Summer Under the Stars Begins

Set your TiVo. Turner Classic Movies starts off its "Summer Under the Stars" on August 1 with a night of Michael Caine. Love him. I'm up for Alfie, A Bridge Too Far, and of course, Sleuth. (I ruined Sleuth for everybody the first time I saw it by blurting out the gimmick when I figured it out. Oops.)

I still love Sleuth so much so much I haven't brought myself around to watching the 2007 remake, even though it has Caine in it too.

The rest of the week brings us Gregory Peck (Boys form Brazil), Marie Dressler, Charlie Chaplin (Gold Rush, City Lights, The Great Dictator), Claude Rains, Anne Bancroft, and the always watchable James Garner, who perfected the art of weary screen virility long before Harrison Ford and Tom Selleck came along. ("Oh, damn, I have to go be manly again...")

Caine as the irresistible, irredeemable rake in 'Alfie'/courtesy Turner Classic Movies