TiVoPlex
By John Seal
April 18, 2005
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 04/19/05
6:00 PM Showtime
Mayor of the Sunset Strip (2004 USA): One of my favorite films of 2004, Mayor of the Sunset Strip is a bittersweet documentary tribute to Rodney Bingenheimer, one of America’s most influential and important disc jockeys. That may sound like hyperbole to those who have never listened to his show, but his longevity and continued commitment to new music elevate him close to Alan Freed territory. The diminutive Bingenheimer moved from Northern California to Hollywood in the late 1960s, where he doubled for Monkee Davy Jones, opened a seminal glam rock dance club called Rodney’s English Disco, and found on-air notoriety courtesy progressive FM station KROQ. Rodney’s show helped spur Los Angeles’ punk and new wave scenes, and was required listening on Southland weekends, when you’d hear up and coming local bands like X, The Screamers, and The Germs, out-of-towners such as The Damned and The Sex Pistols, and, oddly, starlet Brooke Shields, who was frequently seen about town on Rodney’s arm. Bingenheimer comes across as a very shy, somewhat morose individual on camera, perhaps unsurprising considering the paltry recognition he has received for his contributions to rock ‘n’ roll radio. He’s as important an on-air figure as Britain’s late, beloved John Peel, and this wonderful film finally gives him the kudos he so richly deserves. You can help Rodney regain his prime time radio spot by signing the petition at www.rodney.panopia.com. Also airs at 9:00 PM and on Showtime 3 on 4/25 at 6:30 PM.
9:00 PM More Max
Young Adam (2004 GB): This rough-edged drama, awarded an NC-17 rating by the MPAA for ‘explicit sexual content’, features Ewan MacGregor as Joe, a drifter hired by friendly barge operator Les (Peter Mullan) to help keep things shipshape as his vessel, the Atlantic Eve, drifts from 1960s-era Glasgow to Edinburgh and back again. Apparently all too happy to again prove he’s willing to bare it all on camera, MacGregor’s character engages in a torrid affair with Les’ wife Ella (Tilda Swinton) whilst the cuckolded hubby grimly stomps about above deck. Yes, we’re sailing into waters not too far from those of Jean Vigo’s groundbreaking L’Atalante (1934), where Michel Simon, Dita Parlo, and Jean Daste engaged in a very French shipboard love triangle. Throw in the mysterious death of a young woman found floating in the canal by Les and Joe, and you have all the ingredients necessary for a first-rate erotic thriller—minus Shannon Tweed, of course. Excellent performances by the three leads with able support from Emily Mortimer make this a must-see for art-house fans.
Wednesday 04/20/05
8:50 PM Encore Drama
Reckless Indifference (2000 USA): Those God damn kids! William Gazecki, the award-winning director of the controversial Waco: The Rules of Engagement (1997) and the positively loopy Crop Circles: Quest for Truth (2002), produced and directed this intriguing look at the juvenile justice system. Focusing on the death of a California teenager in a suburban drug den called "The Clubhouse", Reckless Indifference could perhaps be considered the West Coast equivalent of Joe Berlinger’s superb Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1997), with marijuana replacing rock-and-roll in the homicide blame game. The fact that the victim’s father was an LAPD cop brought the case considerable media attention, which in turn encouraged an overzealous DA to throw the book (and the threat of life imprisonment) at the dead juvie’s doper buddies.
Thursday 04/21/05
5:00 PM Fox Movie Channel
The River’s Edge (1957 USA): Another cinematic love triangle features in this Hollywood indie starring Ray Milland, Anthony Quinn, and Debra Paget as an entangled threesome. Milland plays Paget’s former lover, a crook who needs rancher Quinn’s help in getting his ill-gotten gains across the border and into Mexico before the law catches up to him. He can’t resist making a play for his old flame, though, who’s just brawled with hubby and may be vulnerable to her former lover’s oily charms. The final film from renowned director Allan Dwan, The River’s Edge is a glossy pot-boiler with enough action to keep your eyes from glazing over during the less than convincing dramatic scenes. Handsomely shot on location in Cinemascope by Harold Lipstein, it airs in widescreen on Fox this evening.
Friday 04/22/05
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Cuckoos (1930 USA): The more you see of comedy team Wheeler and Woolsey, the more you appreciate them. Six of their wacky features are aired back to back this morning, starting off with their second film, 1930’s The Cuckoos, a rather creaky but endearing musical comedy which features the lads as a pair of phony fortune tellers (is there any other kind?) mixed up with white-slaving gypsies. No, this isn’t the most politically correct film you’ll ever see, but the songs are pretty good, the Technicolor sequences diverting, and Wheeler and Woolsey will have you rolling on the floor. It’s followed at 4:45 AM by Cracked Nuts (1931), a Cocoanuts-style fantasy set in a Ruritanian kingdom, at 6:00 AM by the amusing western farce Girl Crazy (1932), at 7:15 AM by the hilarious and salacious Hips Hips Hooray (1934), at 8:30 AM by Kentucky Kernels (1934), with the lads playing magicians who adopt Spanky McFarland, and at 9:45 AM by the team’s final feature, High Flyers (1937), completed shortly before Woolsey’s untimely death. Don’t miss any of them.
