Remembering "The CBS Late Movie"

One of my favorite summer memories is watching The CBS Late Movie. Launched on Valentine’s Day in 1972, The CBS Late Movie was a delightful gift for movie-lovers. For four years, it offered an eclectic mix of movies five nights a week.

The only film fan not thrilled by The CBS Late Movie may have been Judith Crist. The famous critic once wrote a weekly column for TV Guide, where she reviewed movies making their network TV debuts. She initially tried to encompass The CBS Late Movie, but the dramatic increase in workload (five more movies every week) may have proved too much, for she eventually focused solely on network movies playing in prime time.

Seven Brides on The CBS Late Movie.

For the rest of us, The CBS Late Movie was a treasure trove that revived classics (Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, Showboat), unearthed movies all but forgotten (Darby’s Rangers, Bunny O’Hare, Mister Buddwing, The World, the Flesh and the Devil), and introduced some films destined for cult movie status (7 Faces of Dr. Lao, The Fearless Vampire Killers).

Vincent Price as Dr. Phibes.

My favorite night was Friday, of course. Even during the school year, I could see the Friday edition. But more importantly, it eventually became “horror film night” for The CBS Late Movie. This was where several long-in-demand Hammer movies made their American television debuts, to include: Curse of Frankenstein, The Two Faces of Dr. Jekyll, The Mummy, and Dracula, Prince of Darkness. Other Friday night fright features were The Valley of Gwangi, Scream and Scream Again, The Creeping Unknown, and The Abominable Dr. Phibes.

Sadly, starting in 1976, CBS began mixing TV series with its movies and gradually shifted to showing just TV shows. Most of these series were repeats of network fodder like Kojak, Banacek, and Kolchak: The Night Stalker (shown on Fridays, naturally). For a bit of originality, CBS offered British import series like The New Avengers and Return of the Saint. Still, I missed the movies! In 1985, CBS changed the title to CBS Late Night, officially signaling the end of The CBS Late Movie.

The opening graphics and theme music to The CBS Late Movie have their admirers. The theme was written by Morton Stevens, whose credits include the popular title theme to Hawaii Five-O.  The clip below is one of the best available on YouTube. Note that the film's title, The Medusa Touch, is misspelled!

I’d love to read some comments from other fans of The CBS Late Movie. I haven’t found a good list of all the movies broadcast.