Why I Love Turner Classic Movies

OK, I admit it. I love Turner Classic Movies.

There. I said it. If that makes me seem old and out of it, stuck in another century (that would be the 20th), I'm fine with that. I don't mind admitting that if I was forced to delete channels from my personal cable universe, TCM would survive untouched.

Turner Classic Movies, for those of you who do not have access to it, is a cable station that plays nothing but movies. Showing movies on TV is nothing new, of course, nor is TCM unique. Television has been showing movies from the dawn of the medium, but nobody does it with the style, élan, and attention to detail of TCM.

So what's so special about Turner Classic Movies? Let me count the ways.

1. TCM is unedited and commercial free. (How this channel makes a dime I do not know. But since it was started by Ted Turner, the unfathomably wealthy southerner best known as the creator of CNN and as being Mr. Jane Fonda for a time, I'm guessing it does.) No ads and infomercials to interrupt the flow of the plot; no editing for political correctness, language, nudity or violence. Commercials, and their shockingly inept insertion into films, is why I never watch any movies on commercial television. TCM treats films with respect, even ones that don't especially deserve it. To be honest, not every film on TCM is deserving of the classic moniker. But it doesn't matter whether its “Citizen Kane” or “The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-up Zombies”- which would make a heck of a double-bill - all films are given their proper due. To be fair, it is relatively easy for TCM to show its films unedited. Until the 1960s, you didn't have to worry about being assaulted by F-bombs and gratuitous (if sometimes welcomed) nudity, sex and graphic violence. That's another reason why I like TCM so much. I'm just old enough that hearing the F-word (or worse) bandied about in movies and TV still makes me a little uncomfortable.
2. TCM means black-and-white. To many people, watching a film in black-and-white is like listening to 78 rpm played on a gramophone. My three sons hate B&W; to them, it is the sign of an old movie, and old movies are as relevant to them as Elvis. Me, I love it. When I was a kid, B&W movies on TV were commonplace. I still find black-and-white films to be more evocative. Old horror movies, a favorite of mine, are best seen in black and white. It's worth noting that ten of the top twenty films on the American Film Institute's list of best American films of all time are in B&W, including modern classics like Schindler's List and Raging Bull.
3. In its look and feel, TCM is the classiest, coolest channel on TV. The channel's graphics are real art, gorgeous and fascinating. That attention to detail carries over to its website which is an on-line gold mine for movie buffs, and a thing of beauty to look at. Aside from the TCM schedule and dozens of articles, the web site features a collection coming attractions features, which have a style all their own. (They're frequently hilarious; check out the preview for the Russ Meyer's flesh-fest "Faster Pussycat! Kill! Kill!”).
4. While the advent of DVDs has been a boon to Hollywood"s golden age, I would argue that TCM has been even more valuable. Thanks to TCM, today's audiences (or at least those who don't mind watching B&W films) have become acquainted with the raw power of James Cagney's gangsters, the still-simmering sexiness of the likes of Jean Harlow or Greta Garbo, and the ethereal beauty of Ingrid Bergman. George Clooney is the closest thing we have to a real, old-school movie star today, but even Clooney is only a pale facsimile of Cary Grant.
5. TCM turns the remarkable trick of never being insulting to its audience, while avoiding the pitfall of being elitist. Much of the credit must go to the channel's hosts, the warm and dapper Robert Osborne, and the younger and hipper Ben Mankiewicz. I like these guys.

To gauge just how good TCM is, compare it to its primary competitor, American Movie Classics - it's like comparing a rib eye steak to a hot dog. While TCM lavishes the care and attention of an antique dealer on its movies, AMC treats its films like disposable diapers. While TCM shows films in their original aspect ratio, AMC shows versions cropped for television. Worse yet, they show edited versions (and apparently edited by a bored guy with a pair of rusty scissors), and interrupts its films in slapdash fashion with commercials - and the commercials are all for AMC!

It's a travesty, and a missed opportunity. While TCM's schedule is made up of films predominantly from the 1930s to the 1950s (with forays into the 60s and beyond), AMC is mostly into newer, color films. What a treat it would be for movie fans to see properly show, unedited, non-commercial showings of modern classics on AMC, while TCM took care of the earlier era. Alas, AMC is no better than your local affiliate showing a movie at 2 a.m., which is a shame.

What is the appeal of a channel devoted to technologically primitive old movies, with their typically overwrought acting, corn ball dialogue and hokey plot lines?

For me, watching movies from the 30s, 40s and 50s provides a painless, fascinating history lesson. I've never seen sure if movies reflected the culture of the times, or created it. But old films reflect their time better than the music or literature of the era ever could.

Thanks to Turner Classic Movies, these important artifacts - and the movies ARE important - are lovingly preserved, studied, and treated with respect.

And that includes “The Incredibly Strange Creatures Who Stopped Living and Became Mixed-Up Zombies.”