Cam’s Tartan Day Staff Picks | April 6, 2024

You may not know but April 6th in Canada is Tartan Day, a celebration of all things Scottish and Scottish culture in general. While the country’s size is small, its impact of film history is huge and to this day it continues to deliver us some of the most exciting actors and directors working at home and abroad so I thought I’d take the opportunity to highlight some Scots in front of and behind the camera this Tartan Day.

On the Hollywood Suite 70s Channel, start the evening with some classics. First, the man who made being Scottish sexy, Sean Connery, and his brutish turn in Alfred Hitchcock’s Marnie (1964). Next up, did you know that much of the look of Monty Python’s TV show and early films were thanks to a Scotsman? Check out the work of director Ian MacNaughton in And Now For Something Completely Different… (1971) and see how much his work set the tone for the Python explosion. Finally, Glasgow’s pop music princess Lulu makes a splash not only on the soundtrack, but acting alongside Sidney Poitier as well in To Sir With Love (1967). 

For the 80s Channel it was hard to ignore Sean Connery’s post-Bond victory lap and some of his most eclectic and lauded work. We start with his scene-stealing and Oscar-winning work in The Untouchables (1988). It’s presented as a double-bill with a personal favourite, the under-appreciated low key performance from Connery in the Sci-Fi re-imagining of High Noon Outland (1981). To polish it all off, an incredibly special Scottish film confectionary from writer/director Bill Forsyth, the man who really helped bolster and establish the Scottish film industry. Comfort and Joy (1984) stars the magnetic Bill Paterson as a radio DJ who stumbles upon an ice cream conspiracy in Glasgow and his own messy personal life gets tangled up in the intrigue.

By the time we hit the 90s Channel Scotland is exporting more actors than Hollywood knows what to do with after the success of big hits from Forsyth and crosscultural exchanges like Trainspotting. Ewan Macgregor shows another side of himself in the hopeful charmer about a struggling brass band in Northern England in Brassed Off (1996). Another great Scottish actor Brian Cox puts on an Irish brogue to play antagonist off Daniel Day Lewis in The Boxer (1997). And, finally the fruits of Billy Forsyth’s labour pay off in unusual ways as his directing protegee Jim Gillespie (starting as third AD on Comfort and Joy) goes Hollywood with his feature film directing debut in the killer I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997).

Finally, I wanted to tip the hat to some Scots topping the box office lately on the 00s channel. We start off with low-key action king Gerard Butler in the movie that made him a household name 300 (2006). Next up is a man who’s starred in many successful franchises yet still seems under-appreciated, James McAvoy, who got a wonderful chance to stretch his talents as multiple characters in Split (2016). Finally, I try desperately to make up for the abysmally few Scottish women on my list with Scotland’s brilliant director Lynne Ramsay doing her specialty of tackling tricky subject matter in We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011).

Cam’s Tartan Day Schedule

Click on titles below for more info and additional playtimes

Hollywood Suite 70s Movies

Marnie (1964)
April 6 at 9pm ET

And Now For Something Completely Different (1971)
April 6 at 11:15pm ET
Available on demand in April

To Sir, With Love (1967)
April 7 at 12:50am ET
Available on demand in April

Hollywood Suite 80s Movies

The Untouchables (1987)
April 6 at 9pm ET
Available on demand in April

Outland (1981)
April 6 at 11:05pm ET

Comfort and Joy (1984)
April 7 at 1am ET

Hollywood Suite 90s Movies

Brassed Off (1996)
April 6 at 9pm ET

The Boxer (1997)
April 6 at 10:55pm ET

I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997)
April 7 at 12:45am ET
Available on demand in April

Hollywood Suite 00s Movies

300 (2006)
April 6 at 9pm ET

Split (2017)
April 6 at 11pm ET

We Need To Talk About Kevin (2011)
April 7 at 1am ET