MOVIES Cool it in July With Fabulous Movies

Channel 13 brings viewers a month-long movie extravaganza. If you’re a night owl or an insomniac, you’re in for a treat. (If you’re not, you can set your VCR and sleep soundly.) Weeknights at 1:30 a.m., Movie 13 presents a fantastic late-night selection of films such as Bing Crosby and Bob Hope’s Road movies (July 2-5), beginning with The Road to Singapore (middle), and four nights of first-rate Alfred Hitchcock movies (July 9-12), which include Lifeboat (below). Later in the month, movies like Reefer Madness (July 16) and The Ape Man (July 20) let you cool off and laugh.

Saturdays at 8 p.m., Movie 13 offers viewing for three pleasurable weekends. July 7, George Burns and Walter Mat-thau star in The Sunshine Boys, Neil Simon’s raucous story of two feuding vaudevillians forced to reunite. A week later, on July 14. The Grapes of Wrath tells the moving story of an impoverished Oklahoma family that is forced to leave home behind to move to a “better” life in California. Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell and John Carradine star in this classic motion picture. Twelve O’clock High, on July 21, tells the absorbing story of a World War II U.S. bomber unit in Britain that struggles with a commander who is beginning to crack under the strain of wartime. Gregory Peck, Gary Merrill and Dean Jagger star.

On Sunday, July 1, Hollywood’s legendary and irreplaceable leading ladies appear for an afternoon of glamorous memories. Beginning at 1 p.m., there’s Elizabeth Taylor: An Intimate Portrait; at 2 p.m., it’s Impressions of Judy Garland; Bette Davis: The Benevolent Volcano stirs things up at 3 p.m.; and at 4 p.m., it’s time for Remembering Marilyn (left).

A week later, on Sunday, July 8, the afternoon is devoted to the screens greatest male stars. From 1-3 p.m., Great Performances presents the colorful, tragic life and career of actor Richard Burton. At 3 p.m., Hollywood Legends centers on the illustrious work of Gregory Peck and, at 4 p.m., on the fabled charm and brilliance of Cary Grant (below). Finally, at 5 p.m., Hollywood’s most charismatic leading man is recalled in Clark Gable: The King Remembered.

For a look at the stars and guiding visions behind the movies, three of July’s American Masters presentations focus on some of Hollywood’s greatest directors. On Friday, July 6, at 9 p.m.. Preston Sturges: The Rise and Fall of an American Dreamer looks at the brilliant director of such classics as The Lady Eve and Palm Beach Story. A week later, Friday, July 13, at 9 p.m., John Cassavetes examines the landmark work of the man considered to be one of America’s most important independent filmmakers, whose work included Husbands and Woman Under the Influence. Then, on Friday, July 20, at 9 p.m,, Martin Scorsese Directs looks at the director of films such as Raging Bull, Mean Streets and The Last Temptation of Christ. Provocative and often controversial, Scorsese’s films reflect unblinking reality and raw emotion.