TiVoPlex
By John Seal
October 4, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 10/5/10
2:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Scapegoat (1959 GB-USA): Alec Guinness and Bette Davis make an unusual but enjoyable screen couple in this Robert Hamer-helmed mystery. Based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier, the film features Guinness in two roles: as French count Jacques de Gue and as milquetoast English school teacher John Barratt. De Gue is angling to murder wife Francoise (Irene Worth), and sees the perfect opportunity when he meets doppelganger Barratt at a local estaminet and plies him with drink. But will the Count’s drug-addled mother (Davis) throw a spanner in the works? Produced by Michael Balcon (though not on behalf of Ealing Studios), The Scapegoat makes a rare widescreen appearance on TCM this afternoon.
11:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
…tick…tick…tick… (1970 USA): Avuncular and ubiquitous George Kennedy stars as John Little, the (white) former sheriff of a southern town trying to negotiate treacherous racial shoals after a (black) sheriff (Jim Brown) is elected to the position thanks to the burg’s sizable African-American population. Brown is new man in town Jimmy Price, a straight-shooter who starts arresting good ol’ boys previously above the law, and the white establishment doesn’t take kindly to the changes. Amongst the crackers are died-in-the-wool racist Bengy Springer (Don Stroud), go along to get along Mayor Parks (Fredric March), and John’s worldweary wife Julia (Lynn Carlin), whilst the other side of the tracks is represented by Bernie Casey and Ernest Anderson. It all looks a bit dated now—and perhaps already did in post-In the Heat of the Night 1970—but …tick…tick…tick… offers solid dramatic value nonetheless.
Wednesday 10/6/10
12:30 PM Showtime Extreme
Targets (1968 USA): With yet another recent shooting at the Austin campus of the University of Texas, this may not be the most auspicious occasion for a re-airing of this classic tale of gun-nut gone wild, but such is the unpredictable nature of schedule-making—and at least Targets relocated the action from Austin to Los Angeles. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, it tells the story of Bobby Thompson (Tim O’Kelly), a disturbed young man who, apparently on a whim, murders his family and then sets his sights on a drive-in movie theatre, where aging horror star Byron Orlok (Boris Karloff) is about to make a promotional appearance. It’s still a deeply disturbing film which refuses to supply an easy explanation for its anti-hero’s actions, and provided Karloff a great opportunity to make his final screen bow (well, if you’re willing to overlook those awful movies he made in Mexico shortly before his death).
6:40 PM Encore Westerns
The Frisco Kid (1979 USA): Ah, the venerable Jewish western. This thoroughly amusing buddy movie features Gene Wilder as a Polish rabbi en route to his new synagogue out west. Along the way his Torah is stolen, and he hooks up with reluctant outlaw-with-a-heart-of-gold Harrison Ford, who helps him maneuver his way through inhospitable territory, recalcitrant villains and uncooperative Native Americans on his way to San Francisco, a city Wilder’s character believes to be “somewhere near New York”. Director Robert Aldrich’s penultimate film, The Frisco Kid successfully blends action and comedy elements and features cinema villain William Smith, Vincent Schiavelli, and Hollywood old-timer Ian Wolfe in supporting roles. It’s not quite Blazing Saddles, but it has its moments, including a hilarious dance sequence featuring Wilder and a tribe of Indians.
Thursday 10/7/10
5:15 PM Sundance
Angel of Mine (2008 FRA): Talented but unknown-outside-France actress Catherine Frot takes the lead in this subtle and intelligent psycho-drama. Frot plays Elsa, a woman currently going through divorce and child custody proceedings and easy prey for the temptations of self-medication. When she meets angelic seven-year-old Lola, a schoolmate of son Thomas, she begins to develop an unhealthy obsession, eventually befriending the child’s mother (Sandrine Bonnaire) and stalking their house in an effort to maintain contact with the girl. Apparently based on a true story, Angel of Mine sounds like one of those bad misogynist thrillers of the ‘80s and ‘90s, but trust me—it’s way better than Basic Instinct or Fatal Attraction. Also airs at 11:15 PM.
9:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Countdown (1968 USA): Robert Altman makes a space opera! That’s what happened in 1968 with this film, one of many sci-fi efforts from the late ‘60s focusing on the moon landings that were just around the corner. Countdown stars James Caan as Lee Stegler, a civilian astronaut hired by NASA to beat the Russkies in the race to Earth’s satellite. He wins the race, but then finds himself stranded moonside for at least a year whilst a rescue mission is prepared by the guys back home, including Robert Duvall and…Ted Knight?!? Countdown was shot on location at Cape Canaveral, lending the film a veneer of authenticity, but it’s otherwise pretty routine stuff and not at all what you’d expect from Altman, who didn’t find his cinematic voice until his next film, 1970’s M*A*S*H*. Recently added to the Warner Archives Collection, Countdown makes a rare widescreen television appearance this evening.
Friday 10/8/10
3:20 AM Encore Dramatic Stories
12 (2007 RUS): Here's an unlikely but welcome programming choice from Encore Drama: an epic length Russian drama, in Russian and Chechen, about a jury deliberating over the fate of a Chechen teen charged with murder. I haven't seen it yet, but any variant on the 12 Angry Men theme is of interest to me. Writer-director-actor Nikita Mikhailov previously directed the award-winning Burnt by the Sun.
8:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Reptile (1966 GB): TCM has their Hammer on this month, including a rare airing of this silly but thoroughly enjoyable thriller about a man who turns into a scaly monster. Ray Barrett stars as Grenadier Guardsman Harry Spalding, new owner of a Cornish dream cottage inherited from his late brother. All seems well for Harry and wife Valerie (Jennifer Daniel)—until locals begin to succumb to fatal snake bites similar to the one that killed brother Charles (David Baron). Has Land’s End been invaded by asps, or is something more sinister and vaguely supernatural afoot? Co-starring Marne Maitland, John Laurie, and (naturally) Michael Ripper, The Reptile has accurately been described as ‘Dracula with snakes’, and plays like a polite pre-echo of Ken Russell’s Lair of the White Worm.
11:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Let’s Kill Uncle (1966 GB-USA): Here’s a genuine oddity: a feature film shot in Bermuda! Directed by a past his prime William Castle and best remembered today for its ‘shark in a swimming pool’ scenes, Let’s Kill Uncle stars little Pat Cardi as 12-year old Barnaby, who’s just learned he’s heir to a multi-million dollar fortune. Too young, of course, to gain immediate access to the cash, Barnaby is placed in the care of Uncle Kevin (Nigel Green), a British Army intelligence officer who’s next in line for the legacy should anything happen to the tyke. Will Uncle try to kill Barnaby…or should Barnaby make a preemptive strike and kill him first? Though not very good, the film is certainly unique, and the shark definitely falls into the ‘once seen, never forgotten’ category.
Saturday 10/9/10
7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Feudin’ Fools (1952 USA): The Bowery Boys journey to Appalachia in this mediocre series entry. This time Sach (Huntz Hall) inherits a remote farm, getting himself and the gang mixed up with the requisite bank robbers (one of whom is played by Lyle Talbot) and a Hatfields and McCoys-style hillbilly feud. The tables are turned on the baddies when Sach convinces his redneck relatives that the robbers belong to the enemy clan. Yee-haw!
1:15 PM HBO
Sins of My Father (2009 COL-ARG): Drug lord Pablo Escobar gets the documentary treatment in this excellent film from Argentinian director Nicolas Entel. Focusing on Escobar’s family life, Sins of My Father draws on copious interview footage with his widow and son, who strip away the cartoon villainy whilst making no excuses for their loved one’s frequently deadly ‘business affairs’. It’s a riveting tale of the most successful criminal in world history: a man worth billions who once offered to pay off the entire Colombian national debt. Also airs at 4:15 PM.
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Family Way (1967 GB): The Family Way is best known as a piece of Beatles trivia: it features an orchestral score composed by lovable mop-top Paul McCartney. What shouldn’t be overlooked (but frequently is) is the film’s overall excellence, so I’m very happy to report this evening’s rare television airing—the first on American television in a decade or more. Still unreleased on DVD in Region 1, it’s a prime kitchen sink comedy-drama about Jenny and Arthur (Hayley Mills and Hywel Bennett), newlyweds who are having a heck of a time consummating their marriage.
Their wedding night a disaster and their honeymoon ruined by a crooked travel agency, the now penniless couple are forced to live at home with Arthur’s Mum and Dad (John Mills and Marjorie Rhodes), where the walls are thin and the neighbors nosy. In addition to McCartney’s lovely music, the film is a brilliantly written and beautifully acted tribute to British working class life in the mid ‘60s. In other words, even if The Family Way had been scored by Ringo it would be worth your while (Stop and Smell the Roses, anyone?). It’s followed at 11:15 PM by Behind the Mask (1958), an extremely obscure British drama starring Michael and Vanessa Redgrave (making her first screen appearance, by the way) in a tale of medical malpractice.
Sunday 10/10/10
1:35 AM Sundance
Edge of Heaven (2007 GER-TUR): Writer-director Fatih Akin, previously responsible for 2004’s rapturously received feature Head-On, returns with this equally fine ensemble piece about Turks living in Germany (and, to an extent, Germans living in Turkey). Nejat (Baki Davrak) has reconciled himself to the fact that his father’s live-in lover Yeter (Nursel Köse) was once a lady of the night. After Dad kills her in a drunken rage, Nejat goes in search of her daughter, Ayten (Nurgül Yesilçay), who he believes to be a college student in Turkey. But Ayten has actually been in Germany all along, where her political activities have attracted the attention of the police and upset the mother (Hanna Schygulla) of her lover Lotte (Patrycia Ziolkowska). It’s appropriate, perhaps, that Werner Fassbinder vet Schygulla is in The Edge of Heaven, which by coincidence or design channels some of the legendary German director’s spirit and political intensity—and, as with Akin’s Head-On, won scads of awards on the festival circuit.
Monday 10/11/10
10:45 AM Flix
Blue City (1986 USA): Brat packer Judd Nelson headlines this unexceptional crime drama, which makes its widescreen television debut this morning. Nelson is Billy Turner, a young Floridian who returns to his home town after his father is murdered by local hoodlums. Suspecting the town’s government and police may be implicated in the crime, Billy naturally takes matters into his own hands—with a little assistance from love interest Annie (fellow brat Ally Sheedy). Blue City netted an impressive five Golden Raspberry nominations in 1986, but sadly didn’t win a single one—it was, after all, the year of Howard the Duck. Also airs at 10:45 PM.
12:30 PM Showtime Extreme
Bullseye! (1989 USA): If Blue City whetted your appetite for Le Bad Cinema, consider spending some time with Bullseye!. Directed by Michael Winner, one of the worst directors ever, the film features Michael Caine and Roger Moore as a pair of con-men who masquerade as nuclear scientists in order to gain access to their safety-deposit boxes. Even with a cameo appearance by John Cleese, it’s not even remotely amusing, unless you enjoy watching people getting hit on the head or dogs engaging in carnal relations.