Sunday, March 1, 2009

TCM: Ronald Reagan Month!

March is Ronald Reagan month on Turner Class Movies!
That means that every Wednesday in March will feature the films of Ronald Reagan.
Here's the list of Reagan films set for viewing every Wednesday on TCM:
Secret Service of the Air, Code of the Secret Service, Smashing the Money Ring, Murder in the Air, The Angels Wash Their Faces, Girls on Probation, Nine Lives Are Not Enough, Accidents Will Happen, Juke Girl, Hell's Kitchen, That Hagen Girl, Night Unto Night, Brother Rat, Brother Rat and a Baby, Tugboat Annie Sails Again, An Angel From Texas, Stallion Road, Going Places Sergeant Murphy, Knute Rockne-All American, Kings Row, The Girl From Jones Beach, John Loves Mary, One for the Book, Dark Victory, Million Dollar Baby, Santa Fe Trail, The Bad Man, Hellcats of the Navy, Desperate Journey, Prisoner of War
That's 30 films in all, spanning three dacades.
Reagan was a loyal contract player at Warner Brothers. He always showed up at the studio on time; he always knew his lines; he took direction well and he starred in some first-rate films. As TCM host Robert Osborne points out, Reagan was a popular movie draw and a fine actor who crafted more than a few memorable charcaters and performances.
Then he went on to star in one of the greatest "second acts" in American history.
Asked by Bob Hope what it felt like to be president, Ronald Reagan replied, "it's not a lot different than being an actor, except I get to write the script." The leading man in that script was similar to many of the screen roles Reagan played during his Hollywood career - decent, optimistic, a bit of a square, a believer in God, family and country. As a recent book of the diaries Reagan kept as president shows, he was ever mindful of the Production Code, avoiding swear words, and writing "hell" as "h__l" and "damn" as "d___".

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