CATCH A CLASSIC

Written & Directed by Richard Brooks

TCM, beginning at 7 p.m.

Some of the finest work by acclaimed filmmaker Richard Brooks can be seen tonight when Turner Classic Movies airs four films that he wrote and directed, mostly from his later career as an independently working producer/director but also one film from his studio days. First is Brooks’ chilling 1967 neo-noir adaptation of Truman Capote’s true-crime book In Cold Blood (pictured); Brooks received Oscar nominations for his direction and screenplay. The filmmaker

won an Oscar for the screenplay of tonight’s next film, the Best Picture Oscar-nominated Elmer Gantry (1960), Brooks’ first movie outside a studio contract, which he adapted from Sinclair Lewis’ novel and which stars Best Actor Oscar winner Burt Lancaster as the titular con man. Next is Best Picture Oscar nominee Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), the last film Brooks made while under contract with MGM, starring Oscar nominees Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman. Brooks received a Best Director Oscar nomination and shared an Oscar nod with James Poe for their screenplay adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play. The final film tonight is Lord Jim (1965), an adventure film starring Peter O’Toole that Brooks adapted from Joseph Conrad’s novel.