Classic Movies of the Week
TCM, beginning at 5 p.m.
Back in the ’70s, broadcast networks produced many original films. While a lot of these titles led the term “Movie of the Week” to become synonymous with something instantly forgettable and of lower quality, both in budget and execution, there were a few productions that stood out and remain classics. Turner Classic Movies is airing four of them this evening. The lineup starts with Brian’s Song (1971), making its TCM premiere. Originally broadcast on ABC, this tear-jerking drama always ranks high whenever a list of “guy-cry” movies is put together and is a cut above a standard made-for-television production thanks in large part to its two leads: James Caan and Billy Dee Williams, both of whom received Emmy nominations for their performances.
The movie recounts the life of Brian Piccolo (Caan), who played for the Chicago Bears for four years before he lost his life to cancer at age 26 in 1970. Piccolo’s story is told through his friendship with teammate Gale Sayers (Williams). Also making its TCM premiere is tonight’s next film, The Boy in the Plastic Bubble (1976). Inspired by a true story, it stars John Travolta as a teen who lives in a germ-free bubble due to having been born with immune deficiencies. Glynnis O’connor co-stars as the girl whose love makes him want to leave his protected life and experience the world, even at the risk of his health and life. Up next is another movie that premiered on ABC: 1971’s Duel (pictured), the first full-length film directed by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by sci-fi legend Richard Matheson. Dennis Weaver plays a motorist driving through the desert who suddenly finds himself terrorized by a tanker truck driven by an unseen person. Spielberg’s “movie of the week” was so artfully crafted, with white-knuckle suspense reminiscent of what he would create a few years later in Jaws, that Duel was screened in European art houses. Finishing up the lineup early tomorrow is The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974), which was first broadcast on CBS and stars Emmy winner Cicely Tyson as the title character, a Black woman in the South who was born into slavery during the 1850s and lives to tell her story during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.