TCM’s ’31 Days of Oscar’ Marathon Returns With ‘Gaslight,’ ‘The Graduate’ & More
It’s TCM‘s 28th annual airing of films recognized by the Academy, and this year’s lineup features only Oscar victors, not nominees, grouped by decade or category. Here are some can’t-miss golden titles airing through the first week of March.
Tuesday: 1940s Winners, Gaslight (2am/1c)
The term gaslighting — manipulating a person for your benefit — comes from this mesmerizing 1944 thriller. Best Actress Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer (above) play a young wife and the husband who preys upon her sanity.
La Strada (Credit: Courtesy of the Everett Collection)
Wednesday: 1950s Winners, La Strada (6/5c)
The Best Foreign-Language Film Oscar went to Federico Fellini’s 1954 tale of a sweet, simpleminded woman (Giulietta Masina) and a callous circus strongman (Anthony Quinn). The tear-jerking finale is stunning.
Thursday: 1960s Winners, The Graduate (10:15/9:15c)
From 1967: that rare film to win Best Director (Mike Nichols) and nothing else. Dustin Hoffman’s Benjamin is seduced by family friend Mrs. Robinson (Anne Bancroft) to a Simon and Garfunkel soundtrack.
The Graduate (Credit: Courtesy of the Everett Collection)
Friday: 1970s Winners, The French Connection (10:15/9:15c)
Jerry Greenberg’s deserved film editing Oscar — tied to Gene Hackman’s frantic car chase through Brooklyn — is central to this Best Picture, a 1971 heroin-smuggling drama as gritty today as ever.
Saturday: 1980s Winners, Raging Bull (12:45am/11:45c)
Martin Scorsese lost Best Director to Robert Redford (for Ordinary People), but this 1980 biopic of self-destructive boxer Jake LaMotta won Robert De Niro a trophy.
Sunday: 1990s–2000s Winners, Shakespeare in Love (10/9c)
Many expected Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan to win Best Picture, but the statue went to this 1998 period dramedy about the fictional affair between young Will (Joseph Fiennes) and a merchant’s daughter (Gwyneth Paltrow).
31 Days of Oscar, March 2022, 6am/5c, TCM
