Legends, Underdogs Among TCM's Summer Under the Stars Recommendations

by Julian Spivey

Photo: Turner Classic Movies

One of the greatest months of the year for classic film buffs is August because every August Turner Classic Movies (TCM) breaks out its “Summer Under the Stars” programming featuring movies from a single actor or actress for 24 straight hours every day of the month.

Typically, each year the schedule for Summer Under the Stars features a mixture of legends who’ve had days in previous installments of the series and those who are making their ‘SUTS’ debut.

This year there are eight first-timers on the ‘SUTS’ schedule, including some surprises like Anthony Perkins (August 2) and John Carradine (August 31). The other six first-timers are Stella Stevens (August 3), Jackie Cooper (August 4), The Nicholas Brothers (August 9), Rhonda Fleming (August 10), Katy Jurado (August 16) and Geraldine Chaplin (August 22).

I highly recommend watching as much of the ‘SUTS’ programming as you can or DVRing as much as you can so you can watch at a more convenient time, but every year I like to showcase my favorite days on the ‘SUTS’ schedule and recommend some can’t-miss flicks on that particular day’s lineup.   

Paul Newman is one of my all-time favorite actors and he’s featured on the Summer Under the Stars schedule on Sunday, August 13. Among the Newman classics I hope you make time or DVR space for that day are 1967’s prison drama “Cool Hand Luke,” (4:30 p.m.) which is arguably his finest performance. I’m personally excited to see some of his films I haven’t had the pleasure of viewing yet like “The Long Hot Summer” (7 p.m.) and “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” (9:15 p.m.).

By sheer happenstance, it looks like TCM has scheduled my all-time favorite actress Barbara Stanwyck and my all-time favorite actor James Stewart on consecutive days, so I highly recommend keeping your TV tuned to the classic movie channel for 48 straight hours on Sunday, August 20 and Monday, August 21. For your Stanwyck picks on Sunday please watch the hilarious screwball comedy “Ball of Fire” co-starring Gary Cooper in an atypical Cooper role at 1 p.m. and perhaps the greatest film noir ever made in “Double Indemnity” at 3 p.m. I hope to check out one of Stanwyck’s earliest star-making roles in “Baby Face” for the first time at 7 p.m.

What I think are two of Stewart’s finest performances ever – and that’s saying something because he had so many – are scheduled for his ‘SUTS’ day in director Frank Capra’s political drama “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” where Stewart plays the idealistic young politician Jefferson Smith who’ll make you believe in politics for a brief time, and the dark Western “Winchester ’73,” from director Anthony Mann. These two performances really show Stewart’s range and a drastic change in his performances from the late ‘30s into the ‘50s. “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” airs at 1 p.m. and “Winchester ‘73” at 7 p.m.

Another one of my all-time favorite actors – and one who’s always been a clear favorite on TCM – is Humphrey Bogart, whose movies will be showcased on Sunday, August 27. Unfortunately, I haven’t seen a complete list of the schedule for Bogart’s day – TCM.com isn’t the shining beacon of a website it once was (probably because Warner Bros. Discovery is cutting costs wherever it can) – but I do know all-time classics like “Key Largo,” “The Maltese Falcon” and “In a Lonely Place” are airing that day. Please mark all of them on your calendar if you haven’t yet seen them.

My final recommendation is Woody Strode’s day on Tuesday, August 29. Strode was a terrific actor who took to Hollywood after the end of his football career, where he was a trailblazer. He became something of a Hollywood trailblazer too as a black actor who had a lead role (though he noticeably wasn’t billed first despite being the titular character) in director John Ford’s 1960 Western “Sergeant Rutledge.” I fully believe Strode would’ve been a star if he hadn’t been an actor in the era he was. I also highly recommend Richard Brooks’ 1966 Western “The Professionals,” where Strode teams in the ultimate badass cast with Burt Lancaster, Robert Ryan and Lee Marvin.