THE PRODUCERS, 1968
TOOTSIE, 1982
FROST/NIXON, 2008
The Last Metro, 1980
Sunday, 3:30 a.m., TCM
Catherine Deneuve is brilliant as an aging, disillusioned actress and the wife of a Jewish theater owner/director in Nazi-occupied Paris during WWII. With her husband forced to hide in the basement of the theater, she performs onstage above. Despite her own coldness and the lovelessness of her marriage , she struggles to remain loyal to her husband while falling in love with her co-star, (Gérard Depardieu, above right).
The Producers, 1968
Monday, 12 a.m., WLNY
One of the Top 10 funniest movies of all time, Mel Brooks’ “The Producers” stars Zero Mostel as a down-on-his-luck Broadway producer, Max Bialystock, who, with the reluctant assistance of his timid accountant (Gene Wilder) concocts a scheme to make huge money producing a flop called “Springtime For Hitler.” Better than the hideous remake or parody of itself that was on Broadway with Matthew Broderick.
Tootsie, 1982
Thursday, 12 p.m., AMC
Dustin Hoffman plays a difficult actor with an impossible reputation who poses as a woman to land a role on a daytime soap. As a method actor, he fully embodies his character fully, Dorothy, becoming a role model for women. Meanwhile, he falls for his female co-star (Jessica Lange, far left, in an Oscar-winning performance) who thinks he’s a woman. He also must fend off a male actor who has fallen for Dorothy, thinking he’s a woman.
Frost/Nixon, 2008
Friday, 8:30 a.m., USA
In 1977, after years of remaining silent, Richard Nixon (Frank Langella) finally agrees to sit down to an interview with TV chat show host David Frost (Michael Sheen, left) for the mere sum of $600,000. Nixon expected to outwit the glib Brit and save his reputation by spinning history; the sitdown instead became, a famous TV battle of brains. A terrific retelling.