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FLICK PICKS: Ricardo Montalban tribute on TCM

What, no Wrath of Khan?! Nope, not in Turner Classic Movies' all-day Friday salute to beloved actor Ricardo Montalban, who died Jan. 14 at the age of 88. But that Star Trek II smash does show up Friday at 2:30 p.m. ET on OuterMax (and four more times soon after on other Cinemax digital channels).

First, though, comes TCM's quickly scheduled tribute to the suave Latin star possibly more famous for his TV work as Mr. Roarke on Aaron Spelling's 1980 all-star time-waster Fantasy Island -- and as the 1970s pitchman for the Chrysler Cordoba's "soft Co-reen-thee-an leather."

TCM's Friday titles include:

7:30 a.m. ET -- Fiesta, the 1947 musical vehicle for swimmer/actress Esther Williams, with Montalban as her bullfighter brother.

9:30 a.m. ET -- Neptune's Daughter, Williams' 1949 musical smash, with Montalban duetting on Baby It's Cold Outside. Their costars include comic Red Skelton and bandleader Xavier Cugat.

11:15 a.m. ET -- Latin Lovers, a 1953 romance with Lana Turner.

1 p.m. ET -- Border Incident, director Anthony Mann's gritty 1949 film noir about illegal immigration.

2:45 p.m. ET -- Battleground, 1949's acclaimed "band of brothers" war drama starring Van Johnson.

4:45 p.m. ET -- Across the Wide Missouri, a 1951 tale of the 19th century fur trade, headlined by Clark Gable.

6:15 p.m. ET -- The Singing Nun, the 1966 biopic starring Debbie Reynolds in a habit with a guitar, with Montalban as a priest.

The actor's scene-stealing stint as the genetically engineered title villain in 1982's Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan unreels Saturday morning at 6:30 a.m. ET on MoreMax, and next shows up Tuesday at 2 p.m. ET on ThrillerMax. Check the Cinemax schedule online for further airings.

The actor can also be found causing trouble in Leslie Nielsen's cop spoof The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (Saturday at 4:55 a.m. ET on HBO2).

Check local listings for his final credited role, as The Cow, on the scattershot animated hit Family Guy (showing in New York Jan. 30 at 7:30 p.m. ET on WPIX/11).

Also look for syndicated airings of the 1967 Star Trek episode Space Seed, with Montalban's original appearance as Khan. Or watch it on DVD. Or streaming free online.

So now, where are those Fantasy Island reruns? At least we've got this online "minisode" -- with Charo playing a noble surrogate mother!

3 Comments

Toby O'B said:

I wish somebody would do a similar tribute for Patrick McGoohan. Like Montalban, he was better known for his TV work, but he made some interesting movies over the years as well.

With 'Baby' (that dinosaur movie), 'Silver Streak', 'Brass Target' and 'Ice Station Zebra', maybe AMC would be the better venue. But even so, he's deserving of some sort of tip of the hat!

January 23, 2009 9:37 AM

Ivan Kowalenko said:

Huh. Makes me sad that
A) I missed this
B) ComCast pulled TCM (and AMC) from the analog cable line-up around here.

January 29, 2009 2:09 AM

coffee said:

Dos Equis should have hired Ricardo Montalban to do a few ads for them, he could have done their "most interesting man in the world" bit perfectly (he has a Spanish accent too)

February 11, 2009 6:00 PM

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Diane Werts has been glued to the tube since she can remember, growing up in a household where the TV came on first thing in the morning and stayed on till bedtime and beyond. She worked for the USA Film Festival, then for The Dallas Morning News writing about everything from Shakespeare to macrame art to rock music (and has the hearing loss to prove it). She moved to New York's Newsday to edit their glossy TV magazine, then returned to writing about television, specializing in its stranger permutations. She's a past president of the Television Critics Association.

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