TiVoPlex
By John Seal
August 16, 2004
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 08/17/04
12:10am Black Starz!
The Glass Shield (1994 USA): If you can overlook the fact that Lori Petty has no hair in this film you'll be amply rewarded by a smartly written story of police corruption and racism. Michael Boatman is terrific as a young African-American policeman assigned to integrate a precinct with a bad reputation for, er, exclusivity. He soon bumps heads with the precinct captain and most of the other white male officers, who view him as an unwelcome outsider. The film has a number of subplots woven together by the end, and Ice Cube makes an early appearance as a youngster stopped for Driving While Black. Written and directed by Charles Burnett, this is an intelligent and exciting police thriller. Also airs on Encore Action 8/19 at 12:20pm and 7pm and on Showtime Extreme 8/21 at 3:35am.
Wednesday 08/18/04
6am Sundance
President vs. David Hicks (2004 AUS): David Hicks, the infamous Australian inmate of the Guantanamo Bay concentration camp, gets his day in the sun here. He’d probably prefer to have his day in court, but in George Bush’s America, that’s unlikely to happen any time soon. Tracing Hicks’ transformation from happy-go-lucky Adelaide equestrian to anti-Semitic holy warrior, this documentary doesn’t make excuses for the man’s actions, but serves as another reminder that the patriotic bromide "with liberty and justice for all" means less and less with each passing day. Excerpts from Hicks’ correspondence as well as interviews with family members and former Guantanamo inmates flesh out his fascinating story. Also airs at 4:30pm and 8/23 at 9am.
7:30am Starz!
Masked and Anonymous (2003 USA): Provided more as a public service message than as a recommendation, this paragraph will serve notice that, once again, Bob Dylan has made an appearance on the big screen. Let’s review the track record, shall we? The Mighty Zim first played a fictional character in 1973’s revisionist Western, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Bob wasn’t bad, but the film is remembered today mostly for its Dylan-penned soundtrack, which introduced one of the man’s greatest songs, Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door. Five years later, Bob decided to take matters into his own hands, writing, directing, editing, and starring in the lumbering Renaldo and Clara, a four-hour "head film" that resides like a curate’s egg on the man’s frequently bizarre CV. Who else would star in his own movie but cast someone else (in this case, fellow musician Ronnie Hawkins) as, erm, Bob Dylan? A nine-year layoff followed, but the voice of a generation was tempted back to the big screen for the Joe Eszterhas-penned Hearts of Fire, a ridiculous rags-to-riches saga about a burned-out old rocker (guess who) helping a toll-taker (Molly Maguire) hit it big in show business. Apparently unimpressed with the results, Dylan took the next 15 years off, until once again being wooed onto the set of a major motion picture, this time in collaboration with Seinfeld writer Larry Charles. I haven’t seen Masked and Anonymous yet, but somehow the writing combination of a man who got his start working on the show "about nothing" and the man behind Renaldo and Clara seems like a well-calculated joke. Also airs at 10:30am, 9:30pm, and 8/19 at 12:30am, and on 8/23 at 12:15am and 3:15am.
11:50am Encore Mystery
The Anderson Tapes (1971 USA): Sidney Lumet’s cracking action film stars Sean Connery as an ex-prisoner and recidivist master thief out to empty a luxurious Manhattan apartment building of its occupants’ riches. To do so, though, he has to circumvent the space-age security systems employed by the building’s owners: yes, they’ve installed video cameras! Though the premise is somewhat dated and not particularly original, the story still thrills, thanks in part to a wonderful Quincy Jones soundtrack and a great supporting cast, including the underappreciated Dyan Cannon, Martin Balsam, Ralph Meeker, and Christopher Walken in his first sizable role as “The Kid”. Also airs 8/19 at 12:10am.
Thursday 08/19/04
9:15am Starz!
Once Upon a Time in the Midlands (2002 GB): Shane Meadow’s British box office hit finally makes it to American television after its woefully brief theatrical run, which lasted a week in Stateside art-houses. Starring Robert Carlyle (best known to US audiences as Trainspotting’s resident head-case, Begbie) as bad lad Jimmy, a Nottingham exile returning to his home town to win back the heart of lady love Shirley Henderson, the film also features Notting Hill gurner Rhys Ifans in a rare straight role as Henderson’s new paramour. The film’s title and music offer tribute to the spaghetti-western genre, but Once Upon a Time in the Midlands ultimately is a typically low-key British drama, its minor though well-crafted story blessed by solid performances from all concerned, including the always fine Kathy Burke, here cast as Henderson’s best friend and confidante. Look for director Meadows and co-writer Paul Frasor in a bingo-hall scene. Also airs at 12:15pm.
