TiVoPlex
By John Seal
September 14, 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 09/14/04
2:10am Cinemax
Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter (1974 GB): One of the last great productions from Britain's beloved house of horror, Hammer Films, Captain Kronos is an action-filled thriller that delivers the goods. Directed and co-written by Brian Clemens, the film (released in the UK as simply Kronos) stars Horst Janson as the eponymous hero, a handsome blonde swordsman with a hunchbacked assistant (John Cater) who rescues Mittel European villagers from rampaging bloodsuckers. The film was co-produced by Albert Fennell and Clemens, the team responsible for creating the classic television series The Avengers, and music is supplied by Laurie Johnson, whose Avengers theme remains one of the small screen's most memorable refrains. Also airs at 5:10am.
5am Sundance
Unprecedented: The 2000 Presidential Election (2004 USA): This updated version of Robert Greenwald's analysis of the Florida election debacle should be required viewing in civics class. Assuming, of course, schools still offer civics class. Narrated by an apparently sedated Danny Glover (it's okay to be angry, Danny), the film is a cold-blooded dissection of the Republican Party machinations that led to the coronation of Emperor George W. Bush in January 2001. Featuring a wealth of fascinating footage and interviews with muckraking journalist Greg Palast, Unprecedented doesn't provide much new information for those who followed the story closely in the papers, but remains an important and timely film. In the interest of impartiality, it might be interesting to see Greenwald take a look at the results of the 1960 presidential election, where Chicago corpses provided by Mayor Daley probably gave JFK his winning edge. Also airs at 4pm and 9/20 at 1:05pm.
3:30pm HBO 2
Indian Point: Imagining the Unimaginable (2004 USA): Leading off a double-header of nuclear power documentaries, the newest film from Rory Kennedy (youngest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy and director of 1999's excellent look at Appalachia, American Hollow) looks at the potential for disaster - manmade or otherwise - at New York's Indian Point nuclear plant, located within 25 miles of New York City. Simply put, if you live within a 50-mile radius of Indian Point, you should watch this film. It's followed at 4:15pm by 2003's Chernobyl Heart, a heartbreaking look at the aftereffects of the catastrophic 1986 meltdown in Belarus. Chernobyl Heart won the 2004 Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. Duck and cover! Both films also air at 6:30pm and 7:15pm respectively.
Wednesday 09/15/04
3:45am HBO
American Standoff (2002 USA): Barbara Kopple, the woman behind the incomparable Harlan County USA, produced this equally impressive documentary about the American labor movement. Focusing on the struggle between the International Brotherhood of Teamsters and the corporate bean counters at Overnite Transportation (and their parent company, Union Pacific), the film also analyzes the internecine battle for the Teamster presidency between overly slick James P. Hoffa and tainted reformer Ron Carey. It'll be a stony-hearted viewer who doesn't come away from American Standoff without a slightly revised opinion of Hoffa and his father - who are presented in a somewhat favorable but not entirely uncritical light - but the real heroes are, of course, the stalwart employees who manned the picket lines in front of Overnite terminals across the country for three years. This is a tremendously moving film that should make all shipping managers check to make sure they're only dealing with union freight lines. Also airs at 6:45am.
6am Turner Classic Movies
When a Feller Needs a Friend (1932 USA): It's a manipulative tearjerker, but I couldn't resist including this marvelously titled MGM weepie in this week's column. Jackie Cooper plays a disabled youngster with a leg brace who is treated cruelly by his visiting cousin (Andy Shuford). When a kindly uncle (Chic Sale) tries to intervene and toughen up the gammy-legged Cooper, the family is torn apart, as Jackie's parents (Ralph Graves and Dorothy Peterson) don't recognize that Cousin Froggie is a nasty bully at heart. Gee, thanks, Mom and Dad; I love you, too! Remarkably, two of the film's stars - young master Cooper and fellow child actor Dickie Moore - are still with us. As usual, I recommend that production of a sequel commence before it's too late.
Thursday 09/16/04
11pm Turner Classic Movies
Fuzz (1972 USA): This rarely aired Burt Reynolds comedy gets the wide-screen treatment tonight on TCM. Based on an Ed McBain novel, Fuzz stars mustachioed macho man Reynolds as a Boston cop out to stop a mad bomber (Yul Brynner, in one of the stranger roles of his frequently bizarre career) trying to blow up Bosstown politicians. Not to be confused with The Mad Bomber, a low-budget Chuck Connors film of the same year, Fuzz is a slapdash and mildly diverting comedy with an interesting ensemble cast, including Raquel Welch as the token female cop subject to sexual harassment and intimidation at the hands of her colleagues, Jack Weston as an undercover cop in a nun's habit, Tamara Jones a year before playing black action hero Cleopatra Jones, Tom Skeritt, and Bert Remsen.
