Apparently TCM was well aware that no one would be watching at 6 AM, and so they programmed accordingly. Instead of showing Billy Liar, Christie's next (star-making) film, they jumped ahead a couple years and showed Young Cassidy. Christie's only got a few minutes of screen time so I'll keep this short, even though it's a perfectly adequate film.
Directed by Oscar-winning cinematographer Jack Cardiff, after John Ford got ill three weeks into shooting, Young Cassidy is based on the early years of Irish playwright Sean O'Casey. Here he's John Cassidy, played very well by Rod Taylor. Christie is a local prostitute/Cassidy's friend.
The film's structure is extremely loose, and it takes a long time for everything to get going. Cassidy seems like just a normal laborer, ready to fight for Irish independence. He occasionally throws out lines, like "I'm very clever with words" so that we know he's smart, but we never really see it until BAM all of a sudden he's writing.
Maggie Smith is good as Cassidy's love interest, but nothing special. No one else does anything very interesting.
Christie, though, with her 2 scenes, does leave quite an impression on the film. She comes in, looks beautiful, and sleeps with Cassidy. Not much, but her magnetism and presence is palpable.
Young Cassidy: 6.1/10
Julie Christie in Young Cassidy: 5.5/10
Next up is Peter Wood's 1969 drama In Search of Gregory. This is a terrible movie. Holy fucking terrible. Much worse than The Fast Lady. Christie's character, who lives in Rome, travels to Geneva for her father's latest wedding. Outside the airport she sees an advertisement depicting Gregory Mulvey (Michael Sarrazin), an autoracer everybody in her family seems to know. Her (I think) mentally disabled brother tells her stories about his adventures.
She becomes obsessed with meeting him and won't stop talking about him. She walks around sulking, waiting for this guy to show up. It's not a performance. It's just Christie in front of a camera. John Hurt acts dumb and confused. Michael Sarrazin, who gave up a lead role in Midnight Cowboy for this piece of shit, just acts ridiculous and child-like. Although, if I had to choose between winning an Oscar and (SPOILER) banging Julie Christie, I know I'd choose the latter.
In Search of Gregory: 2.1/10
Julie Christie in In Search of Gregory: 2.0/10
Next up: 3 hours of Christie deciding between 3 men in Far From the Madding Crowd
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