The following are a few films on Sundance, Fox Movie Channel, and TCM that you might want to check out this month. All times Eastern. Remember, these films may be edited, time compressed, in the wrong aspect ratio, canceled, rescheduled, or filmed in invisible ink. You know how it is.
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SUNDANCE
Deliverance (1972)
August 2, 10:05 PM and 3:20 AM (Also twice on August 21)
John Boorman’s classic action-thriller about four city men who find themselves fighting nature and rural Appalachians during a canoe trip.
Blood and Wine (1996)
August 5, 8:15 PM and 1:30 AM (Also August 13 and 24)
Jack Nicholson, Judy Davis, Michael Caine, and Jennifer Lopez in a thriller about a wine dealer who pulls a big jewel heist that goes wrong once his wife finds out.
Ghost World (2001)
August 8, 8:00 and 11:00 PM (and four more times during the month)
C’mon, it’s Ghost World. Starring Thora Birch, Steve Buscemi and Scarlett Johansson.
It’s Hard Being Loved by Jerks (2008)
August 13, 4:00 PM
About the 2007 civil trial of a French magazine accused of being racist for publishing satirical images of Mohammad.
FOX MOVIE CHANNEL
Silver Streak (1976)
August 6, 6:00 AM
Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor in a comedy-thriller about an art heist and murder.
Mel Brooks mini-marathon on August 6:
8:00 AM Silent Movie (1976)
9:30 AM High Anxiety (1977)
11:10 AM Young Frankenstein (1974)
Highlander (1986)
August 13, 1:00 PM
Christopher Lambert as an immortal time-traveling warrior out to save the world. I’m not gonna lie to you folks: this movie was ridiculously influential on me as a teen.
Black Widow (1986)
August 23, 11:30 AM
Thriller starring Debra Winger as a federal investigator who becomes obsessed by a strange series of deaths of rich men that may not have been by natural causes.
The Other (1972)
August 25, 6:00 AM
Horror flick about identical twins in 1935 blamed for a series of accidents in their family. This played on network TV in the 1970s, and I only remember one thing about it: being scared witless.
TCM
August 1: It’s Summer Under the Stars time again, starting with John Wayne on the 1st of August.
Pre-Codes on August 2 with the star of the day, Myrna Loy:
6:00 AM The Great Divide (1929)
7:15 AM The Naughty Flirt (1931)
8:15 AM The Barbarian (1933)
9:45 AM When Ladies Meet (1933)
11:15 AM The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933)
Penthouse (1933)
August 2, 2:15 AM (early morning the 3rd)
Comedy-drama about a criminal lawyer who gets a call-girl to help him nab a mob boss.
August 3: Johnny Weissmuller in 21 hours of Tarzan movies and three hours of non-Tarzan movies.
August 4: Marilyn Monroe
August 5: Claude Raines
August 6: Van Heflin. Plenty of great movies today, especially 3:10 to Yuma. If you haven’t seen it yet, don’t pass it up tonight at 8:00 PM.
August 7: Sidney Poitier
The Money Trap (1966)
August 8, 9:00 AM
August 8 is Rita Hayworth day with the expected flicks, though The Money Trap stands out as one TCM doesn’t show enough. This gritty crime drama about a good cop who turns crooked because of money problems features Glenn Ford, Ricardo Montalban, and Rita in a heartbreaking supporting role.
August 9: Toshiro Mifune movies
In the most exciting day of the entire month, August 9 features Toshiro Mifune films. Bask in the glow that is a finely-crafted Mifune performance for 24 straight hours. Call off work; your boss will understand.
6:00 AM Drunken Angel (1948)
7:45 AM Rashomon (1950)
9:15 AM The Seven Samurai (1954)
12:45 PM Throne of Blood (1957)
2:45 PM Yojimbo (1961)
4:45 PM Red Beard (1965)
8:00 PM Samurai 1: Musashi Miyamoto (1955)
9:45 PM Duel at Ichijoji Temple (1955)
11:45 PM Samurai III: Duel at Ganryu Island (1956)
1:45 AM Samurai Rebellion (1967)
4:00 AM Muhomatsu, the Rickshaw Man (1958)
August 10: Lionel Barrymore
August 11: James Mason, including all the major films but a couple of surprises, mainly the Ustinov as Poirot flick Evil Under the Sun (1982) and The Sea Gull (1968), neither of which show up on TCM very often..
August 12: Ginger Rogers
August 13: Deborah Kerr. Once again, TCM won’t show The Gypsy Moths, despite showing the making-of short about 827 times a month.
August 14: James Cagney day, which starts with a host of pre-codes:
6:00 AM Smart Money (1931)
7:30 AM The Public Enemy (1931)
9:00 AM Lady Killer (1933)
Each Dawn I Die (1939)
August 14, 12:00 noon
Quite simply one of the best films of the 1930s, Cagney gives what I think is his finest performance as a surly reporter framed and convicted of murder.
August 15: Lillian Gish
August 16: Elvis Presley
August 17: Katharine Hepburn
August 18: Freddie Bartholomew
August 19: Eva Marie Saint
August 20: Anthony Quinn
August 21: Kay Francis! There is not a single movie on this list I would not recommend.
