TiVoPlex
May 12, 2009 through May 18, 2009
By John Seal
May 11, 2009
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 05/12/09
7:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
And Now Miguel (1966 USA): Sometimes it seems like the TiVoPlex is more of a TCMPlex or a Sundanceplex. This is one of those weeks when the offerings on HBO, Cinemax, Starz and co. are particularly skimpy, so please accept my apologies for the lack of diversity! And speaking of diversity, TCM continues its Latino Images in Film series with this heart-warming drama about a young lad trying to make a go of it herding sheep in New Mexico. Pat Cardi, later the lead in the infamous 1974 splatterflick Horror High (aka Twisted Brain), plays young Miguel Chavez, who longs to give ewes and rams the high-quality shearing they deserve. His dream comes true when he's finally invited to join the men-folk on a sheep wrangling trip--but at the expense of his elder brother Blas, who's off to join the Army. Based on a Newbery Medal winning novel by Joseph Krumgold (who directed his own film version in 1953), And Now Miguel features a fine supporting cast, including Clu Gulager, Guy Stockwell, and Michael Ansara. Fans of obscure '60s pop music will be intrigued by the presence of would-be child star Peter Robbins as chum Pedro: Robbins cut several 45s during the mid-'60s, including a remarkable single, Little Brown Mouse, produced by Texas rocker Lindy Blaskey.
7:35 PM Sundance
The World According to Monsanto (2008 FRA): This just in: big multi-national corporations are not good for animals, children, or other living things. Today's case in point: Monsanto, the world's leading exponent of agricultural biotechnology and genetically engineered seed, otherwise known as Frankenfood. What, no Booberry? This documentary adopts the take no prisoners approach to Monsanto, ripping the company for everything from PCBs and Dioxin to the awful Bovine Growth Hormone, which promotes unfeasibly large udders (in cows) and clinical mastitis (in humans, or perhaps it's the other way around). You'll never look at your milk--or your corn, or your beef, or just about anything else you put into your body--quite the same way again. Also airs 5/13 at 12:40 AM.
10:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Salt of the Earth (1954 USA): In perfect contrast to And Now Miguel (and in perfect consonance with The World Acccording to Monsanto!), Salt of the Earth returns to TCM tonight. One of the greatest of all American films, this grueling drama was made by blacklisted Herbert J. Biberman during his exile from Hollywood. Filmed in New Mexico and funded by the contributions of the Hollywood Ten and others, this rare example of American neo-realism deals with a strike in the zinc mines of the Southwestern United States. The film is beautiful to look at, righteous in its indignation, and utterly unique. Soft-hearted leftie Will Geer is the only recognizable name in the cast, essaying one of his antithetical villain roles, but the star of the film is Rosaura Revueltas, a Mexican film star hounded out of her own country during another anti-Communist witch-hunt. Revueltas' performance is stunning. Salt of the Earth changed the way people looked at cinema and paved the way for a new era of political consciousness on film. Don't miss it!
Thursday 05/14/09
9:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Anna Christie (1930 USA): This English-language version of Eugene O'Neill's play isn't quite as good as the German one shot at night on the same sets, but both films feature Greta Garbo as the titular heroine, a lady of the night trying to escape her sordid past. Garbo is, naturally, luminous, and her performance earned her a Best Actress Oscar nomination. In truth, her performance in the German-language version is superior--she simply seems more at ease in it--but that film was never intended for Academy voters and remained unseen in the United States for decades. The Anglophone Anna Christie also features perhaps my favorite screen heavy of all time, Charles Bickford, here cast against type as lovable lunkhead Matt Burke, as well as hatchet-faced Marie Dressler as the drink-sodden mistress of Anna's father.
6:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
My Man and I (1952 USA): Ricardo Montalban stars as a Mexican-American farm worker in this obscure but worthwhile drama from director William Wellman. Montalban portrays Chu Chu Ramirez, a newly naturalized bracero looking for full time employment in the orchards and farms of Southern California. He's hired by agricultural patriarch Ansel Ames (Wendell Corey, in a particularly fine performance) to help clear land, but his lean, shirtless torso soon attracts the attention of bored housewife Elena (noir bad girl Claire Trevor), who hides neither her interest in him nor her ingrained racism. Needless to say, Elena is not amused when Chu Chu finds himself in a relationship with white girl Nancy (Shelley Winters), and the film loses a bit of steam as it evolves into a somewhat predictable tale of unrequited love and jealousy. Still and all, My Man and I was pretty bold stuff for MGM in 1952, and needs to be watched and appreciated in that context.
7:00 PM Sundance
Eraserhead (1976 USA): Well, that's another one off The List. What's on The List, you ask? Films I never thought would get an airing on an American television channel, that's what. So let's see what's left...Wes Craven's Last House on the Left (the original one, of course)...Pasolini's Salo...Andy Warhol's Empire...yep, that's about it. As for Eraserhead, it was the film that made David Lynch a household name in underground circles (if that makes ANY sense, and I think it does), and features the legendary Jack Nance as a single dad trying to raise a most unusual child in a city that might be just across the river from the London of Lynch's Elephant Man. In heaven, everything is fine...on Earth, abstinence is clearly the only choice. This is a pedagogical tool for the scared straight crowd, who could use Eraserhead as a stark warning to hormonal teenagers regarding the perils of pre-marital sex.
