Ben McKenzie as TCM Guest Programmer, film previews

By April MacIntyre Jan 4, 2011, 16:28 GMT

McKenzie, who stars in Southland, coming Jan. 4 on TNT, is set to join TCM host Robert Osborne to present a night of four favorite films.

Southland’’s Ben McKenzie will intro four of his favorite movies as TCM’s guest programmer for January 2011.

McKenzie, who stars in Southland, coming Jan. 4 on TNT, is set to join TCM host Robert Osborne to present a night of four favorite films. 

The thriller Badlands (1973) is “sad, funny, creepy and very strange,” while the rugby drama This Sporting Life (1963) is “tough as nails,” according to actor Ben McKenzie, who is coming to Turner Classic Movies (TCM) Wednesday, Jan. 19, as the network’s latest guest.

Also on the night’s schedule are the Marx Brothers classic Duck Soup (1933) and David Lean’s Oscar®-winning war drama The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957).

In his sit-down with Osborne, McKenzie talks about how he picked the four films.  “I didn’t want to do completely hard-edged drama.  I wanted to provide some lighter notes and not stick to one particular decade or style.  It was hard work, but it was fun.”  McKenzie also reveals the actors he personally admires, how he keeps his privacy in a tabloid-driven society and what it’s like making TNT’s Southland, “a show that doesn’t offer any easy answers.”

Prior to co-starring in TNT’s Southland as Officer Ben Sherman, a rookie cop on the LAPD, McKenzie played the lead in the popular young-adult drama The O.C.  He also co-starred in the critically acclaimed independent ensemble drama Junebug and the thriller 88 Minutes, and he received praise for his solo turn in the independent film Johnny Got His Gun, based on a novel by Dalton Trumbo.

Wednesday, Jan. 19 (all times eastern)
8 p.m.    Badlands (1973) – Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek star in this cult favorite that marked Terrence Malick’s feature directing debut.  The story is inspired by the notorious Starkweather-Fugate killing spree from the 1950s.  Warren Oates co-stars.
McKenzie:    “This is one of my favorite films of all time…and one of the reasons I became an actor.  Terrence Malick is such a brilliant director who incorporates so many elements in his films, like the divide between human nature and society.  The film, on a broader level, made me appreciate how film can be a truly artistic medium.”

10 p.m.    This Sporting Life (1963) – Richard Harris plays a Yorkshire coal miner who trades in his pickaxe for a rugby ball in this powerful drama directed by Lindsay Anderson and written by David Storey.  Rachel Roberts co-stars, along with Glenda Jackson in her film debut.
McKenzie:    “I read the book first.  The movie is very faithful to the book since David Storey adapted his own novel.  I’ve always been a fan of sports movies and sports in general.  Sports can be such a powerful metaphor for so many things.  As sports movies go, most are wrapped in sentimentality, but this movie couldn’t be farther from that.”

12:30 a.m.    Duck Soup (1933) – One of the Marx Brothers zaniest and funniest outings, this comedy casts Groucho as Prime Minister of the tiny kingdom of Freedonia, which has declared war on its neighbor for no good reason.  Among the most memorable sequences is the famous mirror gag.
McKenzie:    “In Duck Soup, everything is on the table.  They make fun of absolutely everything, from the establishment to government to war.  The slapstick stuff is really precise, and there’s no cutting within scenes.  And while the slapstick stuff is great, Groucho is my favorite of the Marx Brothers because of his incredible wordplay.”

2 a.m.    The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957) – One of the most acclaimed films of all time, this David Lean epic stars tells the story of a group of British and American prisoners of war forced by their captors to build a bridge that will link Japanese supply lines.  Alec Guinness earned an Oscar® for his performance as a by-the-book British officer.  The film co-stars William Holden, Jack Hawkins and Sessue Hayakawa.
McKenzie:    “I saw this film when I was very young.  It may have even been on TCM.  At the time, I don’t think I completely understood all the subtleties of the film.  I was drawn into it because it was so exotic.  You feel as if you are in the jungle with them, being tortured by the Japanese.”