Turner Classic Movies is celebrating the Oscars with its annual 31 Days of Oscars, filling its broadcast schedule with Academy Award-winning films. On this Thursday through Sunday, the TCM lineup is especially rich, including these gems:
Seven Days in May: “I’m suggesting Mr President, there’s a military plot to take over the Government of these United States, next Sunday…” John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate) is a master of the thriller, and his 1964 Seven Days in May is a masterpiece of the paranoid political thriller subgenre. Edmond O’Brien’s performance is best among outstanding turns by Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Frederic March and Whit Bissell.
A Place in the Sun: One of the great films of the 1950s. Montgomery Clift is a poor kid who is satisfied to have a job and a trashy girlfriend (Shelly Winters in a brilliant portrayal). Then, he learns that he could have it all – the CEO’s daughter Elizabeth Taylor, lifelong comfort, status and career. Did I mention Elizabeth Taylor? The now pregnant girlfriend is the only obstacle to more than he could have ever dreamed for – can he get rid of her without getting caught?
Anatomy of a Murder (1959): Otto Preminger delivers a classic courtroom drama that frankly addresses sexual mores. James Stewart is a folksy but very canny lawyer defending a cynical soldier (Ben Gazzara) on a murder charge; did he discover his wife straying or is he avenging her rape? Lee Remick portrays the wife with a penchant for partying and uncertain fidelity. The Duke Ellington score could be the very best jazz score in the movies. Joseph Welch, the real-life lawyer who stood up to Sen. Joe McCarthy in a televised red scare hearing, plays the judge.
All this and more! There’s Double Indemnity one of the masterpieces of film noir, Marlon Brando’s tour de force in On the Waterfront, the great trial movie The Caine Mutiny, the historically important Easy Rider (and one of my Best Drug Movies) and the political classic All the King’s Men. If you’re looking for an epic, you can try out The Bridge on the River Kwai and Lawrence of Arabia on your big screen TV. For a comedy, there’s Tootsie.
And don’t miss an overlooked great Jack Nicholson performance in The Last Detail.
Tune up that TiVo!