TiVoPlex
By John Seal
January 23, 2006
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 01/24/06
3:30am Turner Classic Movies
Biography of a Bachelor Girl (1935 USA): Thirty years later, a film with this title would have been a 42nd Street nudie cutie. Civilization hadn't advanced quite that far in 1935, however, and Biography of a Bachelor Girl is a standard-issue MGM romantic comedy. That doesn't mean it's entirely bereft of pleasure, however. The film stars Robert Montgomery as Dickie Kurt, an ambitious magazine editor anxious to get the scoop on beautiful and unattached artiste Marion Forsythe (Ann Harding). Politically ambitious Bunny Nolan (Edward Everett Horton) doesn't want the history of her love life to get out because it will cast him in a bad light and put him in poor stead with his fiancée (Una Merkel). If you can suspend your disbelief regarding the mooted sexual magnetism of Horton, you'll enjoy this film, which also features Edward Arnold and Donald Meek.
5pm Turner Classic Movies
Souls For Sale (1923 USA): Eleanor Broadman stars in this rare silent feature, which airs tonight with a brand-new score courtesy Marcus Sjowall, this year's winner of TCM's annual Young Composer Competition. Souls For Sale also makes its American television premiere this afternoon, and features Boardman as Mem, a Hollywood starlet who accidentally gets into the biz after jumping a train and stumbling into a studio shoot in the California desert. Thrust in front of the cameras after the leading lady's legs are crushed in an inopportune accident, Mem gets some quick lessons in filmmaking and is soon making a name for herself. All seems well, until a none-too-mysterious man from her past gets a whiff of her newfound success, and decides he'd like a cut of the action. Enlivened by cameos from silent stars such as William Haines, Blanche Sweet, Chester Conklin, and Patsy Ruth Miller, and including a unique behind-the-scenes glimpse of the production of 1924's Erich von Stroheim classic, Greed, Souls For Sale also airs 1/25 at 12:30am.
7:30pm Showtime Extreme
Sketch Artist (1992 USA): Erotic thriller, anyone? Here's one that hasn't been on the boob tube in a while. Jeff Fahey stars as a police artist whose latest homicide assignment leads him to implicate someone near and dear to him: his wife (Sean Young). Young is terrible and Fahey merely passable, but Sketch Artist isn't bad for a straight-to-cable thriller, and does feature an impressive supporting cast, including Drew Barrymore, James Tolkan, and Tchéky Karyo. Directed by Phedon Papamichael, who has since lensed A-list material such as Walk the Line, Sideways, and the forthcoming Pursuit of Happyness, Sketch Artist also airs 1/29 at 10:35pm.
Wednesday 01/25/06
12:15am Showtime
Foxes (1980 USA): Adrian Lyne made his feature directorial debut with this above-average coming-of-age tale set in the San Fernando Valley, just a few short years before Valley Girls, "grody to the max" and "gag me with a spoon" became common parlance. Jodie Foster, ex-Runaway Cherie Currie, Marilyn Kagan (who was almost 30 at the time!), and Kandice Stroh star as four troubled young ladies coping with boys, school, drugs, weight issues, and all the other myriad problems that hound female teens. Though the film is episodic and at times predictable, it remains one of the best films of its type, avoiding the pitfalls of exploitation cinema and remaining determinedly serious in its outlook. Co-starring Sally Kellerman, Scott Baio, Brit rocker Adam Faith, and (in her first credited appearance) Laura Dern, Foxes also airs at 3:15am.
6:30pm Sundance
Police Beat (2005 USA): Here's a film with a genuinely unusual premise: it's about the day-to-day life of a West African bicycle cop on the job in Seattle, with voiceover narration in Wolof, the native language of Senegal. The policeman is played with awkward charm by amateur actor Pape Sidy Niang, and the problems he confronts in Police Beat range from the mundane (purse-snatching) to the positively profane (animal masturbation). The film was written and directed by Robinson Devor, whose black-and-white 1999 Charles Willeford adaptation (and Patrick Warburton vehicle) The Woman Chaser received favorable notices. Though Police Beat made some waves at Sundance 2005, it failed to garner a theatrical release, and makes its television debut this evening. Also airs 1/28 at 8:45pm.