Friday 09/17/04
1:35am HBO Signature
Kandahar (2001 IRA): It takes a while to get used to the amateurish acting (especially that of star Nelofer Pazira), but if you can adapt, you'll be richly rewarded. Pazira basically plays herself: a young, Westernized Afghan refugee who returns to her war-torn country to search for her sister, whilst dodging the misogynistic enforcers of the Taliban regime. Filled with stunning imagery - especially the shots of crippled war veterans - Kandahar also features a magnificent performance by Hassan Tantai as an African-American Muslim doctor trying to blend the blessings of Western medicine with the austerities of fundamentalist Islam. Another classic from director Mohsen Makhmalbhaf, Kandahar is an extremely powerful educational, emotional and political statement. Also airs 9/19 at 3am.
8:45am Turner Classic Movies
Singing Blacksmith (1938 USA): TCM delivers the goods yet again with a pair of hard-to-find Yiddish-language films from cult director Edgar G. Ulmer (who helmed four such films without being able to speak a word of Yiddish). I haven't seen The Singing Blacksmith, a musical about, erm, a blacksmith (Moyshe Oysher) who sings, but its rarity demands our attention. It's followed at 10:30am by Ulmer's last Yiddish film, 1940's American Matchmaker, a romantic comedy featuring a cameo appearance by the director's daughter Ariane and a screenplay by wife Shirley. I haven't the vaguest idea whether these films are truly good or merely oddities, but hardcore film fans should highlight these New Jersey-shot rarities in their TV Guides. Also airing as part of the Ulmer festival are the John Carradine/Gale Sondergaard adventure Monsoon (AKA Isle of Forgotten Sins) at 1:45pm, the minor mystery classic The Strange Woman at 3:15pm, a brand-new Ulmer documentary, Ulmer: The Man Off-Screen at 5pm and 8:30pm, and the noirish Warren William vehicle Strange Illusion at 9:30pm. Apparently TCM is utilizing prints made available by the good folks at All Day Entertainment, who have released some of these titles on DVD, and the Ulmer family. All in all, this is a major cause of celebration for film buffs.
Saturday 09/18/04
7pm HBO
American Splendor (2003 USA): The first time I saw the trailer for this twisted but warmhearted biopic I was convinced I didn't want to have anything to do with it. By the time I saw the trailer the third time, I had grudgingly nudged it into the must-see category. And by the time I walked out of the local art-house after actually watching American Splendor, I was convinced I'd seen one of the best films of 2003. Paul Giamatti's performance as Harvey Pekar was the acting job of the year, a breakthrough effort that should have netted him an Academy Award nomination, if not the Best Acting Oscar itself. At least the Academy recognized Shari Springer Berman and Robert Puccini's hilarious and touching screenplay, based on Pekar's autobiographical comic series of the same name. If you enjoy stories about working-class slobs overcoming adversity of every variety and ultimately making good, this is your film. American Splendor makes its television debut this evening, and comes with my highest recommendation. Also airs at 10pm.
Sunday 09/18/04
1:15am Flix
The Shout (1978 GB): Jerzy Skolimowski's metaphysical hymn to the powers of the human voice will not appeal to general audiences, but folks who like the films of Peter Weir will enjoy this film about a tramp (Alan Bates) who moves into a Devon farmhouse occupied by a bemused but open-minded John Hurt and a suspicious Susannah York. Bates claims his "shout", a skill acquired in the Australian Outback, can kill everything within range of its sound. No truth to the rumor that the same effect can be had by playing the music of Genesis, whose Mike Rutherford and Tony Banks supplied the film's discordant soundtrack. Whether death can result from listening to too much Phil Collins music, however, is still an open question amongst scientists, though anecdotal evidence tends to confirm the veracity of this urban legend.
9:15pm Turner Classic Movies
Leaves From Satan's Book (1921 DEN): Leaves From Satan's Book is preceded by a 7pm broadcast of Carl Theodor Dreyer's Bergmanesque 1955 drama, Ordet, but that film is available on DVD and is no doubt familiar to most TiVoPlex readers. The real treat tonight is this very rare screening of one of Dreyer's silent classics, a fable about the fall of Lucifer and the sins of Man through the ages, from the Jerusalem of Jesus' time to the then-contemporary setting of post-World War I Finland. This narrative device, reminiscent of both Griffiths' magisterial Intolerance and De Mille's 1923 Ten Commandments, is bolstered by Dreyer's visual daring and nuanced storytelling, which portrays Satan as a deeply conflicted and thoughtful soul. Beelzebub wouldn't get such a sympathetic hearing again until 1999's South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut.
Monday 09/20/04
10am Encore Mystery
Wasabi (2001 FRA): Last year I recommended this Jean Reno action-comedy sight unseen, but now that I've watched it, I can offer it a recommendation, with reservations. Shot wide-screen, the film is being aired in a pan-and-scan print. Filmed in French and Japanese, Encore's print has been dubbed into English. Those caveats aside, however, this is a rip-roaring genre film, with Reno terrific as the somewhat worldweary cop taking on Japanese Yakuza intent on bilking his daughter of her late mother's estate. Also of note is bug-eyed Austrian actor Michel Muller as Reno's sidekick, Momo. The dubbing is surprisingly good - I suspect Reno recorded his own English-language track - and at least the opening credits are letterboxed. You won't learn as much about the East-West culture clash as you might in Lost In Translation, but you will have a heck of a good time.
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