This week:
* one of Hitler’s fan clubs tries for a comeback (Monday);
* Glenn Ford looks at life from both sides of the law (all day Friday);
* James Coburn is also sometimes good, sometimes bad (Tuesday and early Wednesday);
* and even Harold Lloyd suffers legal entanglements (Wednesday).
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Monday—August 3rd
12:30 AM—The Boys from Brazil (1978)
A Nazi hunter tracks a mad scientist out to bring back Hitler.
Cast: Gregory Peck, Laurence Olivier, James Mason.
Dir: Franklin J. Schaffner.
C-125 mins, TV-MA, Letterbox Format
2:45 AM—Secret Mission (1942)
Two British Intelligence agents infiltrate occupied France to learn the Germans’ secrets.
Cast: Hugh Williams, Michael Wilding, James Mason.
Dir: Harold French.
BW-94 mins.
4:15 AM—They Met in the Dark (1943)
A naval commander tries to find the beautiful spy who tricked him into revealing secrets.
Cast: James Mason, Joyce Howard, Tom Walls.
Dir: Carl Lamac.
BW-91 mins.
———-
Tuesday—August 4th
6:00 AM—Face of a Fugitive (1959)
A man framed for murder tries to build a new life after escaping the law.
Cast: Fred MacMurray, Alan Baxter, James Coburn.
Dir: Paul Wendkos.
C-81 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format
11:30 AM—Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round (1966)
A sophisticated crook mounts an intricate plan to rob an airport bank.
Cast: James Coburn, Camilla Sparv, Harrison Ford.
Dir: Bernard Girard.
C-107 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format
1:30 PM—The Carey Treatment (1972)
A doctor uncovers a hotbed of corruption when he tries to clear a colleague of a murder charge.
Cast: James Coburn, Jennifer O’Neill, Skye Aubrey.
Dir: Blake Edwards.
C-101 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format
8:00 PM—The President’s Analyst (1967)
A psychiatrist treating the president becomes a pawn in international espionage.
Cast: James Coburn, Godfrey Cambridge, Severn Darden.
Dir: Theodore J. Flicker.
C-103 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format
———-
Wednesday—August 5th
4:15 AM—Harry in Your Pocket (1973)
Three super-pickpockets join forces.
Cast: James Coburn, Walter Pidgeon, Michael Sarrazin.
Dir: Bruce Geller.
C-103 mins, TV-PG, Letterbox Format
6:30 AM—From Hand to Mouth (1919)
In this silent film, a young burglar tries to save an heiress from kidnappers.
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, Snub Pollard.
Dir: Alfred J. Goulding, Hal Roach.
BW-22 mins, TV-G
9:30 AM—Dr. Jack (1922)
In this silent film, a naive country doctor fights to save the woman he loves from a crooked specialist.
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis, John T. Prince.
Dir: Fred C. Newmeyer, Sam Taylor.
BW-60 mins, TV-G
9:30 PM—Welcome Danger (1929)
A gentle botany student has to toughen up to replace his father as chief of police.
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Barbara Kent, Noah Young.
Dir: Clyde Bruckman, Malcolm St. Clair.
BW-115 mins, TV-G
11:30 PM—Feet First (1930)
A shoe salesman’s involvement with a band of crooks leaves him dangling from the side of a tall building.
Cast: Harold Lloyd, Robert McWade, Barbara Kent.
Dir: Clyde Bruckman.
BW-91 mins, TV-G
———-
Thursday—August 6th
———-
Friday—August 7th
6:00 AM—Convicted Woman (1940)
An innocent woman sent to prison becomes the focus of a prison-reform movement.
Cast: Rochelle Hudson, Frieda Inescort, Glenn Ford.
Dir: Nick Grinde.
BW-65 mins, TV-PG
3:00 PM—Mr. Soft Touch (1949)
After being betrayed, a gangster hangs out in a settlement house while seeking revenge.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Evelyn Keyes, John Ireland.
Dir: Gordon Douglas, Henry Levin.
BW-93 mins, TV-G
4:45 PM—Framed (1947)
A femme fatale lures an unemployed man into helping her with a criminal scheme.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Janis Carter, Barry Sullivan.
Dir: Richard Wallace.
BW-82 mins, TV-PG
6:15 PM—Convicted (1950)
A prison warden fights to prove one of his inmates was wrongly convicted.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Broderick Crawford, Dorothy Malone.
Dir: Henry Levin.
BW-91 mins, TV-PG, CC
8:00 PM—Gilda (1946)
A gambler discovers an old flame in South America, but she’s married to his new boss.
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready.
Dir: Charles Vidor.
BW-110 mins, TV-PG, CC
10:00 PM—The Undercover Man (1949)
A treasury agent tries to convict a ruthless mobster of tax evasion.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Nina Foch, James Whitmore.
Dir: Joseph H. Lewis.
BW-84 mins, TV-PG
———-
Saturday—August 8th
7:00 AM—Pocketful of Miracles (1961)
A good-hearted gangster turns an old apple seller into a society matron so she can impress her daughter.
Cast: Bette Davis, Glenn Ford, Hope Lange.
Dir: Frank Capra.
C-137 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format
12:30 PM—Marked Woman (1937)
A crusading DA fights to get a nightclub hostess to testify against her gangster boss.
Cast: Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, Lola Lane.
Dir: Lloyd Bacon.
BW-97 mins, TV-G, CC
———-
Sunday—August 9th
12:00 AM—The Letter
a> (1940)
A woman claims to have killed in self-defense, until a blackmailer turns up with incriminating evidence.
Cast: Bette Davis, Herbert Marshall, James Stephenson.
Dir: William Wyler.
BW-95 mins, TV-PG, CC
6:00 PM—To Catch a Thief (1955)
A retired cat burglar fights to clear himself of a series of Riviera robberies committed in his style.
Cast: Cary Grant, Grace Kelly, Jessie Royce Landis.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock.
C-106 mins, TV-G, CC, Letterbox Format
8:00 PM—Notorious (1946)
A U.S. agent recruits a German expatriate to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring in Brazil.
Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains.
Dir: Alfred Hitchcock.
BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC
———-
—Mike Gray
As caper films go, Lars, DEAD HEAT isn’t bad.
I didn’t know that about the film’s title. The name they picked does have a bearing on the storyline — sort of.
I remember seeing James Coburn on the Carson show, promoting this movie. He claimed the studio had used a computer to come up with a title, but the computer’s result was “The Big Noise.” So they called it “Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round” instead.