8:40pm Showtime Extreme
Eye of the Tiger (1986 USA): When your cast includes Gary Busey, Yaphet Kotto, Seymour Cassel, and William Smith, you know the film will be entertaining, even if it is as absurd as Eye of the Tiger. Busey gives a great, impassioned speech in a bingo hall about his days in ‘Nam, Kotto cuts a rug whilst dropping grenades from a biplane, Cassel twirls his moustache, and Smith...well, Smith and his semi-Mohawk have to be seen to be believed. Let's just say that if you're a fan of Smith's ‘60s biker movies, you'll love Eye of the Tiger, which is getting the wide-screen treatment this evening on Extreme. The only strikes against the film - besides the ridiculous plot and shoddy writing - are the awful Survivor theme song (recycled from Rocky III) and Kotto's hair, which appears to be a severely overcooked process ‘do.
Thursday 01/26/06
5pm Turner Classic Movies
Only Yesterday (1991 JAP): The final week of TCM's Hayao Miyazaki fest is here, but this time the offerings include two films produced (but not directed) by the founder of Studio Ghibli. The first is Only Yesterday, purportedly a rare example of neo-realist animation, and the second (at 11:45pm) is 1994's Pom Poko, a more typical Ghibli production about magical raccoons. Both films were helmed by Grave of the Fireflies man Isao Takahata, a long-time Miyazaki collaborator. Caveat: on each of the previous Thursday nights, TCM has aired the dubbed versions of these films first, followed immediately by the subtitled versions. According to DirecTV's schedule, they're split apart tonight, with the subtitled Only Yesterday on first, followed by the two dubbed films and then the subtitled Pom Poko. TCM's Web site, which has recently undergone "upgrades" which have rendered it less useful than in the past, doesn't address the problem. You might want to record both versions just to be on the safe side.
Friday 01/27/06
5pm Encore Westerns
Johnny Guitar (1954 USA): Nicholas Ray's highly-stylized Western about a woman barkeep in the Old West plays a bit like a 19th-century Mildred Pierce, but maybe that's because Joan Crawford is the woman in question. This film has become infamous on the postmodernist circuit for its lesbian "subtext," which arguably is there, but not to the extent some might hope. Top acting kudos go to Mercedes McCambridge (why didn't she work more?) as Emma Small, the town bluenose determined to get rid of the den of iniquity owned and operated by Ms. Crawford. Lushly shot in Trucolor (there's a process we all miss), Johnny Guitar has acquired a camp reputation it doesn't really deserve. Either way you view it, it's pretty good.
7pm Flix
Lonely Hearts (1980 AUS): Starring Wendy Barrie as a spinster afraid of commitment - in part thanks to the smothering presence of her parents, played to perfection by Irene Inescort and Vic Gordon - and Norman Kaye as the balding bachelor who she reluctantly admits into her life, the film is a gentle but pointed romantic comedy-drama about the most basic of human needs: companionship. Intelligently and thoughtfully written by John Clarke and director Paul Cox, Lonely Hearts is a carefully paced but absolutely riveting film with a happy (and happily believable) ending. It's the feel-good movie of the week, especially if, like me, you've spent some time in the world of amateur dramatics, an important meeting point for the film's lovelorn twosome.
