BEST TCM ‘ROMANTIC WEEKEND GETAWAY’ MOVIES
“Casablanca” (1942; Friday, Feb. 12) An ideal choice to launch Turner Classic Movies’ “Romantic Weekend Getaway” festival, this all-timegreat drama revolves largely around the revived love story of Rick and Ilsa (Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman), who face plenty of odds in the midst of wartime intrigue.
“West Side Story” (1961; Friday) A new, Steven Spielberg-directed version of the musical is on the way, but Robert Wise’s edition starring Natalie Wood and Richard Beymer as star-crossed lovers Maria and Tony always will retain its place with film fans.
“Marty” (1955; Saturday, Feb. 13) Ernest Borgnine changed his image and won an Oscar as the Bronx butcher looking for love in this screen adaptation of Paddy Chayefsky’s television play. “From Here to Eternity” (1953; Saturday) The beach love scene between Burt Lancaster and Deborah Kerr is a defining image of the James Jones story about personal and professional relationships surrounding the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“Doctor Zhivago” (1965; Saturday) David Lean’s epic telling of the Boris Pasternak novel has gorgeous music (by Maurice Jarre) and cinematography (by Freddie Young), plus a tremendous duo in Omar Sharif and Julie Christie as Zhivago and Lara. Its landscapes make this one to watch on the biggest screen possible.
“Roman Holiday” (1953; Saturday) Audrey Hepburn became a star – and an Oscar-winning one at that – in this wonderful comedy with a familiar premise, the one about a member of royalty who wants to escape and live like a “regular person” for a while.
“Pillow Talk” (1959; Saturday) Doris Day and Rock Hudson started their run as a popular romanticcomedy duo as dissimilar people connected by a party line (and an Oscar-winning script).
“The Goodbye Girl” (1977; Sunday, Feb. 14) Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss and Marsha
Mason make a great team in Neil Simon’s comedy of a single mom and the ambitious actor she unwillingly takes as an apartment-mate.
“The Philadelphia Story” (1940; Sunday) A socialite’s (Katharine Hepburn) impending remarriage gives her tabloid-reporter ex-husband (Cary Grant) second thoughts in this comedy, legendary on both stage and screen.
“It Happened One Night” (1934; Sunday) One of the ultimate “road trip” movies pairs Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert as uneasy traveling companions. Director Frank Capra’s classic swept its year’s top Oscars.
“Now, Voyager” (1942; Sunday) One of Bette Davis’ most fondly remembered films features her as a spinster whose late blooming involves her affair with a married architect (Paul Henreid).
“The Way We Were” (1973; Sunday) Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford evoke sheer star power, as well as very good acting, in director Sydney Pollack’s drama that smartly incorporates a dark period in Hollywood’s history.