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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 4/27/10

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Savage Pampas (1966 ESP-ARG-USA): Robert Taylor stars in this bizarre Euro-western set in Argentina, not the American west (and shot, naturally, in Almeria, Spain). Taylor plays Captain Martin, an army officer trying to tame the wild South American frontier of the 1860s. To accomplish this task, he needs troops…and to keep his troops happy, he needs women. After a convoy of prostitutes arrives at his fort, he uses them to win back the loyalty of some deserters, and his re-invigorated army sets out to defeat the Injuns and their villainous leader Padron (Ron Randell). Apparently based on an Argentinian film from the 1940s, Savage Pampas is not quite as kooky as it sounds - Taylor is as wooden as ever - but gets a very rare widescreen airing today. Look for Hollywood tough guy Marc Lawrence as Martin’s second in command.

9:00 PM IFC
Buddy Boy (1999 USA): Featuring the great Susan Tyrrell as a monstrous stepmother, Buddy Boy is the product of a genuinely independent American cinema, and all the better for it. That's not to suggest that it's a great film - it certainly isn't - but director Mark Hanlon proves it's possible to make a film with attitude, style, and ambition without sucking up to what critic Dave Poland calls the "dependents", faux-independents such as Paramount Classics and Fox Searchlight. Tyrrell plays Sal, a harridan who shares a musty apartment with good Catholic stepson Francis (Aidan Gillen), whose job as a photo developer provides him an escape from the hectoring demands of Mom. He also finds relief by spying on his attractive neighbor (Emmanuelle Seigner), and the film reflects the influence of voyeuristic creep-out efforts ranging from Michael Powell's Peeping Tom (1960) to Todd Solondz’ Happiness (1998). If you're an admirer of those films, you'll get your moneys worth from Buddy Boy; if not, you can probably give it a miss.

Wednesday 4/28/10

1:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Tip on a Dead Jockey (1957 USA): This title used to fascinate me when I was a kid. Whenever it appeared in TV Guide (my magazine of choice for many years), I would ponder the meaning of the word ‘tip’ and the provenance of the dead jockey. I guess I wasn’t well-informed about gambling on the gee-gees in those days, but even so…well, how (and why) would you put money on an expired horseman? Surprisingly, I never actually got around to watching Tip on a Dead Jockey back in the day, but it’s making its TCM debut this morning and is firmly in my sights. Robert Taylor’s in this one, too, apparently as a pilot who gets mixed up with international smuggling. So, again…what does horse-racing have to do with international smuggling? I have no idea, but I’ll finally be finding out. Directed by Richard Thorpe and co-starring Jack Lord as Taylor’s wartime buddy and drinking partner, Tip on a Dead Jockey airs in widescreen this morning.

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