5:30 PM Sundance
Inheritance: A Fisherman’s Story (2003 AUS): This documentary takes a look at an environmental catastrophe most of us have never heard of: the destruction of the ecosystem of Hungary’s Tisza River in 2000. Devastated by 120,000 tons of cyanide dumped into the river by a multinational company, the Tisza could no longer support local communities who relied on freshwater fishing to survive. Inheritance follows one such fisherman, Balasz Meszaros, as he travels to Australia to visit the company responsible for the disaster. Needless to say they didn’t roll out the red carpet when he arrived. Also airs 4/23 at 6:00 AM and on 4/25 at 9:00 AM.
8:00 PM IFC
Body Parts (1991 USA-CAN): Being aired in glorious widescreen, Body Parts is a predictable but well-made thriller about (*spoiler alert*) a mad doctor who grafts a murderer’s arms and legs onto four desperate patients. One of them is writer Bill Chrushank (Jeff Fahey), who finds himself getting into bar fights (or worse) when his new arm doesn’t behave itself. Fahey isn’t a great actor by any means, but you don’t watch these sorts of films for the acting, and there’s enough gore and grue on hand to satisfy most bloodhounds. Top acting honors go to the always reliable Brad Dourif, here playing a tortured young artiste who finds his new body part has inspired his muse in unexpected and unwelcome ways. Also airs at 11:00 PM.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Davy (1957 GB): The final comedy produced by the Balcon-era iteration of Ealing Studios, Davy has deservedly stayed in the shadows of its illustrious predecessors. Directed by Michael Relph, it’s the story of an unambitious music hall veteran (once and future Goon Harry Secombe) who has to decide whether to take a shot at the big time or stick with his tried, true, and decidedly down at heel family act. It can’t hold a candle to the best of Ealing, but this a very rare feature that will be of great interest to fans of British film. The fine supporting cast includes Ron Moody, Joan Sims, and Kenneth Connor.
Saturday 04/23/05
9:00 AM Encore
The Man With the Golden Gun (1974 GB): This week’s letterboxed Bond was Roger Moore’s second outing as the sexy secret agent, and it retains a level of freshness that will surprise those more familiar with his post-Spy Who Loved Me performances. The film benefits tremendously from the presence of Christopher Lee as villain Francisco Scaramanga, and Lulu’s throaty theme tune, whilst not amongst the series’ best, still sounds pretty good. Also airs at noon.
3:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Hell Is For Heroes (1962 USA): Steve MacQueen stars in this excellent war film from director Don Siegel. MacQueen plays a battle scarred private whose unit is called back to the front hours before their tour of duty is up. Avoiding sentiment and jingoism in favor of realism and grit, Richard Carr’s screenplay also foregoes most genre cliches and is especially refreshing when one considers the film’s 1962 release date. Sharing the trenches with MacQueen are a virtual who’s who of character actors, including Nick Adams, James Coburn, L. Q. Jones, Fess Parker, Harry Guardino, and, erm, Bobby Darin, here trying to shed his lounge lizard image.
Sunday 04/24/05
7:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Seven-Per-Cent Solution (1976 GB): By the 1970s, the hitherto incorruptible Sherlock Holmes was in for a new cinematic image true to that of the brilliant but flawed detective of the Arthur Conan Doyle canon. Billy Wilder’s The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes (1970) pried open the after-hours door to 221B Baker Street, dropping hints about the curious bachelor lifestyle of Holmes and Watson, but it wasn’t until The Seven-Per-Cent Solution that the great detective’s private peccadilloes—precisely speaking, his drug abuse—were explicitly explored on film. Shakespearean actor Nicol Williamson essayed the role for director Herbert Ross, and he’s superb, as is Alan Arkin as Sigmund Freud (!), here treating Holmes for his cocaine habit. Less welcome is Robert Duvall, who makes for an unconvincing and unctuous Watson. A fine script by Nicholas Meyer (who would explore the Holmes’ mythos again in 1979’s Time After Time) and Oswald Morris’ lush wide-screen cinematography move this film into the must-see category.
Monday 04/25/05
12:30 PM Fox Movie Channel
The Devil’s In Love (1933 USA): This very obscure Fox production is noteworthy for the presence of Bela Lugosi in a small but critical role as a military prosecutor. I have to admit I’ve never seen the film, but with David Manners, Victor Jory, and Loretta Young on hand—and director William Dieterle behind the camera—it’s surely worth a look.
6:00 PM Sundance
The Staircase, Parts 7 & 8 (2003 FRA): Sundance’s airing of this multipart documentary, recommended in previous columns, continues with two new chapters this evening.
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