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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 7/2/13

2:20 AM HBO
Gideon’s Army (2013 USA): Here’s an HBO original documentary I’ve yet to see, but am really excited about. Taking its title from the groundbreaking legal case Gideon vs. Wainwright (which determined that all criminal defendants were entitled to legal counsel regardless of their ability to pay, and in turn spawned Anthony Lewis’ magisterial tome Gideon’s Trumpet), the film offers a salute to the much maligned Public Defender, focusing specifically on the work of three such Defenders based in the Deep South. It’s true there are bad lawyers out there serving indigent and poor clients, but the ones who do the job properly are amongst society’s greatest heroes, and tribute is well past due. I anticipate an uplifting and inspiring 95 minutes. Also airs at 5:20 AM and throughout the month.

Wednesday 7/3/13

3:20 AM Encore Suspense
Frankenstein (2004 USA): You’d think it would be hard to find sufficient inspiration to produce yet another Frankenstein adaptation, but folks keep churning ‘em out. (Indeed, a cursory glance at IMDb reveals that a film entitled I, Frankenstein is scheduled for release in 2014). Yet here’s one from 2004 that doesn’t even bother to include a character named Frankenstein, though it does go to the trouble of naming characters Frye, Harker, O’Conner, and Sloane – go figure! This made-for-television Frankenstein stars Thomas Kretschmann (later to play Count Dracula in Dario Argento’s 2012 chiller Dracula, which I haven’t seen) as Victor Helios, a mad doctor who’s assembled a creature in his laboratory. It seems the good doctor and his sidekick have been alive for the last two hundred years or so, sustaining their existence via some sort of unexplained genetic experimentation which also involves (naturally) killing people. It’s up to Detectives O’Conner (Parker Posey, looking worn out) and Harker (Michael Madsen, doing his thing) to finally put a stop to the centuries’ long madness. A pilot for a TV series that never happened, Frankenstein’s solid cast can’t overcome its not terribly well-written script. This one’s for Mary Shelley completionists and Madsen fans only.

5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
With Six You Get Eggroll (1968 USA): This family-friendly comedy was a TV staple for many, many years, but hasn’t been seen much since the late 1980s. Now it’s back on TCM and in widescreen to boot, though it never suffered much in pan-and-scan. Doris Day and Brian Keith headline as Abby and Jake, two single parents with a quartet of kids between them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the middle-aged pair find it easier to take care of the rugrats together, setting off the raging debate (fueled by Roger Ebert’s infamous review in which he compared With Six You Get Eggroll to Antonioni’s Blow-Up) about whether or nor Doris Day’s character sleeps with a man to whom she isn’t married. Wonder if anyone’s ever asked Doris about this? Routine but pleasant, With Six You Get Eggroll benefits from appearances by George Carlin(!!), pop rockers The Grass Roots, Barbara Hershey, and Jamie Farr.

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