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From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.

Tuesday 12/11/07

7:45am Turner Classic Movies
The Young Stranger (1957 USA): James "Book 'em Dano" MacArthur stars as a teenage troublemaker in this effective "generation gap" drama from 26-year-old director John Frankenheimer. MacArthur plays Hal Ditmar, who gets in trouble with cinema manager Grubbs (Whit Bissell) when he's caught - gasp - putting his feet on the theatre seats! A fracas ensues, and it's up to kindly police officer Shipley (the great James Gregory) to intercede and save the youngster from a life of upholstery-damaging crime. Based on a story Frankenheimer had originally written for television, The Young Stranger won't make you forget Rebel Without a Cause, but it just might encourage you to tell that lousy punk in front of you at the multiplex to turn off his darn cell phone. Yeah, and pull up your pants, too!

8:30am Showtime 2
Rikers High (2005 USA): See, this is where things lead when you don't respect the furniture at your local bijou. Rikers High is a depressing but fascinating documentary about teenage boys incarcerated at New York City's legendary Riker's Island jail, a massive establishment with an inmate population of 15,000-plus. Many of the inmates aren't old enough to vote, let alone drink, and the jail has its own high school to help them complete their education and hopefully beat the daunting recidivism odds. Following three newly-matriculated grads as they try to make it in the cold, cruel world both within and beyond the jailhouse walls, Rikers High pays grim tribute to the challenges facing working-class youths in the Five Boroughs.

6:35pm Sundance
Strange Culture (2007 USA): If you aren't already paranoid enough about the toll taken on our civil liberties over the last decade, you will be after watching this chilling doc about artist Steve Kurtz. Kurtz, a professor at the University of Buffalo, New York, specializes in works on genetically-modified organisms, and his house was awash in Petri dishes, lab equipment, and other ephemera necessary to the creation of his pieces. When his wife was taken ill one evening and an ambulance summoned, the paramedics took one look at his "bio-art" and gave the FBI a call. Arrested on bio-terrorism charges, Kurtz was eventually acquitted, but indicted on several trumped-up counts of mail and wire fraud. A terrifying vision of what the Patriot Act has wrought, Strange Culture is an act in progress: Kurtz is yet to go to trial, and faces a 20-year sentence for failing to fill out a US Postal Service form correctly. Also airs 12/13 at 4:35pm.

10:45pm Turner Classic Movies
When Willie Comes Marching Home (1950 USA): An obscure and out-of-character comedy from legendary director John Ford, When Willie Comes Marching Home makes its TCM debut this evening. Dan Dailey stars as Bill Kluggs, a backwoods West Virginian first in line to volunteer for service during World War II. Sent to boot camp, Willie finds himself assigned to gunnery instruction, and gets posted to an unglamorous training gig at a nearby Army Air Force base. Embarrassed and chagrined at landing a cushy job on the home front, our hero, determined to make a name for himself in front-line combat, finagles his way aboard a bomber bound on a secret mission. Based on the experiences of storywriter Sy Gomberg, When Willie Comes Marching Home was not a favorite of Ford's, but has stood the test of time and deserves rediscovery. The film co-stars William Demarest as Willie's father, and TiVoPlex fave Whit Bissell puts in an uncredited appearance as a fellow aviator.

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