Movie Spotlight

The River Wild (NBC Sunday at 8:30 p.m.) is worth a look because it was directed by Curtis Hanson who scored a great success this year with L.A. Confidential. Meryl Streep gives a strong performance in this 1994 thriller as a strong-willed woman who encounters a pair of bad guys while on a Whitewater rafting trip with her son (Joseph Mazzello) and husband (David Strathairn).

Quiz Show (ABC Monday at 8 p.m.) is Robert Redford’s literate, well-crafted 1994 drama about the scandal involving the popular 1950s quiz show “Twenty-One.” Ralph Fiennes excels as Charles Van Doren, a wealthy college professor who becomes an instant celebrity when he becomes a contestant. Equally impressive is Paul Scofield, who received a best supporting actor nomination, as Fiennes’ disapproving father.

If spiders give you the creepy crawlies, then don’t watch Arachnophobia (KTLA Tuesday at 8 p.m.), a jokey, effects-heavy 1990 spoof about a small town doctor and his family who find their barn overrun by spiders.

Jonathan Pryce, currently playing the villain in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” is the best reason to watch Something Wicked This Way Comes (Fox Tuesday at 8 p.m.), Disney’s lackluster 1983 adaptation of a Ray Bradbury story. Pryce is perfectly cast as Mr. Dark, a mysterious man who operates a carnival that grants wishes to people--for a price. Jason Robards also stars.

Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron make a wonderful screen team in the delicious 1955 musical Daddy Long Legs (AMC Wednesday at 9 p.m.). Astaire plays a rich playboy who sponsors an orphan’s college education, only to end up falling in love with her. Johnny Mercer’s score includes “Something’s Got To Give.”

Arthur Miller penned the 1996 adaptation of his famed play The Crucible (Cinemax Friday at 8 p.m.). Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder and Joan Allen star in this allegorical tale set during the Salem witch trials of the 18th century. Ryder is overwrought, but Allen is a revelation as Day-Lewis’ long-suffering wife.

Kirk Douglas packs a wallop in 1949’s Champion (AMC Saturday at 8:15 p.m.). Douglas received his first best actor Oscar nomination as an odious boxer who abuses everybody as he callously punches his way to the championship.

King’s Solomon’s Mines (KCET Saturday at 9 p.m.) is a rip-roaring, old-fashioned adventure epic from 1950. Stewart Granger, Deborah Kerr and Richard Carlson star in this Oscar-winning African safari tale about a trio in search of a famous diamond mine.