Happy May, everyone!
Rather than have just one Star of the Month for may, there will actually be several. Every Tuesday night this month, TCM will be spotlighting some of cinema’s greatest tough guys, so that includes people like Bogart, Cagney, McQueen, and Robinson, just to name a few.
Friday Night Spotlight will be back with Illeana Douglas as the guest co-host. Illeana has chosen the theme of “Second Looks.” All of the movies she’s chosen weren’t particularly well-received when they were first released, but she thinks they’re deserving of a second chance. I agree with several of her selections and since I’m all about those hidden gems, I’m really looking forward to seeing some of her other choices.
If you’re a Harold Lloyd fan, mark May 23rd on your calendar because TCM will be playing his feature movies and short films all night long, the vast majority of which have never been shown on TCM before.
May 1: The month of May kicks off with a birthday tribute to Glenn Ford with The Doctor and the Girl at 6:15 AM, The White Tower at 8:00 AM, Young Man With Ideas at 9:45 AM, Terror on a Train at 11:15 AM, Blackboard Jungle at 12:30 PM, Interrupted Melody at 2:15 PM, Trial at 4:15 PM, and Ransom! at 6:15 PM. For prime time, the spotlight switches to Priscilla Lane with Brother Rat at 8:00 PM, Four Daughters at 9:45 PM, Silver Queen at 11:30 PM, Cowboy from Brooklyn at 1:00 AM, Arsenic and Old Lace at 2:30 AM, and Varsity Show at 4:30 AM.
May 2: Tonight we get a look at some King Vidor with Duel in the Sun at 8:00 PM, Ruby Gentry at 10:30 PM, Lightning Strikes Twice at 12:00 AM, An American Romance at 1:45 AM, and Comrade X at 4:00 AM.
May 3: It’s the first night of May’s Friday Night Spotlight series with 1933′s Alice in Wonderland at 8:00 PM, No Greater Glory at 9:30 PM, The Bride Wore Red at 11:00 PM, and I Take This Woman at 1:00 AM.
May 4: Now here’s a night I can’t resist! Gold Diggers of 1933 at 8:00 PM, Footlight Parade at 10:00 PM, and 42nd Street at 12:00 AM.
May 5: Rather than having several different movies for Silent Sunday Nights this month, each Sunday night TCM will show some of the Judex serials instead. Tonight’s installment of Judex starts at 12:30 and is followed by Ozu’s Late Spring at 2:45 AM.
May 6: Happy birthday to both Rudolph Valentino and Orson Welles! The Sheik is up at 6:45 AM and is followed by The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse at 8:15 AM, then there’s The Magnificent Ambersons at 11:00 AM and The Lady From Shanghai at 12:30 PM. Tonight’s movies were all chosen by Robert Osborne — The Shopworn Angel at 8:00 PM, Boom Town at 9:30 PM, That’s Entertainment! at 11:45 PM, and Gentlemen Jim at 2:15 AM.
May 7: It’s the first night of Tough Guys with Sterling Hayden in The Asphalt Jungle at 8:00 PM, Robert Ryan in Crossfire at 10:00 PM, Robert Mitchum in Out of the Past at 11:30 PM, and John Garfield in Out of the Fog at 1:45 AM.
May 8: Today starts out with a Judy Garland marathon of Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry at 6:00 AM, Little Nellie Kelly at 7:30 AM, Babes on Broadway at 9:15 AM, Gay Purr-ee at 11:15 AM, and I Could Go on Singing at 12:45 PM. Then it’s onto some Dirk Bogarde with Song Without End at 2:30 PM, Night Ambush at 4:45 PM, and So Long at the Fair at 6:30 PM. Tonight is the TCM premiere of the documentary Don’t Say No Until I Finish Talking: The Story of Richard D. Zanuck at 8:00 PM and an encore at 11:30 PM.
May 10: Quite a day of movies on today! The Informer at 6:00 AM, The Story of Louis Pasteur at 7:45 AM, Captains Courageous at 9:30 AM, Boys Town at 11:30 AM, Goodbye Mr. Chips at 1:15 PM, The Philadelphia Story at 3:15 PM, and Sergeant York at 5:30 PM. And for this week’s Friday Night Spotlight, we get The Great Moment at 8:00 PM, The Horn Blows at Midnight at 9:30 PM, Under Capricorn at 11:00 PM, and Above and Beyond at 1:15 AM.
May 12: Happy Mother’s Day! Of course, today is all about mothers with Lady By Choice at 6:00 AM, The Reckless Moment at 7:30 AM, Stella Dallas at 9:00 AM, So Big! at 11:00 AM, Light in the Piazza at 12:30 PM, Gypsy at 2:30 PM, Peyton Place at 5:15 PM, Roughly Speaking 8:00 PM, and I Remember Mama at 10:00 PM. At 12:30 AM is more Judex serials, followed by Ozu’s Early Summer at 2:30 AM.
