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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.

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