LILIES OF THE FIELD (1963)
Sunday, 3 p.m., TCM
Sidney Poitier made history when he became the first African-American to win the Best Actor Oscar in this gentle story about a charismatic construction worker who helps an order of Catholic nuns build a church. Watch as Poitier leads the nuns in an acapella round of the song “Amen,” and you will understand what star power is all about.
THE LION IN WINTER (1968)
Monday, 7:30 a.m., TCM
English king Henry II (Peter O’Toole) springs his wife Eleanor of Aquitaine (Katharine Hepburn) from prison to spend Christmas with the kids (Anthony Hopkins and Timothy Dalton) at the castle, and presumably name his successor. Can you say “power plays”? Back in 1968, the bellowing engaged in by Hepburn and O’Toole used to be considered Great Acting. Now, it’s just Loud.
MYSTIC RIVER (2003)
Wednesday, 11:30 a.m., AMC
Clint Eastwood’s adaptation of a Dennis Lehane novel about an aging Boston punk (Best Actor Sean Penn), his sad childhood friend (Best Supporting Actor Tim Robbins) and the childhood tragedy and present-day crime that puts them at odds with each other. The great cast includes Marcia Gay Harden and scene-stealer Laura Linney.
TRAFFIC (2000)
Thursday, 10 a.m., AMC
Michael Douglas stars as a conservative Ohio judge whose daughter is a full-blown addict in Steven Soderbergh’s ambitious drama about international drug trafficking. Benicio del Toro won an supporting actor Oscar as a corrupt Mexican cop, but Catherine Zeta-Jones is seriously miscast as a drug kingpin’s wife.