By John Seal
November 11-17, 2002
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or under-appreciated, they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! Enjoy, and remember to blow your raspberry! All times PST, as usual! Enjoy!
Monday 11/11/02
1am Turner Classic Movies
Bad Guy (1937 USA): From MGM's vaults comes this bill-filler starring granite-jawed Bruce Cabot as a criminal who goes straight, then goes bad again. Directed by the always-busy Edward L. Cahn, Bad Guy also has a decent supporting cast, including Virginia Grey (whose career began in 1927's Uncle Tom's Cabin, and who is still with us), Charley Grapewin, and Warren Hymer. It won't be a classic, but it should fill your late-night viewing needs.
2am Encore True Stories
Last Days of Pompeii (1984 USA): Ah, the television mini-series. They don't make 'em like this anymore. I haven't seen this one, but it looks pretty interesting, if you can put aside six-plus hours for it. This was filmed in England with location work in Italy and the cast is a good one: Olivia Hussey, Brian Blessed, Franco Nero, Laurence Olivier, Anthony Quayle, and, um, Ernest Borgnine. Jack Cardiff shot the film, so it should look nice as well.
2:50am Encore Action
Akira (1988 JAP): I have never had much time for anime, but this is one of the films always cited as a classic of the genre, so I'm going to give it a chance. Apparently being shown wide-screen; I guess to capture those sweeping cartoon vistas. With the Anime Channel just around the corner, it's time for me to learn a bit more about this genre. Also airs at 11:40pm and 11/17 at 3:20pm.
8am Turner Classic Movies
Follow Me Quietly (1949 USA): This terrific little police procedural from RKO was directed by Richard Fleischer early in his career, before he hit the big time with films like 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and Compulsion. Fleischer's another old-timer who's still around, but sadly we lost star Jeff Corey over the summer. Corey was always an underappreciated film actor who went on to run his own acting school. At any rate, Follow Me Quietly follows Corey and co-star William Lundigan as they try to unravel the mystery of a serial killer on the loose. Hot stuff for 1949!
10:15am Showtime 2
You Can Count on Me (2000 USA): I almost skipped this one until I remembered that no, it hadn't been a smash at the box office. At the time it came out, Laura Linney got most of the good press as a single mother coping with the reappearance of her slacker sibling, but for me it was Mark Ruffalo's performance as the younger brother that really made me sit up and pay attention to the film. It's a great movie, moving without being sentimental, and more believable than similar films like In the Bedroom (2001 USA) or Lantana (2001 AUS). Ruffalo should be a star, but he'll have to get in line behind Billy Crudup in the Paid My Dues, Now Show Me the Money stakes. Also airs at 8pm and 11/16 at 3:15pm, and on Showtime 3 11/14 at 8am and 8:35pm. It also finished in the top ten of the BOP Underappreciated List.
7:15pm Turner Classic Movies
He Ran All the Way (1951 USA): Sam Ross' novel of the same name is a decent work of suspense, but casting John Garfield in the lead role - as a murderer on the run who doesn't quite know how to deal with his predicament - elevates the story to a new level. A young and pretty Shelley Winters is on hand as his unwitting pawn, and Norman Lloyd (still spry today in his 80s!) is Garfield's slimy accomplice who really starts all the trouble. Terrific black-and-white photography by James Wong Howe is the icing on this cake.
Tuesday 11/12/02
2:30am Sundance
Tell the Truth and Run: George Seldes and the American Press (1996 USA): This Academy Award-nominated documentary tells the story of George Seldes, a longtime foreign correspondent who witnessed many of the great historical events of the 20th century. He was also a leftist gadfly, and you can never have too many of those. Also airs 11/16 at 7:45am and 11/17 at 1:30am.
3am Turner Classic Movies
The Squaw Man (1931 USA): Until this popped up on the schedule I hadn't realized there had been a sound version of this story. Turns out this was not the second, but the THIRD time in the space of 17 years that Cecil B. DeMille had filmed The Squaw Man. Now that's what I call franchise potential, 1930s style! Warner Baxter is the star this time, cast opposite Lupe Velez as the Indian maiden (!) he falls in love with. Does child star Dickie Moore have some stories to tell about this one?
Wednesday 11/13/02
1am Showtime
Fellini's Roma (1972 ITA): It's Fellini night here at the TiVoPlex! Showtime is going against the grain and showing the great director's love song to Rome wide-screen. Also airs at 4am.
2:05am HBO
Red Rock West (1992 USA): We have a John Dahl sighting! This was the film where Dahl started to hit his stride, developing a modern take on classic noir that showed respect for the genre without stooping to retro-homage stylings. Nicolas Cage stars as a down-on-his-heels drifter who is mistaken by J. T. Walsh for Lyle from Texas (Dennis Hopper), a hit-man Walsh hired to murder his wife (Lara Flynn Boyle). Walsh's presence and the story arc lends the movie the feel of a Coen Brothers film, but that's high praise, of course. Also airs at 5:05am.
