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7:30 PM Flix
Les Miserables (1978 GB): Here’s another one! Flix is really trying to raise the tone in the TiVoPlex, a worthy but probably unattainable goal considering how much time I spend writing about Lucio Fulci and (foreshadowing here for you literary types) The Bowery Boys. Of all the small screen adaptations on tap this week, this take on Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables is probably the best, and stars Richard Jordan as Jean Valjean, the unfortunate who steals a loaf of bread and is subsequently chased to the ends of the Earth by evil Inspector Javert (Anthony Perkins). Also on hand: Ian Holm, John Gielgud, Flora Robson, Cyril Cusack, Celia Johnson, and Angela "My Dad is Donald" Pleasence.

Saturday 12/04/10

2:35 AM Flix
Hardcase (1972 USA): Here’s a long unseen movie-of-the-week starring Clint Walker as a cowpoke betrayed by his wife (Stefanie Powers), who sells his property while he’s away and dumps him for another man. I know I saw Hardcase when it initially aired on ABC in 1972, but for the life of me I can’t remember anything about it (I admit to cribbing the above synopsis from IMDb!). Still, no one says "Old West" like Clint Walker, so it’s probably worth a look.

7:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Jungle Gents (1954 USA): Over the course of the Bowery Boys full run of 48 features (FYI, this is number 35), Sach (Huntz Hall) developed - in every case temporarily - an amazing array of talents. I humbly suggest that Jungle Gents proffers the most absurd of those talents: this time, our hero develops the ability to smell diamonds, and Slip (Leo Gorcey) decides to take him and the rest of the gang rock-hunting in Africa. They’re met there by Woody Strode (as a native) and - hey,waddya know! - Clint Walker (as, believe it or not, Tarzan).

Sunday 12/05/10

4:45 AM Flix
Running (1979 CAN): No, Flix is not paying me off this week - they’re just airing a lot of interesting features, most of which haven’t been seen on television in ages. Running is a forgotten Canadian drama starring post-Streets of San Francisco (but not yet big movie star) Michael Douglas as Michael Andropolis, a long-distance runner trying to make the Olympic team (American, not Canadian) whilst coping with the collapse of his marriage to unhappy spouse Janet (Susan Anspach). Hate to disappoint you, Mike, but the Americans ended up boycotting the Olympics you were hoping to qualify for. Though no classic, Running is a solid character study with some comfortably familiar faces, including Eugene Levy, Giancarlo Esposito, and Wide World of Sports announcer Jim McKay.

7:00 PM Sundance
Red Riding 1980 (2009 GB): As I had hoped, it looks like Sundance will be airing all three chapters of the Red Riding trilogy. The first (1974) aired last Sunday, and here’s chapter two, in which Assistant Chief Constable Hunter (Paddy Considine) is called in from Manchester to give the local plods a kick up the backside due to their continued failure to solve the series of murders attributed to the Yorkshire Ripper. The fact that the coppers are bent as nine bob notes doesn’t help matters, and Hunter spends as much time rooting out corruption as he does searching for a serial killer.

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