Friday, July 20, 2007

Piccu's Summertime Movietime Picks O' the Week for July 21-28

It’s that time again; time to get your fill of classic movies to while away your summer. Unlike Julie and Pat I know that you readers have a little something I like to call class and like to hear about the classics that will ultimately make you a better human being. As always these movies will be shown on TCM at the times listed below. Now on to the movies.

First off we have Angels with Dirty Faces on July 21 at 8 AM EASTERN. This is a good old fashioned gangster movie starring James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart. You can’t get better than that. This movie pits childhood friends, one a hoodlum and one a priest, on opposite sides of the law, who are fighting for the loyalties, and in the case of the priest, the souls of a young street gang. This is not the best Cagney gangster film but if you have never seen him in action, this certainly will not disappoint.

Next on July 21 at 4 PM EASTERN we have Thunder Road. Robert Mitchum is the star of this movie about a Kentucky moonshiner who battles a Chicago gangster. This movie is full of fast cars and white lightening. This is a pretty good movie, but it will be better for those of us who are actually from Kentucky. Watch because Robert Mitchum is a badass, that’s reason enough.

On July 22 at 6 PM EASTERN we have the great From Here to Eternity starring Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra. It also has two great female actors in Deborah Kerr and Donna Reed. This movie is about enlisted men in Hawaii who fight for love and honor on the eve of WWII or that how TCM explains it. This movie has the goods. Montgomery Clift is one of the all-time great brooders. Nothing seems to satisfy him. Burt Lancaster is a man’s man and doesn’t mind stealing someone’s wife if he has to. And Sinatra gives his best performance in this film. Love and war make two great subjects for a movie. This movie was number 52 on the original AFI 100 Films and somehow it dropped off the list for the 10th anniversary. It almost invalidates the new list, this is a great movie.

Also on July 22 at 8 PM EASTERN you can get your baseball fix with The Pride of the Yankees starring Gary Cooper, Teresa Wright and one of my all time favorite character actors Walter Brennan. This movie is about the life of New York Yankee legend Lou Gehrig and the ending of his baseball career by a crippling disease. This was the movie that made me a Gary Cooper fan. Cooper plays the part perfectly and as you watch it you forget it is a movie and start to see it as a documentary. Also look for a cameo from another Yankee legend, the Babe.

We now jump ahead to July 26 at 1 AM EASTERN to a musical by the name of Tommy. Yes, it’s that Tommy. The Who’s rock opera was made into a movie and it is a weird one. It stars Ann-Margret at her hottest (unfortunately her singing leaves a little to be desired because of too too much vibrato). It also stars the Who’s Roger Daltrey as the title character Tommy. As I said it is a weird movie but it is a movie loaded with great songs. A must see for Who fans and maybe a nice curiosity for everyone else.

Finally we have July 28 at 2 AM EASTERN as a part of the TCM Underground, A Bucket of Blood. This movie stars Dick Miller as wannabe hippie who has a very interesting way of sculpting. This movie must have been made at the height of all that pretentious hipster crap. You know, all the existential and “Daddy-o” junk. It is weird and disturbing and was crafted by the king of the B-Movies, Roger Corman. For fans of cult movies or just plain weird movies, this will be an enjoyable experience,

That’s it for this week so enjoy the feast I have laid out before you. Until next week, keep your hands in the popcorn and your feet stuck to the floor.

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