw were The Heiress, A Place in the Sun and From here to Eternity and his fate was always so depressing. Granted he's no dashing hero in the first two, but in The Heiress in particular I always feel so terrible for him as the movie draws to a close. Is it because I've grown to appreciate Morris? Is it because Monty is too pretty to be turned away? Damned if I know, that movie's end just leaves me depressed.
(Conversely, though, I'll always love him just a bit more because he was the reason that Katharine Hepburn spat in Joseph Mankiewicz's eye. And that sort of trivia is too good to make up.)
SQUEEE thanks for the heads up! Now to find space on the DVR...
No DVR, but I'll try to watch some of these. Montgomery Clift forever! "From Here to Eternity" is one of my favorite films. I've never seen "A Place in the Sun." Might try to see that one. Olivia de Havilland was wicked in "The Heiress." Everyone should see that film once in their lives. I've heard 'The Misfits" is a weird film. But Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable? Interesting. Haven't heard of the rest. "Raintree Country" sounds like something good. And La Liz is a major selling point. What is "The Search" about?
Nelson -- if you only pick one A PLACE IN THE SUN. It's so breathtaking. one of my fav films of all time.
THE SEARCH is about a soldier (Clift) trying to find a lost boy's mother in post war Berlin. and trivia: Clift supposedly rewrote most of the screenplay. the arrogance of youth, i guess ;)
The line "John Wayne don't like pretty" made me laugh. Can you believe that Wayne still polls in the top ten of America's favorite stars? He's the only old-time movie star that does. If somehow America got a brain transplant and picked Montgomery Clift instead, I'm pretty sure we'd be living in a much better country. A trouble-free paradise, in fact.
Monty is a chiseled face God.
His face was almost as beautiful as his performances. I don't think I've ever had a reaction to a movie as strongly as when I was a kid watching A Place In The Sun. It was like watching a pair of Renaissance sculptures interact with each other.
But on a frivolous note marry, fuck, kill Monty, Paul Newman, and Streetcar-era Marlon Brando?
TB... so true (the sculpture comment)
I remember seeing A Place In The Sun when I was a teenager. I really think it shows what charisma and chemistry are all about. People talk about these qualities all the time, but they can't really explain it. All you have to do is watch this movie. The most electrifying scenes are in extreme close-up with just parts of Liz's & Monty's faces.
From Here To Eternity, Red River, and The Heiress are all "A level" productions. You can't go wrong with any of them. Monty and his sidekick are adorable in The Search.
Personally I'm very excited about I Confess. I've never seen it, and honestly barely new it existed. Thanks for the info!
Yay! Love "I confess". Always fun to watch it as a double bill with Robert Lepage's "Le Confessional". C'est Parfait, n'est ce pas.
I'm really glad you posted this. A Place in the Sun has been unavailable on Netflix for quite some time, and I still haven't seen it, so I'm going to catch it now, come hell or high water.
I heard that Clift was great in Judgment at Nuremberg too. That doesn't seem to ever play on TCM. It would have been nice to finally see that.
Thanks for the heads up about the marathon! Such a gorgeous, tragic man.
I guess this is what is called fanboyism, but he was literally one of a kind. I've never found, then or now, any other actor that could transmit as much as he did with his eyes. I'd love to welcome a successor, but even though I love Javier, the Gosling, Fassbender...putting them together in a sentence seems inappropriate.
*grumble* TCM in Australia would never do something as good as this. I've seen all of the above except The Big Lift and The Defector. The only one I'd skip would be I Confess, and Lonelyhearts is more interesting for Maureen than Monty. But: Red River, A Place in the Sun, The Heiress and From Here to Eternity are all must sees and The Search is pretty affecting too.
Steve -- i've seen most of them too so i'm dvr'ing the ones i haven't since they're both on after my bedtime (DEFECTOR, and THE SEARCH. yes, weirdly i've never seen the first oscar nom)
The most beautiful actor that ever existed in any era.