The American Culture

This week:
* Monday—Gregory Peck gets beached, Burt Lancaster gets benched.
* Tuesday—William Holden wants out.
* Wednesday—Peter Finch is as mad as … well, you know.
* Thursday—Victor Mature must decide which is worse, tribal insularity or hungry dinosaurs.
* Friday—Clark Gable converts Hedy Lamarr to baseball.
* Saturday—Jack Nicholson gets too nosey and nearly loses it—his nose, that is.
* Sunday—Richard Widmark gets the point—a dozen times.

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Monday—February 8th

3:15 AM—On the Beach (1959)
After a nuclear war, U.S. sailors stationed in Australia deal with the end of civilization.
Cast: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire. Dir: Stanley Kramer. BW-134 mins, TV-PG, CC, Letterbox Format

6:00 PM—Seven Days in May (1964)
An American military officer discovers his superiors are planning a military coup.
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Burt Lancaster, Fredric March. Dir: John Frankenheimer. BW-118 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

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Tuesday—February 9th

5:00 AM—Poltergeist (1982)
Evil spirits abduct a suburban family’s daughter causing chaos and havoc.
Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Beatrice Straight, Dominique Dunne. Dir: Tobe Hooper. C-115 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

10:00 PM—Stalag 17 (1953)
A cynical serviceman in a World War II POW camp has to prove he’s not an informer.
Cast: William Holden, Don Taylor, Otto Preminger. Dir: Billy Wilder. BW-120 mins, TV-PG, CC

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Wednesday—February 10th

12:15 AM—Network (1976)
Television programmers turn a deranged news anchor into ‘the mad prophet of the airwaves.’
Cast: William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Peter Finch. Dir: Sidney Lumet. BW-121 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

8:00 PM—Kiss of Death (1947)
An ex-con trying to go straight must face a crazed criminal out for revenge.
Cast: Victor Mature, Brian Donlevy, Richard Widmark. Dir: Henry Hathaway. BW-99 mins.

10:00 PM—Pickup on South Street (1953)
A petty thief accidentally steals a communist spy’s purse.
Cast: Richard Widmark, Jean Peters, Thelma Ritter. Dir: Sam Fuller. BW-80 mins, CC

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Thursday—February 11th

4:15 AM—One Million B.C. (1940)
An exiled caveman finds love when he joins another tribe.
Cast: Carole Landis, Victor Mature, Lon Chaney, Jr. Dir: Hal Roach, Jr., Hal Roach. BW-80 mins, TV-G

6:00 AM—Topper Returns (1941)
A beautiful ghost enlists a henpecked husband to track down her killer.
Cast: Joan Blondell, Roland Young, Billie Burke. Dir: Roy Del Ruth. BW-88 mins, TV-G

7:30 AM—Merrily We Live (1938)
A society matron’s habit of hiring ex-cons and hobos as servants leads to romance for her daughter.
Cast: Constance Bennett, Brian Aherne, Billie Burke. Dir: Norman Z. McLeod. BW-95 mins, TV-G

3:30 PM—The Sea Hawk (1940)
A British buccaneer holds the Spanish fleet at bay with the covert approval of Elizabeth I.
Cast: Errol Flynn, Claude Rains, Flora Robson. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-128 mins, TV-G, CC

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Friday—February 12th

2:00 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

5:30 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

7:00 AM—Lady for a Day (1933)
A gangster helps an old apple-vendor pose as a society woman to fool her visiting daughter.
Cast: May Robson, Warren William, Guy Kibbee. Dir: Frank Capra. BW-96 mins, TV-G

12:00 PM—Mildred Pierce (1945)
A woman turns herself into a business tycoon to win her selfish daughter a place in society.
Cast: Joan Crawford, Ann Blyth, Jack Carson. Dir: Michael Curtiz. BW-111 mins, TV-PG, CC, DVS

2:00 PM—Comrade X (1940)
An American warms up an icy Russian streetcar conductor.
Cast: Clark Gable, Hedy Lamarr, Eve Arden. Dir: King Vidor. BW-90 mins, TV-G, CC

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Saturday—February 13th

1:30 AM—Chinatown (1974)
A Los Angeles private eye unwittingly sets up an innocent man for murder, then joins his seductive widow to unearth the corruption behind the crime.
Cast: Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, John Huston. Dir: Roman Polanski. C-130 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

3:45 AM—The Wind and the Lion (1975)
An Arab chief triggers an international incident when he kidnaps an American widow and her children.
Cast: Sean Connery, Candice Bergen, Brian Keith. Dir: John Milius. C-119 mins, TV-MA, CC, Letterbox Format

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Sunday—February 14th

4:00 AM—Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Belgian detective Hercule Poirot investigates the murder of a mysterious businessman during a luxurious train ride.
Cast: Albert Finney, Sean Connery, Ingrid Bergman. Dir: Sidney Lumet. C-128 mins, TV-14, CC, Letterbox Format

6:15 AM—Notorious (1946)
A U.S. agent recruits a German expatriate to infiltrate a Nazi spy ring in Brazil.
Cast: Cary Grant, Ingrid Bergman, Claude Rains. Dir: Alfred Hitchcock. BW-101 mins, TV-PG, CC

—Mike Gray