turner this month - bravo!

The gifted Michael Ritchie gets an evening on Turner, 13 & 14 July, with screenings of his "competition" films - "Downhill Racer," "Smile" and "The Survivors"

Keeping up with Turner Classic Movies on a daily basis can take over one's life. Trying to document its monthly schedule has become frustrating because it's always such a bear - a merciless bottomless pit of movies that demand to be seen, must be seen. They must!

So, starting this month, I'm making a concerted effort to control myself, dealing largely (and tersely) with those titles that are rare, difficult to see and/or generally underrated. Wish me luck. Here goes...

Charles Walters' "Lili" (1953) - 10:30 a.m., July 1. A one-song musical and it's irresistible. For kids, this was "The Sound of Music" in its day andm unlike "Music," a good example that less is more.

John Brahm's "Hot Rods to Hell" (1967) - 3:15 a.m. July 2. A lurid, compulsively watchable road/vacation movie with a knockout cast - Dana Andrews, Jeanne Crain and the very hot Mimsy Farmer.

Vincente Minnelli's "The Long, Long Trailer" (1954) - 11:30 p.m., July 3. Somewhat of an aching comedy in which Minnelli examines the dark side of marriage in general and the Lucy-Desi union in particular.

Peter H. Hunt's " 1776 " (1972 ) - 2:30 p.m., July 4. A masterpiece which Jack Warner tried to destroy, a la "A Star Is Born," by making wholesale, gratuitious cuts so that it would qualify for an engagement at Radio City Music Hall. Produced by Hunt as a three-hour roadshow, replete with overture and intermission (track down the Pioneer laser disc pronto!), this is the 165-minute version, minus the reserved-seats-only trimmings.

Stanley Donen's "Fearless Fagan" (1952) - 7 a.m., July 6. Adorable Donen trifle with cute couple Janet Leigh and Carlton Carpenter.

Robert Ellis Miller's "Sweet November" (1968) - 4 p.m., July 9. Sandy Dennis, a reluctant icon, caught in all her idiosyncratic glory.

John Ford's "Sergeant Rutledge" (1960) - 10 p.m., July 10. Two years before Robert Mulligan filmed Harper Lee's "To Kill a Mockingbird," Ford got there first with this courtroom drama about a black man accused of raping a white woman. Woody Strode has the Brock Peters role.

Lew Landers' "Living on Love" (1937) - 10:45 a.m., July 12. One of Turner's RKO discoveries, a remake of "Rafter Romance" about a young woman sharing an apartment with a man she never sees.

John Frankenheimer's "I Walk the Line" (1970) - 5:30 a.m., July 13. Gregory Peck as a rural sheriff whose midlife crisis involves Tuesday Weld, daughter of a local moonshiner. Estelle Parsons co-stars.

Michael Ritchie's "Downhill Racer" (1969) and his terrific "Smile" (1975) air at 6:15 p.m., July 13 and 1 a.m. on July 14, respectively. Now sadly forgotten, Michael Ritchie produced the most thoughtful comedies about American drive and pushiness, as exemplifed by these tiny gems. The planned screening of Ritchie's , "Semi-Tough" (1977), once scheduled to follow "Smile," has been replaced by another Ritchie flick, "The Survivors" (1983).

Sam Peckinpah's "Convoy" (1978) - 5 a.m., July 14. Ali MacGraw who made out so well under Peckinpah's direction in "The Getaway" teams with Kris Kristofferson for some more bumptious fun.

Joseph H. Lewis's "Gun Crazy" (1949) - 9:15 p.m., July 14. A man and woman, both somewhat deranged and loose cannons, get their hands on guns and go on the crime spree. Low-down fun.

Savage Steve Holland's "Better Off Dead" (1985) - 8 p.m., July 15. Savage Steve directed John Cusack in to livewire comedies - this and "One Crazy Summer" - and then slithered into TV work. What a waste.

