Angie Dickinson is (almost) ready for TCM’s Film Festival

Angie Dickinson has fairly just a few tales about her star-making function in Howard Hawks’ “Rio Bravo,” that she is able to regale audiences with on the TCM Basic Movie Pageant 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 bored with it within the least.

“I might watch it as soon as every week,” Dickinson stated from her residence in Los Angeles. “It’s a scrumptious film.”

However earlier than she sits all the way down to revisit one in every of her most treasured roles, the sharp, humorous 91-year-old cinema legend has one little drawback: She hasn’t but determined what to put on for her chat with TCM host Ben Mankiewicz.

“I might speak about ‘Rio Bravo’ eternally, however that’s not the issue,” she stated. “The issue is getting all carried out up and discovering a pleasant outfit for it. That’s not simple.”

Dickinson counts getting forged as Feathers because the happiest second in her profession and “top-of-the-line recollections of my life.” Although she was intimidated to share the display screen with Wayne, a film star and her political reverse, they obtained alongside properly, and he put her comfy.

“He was so beneficiant. He would simply lean on that rifle and he by no means, ever confirmed any impatience,” she stated. “For all of the scenes, particularly the massive one the place I cry on the finish for him, he simply was as useful as he could possibly be by simply being affected person.”

Hawks was a special story, however she appreciated “most” of the expertise of working with him.

“He wasn’t a person of phrases,” she stated.

Her life didn’t change instantly when the movie got here out, nevertheless.

“It got here out slightly quietly. Not a lot hoopla about it,” Dickinson stated. “I bear in mind one in every of my closest associates, she was type of a mentor and we performed poker each Saturday night time. She stated, ‘I noticed your movie.’ That was it. I feel she was not impressed. It’s like ‘thanks quite a bit.’ But it surely labored out OK. Due to tv it lives on.”

Dickinson retired from appearing 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 these lengthy hours, you realize?” she stated. However she’s additionally leaving the door open for potentialities: “Now watch me take a film subsequent week.”

Mankiewicz, who has interviewed her many instances over time, 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.

“Straight away you realize there’s authenticity to her. She’s simply herself in each manner,” Mankiewicz stated. “It’s very refreshing. You are feeling such as you’re having a dialog.”

The “Rio Bravo” screening and dialogue marks the world premiere of a brand new 4K restoration of the movie, carried out in partnership with Martin Scorsese’s The Movie Basis and as a part of the one centesimal 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 Movie Basis and Warner Bros. to establish 10 titles within the studio’s huge library to both restore or improve to be proven on the competition.

Occasions on Friday alone embody a screening of “Dangerous Enterprise” with Rebecca De Mornay, “Groundhog Day” with Stephen Tobolowsky and “American Graffiti” with Sweet Clark and Richard Dreyfuss. Additionally on Friday, Steven Soderbergh will introduce his remake of “Ocean’s Eleven,” one of many movies programmed underneath the tantalizingly provocative class “Higher than the Authentic?” that’s positive 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 language IMAX, whereas poolside on the historic Roosevelt Lodge, Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole will speak about “A Mighty Wind.”

Different stars planning to attend the competition embody Ann-Margret (for “Bye Bye Birdie”), Shirley Jones (for “The Music Man”), Frankie Avalon (for “Seashore Occasion”) and Edward James Olmos (for “Stand and Ship”). 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 films, together with “The Massive Chill,” with Lawrence Kasdan, Tom Berenger and JoBeth Williams main a chat earlier than.

“I say it yearly but it surely’s a humiliation of riches,” Changnon stated. “It’s 100 occasions throughout 4 days. I don’t assume there’s any expertise prefer it.”

For Mankiewicz, the actual deal with of the competition, is seeing TCM followers join with each other in individual.

“There’s no channel like us, the place folks’s identification is with the channel. Folks’s social media pages are like ‘lawyer, mom, spouse, TCM fan.’ Nobody says that about Showtime,” he laughed. “On the competition, it’s a neighborhood who desires to sit down round and speak about films. In the event you’re a film fan, I can’t think about how you can spend a greater 4 days.”

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Observe AP Movie Author Lindsey Bahr: www.twitter.com/ldbahr.