Just a little continuing reminder about TCM’s “Summer Under the Stars” programming for this week: today is all about Henry Fonda, tomorrow shines the spotlight on Jean Harlow, Thursday features Laurence Oliview and the week wraps up with Doris Day. If I had to pick just one film to watch over the next four days, I might very well go with Hitchcock’s Rebecca as part of the Olivier program on Thursday. It is most definitely a classic.
You can revisit my original post here, or if you’d just like to read about what I wrote regarding these four, I’ve reposted those bits after the jump.
Aug. 10 — Henry Fonda: Fonda, like Jimmy Stewart, was one of film’s great American “everymen.” What’s really noticeable to me are the films they’re not showing, some of which – like 12 Angry Men — I could have sworn I’ve seen on TCM before. No The Grapes of Wrath. No My Darling Clementine. No Mister Roberts. I suppose they show these films more often than some of the ones they have included, and Fonda permeates other stars days. He’s Barbara Stanwyck’s co-star in The Lady Eve and he faces off against Bette Davis later in the month in Jezebel, to name two instances. There are plenty of great movies on Fonda’s day, but I’m going to highlight The Best Man at 3 PM. The film was based on Gore Vidal’s play of the same name, and is a look into the “dirty side” of presidential politics from way back in 1964. It’s obviously quite relevant today, but sadly enough, much of it seems quaint by comparison to what we’ve experienced in the past 10-15 years.
Aug. 11 — Jean Harlow: She died young at just 26 years of age, but Harlow appeared in over 40 films during her short career and was the original platinum blonde starlet. Arguably, she was also the ideal platinum blonde, even after death, at least until Marilyn Monroe showed up. The film Bombshell gave her (and future blondes) the nickname “blonde bombshell,” and you can see why at 6:15 PM. At 8 PM, though, is the film that made her a star: (a href=”http://imdb.com/title/tt0020960/”>Hell’s Angels from 1930, one of only two films actually directed by Howard Hughes. It’s no coincidence that Hughes’ only other time in the director’s chair was to introduce another beauty to the cinematic firmament – the stunning Jane Russell in the not-so-stunning The Outlaw.
Aug. 12 — Laurence Olivier: How does one pick a performance to watch from one of the greatest classically-trained actors who ever lived. I suppose it makes it easier to not be able to include Marathon Man, The Entertainer, Hamlet (his only actual Oscar win), Othello or Richard III. Not that showing A Bridge Too Far or Wuthering Heights (11 PM) is too shabby. If you’re going to pick just one, though, stay up and at 1 AM watch a younger Olivier in Rebecca, one of Alfred Hitchcock’s absolute best movie, even if it is not quite as famous to the masses.
Aug. 13 — Doris Day: What better way to counteract the unluckiest day on the calendar than by watching a bunch of Doris Day fluff, and I don’t say that pejoratively. The hits of the Day canon are here, with the obvious “don’t miss” being Pillow Talk at 10 PM. And just to change things up and see that she could do more than the fluff, stick around at midnight to see Day opposite Jimmy Stewart in the Hitchcock thriller, The Man Who Knew Too Much.
Out of Focus 