6:00 AM Doctor Monica (1934)
7:00 AM Mary Stevens, M.D. (1933)
8:15 AM Jewel Robbery (1932)
9:30 AM One Way Passage (1932)
10:45 AM The Keyhole (1933)
12:00 PM British Agent (1934)
1:30 PM Confession (1937)
3:00 PM Women Are Like That (1938)
4:30 PM Little Men (1940)
6:00 PM The Feminine Touch (1941)
8:00 PM Guilty Hands (1931)
9:30 PM The House On 56th Street (1933)
10:45 PM Mandalay (1934)
12:00 AM Stranded (1935)
1:30 AM Give Me Your Heart (1936)
3:15 AM My Bill (1938)
4:30 AM Play Girl (1940)
August 22: Jack Lemmon
August 23: Gene Kelly
August 24: Irene Dunne
August 25: Tyrone Power
August 26: Gary Cooper, including The Fountainhead (1949) at 2:30 AM. If you haven’t seen it yet, it is worth it if only to see poor downtrodden Kent Smith get the sads as he is constantly bested by ÜberMan Cooper.
August 27: Jeannette MacDonald
August 28: Ava Gardner
August 29: Ingrid Bergman
August 30: Warren William, with a lot of pre-codes:
9:45 AM The Mouthpiece (1932)
11:15 AM Skyscraper Souls (1932)
1:00 PM Three on a Match (1932)
2:15 PM The Match King (1932)
3:45 PM The Mind Reader (1933)
5:00 PM Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933)
8:00 PM Lady For a Day (1933)
9:45 PM Cleopatra (1934)
11:45 PM Employees Entrance (1933)
August 31: James Caan
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Got any films in August you’re excited about? Let us know in comments!
“Heere we are, born to be kings, we’re the princes of the universe…” Highlander is awesome! And Highlander III is very cool too! As for the rest of the sequels…I wonder why so many filmmakers think the Highlander premise is one that’ll do brilliantly after the apocalypse?! There’s Highlander 2, The Source, the Anime, and the cartoon series!
I’m not even sure I’ve seen Highlander II. The husband says I have, but I’ve apparently forgotten it. OH, THE SHAME.
What, no love for HIGHLANDER II: THE QUICKENING? C’mon, they’re aliens! Sean Connery travels in a silver DC-3 like the Thetans exiled to Earth by Xenu. Michael Ironside with Al Sharpton’s hair!
Like I just told Chris, I’m not sure I ever saw The Quickening, and have large amounts of shame over it. And now that you mention it has Michael Ironside, I am almost certain I’ve never seen it.
There is neither rhyme nor reason to what I have and haven’t watched.
Hi Stacia!
If anybody has the Epix channels (I do, on Dish), Epix 2 is going to be showing (more than once) Don’t Look Now (1973), Nic Roeg’s supernatural thriller starring Donald Sutherland and Julie Christie who may –or may not–have actually had sex on camera. That bit of titillation aside, the British view this film as one of their great films, although it is hardly known here any more (somewhat like Kes, which I recommended to you a few months ago when it was on TCM):
“The reputation of Don’t Look Now has grown since its release and it is now regarded as a key work in horror cinema. It has led to some critics re-evaluating their original opinions of it: Roger Ebert, nearly thirty years after his original review, states that he has come to an “accommodation” with his reservations about what he terms the “admitted weakness of the denouement”. Having gone through the film shot by shot, he now considers it a “masterpiece of physical filmmaking, in the way the photography evokes mood and the editing underlines it with uncertainty”.
Don’t Look Now is now considered a classic British film, and when the British Film Institute in 1999 polled 1000 people who work across the film and television industry, the film was ranked eighth on their list of top 100 British films of the 20th century. A similar list organised by Time Out London in 2011, in which 150 film industry professionals were polled, saw Don’t Look Now ranked in first place.When submitting his list for Sight & Sound’s traditional decennial ‘greatest films’ poll in 2002, film critic Mark Kermode had Don’t Look Now in fifth place, and on Rotten Tomatoes—a review aggregator website—Don’t Look Now has a 95% ‘fresh’ rating.”
–Wikipedia
Excellent movie. I watched Don’t Look Now about a year ago (on a summer night when my husband had overtime until 3 AM, just like tonight, in fact) without remembering the rumors about the sex scene. When I saw the scene, though, I knew why the rumor had legs. Such an excellent movie, it’s really stuck with me. I don’t agree with Ebert much (the dude is pedestrian tastes personified) but there ARE a few minor hiccups with the finale, though it’s easy to look past it given the rest of the film is so strong.
PS: I think you have some years wrong on the early Cagney films.
Sure did, thanks for catching it. Had some trouble with formatting so I cut and pasted some old code, but left the dates from the previous movies in there. Think I got it now.
Hard to believe it’s been 40 years since Deliverance was released. If you get a chance (and you don’t mind the link), check outthis interview with the four guys.
Don’t mind the link at all — thanks! Looks like a great interview.