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This week, along with some familiar titles come a few less common ones:
* The Bride Wore Black (adapted from a Cornell Woolrich novel)
* Experiment in Terror (an extremely tense little chiller with the original heavy-breathing pervert)
* The Carey Treatment (which almost received an Edgar for Best Motion Picture)
* Mean Streets and Goodfellas (Martin Scorsese dealing with the subject he seems to know best)
* and a couple of two-fisted, hard-hitting crime dramas from Shakespeare (yeah, that guy).
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(Note: All dates and times are Eastern, U.S.A.)
Monday—June 15th
9:30 PM—On the Waterfront (1954)
A young stevedore takes on the mobster who rules the docks.
Cast: Marlon Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger.
Dir: Elia Kazan.
BW-108 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
———-
Tuesday—June 16th
1:30 AM—Boomerang (1947)
A prosecutor fights to prove the defendant in a scandalous murder case is innocent.
Cast: Dana Andrews, Jane Wyatt, Lee J. Cobb.
Dir: Elia Kazan.
BW-88 mins, TV-PG, CC
6:00 AM—The Captive City (1952)
A small-town newspaper editor defies threats to expose the mob.
Cast: John Forsythe, Joan Camden, Harold J. Kennedy.
Dir: Robert Wise.
BW-91 mins, TV-PG
7:45 AM—Odds Against Tomorrow (1959)
Desperate losers plan a bank robbery with unexpected results.
Cast: Harry Belafonte, Robert Ryan, Gloria Grahame.
Dir: Robert Wise.
BW-96 mins, TV-PG
10:15 PM—The Lady from Shanghai (1948)
A romantic drifter gets caught between a corrupt tycoon and his voluptuous wife.
Cast: Rita Hayworth, Orson Welles, Everett Sloane.
Dir: Orson Welles.
BW-87 mins, TV-PG
———-
Wednesday—June 17th
1:45 AM—Macbeth (1948)
A Scottish warlord and his wife murder their way to a pair of crowns.
Cast: Orson Welles, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O’Herlihy.
Dir: Orson Welles.
BW-107 mins, TV-G, CC
3:45 AM—The Trial (1963)
In this adaptation of Kafka’s classic, a man in a nameless country stands trial for an unnamed crime.
Cast: Orson Welles, Jeanne Moreau, Anthony Perkins.
Dir: Orson Welles.
BW-120 mins, TV-14, CC
11:30 AM—Hamlet (1969)
The prince of Denmark vows to avenge his father’s murder, if he can prove his uncle did the deed.
Cast: Nicol Williamson, Judy Parfitt, Anthony Hopkins.
Dir: Tony Richardson.
C-118 mins, TV-PG
9:00 PM—The Public Enemy (1931)
An Irish-American street punk tries to make it big in the world of organized crime.
Cast: James Cagney, Edward Woods, Jean Harlow.
Dir: William A. Wellman.
BW-84 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
———-
Thursday—June 18th
2:00 PM—Naked City (1948)
A step-by-step look at a murder investigation on the streets of New York.
Cast: Barry Fitzgerald, Howard Duff, Dorothy Hart.
Dir: Jules Dassin.
BW-96 mins, TV-14, CC
4:00 PM—Topkapi (1964)
An international band of thieves plots to steal a priceless treasure from a heavily guarded museum.
Cast: Melina Mercouri, Maximilian Schell, Peter Ustinov.
Dir: Jules Dassin.
C-119 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
6:15 PM—Brute Force (1947)
Tough, disgruntled prisoners plan a daring, possibly bloody escape while on a drain pipe detail.
Cast: Burt Lancaster, Vince Barnett, Hume Cronyn.
Dir: Jules Dassin.
BW-98 mins, TV-14
———-
Friday—June 19th
12:00 AM—The Bride Wore Black (1968)
A woman seeks revenge on the five men who murdered her fiance.
Cast: Jeanne Moreau, Jean-Claude Brialy, Michel Bouquet.
Dir: Francois Truffaut.
C-108 mins, TV-14, Letterbox Format
6:00 AM—He Laughed Last (1956)
When a chorus girl inherits a gangster’s nightclub, her boyfriend accuses her of cheating.
Cast: Frankie Laine, Lucy Marlowe, Anthony Dexter.
Dir: Blake Edwards.
C-77 mins, TV-G
7:30 AM—Experiment in Terror (1962)
A master criminal tries to force a bank teller to help him pull off a big heist.
Cast: Glenn Ford, Lee Remick, Ross Martin.
Dir: Blake Edwards.
BW-123 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
10:00 AM—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
4:00 PM—A Shot in the Dark (1964)
Inspector Clouseau tries to clear a beautiful woman accused of shooting her husband.
Cast: Peter Sellers, Elke Sommer, George Sanders.
Dir: Blake Edwards.
C-102 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
6:00 PM—
The Pink Panther(1964)
In the first Inspector Clouseau film, the bumbling French police detective tries to stop a notorious jewel thief from nabbing a princess’ diamond.
Cast: Peter Sellers, David Niven, Robert Wagner.
Dir: Blake Edwards.
C-115 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format
———-
Saturday—June 20th
1:30 AM—Goodfellas (1990)
A young man works his way up through the New York City mobs.
Cast: Robert De Niro, Ray Liotta, Joe Pesci.
Dir: Martin Scorsese.
C-145 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format
4:00 AM—Mean Streets (1973)
A small-time hood must choose from among love, friendship and the chance to rise within the mob.
Cast: Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, David Proval.
Dir: Martin Scorsese.
C-116 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format
7:15 AM—I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang (1932)
A World War I veteran faces inhuman conditions when he’s sentenced to hard labor.
Cast: Paul Muni, Glenda Farrell, Helen Vinson.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy.
BW-93 mins, TV-PG, CC
9:00 AM—Little Caesar (1930)
A small-time hood shoots his way to the top, but how long can he stay there?
Cast: Edward G. Robinson, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr., Glenda Farrell.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy.
BW-79 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS
10:15 PM—The Bad Seed (1956)
A woman suspects that her perfect little girl is a ruthless killer.
Cast: Nancy Kelly, Patty McCormack, Henry Jones.
Dir: Mervyn LeRoy.
C-129 mins, TV-PG, CC
———-
Sunday—June 21st
10:00 AM—The Band Wagon (1953)
A Broadway artiste turns a faded film star’s comeback vehicle into an artsy flop.
Cast: Fred Astaire, Jack Buchanan, Cyd Charisse.
Dir: Vincente Minnelli.
C-112 mins, TV-G, CC
(If you’d like to know why a Hollywood musical is on this list, go here.)
———-
—Mike Gray
I’ve always been a fan of “The Bad Seed,” not only for its exquisite cast–everyone from Patty McCormack to Henry Jones gives a stand-out performance–but for the exploration of what today we might call a sociopath, some who hides a murderous heart inside a charming, almost-too-perfect exterior. The actors are largely from the Broadway production of the play.
If you have read William March’s novel–on which the movie was based–you will quickly spot differences, nowhere more so than in the last scenes. Nevertheless, book and film are well worth looking into
when i hear the name Anthony Hopkins, i always tought of the movie Meet Joe Black.’.*
Anthony Hopkins is one of the veteran actors in Hollywood that should be given a lifetime acheivement award.*`,