May 13: May’s Guest Programmer is Angie Dickinson, who has chosen Gigi at 8:00 PM, Yankee Doodle Dandy at 10:15 PM, Dog Day Afternoon at 12:30 AM, and The 400 Blows at 2:45 AM. Also worth seeing is Masculin-Feminin at 4:30 AM.
May 14: It’s another night of Tough Guys with Richard Widmark in the Kiss of Death at 8:00 PM, Dana Andrews in Where the Sidewalk Ends at 10:00 PM, Lee Marvin in Point Blank at 11:45 PM, and Chow Yun-Fat in A Better Tomorrow at 1:30 AM.
May 15: Some good movies are scattered throughout the day, like The Third Man at 9:30 AM, Forbidden Planet at 8:00 PM, Spellbound at 10:00 PM, and Rome, Open City at 12:00 AM.
May 16: Judy Garland’s A Star is Born at 7:30 AM, Queen Bee at 12:30 PM, Bell, Book, and Candle at 4:00 PM, Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner at 6:00 PM.
May 17: For tonight’s Friday Night Spotlight, we have 8:00 PM, Top Banana at 10:00 PM, It’s Always Fair Weather at 12:00 AM, and Our Man in Havana at 2:00 AM.
May 18: It’s a night of Elsa Lanchester movies with Bride of Frankenstein at 8:00 PM, The Private Life of Henry VIII at 9:30 PM, Murder By Death at 11:15 PM, and Passport to Destiny at 1:15 AM.
May 19: The Judex serials are back at 12:00 AM, followed by Ozu’s Late Autumn at 2:30 AM.
May 20: Happy birthday, Jimmy Stewart! You can see him in Speed at 6:30 AM, You Can’t Take it With You at 7:45 AM, The Mortal Storm at 10:00 PM, Mr. Hobbs Takes a Vacation at 12:00 PM, Carbine Williams at 2:00 PM, Winchester ’73 at 3:45 PM, and The Flight of the Phoenix at 5:30 PM.
May 21: Tough Guys are back tonight with Edward G. Robinson in Little Caesar at 8:00 PM, Humphrey Bogart in The Petrified Forest at 9:30 PM, Jean Gabin in Le Jour se Leve at 11:00 PM, and James Cagney in White Heat at 12:45 AM.
May 23: I am a huge fan of today’s line-up. First there’s the documentary about pioneering women in Hollywood Without Laying Down at 6:00 AM, followed by Coquette at 7:00 AM, The Last of Mrs. Cheyney at 8:30 AM, Voice of the City at 10:15 AM, The Divorcee at 11:45 AM, Life of the Party at 1:15 PM, The Office Wife at 2:45 PM, Kept Husbands at 4:00 PM, The Secret Six at 5:30 PM, and the documentary Complicated Women at 7:00 PM. Then it’s on to a night of Harold Lloyd, the most of which are TCM Premieres. Safety Last! at 8:00 PM, and A Gasoline Wedding, By the Sad Sea Waves, The Big Idea, Take a Chance, Look Pleasant Please, Lonesome Luke Messenger, Bashful all from 9:30-11:30 PM. Then there’s Young Mr. Jazz, The Marathon, Spring Fever, Next Aisle Over, Just Neighbors, and A Sammy in Siberia from 12:30 AM-1:45 AM. The Kid Brother is up at 1:45 AM, Captain Kidd’s Kids at 3:15 AM, His Royal Slyness at 3:45 AM, Now or Never at 4:15 AM, and Hot Water at 5:00 AM.
May 24: Friday Night Spotlight is back with Inside Daisy Clover at 8:00 PM, The Loved One at 10:15 PM, Mickey One at 12:30 AM, and The Arrangement at 2:15 AM.
May 25-May 27: This weekend is TCM’s annual Memorial Day weekend war movie marathon. Consult the TCM website for the full schedule.
May 28: It’s time for one last night of Tough Guys with Charles Bronson in Hard Times at 8:00 PM, Steve McQueen in Bullitt at 10:00 PM, Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider at 12:00 AM, and Richard Roundtree in Shaft’s Big Score! at 2:00 AM.
May 29: Happy birthday to Bob Hope! Today there’s The Seven Little Foys at 6:00 AM, The Iron Petticoat at 7:45 AM, Bachelor in Paradise at 9:45 AM, The Road to Hong Kong at 11:30 AM, Call Me Bwana at 1:15 AM, A Global Affair at 3:00 PM, I’ll Take Sweden at 4:30 PM, and Boy Did I Get a Wrong Number! at 6:15 PM. And if you’re up for some disaster movies, TCM has Titanic (1953 version) at 8:00 PM, In Old Chicago at 10:00 PM, The Hurricane at 12:00 AM, San Francisco at 2:00 AM, and The Crowded Sky at 4:00 AM.
May 30: The documentary Eastwood Directs: The Untold Story premieres tonight at 8:00 PM.
May 31: May comes to an end with one more Friday Night Spotlight of A New Leaf at 8:00 PM, 1941 at 10:00 PM< Those Lips, Those Eyes at 12:15 AM, and Absolute Beginners at 2:15 AM.
