TCM Schedule for Thurs, June 11, 2026: Director William Beaudine / Generation X (Do The Right Thing, more)

William Beaudine (January 15, 1892 – March 18, 1970) was an American film director. He was one of Hollywood's most prolific directors, turning out a remarkable 179 feature-length films in a wide variety of genres.

He is best known today for his silent films Little Annie Rooney and Sparrows, both with Mary Pickford; the W. C. Fields comedy The Old Fashioned Way; several Bela Lugosi and Charlie Chan thrillers; Mom and Dad, a sex-education exploitation film; and the popular Bowery Boys comedies.

Full bio: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Beaudine

--------------------------

Tonight at 8 pm: Spike Lee's masterpiece, "Do The Right Thing" (1989)

At the time of the film's release, both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert ranked the film as the best of 1989, and later each ranked it as one of the top 10 films of the decade (No. 6 for Siskel and No. 4 for Ebert). On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 92%, based on 151 reviews, with an average rating of 9.1/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Smart, vibrant and urgent without being didactic, Do the Right Thing is one of Spike Lee's most fully realized efforts – and one of the most important films of the 1980s." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_Right_Thing

Maybe TCM airs the restored version that had been showing on Netflix. The cinematography by Ernest Dickerson is as striking as the Lee's direction and story.





DAYTIME (listings EST)

6:15 AM Penrod and Sam (1931)
Booth Tarkington's tale of two mischievous boys in turn-of-the-century Indiana.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Leon Janney, Matt Moore, Dorothy Peterson

7:30 AM Make Me a Star (1932)
A grocery clerk goes to Hollywood in search of fame and fortune.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Joan Blondell, Stuart Erwin, Zasu Pitts

9:00 AM Father Takes a Walk (1936)
A Jewish businessman leaves his job when his sons introduce modern technology.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Paul Graetz, Violet Fairbrother, Chili Bouchier

10:30 AM Torchy Gets Her Man (1938)
Female reporter Torchy Blane tries to crack a counterfeiting case.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Glenda Farrell, Barton Maclane, Tom Kennedy

11:45 AM Adventures of Kitty O'Day (1945)
A perky switchboard operator investigates murders that baffle the police.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Jean Parker, Peter Cookson, Tim Ryan

1:00 PM Kidnapped (1948)
After being kidnapped and sold into slavery, a young man fights to reclaim his birthright.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Roddy McDowall, Sue England, Dan O'Herlihy

2:30 PM News Hounds (1947)
When they get newspaper jobs, the Bowery Boys take on a sport-fixing mob.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bobby Jordan

3:45 PM Blonde Dynamite (1950)
The Bowery Boys get into the escort service and get mixed up with crooks.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Adele Jergens

5:00 PM Blues Busters (1950)
The Bowery Boys open a night club when a tonsillectomy turns one of them into a singing star.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Adele Jergens

6:30 PM Jalopy (1953)
The Bowery Boys enter an auto race when one of them invents a new super gas.
Dir: William Beaudine Cast: Leo Gorcey, Huntz Hall, Bernard Gorcey



PRIME TIME, LATE NIGHT, EARLY MORNING

8:00 PM Do the Right Thing (1989)
On a hot summer day, resentments over racial and political issues in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant erupt in violence.
Dir: Spike Lee Cast: Ossie Davis, Danny Aiello, Spike Lee, Ruby Dee

10:15 PM Reality Bites (1994) TCM Premiere
Four friends struggle to find fulfillment in life and love after college in this 1990s classic.
Dir: Ben Stiller Cast: Winona Ryder, Ethan Hawke, Janeane Garofalo

12:00 AM Slacker (1990)
Twenty-four hours with an assortment of "slackers" as they wander around the university district of Austin, Texas.
Dir: Richard Linklater Cast: Richard Linklater, Rudy Basquez, Jean Caffeine

1:45 AM River's Edge (1986)
An alienated group of teenagers reacts with shocking indifference when confronted with a brutal murder.
Dir: Tim Hunter Cast: Crispin Glover, Keanu Reeves, Ione Skye

3:30 AM Reckless (1984) TCM Premiere
A troubled teenager who dreams of leaving his hometown meets an upper-class girl with similar aspirations.
Dir: James Foley Cast: Aidan Quinn, Daryl Hannah, Kenneth McMillan

5:15 AM Oxford Blues (1984) TCM Premiere
When a Las Vegas hustler falls in love with a beautiful British aristocrat, he follows her back to Oxford University.
Dir: Robert Boris Cast: Rob Lowe, Ally Sheedy, Amanda Pays