Friday 05/15/09
9:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Anderson Tapes (1971 USA): Sidney Lumet's cracking action film (also, he says with a resigned sigh, now mooted for a remake) stars Sean Connery as an ex-prisoner and recidivist master thief out to empty a luxurious Manhattan apartment building of its occupants' riches. To do so, though, he has to circumvent the space-age security systems employed by the building's owners: yes, they've installed video cameras! Though the premise is somewhat dated and not particularly original, the story still thrills, thanks in part to a wonderful Quincy Jones soundtrack and a great supporting cast, including the underappreciated Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker, and Christopher Walken in his first sizable role as "The Kid". Added bonus: I do believe this is the film's widescreen television debut.
Saturday 05/16/09
11:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
Miami Expose (1956 USA): Tales of big city corruption were endemic in 1950s cinema, with titles such as The Houston Story, Kansas City Confidential, and Chicago Syndicate clogging marquees from coast to coast. Here's one of the lesser examples of the genre. Opening with an address from the mayor of Miami, who assures us that all is now hunky dory in his Sunshine State paradise, Miami Expose stars Lee J. Cobb as Barton Scott, an honest police detective determined to put the kibosh on the plans of slick lawyer Ray Sheridan (Alan Napier) to turn the town into another Havana. To do so, Barton needs the assistance of moll Lila Hodges (Patricia Medina) - and needs to quash the efforts of public relations expert Tubbs (Edward Arnold, in his last performance), who's been hired by Sheridan to sell his plans to the state legislature. It's nothing you haven't seen done better before, but Cobb and Napier are as good as always, and location photography helps.
Sunday 05/17/09
12:00 PM Sundance
Crazy Love (2007 USA): The title of this mind-blowing documentary says it all. In 1957, a rather homely man named Burt Pugach met Linda Riss, a beautiful woman 11 years his junior. In 1959, their relationship went on the rocks when he hired some goons to throw lye in her face. This film examines their relationship since then, as Linda ultimately reconciled with the man who disfigured her for life and married him after he completed his 14-year stretch, a sentence earned thanks to the fact that he hired some goons to throw lye in her face. As Lou Rawls once sang, love is a hurtin' thing.
4:20 PM Encore Action
Armageddon (1998 USA): Bruce Willis' anti-meteorite action flick makes its widescreen television debut this afternoon. It's your typical piece of Michael Bay schlock and features a fine supporting cast, including Billy Bob Thornton, Steve Buscemi, and Owen Wilson, as well as perpetual ciphers Ben Affleck and Liv Tyler. It also has room for Udo Kier, which elevates it to TiVoPlex essential.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Cesar (1936 FRA): The concluding chapter of Marcel Pagnol's Fanny trilogy airs tonight. In this outing, Fanny's husband Panisse (Fernand Charpin) is on his death bed, and eager to tell son Cesariot (Andre Fouche) that he is not his real father after all. He can't bring himself to do the deed, however, leaving it up to wife and mother Fanny (Orane Demazis) to break the news. The revelations ultimately reunite Fanny, Cesar, and Marius, as well as Cesariot, who gains a new and profound understanding of human fallibilities and relationships. It's a satisfying conclusion to the series, and emblematic of the serious and mature nature of French cinema--traits which persist to this very day.
Monday 05/18/09
1:40 AM Cinemax
Mother of Tears (2007 ITA): And speaking of triptychs, here's another third and final instalment. Unlike Pagnol, who finished his series within five years, it took Dario Argento a full THIRTY to bring closure to the tale of madness begun in 1977's Suspiria and continued in 1980's Inferno. I can't report on the result yet, as I missed Mother of Tears in the cinema, but it surely ranks as a must see for any fan of Eurohorror. Variety called it "a cheesy, breathless future camp classic," which sounds good enough (or good bad enough) for me. Also airing at 4:40 AM, the film features the director's lovely daughter Asia, series regular and close personal friend Daria Nicolodi (Asia's mamma), and TiVoPlex star of the week Udo Kier.
7:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Rain or Shine (1930 USA): Early Frank Capra films are often pleasant surprises, free of the cornpone with which we now associate his name. Rain or Shine is no exception, telling a rollicking Depression-era tale of life under the Big Top. Joan Peers stars as circus owner Mary Rainey, who inherits the business from her father and learns there are more than three rings in Hell. The debt-ridden circus is also burdened by a strike and a fire, and it's up to Mary and jack of all trades Smiley Johnson (Joe Cook) to put on a show in the face of adversity. Cook was a huge Broadway star in the '20s, and Rain or Shine offers a wonderful peek at this forgotten talent, whose career rapidly petered out upon the advent of Parkinson's Disease.