For nearly 30 years, Turner Classic Movies has been the home of classic movies on TV, airing movies from the earliest days of Hollywood to more modern classics. The channel lets you check off a movie you've been meaning to see or discover a somewhat less heralded movie from an iconic director or actor.
While there is a whole Turner Classic Movies section on HBO Max, the TV channel curates picks every week for viewers, taking the worry out of searching for something and just seeing what Ben Mankiewicz and the other TCM hosts want to show. But if you want to know when exactly to tune in, we're happy to help.
We've compiled 10 movies we're excited to watch on Turner Classic Movies this week, May 8-14, and what time they are playing. Some of them are in the wee hours of the morning, which is where DVR features can come in handy. If you want to see the full TCM schedule for this week, check out the channel's website.
Sullivan's Travels (May 9, 8 pm ET/PT)
Preston Sturges' 1941 satire about a Hollywood director wanting to truly experience life as a homeless person before he takes on his next big movie may have been slightly overlooked initially (it received no Oscar nominations), but its legacy has only grown, including being part of the American Film Institute's 2007 list of Top 100 movies of all time. Starring Joel McCrea and Veronica Lake, the movie is hilarious and edgy (especially for the 1940s), while also offering beautifully tender moments.
The Thin Man (May 10, 8 pm ET/PT)
For anyone who loves the Knives Out franchise, The Thin Man is definitely worth a watch. William Powell stars as former detective Nick Charles who, along with his new wife Nora (Myrna Loy) and their pup Asta, investigates a murder. The Thin Man movies (there are a number of sequels) are very comedic and light in tone, but the mystery is engaging with a large ensemble of possible suspects. It's always fun watching Nick and Nora Charles on the case.
Plan 9 from Outer Space (May 11, 6:30 pm ET/PT)
OK, this isn't a great movie, but it is a great bad movie. If Plan 9 from Outer Space sounds familiar, that's because it was directed by Ed Wood, the titular subject of the Tim Burton movie about perhaps the worst director in Hollywood history. Plan 9 combines an alien invasion with zombies, Vampira and Bela Lugosi years after his Dracula glory days. Movies so bad they're good are their own genre, and Plan 9 from Outer Space is one of the most famous examples, right alongside The Room.
Singin' in the Rain (May 11, 10 pm ET/PT)
Back to the undeniable classics, Singin' in the Rain is widely regarded as one of the best movie musicals of all time. Gene Kelly plays a silent movie star who must make the adjustment to talking pictures in the late 1920s, all while he falls in love with a chorus girl, played by the luminous Debbie Reynolds. The movie is just hit song after hit song, including "Make 'em Laugh," "Good Morning" and, of course, "Singin' in the Rain," the latter one of the most iconic moments in movie history.
Seven Samurai (May 12, midnight ET/PT)
Akira Kurosawa is one of the greatest filmmakers ever, with multiple bonafide masterpieces. But Seven Samurai may be his most widely known. A group of samurai come together to protect a village of farmers who are harassed by bandits. It is epic on just about every scale, from the three-and-a-half-hour run time to the luscious black and white cinematography to the incredible characters to the massive final battle. While adapted a few times (The Magnificent Seven, A Bug's Life), Seven Samurai stands above all successors.
Network (May 12, 3:45 am ET/PT)
Many of the issues people have with the media today were first warned about nearly 50 years ago in Network. Written by Paddy Chayefsky, directed by Sidney Lumet and starring William Holden, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall, Ned Beatty and Peter Finch, Network details how a news anchor's rantings about the state of media are then exploited for profit by those in charge. It is widely regarded as one of the best scripts ever written, with fantastic performances up and down, particularly from Finch.
The Lady Vanishes (May 12, noon ET/PT)
Alfred Hitchcock is the master of suspense with a career that spanned nearly 40 years. One of his first big hits was 1938's The Lady Vanishes. Traveling through Europe by train, Iris is perplexed by the disappearance of an elderly woman she met, though no one else claims to have seen an elderly woman. Iris desperately tries to prove the woman's existence and in doing so pulls back the curtain on a massive conspiracy. Few were as proficient at creating entertaining and thrilling movies like Hitchcock, and The Lady Vanishes is no exception.
Black Narcissus (May 12, 6:15 pm ET/PT)
Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger may not have the cache of some of the most famous directors from the '40s and '50s, but they made two all-time classics in back-to-back years, starting with 1947's Black Narcissus. In the movie, a group of nuns attempts to establish a convent in the Himalayas, but the environment and the clash of cultures with the native people begin to drive the nuns mad. Deborah Kerr stars, but nearly as big of a selling point for the movie is its incredible color photography (still a rarity in 1947). If you like psychological thrillers, Black Narcissus is one you need to see.
The Adventures of Robin Hood (May 13, 6:15 pm ET/PT)
Casablanca's Michael Curtiz is another underrated filmmaker, but he is responsible for numerous classics, including the best movie version of Robin Hood in 1938's The Adventures of Robin Hood (all due respect to Disney's animated Robin Hood movie). Errol Flynn is magnetic as Robin, while the great Olivia de Havilland plays Maid Marian, with Claude Rains and Basil Rathbone as the villainous Prince John and Sir Guy. The Adventures of Robin Hood is just that, a big screen adventure that holds up after more than 80 years.
Stand and Deliver (May 13, 8 pm ET/PT)
Telling stories of inspirational teachers is a long tradition in movies, and one of the best examples of that is Stand and Deliver from 1988. Edward James Olmos and Lou Diamond Phillips star in the story of Jaime Escalante, who inspired his students in a Los Angeles high school, prone to drop outs, to not only learn but master mathematics. Ramón Menéndez directed (one of just five movies in this career) this crowd-pleasing story of the importance of teachers.
Pay-TV subscribers can check their local listings for Turner Classic Movies, while live TV streaming services like Hulu with Live TV, Sling TV and YouTube TV.