11:30pm Turner Classic Movies
Shop on Main Street (1965 CZE): According to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, this was the Best Foreign Film of 1966. I'm not quite sure I'd agree with that analysis - I probably would have opted for Kwaidan, if given a vote - but it is a heckuva film nonetheless. Set in World War II Slovakia, the story revolves around Tono (Jozef Króner), a dirt-poor peasant hired - in a roundabout fashion - by a little old lady (Ida Kaminska, whose performance earned her a Best Actress nomination) to help run her sewing business. Unfortunately, she's also a little old JEWISH lady, and when the authorities decide it's time to get rid of the local Jews once and for all, Tono is faced with an impossible dilemma: should he turn her in and claim the remains of her business, or keep quiet and run the risk of endangering his own life? Filmed during the brief Prague Spring of the 1960s, The Shop on Main Street was co-directed by Jan Kádár, who came to the United States with Kaminska in 1970 to shoot the less-successful fable The Angel Levine.
Saturday 01/28/06
1:15am The Movie Channel
Get Crazy (1983 USA): Home video refugee red alert! This campy but oft-times hilarious musical comedy from director Allan Arkush (Rock ‘n' Roll High School) returns to The Movie Channel this morning, and in wide screen, no less. Get Crazy is basically an update on the "hey kids, let's put on a show!" sub-genre, updating things to the rock era and featuring a gurning Malcolm McDowell as rock star Reggie Wanker, who will remind most viewers of a certain loose-limbed real-life rocker who still treads the boards to this day. The supporting cast of this forgotten gem is amazing: along for the ride are John Densmore (The Doors), Lee Ving and Derf Scratch (Fear), Lou Reed, Allen Garfield, Ed Begley Jr., Howard Kaylan (The Turtles), Bobby Sherman, Fabian, Jackie Joseph, Dick Miller, Clint Howard, Mary Woronov, Paul Bartel, and many more. Get Crazy offers a guaranteed good time for anyone over 30, and airs again at 4:15am. Can a premium cable screening of 1984's Du-Beat-E-O be far behind? We can dream.
7pm IFC
Mad Max 2 (1981 AUS): Better known as The Road Warrior, Mad Max 2 is appearing this month on IFC in its essential 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Starring Mel Gibson as Max, the film expands on the post-Apocalyptic storyline established in the first film, with our hero playing Toshirô Mifune for a camp of addled but basically good-hearted oil gypsies. The film introduced Bruce Spence's popular pilot character and also includes some of the series' more memorable villains, including Wez and Lord Humungus, perhaps better known as, respectively, The Guy With the Mohawk Haircut and The Guy in the Metal Mask. Though the characters aren't terribly engaging and the story hardly original, Mad Max 2 features some of the best action scenes ever and the wastelands of New South Wales film extremely well. For action fans, it doesn't get much better than this feature, which also airs at 10:30pm.
Sunday 01/29/06
10:55pm Flix
Something Wild (1961 USA): Carroll Baker stars as an understandably paranoid rape victim in this unique and disturbing drama. Baker plays Mary Ann Robinson, a store clerk who tries to lose herself in the vasts of Manhattan after she is ravaged on her home turf in the Bronx. When Mike (Ralph Meeker) stops her from committing suicide, her life seems to have taken a turn for the better...or has it? Written and directed by Baker's then-spouse, Holocaust survivor Jack Garfein, this odd indie also features Clifton James, Jean Stapleton, and Martin Kosleck, as well as brief appearances by TiVoPlex fave William Hickey and Diane Ladd.
Monday 01/30/06
6pm Sundance
Mardi Gras: Made in China (2005 USA): Ah, Mardi Gras, where Girls Go Wild whilst being bombarded by cheaply-produced Chinese sweatshop beads. This documentary, which premiered at Sundance 2005, looks at the path taken by those beads, from the world's largest bead factory in Fuzhou, China, to the streets of N'Awlins. Workers put in 20-hour shifts and earn a whopping $1.20 a day for the privilege. The film includes interviews with factory owner Roger Wong, who thinks of himself as a bit of a philanthropist and docks his mostly female workers a month's wages if he finds a man in their quarters (yes, they live on the property; how else could they put in 20 productive hours??). Ah, sweet capitalism, and right in the heart of Red China. And now that Mardi Gras may be on hold for a while, send a kind thought the way of Mr. Wong, who probably won't be pulling down his annual $2,000,000 salary this year.
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