Anyone who regularly watches the Turner Classic Movie cable channel (and if not, why aren't you?) knows that every week on a special night, they like to have some celebrity (usually an actor, director, film critic or writer) as the guest programmer, to choose and discuss the films for that evening's broadcast.

Well, this Thursday July 5, it's Spike Lee's turn; along with TCM host Robert Osborne, he will present and discuss, before and after each showing, films which he says have had a monumental impact on him and his work.

The films which he selected (in the order they will be presented) are Billy Wilder's 1951 brutally cynical Ace in the Hole; actor Charles Laughton's 1955 strange suspense thriller Night of the Nunter (the only film Laughton ever directed); two Elia Kazan classics: 1954's On the Waterfront and, for me, his far superior 1957 film A Face in the Crowd (a film more relevant today than it was when it first came out); and Matrin Ritt's 1979 David vs.Goliath union drama Norma Rae.

The film series begins at 8PM (7PM Central).