TCM Schedule for Friday, February 2, 2024: Race Car Drivers / Black History Weekend Marathon

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7:15 AM | Speed (1936)
A race-car driver fights to prove the worth of his new high-speed carburetor.
Dir: Edwin L. Marin | Cast: James Stewart, Wendy Barrie, Una Merkel

8:30 AM | The Crowd Roars (1932)
A race-car driver tries to keep his brother from following in his footsteps.
Dir: Howard Hawks | Cast: James Cagney, Joan Blondell, Ann Dvorak

10:00 AM | The Big Wheel (1949)
A mechanic alienates everyone who loves him when he becomes a champion race car driver.
Dir: Edward Ludwig | Cast: Mickey Rooney, Thomas Mitchell, Mary Hatcher

12:00 PM | To Please a Lady (1950)
A ruthless race-car driver falls for a crusading journalist out to clean up the sport.
Dir: Clarence Brown | Cast: Clark Gable, Barbara Stanwyck, Adolphe Menjou

2:00 PM | Fireball 500 (1966)
Two race car drivers vie for the same girl as they compete in a cross-country race.
Dir: William Asher | Cast: Frankie Avalon, Annette Funicello, Fabian

4:00 PM | Speedway (1968)
A race car driver tries to outrun the beautiful tax auditor out to settle his account.
Dir: Norman Taurog | Cast: Elvis Presley, Nancy Sinatra, Bill Bixby

6:00 PM | The Racing Scene (1969)
The story of actor James Garner's year with his auto racing team, from the time he bought the car, and assembled his team for racing in Mexico, England, Florida and Canada.
Dir: Andy Sidaris | Cast: James Garner, Chris Amon, Mario Andretti | Runtime: 92 mins | Genre: Documentary

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8:00 PM | The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman (1974)
Story of a black woman in the South who was born into slavery in the 1850s and lives to become a part of the civil rights movement in the 1960s.
Dir: John Korty | Cast: Cicely Tyson, Odetta, Josephine Premice, Katherine Helmond

Trivia: Winner of nine Emmy awards, including Actress of the Year (Tyson), Best Directing (A Single Program), and Best Lead Actress in a Drama (Tyson).



10:00 PM | Freedom on My Mind (1994)
The dramatic story of the Mississippi Voter Registration project (1961-64) is told through the eyewitness accounts of several remarkable men and women.
Dir: Connie Field | Cast: Endesha Ida Mae Holland, Pam Chude Allen, Marshall Ganz | Runtime: 105 mins | Genre: Documentary

Trivia: Sundance Film Festival, Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary; Academy Awards, Best Feature Documentary Nominee

12:00 AM | Get on the Bus (1996)
A disparate group of African-American men travel by bus to Washington, DC for the Million Man March.
Dir: Spike Lee | Cast: Ossie Davis, Charles S. Dutton, Andre Braugher, Bernie Mac

Trivia: Honorable Mention, 47th Berlin International Film Festival. Rather than seek studio financing, Spike Lee financed the film with monetary contributions from famous black men so as to reflect the spirit of the Million Man March. The contributors included (but were not limited to): Will Smith, Danny Glover, Wesley Snipes, Johnnie L. Cochran Jr., and Robert Guillaume.



2:15 AM | The Murder of Fred Hampton (1971)
This film depicts the brutal murder of the leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party by the Chicago police and its subsequent investigation.
Dir: Mike Gray | Cast: Howard Alk, Howard Alk, Mike Gray | Runtime: 88 mins | Genre: Documentary

Trivia: Preserved in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

Note: The five-time Oscar nominated film (and winner of two) Judas and the Black Messiah (2021) is a biographical crime drama of events covered in this documentary.



3:45 AM | Cicero March (1966)
Short film which documents a civil rights march held on September 4, 1966, in Cicero, Illinois.
Dir: The Film Group | Cast: Robert Lucas | Runtime: 9 mins | Genre: Documentary

4:00 AM | American Revolution 2 (1969)
American Revolution 2 includes footage of the 1968 Democratic Convention protest and riot, a critique of the events by working class African-Americans in Chicago, and attempts by the Black Panther Party to organize poor, southern white youths on the city's north side.
Dir: Howard Alk | Cast: Mike Gray, William R. Cottle | Runtime: 80 mins | Genre: Documentary



5:30 AM | Black Moderates and Black Militants (1968)
Three members of the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party, including future congressman Bobby Rush, debate with the principal of an African American high school on strategies for ending racism.
Dir: The Film Group | Cast: Bobby Rush | Runtime: 15 mins | Genre: Documentary