With the COVID-19 pandemic forcing the cancellation of in-person fests since 2020, the joy of reuniting with fellow classic film fans was tangible. As film historian Alan K. Rode observed in his introduction to the often-overlooked Western “The Gunfighter” (1950): “This [the TCM Classic Film Festival] isn’t just an event, this isn’t just a festival—it’s life.”
Marquee events included world-premiere restorations of “Giant” (1956), “A Star Is Born” (1937) and “Topkapi” (1964), and “Spartacus” (1960) in a world premiere 70mm print, “Spy Smasher Strikes Back” (1942), billed as a “world-premiere reimagining,” and “I the Jury” (1953) in 3D. Other main attractions were the cast reunions of “Cooley High” (1975), “Diner” (1982) and “A League of Their Own” (1992). Plus, there were appearances from Hollywood A-listers such as Kevin Bacon, Diane Baker, Warren Beatty, Richard Benjamin, director-producer Tony Bill, cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, Jane Fonda, Pam Grier, Tess Harper, Margaret O’Brien, John Sayles, director Michael Schultz, Jane Seymour, producer-director George Stevens Jr., and Steven Spielberg.
On the red carpet for the festival’s opening night, the 40th anniversary screening of “E.T., the Extra-Terrestrial” (1982) at the TCL Chinese IMAX, the otherworldly director revealed a little-known twist: actor Harrison Ford sealed the deal for “E.T.” Spielberg wanted Melissa Mathison, on a roll after her debut effort, “The Black Stallion” (1979), and then dating Ford, to write “E.T.” since Spielberg himself was tied up with other commitments. “I had worked out most of the story, and I needed a writer to write it with me, or write it just based on the story,” Spielberg told Indiewire. “I told her my ‘E.T.’ idea. And she said, ‘I’m not interested in writing anymore. It’s too hard.’ She turned me down.” Then Spielberg asked Ford to intervene. The next day, Mathison told Spielberg, “ ‘OK, you got Harrison so excited about this. What Is it that I missed?’” The rest was history.
Former “E.T.” child stars Drew Barrymore (Gertie) and Henry Thomas (Elliott), previously scheduled to appear at the opening-night event, canceled at the last minute. In the audience were other “E.T.” castmates and crew, such as Dee Wallace (Elliott and Gertie’s mom), former child actors Robert MacNaughton and J.C. Martel and sound designer Ben Burtt (who won an Oscar for his sound-effects editing on “E.T.”).
Other moments that earned spots on the festival’s clip reel:
Adventures in pre-Code paradise: Kicking off the festival’s bounty of films produced before the 1934 enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code, historian-filmmaker Cari Beauchamp called “Jewel Robbery” (1932), with Kay Francis (as a trophy wife) and William Powell (as a debonair thief and seducer), a “personal fave, a movie about a woman torn between two passions—men and jewels.” It ranks right up there, she said, with Ernst Lubitsch films for its risqué dialogue,” citing lines such as “At dawn we shall have a secret behind us” and “I fly about all day pursuing food, jewels, excitement. … In the morning, a cocktail. In the afternoon, a man.”