Summer Under the Stars
THURSDAY, AUGUST 26, 2004 9:27 PM
The surprising joy of the summer has been these marathons TCM runs most days where they show a bunch of movies all starring the same actor or actress. I didn't catch on to this great thing until Friday, August 13 when Mr. Sassy and I stumbled upon Pillow Talk on Doris Day Day. I wanted to watch it because it's one of the movies than inspired Renée Zellweger and Ewan MacGregor's Down With Love, which wasn't a bad movie except the end is crazy and makes no sense. Well, the end of Pillow Talk is crazy and makes no sense so at least Down With Love can be forgiven on that score. At any rate we finished out the night with the great The Man Who Too Much and the scary Midnight Lace.

I kind of forgot we had TCM because I haven't had it since I move back up to the Bay Area from L.A. over a year ago. So I was used to not having it, and I never remember that we do.

But last month Mr. Sassy and I caught Marnie, a nutty Hitchcock film starring Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery, and The Night of the Hunter, an insane thriller with a really, really creepy Robert Mitchum. And the channel was once again among the options.

So Summer Under the Stars has kind of become a fun weekend thing to look forward to. I've seen Jimmy Stewart's day—Rear Window (an easy favorite), The Shop Around the Corner (the basis for You've Got Mail, only darker and better), You Can't Take It With You, and Harvey; Olivia de Haviland's day—They Died With Their Boots On, Gone With The Wind, and The Adventures of Robin Hood; and I'm looking forward to Cary Grant's day on Friday (especially, Father Goose and Operation Petticoat, movies I watched a million times as a kid), Gary Cooper on Saturday (all movies I want to see or see again), and Gregory Peck (a fellow alumnus) on Sunday. I'm not going to be able to watch Esther Williams on Monday, but the lineup is awesome:

3:00 AM Fiesta (1947) A Mexican beauty replaces her toreador brother in the bull ring so he can pursue his musical career. Esther Williams, Ricardo Montalban, Cyd Charisse. D: Richard Thorpe. C 102m. CC

5:00 AM Easy To Love (1953) Two men vie for the heart of a Cypress Gardens swimming star. Esther Williams, Tony Martin, Van Johnson. D: Charles Walters. C 96m. CC

6:45 AM This Time For Keeps (1947) A famous singer's son falls for a swimming star. Esther Williams, Jimmy Durante, Lauritz Melchior. D: Richard Thorpe. C 105m. CC

8:30 AM Duchess Of Idaho (1950) During a Sun Valley vacation, a woman tries to solve her roommate's romantic problems only to get caught in a love triangle of her own. Esther Williams, Van Johnson, Lena Horne. D: Robert Z. Leonard. C 98m. CC

10:15 AM Skirts Ahoy! (1952) Three women join the Navy to find husbands. Esther Williams, Vivian Blaine, Barry Sullivan. D: Sidney Lanfield. C 110m. CC

12:15 PM Take Me Out to the Ball Game (1949) A beautiful woman takes over a turn-of-the-century baseball team. Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Esther Williams. D: Busby Berkeley. C 93m. CC

2:00 PM Private Screenings: Esther Williams (1996) TCM host Robert Osborne interviews Esther Williams on her career as Hollywood's greatest swimming star. BW & C 48m. CC

3:00 PM Thrill Of A Romance (1945) A soldier returning from World War II finds love with a lady swimmer. Esther Williams, Van Johnson, Tommy Dorsey. D: Richard Thorpe. C 105m. CC

5:00 PM Million Dollar Mermaid (1952) True story of Annette Kellerman, the world's first great swimming star. Esther Williams, Victor Mature, Walter Pidgeon. D: Mervyn LeRoy. C 110m. CC

7:00 PM Dangerous When Wet (1953) A family of fitness freaks sets out to swim the English Channel. Esther Williams, Charlotte Greenwood, Fernando Lamas. D: Charles Walters. C 95m. CC

9:00 PM On An Island With You (1948) A movie star falls for a handsome naval officer during location shooting in Hawaii. Esther Williams, Peter Lawford, Ricardo Montalban. D: Richard Thorpe. C 108m. CC

11:00 PM Bathing Beauty (1944) A songwriter enrolls in an all-girl school to court a pretty gym teacher. Red Skelton, Esther Williams, Basil Rathbone. D: George Sidney. C 101m. CC

1:00 AM Jupiter's Darling (1955) A beautiful Roman mounts a romantic campaign to halt Hannibal's invasion of the empire. Esther Williams, Howard Keel, Marge & Gower Champion. D: George Sidney. C 96m. LBX CC

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