What to Watch on TCM This Week—Classic Orson Welles to Honoring Robert Redford

One of the joys of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is that you never quite know what gems will turn up in a given week. Sometimes it’s a string of familiar favorites you’ve seen a dozen times, other nights it’s a deep cut you’ve only read about in film histories. Either way, the network has a way of weaving together movies that remind you just how rich and varied Hollywood’s legacy really is.

This week’s schedule is no exception, offering a mix of landmark titles, star showcases, and films that capture their eras in ways only TCM can deliver. You’ll find tributes to legends like Orson Welles, whose work continues to shape the language of cinema more than eight decades after Citizen Kane, and Robert Redford, whose screen breakthrough opposite Jane Fonda in Barefoot in the Park is still as charming as ever. Peter Sellers fans are especially well served, with his first outings as the hapless Inspector Clouseau in The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark airing back-to-back, followed by a late-night lineup of his offbeat 1960s comedies.

What makes TCM unique is that these aren’t just movies shuffled onto a screen — they’re part of an ongoing discussion about film history. Watching them in sequence, in the context of a curated schedule, adds texture you don’t always get from streaming menus or on-demand rentals. It’s like having a film historian guide you through the twists and turns of Hollywood’s past, all from the comfort of your living room. What follows is a selection of highlights from films being aired this week.

Monday, September 22, 2025: Peter Sellers’ ‘Inspector Clouseau’ debuts

Enjoy Peter Sellers’ first two forays into the world of Inspector Clouseau with 1964’s The Pink Panther (8:00 PM EDT) and A Shot in the Dark (10:00 PM EDT), both directed by Blake Edwards. In The Pink Panther, the bumbling French detective stumbles his way through the pursuit of a suave jewel thief (David Niven) who has stolen a princess’s priceless diamond known as “The Pink Panther.” A Shot in the Dark, adapted from a Broadway comedy that originally had nothing to do with Clouseau, retools the material to give Sellers’ inept inspector center stage as he tries to clear a beautiful young woman (Elke Sommer) accused of shooting her husband. Many critics regard it as one of the funniest installments in the entire Clouseau saga.

And if you can’t get enough of Sellers, the celebration continues after A Shot in the Dark with a string of his 1960s comedies: the over-the-top James Bond spoof Casino Royale (12:00 AM EDT Tuesday morning), the frenetic romantic farce What’s New Pussycat (2:15 AM EDT) and the lesser-known but charming The Bobo (4:15 AM EDT), in which Sellers plays a struggling troubadour in Spain. Together, these films showcase the range of Sellers’ comic genius, from broad slapstick to sly parody.

Tuesday, September 23, 2025: Orson Welles marathon on TCM

One of the most acclaimed directors in Hollywood history was Orson Welles, a filmmaker whose influence on cinema is still felt more than 80 years after his debut. On Tuesday, Turner Classic Movies is showcasing several of his works, offering a chance to trace his career across different decades. The lineup begins with 1969’s The Immortal Story (7:30 AM EDT), a late-period gem that marked Welles’s first color film. It continues with 1958’s Touch of Evil (8:45 AM EDT), a noir masterpiece famous for its bravura opening shot and dark vision of the American border. At 12:45 PM comes 1946’s The Stranger, a chilling postwar thriller and the only Welles film to enjoy box-office success in its day. That’s followed at 4:30 PM by 1942’s The Magnificent Ambersons, a beautifully crafted family saga that, despite being cut by the studio, remains one of his most haunting works. The evening culminates at 8:00 PM with Citizen Kane (1941), often hailed as the greatest film ever made, a landmark of narrative innovation and visual storytelling.

Wednesday, September 24: Robert Redford and Jane Fonda in ‘Barefoot in the Park’

The late Robert Redford left behind an extraordinary body of work as both an actor and director, but if you want to see the role that first made him a movie star, check out the 1967 screen adaptation of Neil Simon’s Broadway smash Barefoot in the Park. The film paired Redford with Jane Fonda for the first time, creating an on-screen chemistry that audiences adored. Fonda plays the free-spirited newlywed who thrives on spontaneity, while Redford is her straight-laced, conservative husband — and it’s from this clash of personalities that the comedy and gentle drama flow. Redford had already proven himself in the Broadway production of Barefoot in the Park, but the film version catapulted him to Hollywood leading-man status, paving the way for the iconic performances that followed.

Redford and Fonda would reunite onscreen years later in The Electric Horseman (1979) and, much later, in the poignant Netflix film Our Souls at Night (2017), their enduring chemistry serving as bookends to a remarkable cinematic partnership.

Friday, September 26: Robert De Niro in ‘Midnight Run’

Robert De Niro has played more than his fair share of gangsters, sickos and wackjobs, but if you want to see him in a more heroic role, check out 1988’s Midnight Run (10:15 PM EDT). In it, he plays bounty hunter Jack Walsh with Charles Grodin as mob accountant Jonathan “The Duke” Mardukas in a cross-country chase comedy. What starts as a simple job spirals into a madcap journey with the FBI, the mob, and rival hunters in pursuit, while the odd-couple duo bicker, bond and discover unlikely respect along the way.