TCM Remembers — And So Do I

  The American Spectator | USA News and Politics  

"So, here’s to remembering Claudia Cardinale — and also Olivia Hussey and the other notable names in film that Turner Classic Movies beautifully helps us remember each year."

"I’ve long been a huge fan of Turner Classic Movies. The two primary hosts since the channel’s inception about 30 years ago have been the late film historian Robert Osborne and his successor, Ben Mankiewicz. Both have been perfect choices. In recent years, the channel has added secondary hosts, including the splendid Alicia Malone and Dave Karger, both consummate professionals.

"I appreciate TCM’s fairness and largely commendable job of not cowering to political correctness, wokeism, and cancel culture, and generally resisting the winds of the zeitgeist. Though I suspect the managers are largely liberal, and I know that Mankiewicz hails from a Democrat family (his father Frank was the excellent press secretary to Robert F. Kennedy), they’ve remained impressively non-partisan and have avoided the culture war. Exceptions include their series for the fall 2024 political season, which they slanted with left-wingers, even absurdly bringing in Stacey Abrams. They showed their cards there. I must also note that my family blocks the channel during Pride Month. On one occasion, my youngest clicked on TCM and witnessed something sexually graphic and very inappropriate. (I guess porn isn’t considered porn if it celebrates the “L” in LGBTQ.)But overall, the work done by TCM is rather remarkable and, best of all, commercial-free. For most of the year, TCM is superb.

"Among the examples of that is a touching compilation done annually by TCM at year’s end, which I catch while watching the wonderful offering of Christmas films. It’s called “TCM Remembers.” It typically runs about five minutes long, packing in names and faces of actors/actresses who died over the previous year, showing them at their best, oftentimes in iconic images (think of, say, Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s). More recently, the network started including not just those known for acting but editors, producers, composers, cinematographers, costume designers, even cartoonists and stuntmen and makeup artists. 

"These compilations are done so movingly that they choke me up. You watch and say, “Oh, I didn’t know he passed away this year.” Or: “Wow, I had forgotten about her. She was lovely. What a role.” You also find yourself waiting for the face of that noted celebrity, who you recall had died recently. This time, it was Rob Reiner. “TCM Remembers” tends to fade out with the biggest face and his/her most memorable image. This year it was Reiner and Robert Redford, and also Diane Keaton, a fine actress who had so many memorable roles — my favorite being “Kay,” the WASP girlfriend-fiancé-wife of Michael Corleone in The Godfather." . . . (RELATED: Lou Aguilar, “Bardot and Other Screen Legends We Lost in 2025.”)

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