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7:00 AM IFC
Ghajini (2008 IND): This Indian thriller features a score by Slumdog Millionaire composer A.R. Rahman and a storyline cribbed from Christopher Nolan's Memento. With pedigree like that, you'd think it would be worth a glance, and you'd be right. Ghajini features Aamir Khan (one of the cricketers in Lagaan) as Sanjay, a telecom business exec who has a bad habit of forgetting himself and, on occasion, turning into a violence-prone macho man named Sachin. Khan is very good, as is Pradeep Rawat as the titular villain bringing pain and suffering into Sanjay's life. Unlike last week's Bollywood feature Johnny Gaddaar, Ghajini features song and dance routines and clocks in at a healthy three hours and three minutes, so admirers of the more traditional Bollywood style are well served.

7:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Night of the Hunter (1991 USA): Did YOU know there was a 1991 remake of this classic film with Richard Chamberlain cast in the Robert Mitchum role? Neither did I, and it's surely (sight unseen!) one of the most pointless and unnecessary remakes of all time. Apparently produced by the ABC television network, this Night of the Hunter's only possible claim on your time is the presence of 85-year-old Burgess Meredith in the cast. Not much doubt about where this will fall on the LOVE/HATE spectrum.

9:00 PM Encore Action
Slaughter (1973 USA): Former football player Jim Brown stars as ex-Green Beret Slaughter, hired by the feds to take out the Mexican mafia, in this violent but very watchable thriller. Slaughter has a long-standing dysfunctional relationship with the mob — they killed his parents — and he's happy to take on the assignment. Gunplay and fisticuffs ensue. Also in on the fun: Cameron Mitchell as the racist G-man who ropes Slaughter into the assignment, Rip Torn as the even more racist capo di tuti capi who ordered the hit, and Stella Stevens as the color-blind moll who dumps Rip for Jim. It's slam bang AIP fun, and is followed at 10:35 PM by sequel Slaughter's Big Rip-Off, which relocates the proceedings to Los Angeles to similar effect whilst replacing Torn with Ed McMahon (!) as head bad guy.

Monday 07/13/09

12:10 AM Encore Action
The Savage Seven (1968 USA): Encore Action continues to hit on all cylinders with a rare airing of this unusual biker flick from director Richard Rush (The Stunt Man). Robert Walker Jr. stars as Native American Johnny Blue Eyes, a working man minding his own affairs and earning a living somewhere in the California desert. His bucolic existence is upset by the arrival of a gang of filthy bikers, led by Kisum (Adam Roarke), who hates Indians almost as much as he loves drinking beer and pissing on other guy's leather jackets. Not only that, he has the hots for Johnny's sister Marcia (Joanna Frank), and pretty soon an all-out race war looms on the horizon. A fine supporting cast, including Duane Eddy, John Cardos, Max Julien, and Billy Green Bush render The Savage Seven a superior hog homily.

8:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Undercover Man (1949 USA): Nina Foch reunited with Joseph H. Lewis for this obscure police procedural headlined by Glenn Ford. This time out, Nina plays Judith, the loyal wife of treasury agent Frank Warren (Ford). Frank has been assigned to bust a mysterious villain known as The Big Fellow for tax evasion, and as he gets nearer to his goal, the danger increases for Judy, who becomes a convenient target for the bad guy's henchmen. Will Frank back down — or will he listen to the wise words of Granny Maria (Esther Minciotti), who regales him with tales of Grandpa's courageous face-off with the Mafia back in the old country? Mamma mia!

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