Ah, those old people again

So tonight we get the third night of the TCM Spotlight looking at the elderly. Some of the "elderly" aren't quite so old, as in Ride the High Country at 8:00 PM, in which protagonist Joel McCrea was only in his late 50s; to be fair, antagonist Randolph Scott was seven years older.

One of the more famous older actors would have to be George Burns, who got a second career when he did the supporting role in The Sunshine Boys, airing at 2:00 AM. It was his first film in three dozen years, although he had done a lot of radio and television up until his wife Gracie Allen's death in 1964. One thing I didn't know about the movie before is that Burns wasn't supposed to get the role. Originally, it was supposed to go to Jack Benny, who even did a screen test. But Benny was diagnosed with terminal cancer before shooting could begin, which necessitated finding somebody else to take the part. Enter 79-year-old Burns.

The Sunshine Boys will be followed at 4:15 AM by another Burns movie, Going in Style. Burns was about five years older than co-star Lee Strasberg, who played one of Burns' elderly roommates; Burns' other elderly roommate was played by a man 20 years younger than him, Art Carney. Both movies are well worth watching if you haven't seen them before.