Oscar dominates Turner Classic Movies

One channel, one month, 346 movies. No, it's not TUTV. That would be one channel, one semester, five movies. It's Turner Classic Movies, and the network is celebrating the 75th Anniversary of the Academy Awards with "31 Days of Oscar." For the entire month of March, TCM is showing all Oscar-nominated or Oscar-winning pictures, all of them run without commercial interruption, uncensored, and uncut. From West Side Story to Fiddler on the Roof -- The Philadelphia Story to Philadelphia, this marathon of classic movies promises to make for 31 blockbuster evenings, without ever having to go to Blockbuster.

Instead of showing the movies in chronological order, TCM has wisely chosen to group the films by theme, such as or "Oscar Gets Directions" airing on Mar. 5, or "Oscar Joins the Military," airing on Mar. 7. The former theme offers the unique pairing of the Hitchock thriller North by Northwest with Leonard Bernstein's classic musical West Side Story. While the only real connection these two movies have is the title, the latter theme groups war movies like the Robin Williams drama, Good Morning Vietnam, and the Gary Cooper biopic, Sergeant York.

"Oscar Joins the Military" is the first in a series of days with a war theme, and it is followed by 'Oscar Goes to Battle" and "Oscar Comes Home from War," airing on Mar. 8 and 9, respectively. TCM has scheduled similar stretches of movie genres, including three days of films pertaining to law and order. Be sure to watch Bonnie & Clyde starring Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway in a great crime movie on March 10. The tagline "They are young, they are in love, they kill people," does enough justice (pun intended) in describing the movie.

The following night, as a part of "Oscar Goes to Court," features the rarely seen Jeremy Irons in his Oscar-winning performance in Reversal of Fortune, as well as one of the best dramas ever, 12 Angry Men. On "Oscar Goes to Prison" on March 11, one of my personal favorites premieres, The Great Escape. It stars Mr. Cool himself, Steve McQueen, as well as Charles Bronson, James Garner, the late great James Coburn, and a young Richard Attenborough, recently of Jurassic Park fame, all as World War II soldiers who expend all their efforts to escaping from a Nazi POW camp.

Yet the day to look forward to the most is Mar. 17, with "Oscar Gets Hot," as TCM presents two hilarious comedies: Blazing Saddles and Some Like it Hot, one inspirational drama, Chariots of Fire, and one tribute to the recently-deceased Rod Steiger, in his greatest role as a racist sheriff in In the Heat of the Night. According to the American Film Institute's list of the "100 Greatest Comedies," Some Like it Hot is the funniest movie of all-time. Anyone who has seen it would have a hard time arguing, as it stars Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis as two musicians who mistakenly witness the St. Valentine's Day Massacre. To avoid the mob, they go on the lam dressed as female musicians in a band led by the luscious Marilyn Monroe. Hilarity ensues. Blazing Saddles is listed seventh on the aforementioned list, and if you like flatulence jokes, make sure you watch. If not, go find a sense of humor.

Mar. 23 is Academy Awards Night on ABC, and you can watch the Rivers women critique the fashion scene, or you can watch Bogart and Bergman light up the screen in Casablanca on TCM. The 1941masterpiece is one of the rare near-perfect movies, and is deserving of all the praised heaped upon it year after year. To keep up with the impressive counter-programming, the network is showing Annie Hall, a great Woody Allen comedy about his relationship with the film's namesake, played by Diane Keaton.

The odds-on favorite for this year's Best Picture award is Chicago, the jazzy movie musical directed by Rob Marshall based on the Kander & Ebb Broadway hit. During the "31 Days," TCM celebrates the success of similar movie musicals throughout Oscar history. On Mar. 20, "Oscar Goes Dancing" with An American in Paris and 42nd Street, two of the first musicals to be recognized by the academy. The Rat Pack vehicle Guys and Dolls premieres on Mar. 16 as a part of the "Oscar Goes Gambling" theme. If you want to see the precedence for an Oscar-caliper musical, make sure to tune into these melodious movies.

TCM's programming is not perfect by any means, as I fail to see the point of showing one of the greatest movies of all time, Citizen Kane, at 1 a.m. In addition, where are The Godfather films? Star Wars series? Any animated films? The final few days of movies are also busts, as I am left to wonder, is Beetlejuice really worthy of being placed on the same schedule as these other great classics?

Regardless, anyone looking for a crash course in the great American movies of the past 75 years, definitely should look at TCM's "31 Days of Oscar". You won't find a better selection at our local Blockbuster, or any other station. For the best, you have to look toward TCM.