Stewart and Mitchum both died this week--a double jolt to a Hollywood becoming ever-more lacking in old-fashioned movie-star types with every passing year. Stewart succumbed to cardiac arrest yesterday at the age of 89; Mitchum died in his sleep on Tuesday. He was 79.
Rival all-movie cable networks, American Movie Classics (AMC) and Turner Classic Movies, are paying tribute to the actors in the most logical, and ratings-sound, way possible: They're showing a bunch of their old movies. Fifty-five, to be exact--39 Stewart films; 16 Mitchum ones.
AMC gets the drop on the Jimmy Stewart tribute, launching an already-scheduled 24-hour, 12-movie marathon tomorrow, starting at 6 a.m. ET. Highlights include: Winchester '73, the 1950 western that revitalized Stewart's career; and 1954's The Glenn Miller Story, a sentimental biopic of the late band leader.
On Sunday, Turner Classic Movies takes up the cause of the actor called a "national treasure" this week by President Clinton. Its Stewart triple-feature is a best bet from beginning to end: imaginary bunny comedy Harvey (1945); The Philadelphia Story (1940), featuring Stewart's Oscar-winning performance; You Can't Take It With You (1938), the screwball classic.
The Ted Turner-owned movie channel has also declared July 11-12 "Jimmy Stewart Weekend." Twenty-four Stewart films will be screened, including 1952 Best Picture winner, The Greatest Show on Earth. (Stewart's hiding behind clown makeup in that one.)
Ironically, perhaps the most beloved Stewart film, It's a Wonderful Life, won't be on the airwaves anywhere, anytime soon. NBC owns the exclusive broadcast rights to the film, and says there are no plans to show the 1946 film before its usual Christmas-time outing.
AMC, meanwhile, kicked off its nine-film Mitchum tribute today at 6 a.m. ET. Titles such as 1951's His Kind of Woman, with tough-guy Mitchum as a gangster on the run in Mexico, are still to come tonight.
Turner Classic Movies offers its Mitchum fest on Saturday, beginning at 6 a.m. ET. That seven-film collection is highlighted by the original 1962 version of Cape Fear, with Mitchum in the psycho role Robert De Niro later tried, and Gregory Peck showing Nick Nolte how it's done.