Friday 08/20/04
5am Turner Classic Movies
Your Past is Showing (1957 GB): One of the hidden gems in Peter Sellers' lengthy filmography, this film was originally titled The Naked Truth but was retitled for the prudish American market. Long unseen in the United States, this comedy will be of great interest to Sellers fans or those who simply enjoy a good old-fashioned British laugher. This time the former Goon plays the target of a blackmailing scandal-sheet publisher (Dennis Price) who turns the tables on his tormenter by hatching a scheme with other unfortunate victims (including Terry-Thomas) to murder Price rather than pay him. Michael Pertwee’s screenplay seems tailor-made for Sellers, allowing him to display his talent for disguises and accents throughout, and in addition to recognizable co-stars like Joan Sims, Kenneth Griffith, and Miles Malleson, Your Past is Showing features an early performance by future Bond girl Shirley Eaton as another of Sellers’ co-conspirators. Available on DVD in the UK, but never released on home video in North America, this is a great opportunity to see a young comedian honing his already-considerable talents.
8:30pm Flix
Last Embrace (1979 USA): Roy Scheider stars as a retired government intelligence man in this dense but only fleetingly satisfactory Jonathan Demme-helmed Hitchcock homage. Scheider, whose wife is murdered in front of him in broad daylight, is convinced he’s the assassin’s next target, and when an odd young medical student (Janet Margolin) turns up in his apartment one day, alarm bells really start ringing. Last Embrace’s disco era setting is an unavoidable distraction and the film’s Macguffin an inordinately complicated one, but Scheider is always worth watching, and the film benefits tremendously from Miklos Rozsa’s lush, brooding score, which is done no favors by the rather pedestrian efforts of Demme and cinematographer Tak Fujimoto. Christopher Walken is sadly underutilized as a high-ranking intelligence officer, but Last Embrace
is at least as good as any of Brian De Palma’s recent films, and the church tower shootout between Scheider and Charles Napier will certainly provide a frisson of pleasure for Hitchcock fans.
Saturday 08/21/04
5am IFC
Samurai Spy (1965 JAP): IFC continues to deliver the samurai goodies with another obscure genre entry from director Masahiro Shinoda, also responsible for 1964’s terrific Yakuza thriller, Pale Flower. Unlike its predecessor, Samurai Spy hasn’t been granted an American DVD release, and I’m not sure its ever been on US television before. You’ll need to pay attention, because this features a complex plot of deceit and backstabbing between its three major characters, warrior Koji Takahashi (later in Sanshiro Sugate and Godzilla vs. Biollante), titular spy Eiji Okada, and mystery man Tetsuro Tamba (whose amazing filmography needs to be seen to be believed). Samurai Spy also features a score by avant-garde composer Toru Takemitsu, whose discordant and distinctive work graces classics like Ran, Dodes’Ka-Den, and Double Suicide. Also airs at 10:15am.
5pm Fox Movie Channel
Seven Women From Hell (1961 USA): This Fox CinemaScope feature bridges the gap between the women-in-prison flicks of the 1950s and the AIP Women in Cages cycle of the '70s. There's rape, torture, and large breasts straining against tight tops, but only in moderation. Seven women - most of them looking like refugees from, oh, 1961 rather than the wartime Philippines - find themselves at the mercy of the merciless Imperial Japanese Army and endeavour to escape the clutches of the fiendish Orientals, personified best by Richard Loo in the scenery-chewing role of the ruthless sergeant in charge of the prison camp. Cesar Romero shows up for the final reel in what turns out to be a most unsatisying ending. The film looks good thanks to Floyd Crosby's camera work but is let down by a weak script and incredibly poor costuming, make-up, and (in most cases) acting. Still, if straining breasts are your thing, you might want to take a look.
Sunday 08/22/04
9:55pm HBO Signature
Sweet Sixteen (2002 GB): Regular readers know I have a soft spot for Marxist director Ken Loach. His films are always political, but rarely polemical, as his most recent feature, Sweet Sixteen, proves. Set in the impoverished slums of Glasgow, Scotland, the film stars Martin Compston as a young man trying to save his falsely-convicted mother from the clutches of her nasty drug-dealing boyfriend and her equally unpleasant father upon her release from prison. Unfortunately but understandably saddled with subtitles to help the uninitiated cope with the cast’s extremely thick Scots accents, this is a wonderful slice-of-life drama written by Paul Laverty and lensed by Barry Ackroyd, both frequent Loach collaborators.
Monday 08/23/04
6pm Sundance
The Other Final (2003 HOL): If you like to root for the underdog, here’s the film you’ve been waiting for. Filmed during the 2002 World Cup, The Other Final ignores football’s greatest teams to concentrate on a match between two of the worst: Bhutan and Montserrat. If you’ve never heard of those nations, here’s the skinny: Bhutan is a remote Asian kingdom high in the Himalayas (hardly the ideal place to run around a soccer pitch for 90 minutes), and Montserrat is a volcano-challenged British colony in the Caribbean. Ranked as the bottom two teams in the world by FIFA (Federation of International Football Associations), the hapless pair met up in Bhutan’s capital city of Thimpnu to determine, once and for all, which team is most capable of reaching the absolute nadir of football prowess. A pleasant reminder of the essential nature of sporting and games, The Other Final won the Special Mention prize at 2003’s Bermuda Film Festival. Dave Poland loved it!
Print this column