Paul Henried's "Girls on the Loose" (1958) - 2:30 a.m., July 17 - followed by Bernard Vorhaus' "So Young, So Bad" (1950) - 4 a.m., July 17. Henried directs one film about girls gone wrong (among them Barbara Bostock and Mara Corday) and then plays opposite a bevy of them (including Anne Jackson, Anne Francis and Rita Moreno) in the second.

Phil Karlson's "The Phenix City Story" (1953) - 2 p.m., July 17. Crackerjack Karlson flick, edgy and moody. You can't miss.

Curtis Bernhardt's "Kisses for My President" (1964) - noon, July 18. Long unavailable, this affable comedy stars Polly Bergan, just swell as the Prisdent of the United States, and Fred MacMurray as the First Husband.

Robert Mulligan's "Inside Daisy Clover" (1965). Dark, dark warning about how Hollywood uses people. Great cast, headed by Natalie Wood. See companion film "The Legend of Lylah Clare" - 6 a.m., 7/24.

Green is the operative word here. Kinji Fukasaku's "The Green Slime" (1969) - noon, July 19 - Richard Fleischer's "Soylent Green" (1973) - 1:45 p.m., July 19. Delectable - and good for you, too.

Richard Thorpe's "Man Proof" (1938) - 5:45 p.m., July 20. In which Myrna Loy and Rosalind Russell fight over Walter Pidgeon.

George Axelrod's "Lord Love a Duck" (1966) - 1:30 a.m., July 23. Only the fertile mind of someone like Axelrod could imagine Roddy McDowell and Tuesday Weld as high-school kids, he playing demented mentor/Henry Higgins to her protégé in the usual teen schemes.

Don Weis' "The Affairs of Dobie Gillis" (1953) - 3:30 a.m., July 23. Watch it for the cast - Debbie Reynolds, Bobby Van, Bob Fosse and Barbara Ruick - and the especially dancing by Van and Fosse.

Martha Coolidge's "Valley Girl" (1983) - 5 a.m., July 23. Nicolas Cage as the unimaginable - a teenager. Deborah Foreman in the girl.

Steve Carver's "Big Bad Mama" (1974) - 2:15 a.m., July 24. Angie Dickenson, William Shatner and Tom Skerritt squeeze as much juice and seediness as they can out of this crime version of "Gypsy" (about a mother who pushes her daughters into crime rather than show biz).

Robert Aldrich's "The Legend of Lylah Clare" (1968) - 6 a.m., July 24. Hollywood horror from Aldrich, campy and disturbing. With a game performance from Kim Novak and a distinquished one by Peter Finch. See companion film "Inside Daisy Clover" - 4 p.m., 7/18.

George Roy Hill's "The World of Henry Orient" (1964) - 2 p.m., July 25. A sort-of update of "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer," in which precocious teenagers Tippi Walker and Merrie Spaeth stalk - and lust after - Peter Sellers. Like "Bobbysoxer," it could never be made today.

David Butler's "By the Light of the Silvery Moon" (1953) - midnight, July 28. Doris Day and Gordon MacRae when they were something of a screen team in an entertaining version of the Penrod stories.

Will Price's "Rock, Rock, Rock" (1956) - 8 p.m., July 29. With Tuesday Weld (only this time, she really is a teenager). She gets to sing. OK, she's dubbed. But who cares? It's Tuesday Weld for heaven's sake.

William Castle's "Shanks" (1974) - 2 a.m., July 31. Castle directs mime Marcel Marceau (who gets to utter one word) in his least-seen movie.

Burt Kennedy's "The Rounders" (1965) - 2 p.m., July 31 - Modern day "oater" (as they called them) which teams aging cowpokes Henry Fonda and Glenn Ford with hot Sue Ane Langdon and Hope Holliday.

Millard Kaufman's "Convicts Four" (1962) - 9:30 p.m., July 31. The ever sexually intimidating Ben Gazzara in one of his rare lead roles. He was like Anthony Franciosa, only without the smoothed-over edges.