TiVoPlex
By John Seal
May 6, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 5/7/13
1:25 AM HBO Signature
El Dedo (2011 ARG): No, not the middle one. Dedo, of course, is Spanish for finger, and this one belongs – or at least, previously belonged – to Baldomero (Martin Seefeld), a mayoral candidate in a small Argentinian village who ends up dead at the hands of some unsavory locals. Preserved in a jar by his loving brother (Fabian Vena), Baldomero’s index finger begins to have a strange effect on the villagers, exerting a holy relic-like influence, affecting local political developments, and serving as a metaphor for Argentina’s transition from dictatorship to democracy during the 1980s. Directed by Sergio Teubal, El Dedo won the Glauber Rocha Award (a prize for the most popular Latin American film) at the Montreal World Film Festival.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Asphalt Jungle (1950 USA): This gritty John Huston crime drama snagged four Academy Award nominations but failed, alas, to bring home any golden statuettes. It’s a very early example of the caper flick, with the maleficent brain of Sam Jaffe setting up a big hit for his gang of no-goodniks (Sterling Hayden, James Whitmore, Louis Calhern, and Anthony Caruso). The cast is uniformly excellent, but the bookish Jaffe steals the show as the Hans Moleman-style criminal mastermind. There are small roles for Marilyn Monroe and long-time bad guy Marc Lawrence, and the film was nicely shot by Harold Rosson, whose work here secured him one of the aforementioned nominations.
Wednesday 5/8/13
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Don’t Say No Until I Finish Talking: (2013 USA): I haven’t seen this TCM original documentary yet, but it’ll surely be an interesting one. Focused on the life of Hollywood producer Richard Zanuck – son of the legendary Daryl F. Zanuck – the film premiered at this year’s TCM Film Festival. For those of us unable to attend, it makes its small screen debut this evening and airs again at 8:30 PM.
Thursday 5/9/13
12:05 AM Encore Love Stories
Atlantic City (1980 USA): I only recommended this film a few weeks ago, but enjoyed it so much that it deserves an encore appearance. Here’s what I previously wrote:
Burt Lancaster headlines this excellent Louis Malle feature about residents of a ramshackle building awaiting the demolition of their home in the name of progress, or if not progress, legal gambling. In addition to (illegal) numbers runner Lou (Lancaster), there’s widow Grace (Kate Reid) and waitress Sally (Susan Sarandon), and the three of them make common cause as they wait for the axe – or in this case, the wrecking ball – to fall. Also on hand is Sally’s sister Chrissie (delightful Hollis McLaren from Outrageous!) and her drug-peddling boyfriend Dave (Robert Joy), who’s looking to unload his current stash on the high rollers of Atlantic City. The result is a terrific character study thanks to a fine screenplay from playwright John Guare, who earned one of the film’s five Oscar nominations.
6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Purple Noon (1960 FRA): Yeah, it’s looking like it’s going to be one of those TCM kinda weeks. Like I’ve said before, don’t blame me, blame TCM, who consistently hire the best programmers in the business. This superb Rene Clement adaptation of Patricia Highsmith’s The Talented Mr. Ripley features the immaculately-coiffed Alain Delon (to paraphrase singer-songwriter Jyoti Mishra, I wish I had his hair) as Tom Ripley, the young man hired to sniff out playboy and ne’er-do-well Philippe Greenleaf (Maurice Ronet). Superb Henri Decae cinematography, a top-notch score by Nino Rota, and sexy love interest Marie Laforet add up to an essential film-going experience that will please cineastes and mystery fans alike.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
There’s Always Tomorrow (1956 USA): Fans of Douglas Sirk admire the director’s penchant for florid romantic melodrama, and despite being in black and white this Universal production fits the bill. Fred MacMurray goes somewhat against type as Clifford Groves, a Pasdena toy mogul tired of being a loyal husband and father. Left to his devices when spouse Marion (Joan Bennett) is off entertaining the kiddies one evening, Clifford finds temptation thrust in his way by a surprise visit from old friend Norma (Barbara Stanwyck), who he promptly takes to the theater. From there, you can probably guess the story’s narrative arc, but the film’s predictability doesn’t make it any less enjoyable. Yes, There’s Always Tomorrow is soap, but soap of the highest quality (none of that gritty stuff you get in gas station restrooms!), and it’s fun to see MacMurray and Stanwyck paired up for a third and final time.
Friday 5/10/13
Midnight The Movie Channel
Quadrophenia (1979 GB): The film that temporarily convinced teenage me that being a mod was cooler than being a punk, Quadrophenia was adapted for the big screen from The Who's classic double LP of the same name. Directed by Franc Roddam, it stars newcomer Phil Daniels (who briefly parlayed the role into a musical career with his group The Cross) as Jimmy, a pill-popping teenager desperate for kicks and determined not to settle for Mum and Dad's boring, nine to five working class lifestyle. Like most teen lads, spotty faced Jimmy is also trying to pull the birds, including sexy Steph (Leslie Ash), but has a hard time competing with the sharply dressed and smooth complected competition, including Ace Face (Sting), the reticent figurehead leader of the local scooter club. A day trip to Brighton soon beckons, of course, and the inevitable battle between the Vespa-riding Mods and their greasy-haired, Norton mounted enemies, the Rockers, leads Jimmy to a tragic turning point. I was 17 when Quadrophenia came out, and it's safe to say the film changed my life about as much as any film can change anyone's life. For one thing it led to some truly embarrassing behavior, such as chanting "we are the Mods, we are the Mods, we are, we are, we are the Mods" on the way out of the cinema. Yikes. Also airs at 3:00 AM.
12:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Man On Fire (1957 USA): Ready for another dose of ‘50s family feuding? Here’s Ranald MacDougall’s Man On Fire, in which Bing Crosby plays yet another successful businessman, this one coping with the fallout from an ugly divorce. Der Bingle is factory owner Earl Carleton, whose ex-wife Gwen (Mary Fickett, in the first of her two big screen appearances) is trying to win custody of son Ted (Malcolm Brodrick, also in the first of his two big screen appearances). Naturally, things get ugly – and matters aren’t helped much when Earl turns to drink to cope with the stress. Though no Long Weekend, Man On Fire provided Crosby a rare opportunity to essay a serious role, and he doesn’t embarrass himself. Look for William Schallert as a court stenographer!
8:25 AM Fox Movie Channel
The Day the Fish Came Out (1967 GRE-GB): Every time this film shows up on TV (and that’s not terribly often), I get tempted to watch it, and every time I end up regretting my decision. I’ve been playing this game since the mid 1970s and keep losing, but I’m going to give it one more shot this morning and hope The Day the Fish Came Out is better than I remember. Tom Courtenay and Colin Blakely star as airmen who survive a Greek Islands plane crash, in part thanks to their decision to jettison their cargo. Unfortunately, that cargo consists of a super secret weapon of mass destruction contained within a box marked Container Q, which washes ashore and ends up in the hands of a simple shepherd (Nikos Alexiou). Will the simple farmer open it and set off a deadly detonation, or will rescue mission leader Sam Wanamaker – disguised as a tourist - save the day? If memory serves, this is a badly botched variant on the Dr. Strangelove meme, but I recall it includes a glimpse of Candice Bergen in hot pants, so there’s that if you’re so inclined.
Saturday 5/11/13
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Indestructible Man (1955 USA): Somehow when you see the words "indestructible man," you don’t conjure up visions of Lon Chaney, Jr. Oh sure, I could buy Steve Reeves, James Coburn, or Sterling Hayden as indestructible. Heck, I even might consider Mike Mazurki for the title. But Creighton "rabbits, George!" Chaney? Nu-uh. Nonetheless, here he is in this independent cheapie as Butcher Benton, an executed criminal whose body is resurrected by scientists Robert Shayne and Joe Flynn (future Dean of Medvale College!). What would you do if you were a psychopath given a second chance at life? Why, get your revenge on the ones who done you wrong, of course, which is precisely what the reanimated Benton does. The Indestructible Man is terrible, but also terribly fun, its Los Angeles location footage adding a much welcome degree of verisimilitude to the proceedings. It’s followed at 4:30 AM by The Strangler (1964), in which Victor Buono plays an overweight serial killer.
Monday 5/13/13
3:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Helpmates (1932 USA): Remember when TCM aired some Laurel and Hardy foreign language shorts a few months back, and I begged for more? Looks like someone was paying attention (or I just got lucky). Here’s a block of nine L & Hs (four of them making what I believe to be their TCM debuts), including two in English, six in Spanish, and one in French. The fun kicks off with the Anglophone Helpmates, in which Stan and Ollie try to fix things up around the house after a wild party...and before the wives get home. Naturally, things don’t go according to plan. It’s followed at 4:15 AM by 1934’s The Live Ghost, in which the boys encounter the supernatural on the high seas; at 4:45 AM by Ladrones, the Spanish language version of Night Owls (1930); at 5:30 AM by La Vida Nocturna, the Spanish version of Blotto (1930); at 6:15 AM by Tiembla y Titubea, the Spanish version of Below Zero (1930); at 6:45 AM by Noche de Duendes, the Spanish version of The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case (1930); at 7:45 AM by Politiqueras, the Spanish version of Chickens Come Home (1931); at 8:45 AM by Les Carottiers, the French language mash-up of Be Big! and Laughing Gravy (1931); and at 10:00 AM by Los Calaveros (1931), which duplicates the feat in Spanish.
4:30 AM HBO Signature
El Rumor de las Piedras (2011 VEN): Okay, I could be wrong on this point, but I think this is the TiVoPlex’s first Venezuelan motion picture. Oh, wait, no...it’s number two. I’d forgotten about the crime caper comedy Libertador Morales, el Justiciero, which showed up on HBO Signature a year or two ago. Reset: this is our first Venezuelan drama, a solid effort about a poor family trying to recover from a terrible flood whilst living in the slums of Caracas. Known in English as Rumble of the Stones, this was Venezuela’s official entry for the 2011 Academy Awards (ultimately, it wasn’t nominated).
9:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Dog Day Afternoon (1975 USA): I've been waiting years for TCM to give this one a widescreen airing, and tonight the wait is finally over. Legendary in its time for its depiction of gay bank robbers, Dog Day Afternoon features Al Pacino and John Cavale as the hapless duo who are simply hoping to steal enough money to pay for an operation. Instead, they find themselves enmeshed in a hostage situation and the focus of intense media coverage that soon becomes as much a part of the robbery as the crime itself. Pacino and Cavale are outstanding and Sidney Lumet's direction is near flawless.