3:30am Sundance
Juliet of the Spirits (1965 USA): I recommended it last week, but that was before I had seen the print Sundance was airing. I can report that the quality is simply gorgeous. The print displays a stunning color palette and is in spotless condition. I had some concerns that the Eastmancolor process wouldn't have aged well, but it turns out IMDb's listing is wrong, as the film is actually in Technicolor (Yes, I've forwarded a correction to them). This is a film that deserves multiple viewings, scene-by-scene (and sometimes frame-by-frame) analysis, and a hearty appreciation for surrealism. Giulietta Masina is perfect as the middle-aged woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown, trying to decide if husband Mario Pisu is cheating on her. Fellini's camera flatters Masina (his real life wife) at every turn, in sharp contrast to the outrageously costumed and made-up likes of Sylva Koscina and Valentina Cortese. Hints of the macabre are laced throughout, in anticipation of his own Satyricon (1969 ITA) and countless Italian horror films of the '70s. I pose three questions: The Sundance print is 136 minutes long, and all references list it at 148 minutes. Which is accurate, and if the latter, what's missing? What is the symbolic importance of the very frequent facial shots of characters that are shrouded in shadow? And finally, is the split-second shot of a David Hemmings look-alike, complete with camera, some sort of psychic forecast of what Michelangelo Antonioni would be filming in Blowup (1966 GB)? Enough. WATCH THIS FILM. Also airs 11/16 at 9:35am.
12:30pm Encore Action
Beach Red (1967 USA): Last week I mentioned this film whilst recommending Cornel Wilde's Shark's Treasure. It's been a while since TCM showed the wide-screen print of this, so for now we'll have to settle for pan-and-scan. Probably the first psychedelic war film, Beach Red encompasses flashbacks and fantasy sequences to great effect. Also airs at 10:35pm.
6pm Sundance
Grass (1999 USA): I'm not sure what to expect with this documentary about the War on Drugs. Will it be a serious look at the issue, or will it be Reefer Madness Redux, serving as a gateway movie to documentary addiction? Either way, I'm getting hungry AND paranoid just thinking about it. Also airs 11/17 at 3:05pm.
Thursday 11/14/02
4am Turner Classic Movies
Harlem Rides the Range (1939 USA): Back in the bad old days, when life as well as cinema was still segregated in the United States, Herb Jeffries entertained black audiences as their own cowboy hero. TCM is airing two of his films tonight (The Bronze Buckaroo, 1939 USA, airs immediately following at 5am). These movies are low-quality action films of tremendous historical interest and importance. Jeffries, now 91 years old, was a handsome leading man who could have easily made it in Hollywood if he'd had the opportunity.
9am Sundance
Dark Days (1999 USA): The lives of the homeless in New York City are detailed in this fascinating look at that city's subway dwellers. Similar in some respects to Sunshine Hotel (recommended in last week's column), Dark Days is a bit grimmer but still has some uplifting moments to temper the literal unrelenting darkness of its subjects' lives. Also airs at 4:35pm.
9pm Fox Movie Channel
Staircase (1969 GB): It's by no means perfect, but this was probably the first film from a major studio to seriously try to portray a gay couple, beating The Boys in the Band by a year. The two are played by a mincing Richard Burton, who is good but over-the-top, and a more restrained Rex Harrison, who was possibly more comfortable in his role than was the hyper-masculine Welshman. If you can overcome some of the not-so-flattering gay stereotypes, you'll find a warm-hearted and moving film that was well ahead of its time. Directed by Stanley Donen.
Friday 11/15/02
9am Sundance
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001 USA): It's minor league Coen Brothers, but that's better than 90% of Hollywood product, so it deserves a recommendation. Billy Bob Thornton managed to turn his over-acting meter down to zero for this one, as he portrays a dishwater-dull barber who gets involved with some dirty money and murder. Superb cinematography from Coen regular Roger Deakins, who really should get an Oscar one of these days. Also airs at 7:15pm.
7pm Turner Classic Movies
Alice's Restaurant (1969 USA): A charming and low-key tribute to late '60s counterculture, Alice's Restaurant stars Arlo Guthrie as a disarming young folk singer who travels the country emulating the rail-riding ways of his famous father, Woody, played here in deathbed scenes by Joseph Boley. Arlo settles down in the small town of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, where he dumps trash and gets arrested by Officer William Obanhein, played here by Officer William Obanhein of the Stockbridge Police Department (Last week we had a convict playing himself in Jacques Becker's Le Trou!). The film doesn't get much heavier or deeper than that, and its episodic nature eventually peters out with a wedding scene in an abandoned church, but it captures the era quite nicely.
9pm Turner Classic Movies
Les Carabiniers (1963 FRA): Every once in a while I recommend something that I've seen and admired, but can't remember a blessed thing about. This is one of those, a Jean-Luc Godard film about the evils of war and militarism.
10:30pm Turner Classic Movies
All Quiet on the Western Front (1930 USA): And to complete their night of Stop the War films, TCM is airing a film that is no less powerful today than it was 70 years ago. The action sequences haven't been bettered, and the shot of Lew Ayres' hand reaching for a butterfly is still one of the greatest single shots in Hollywood history. Based on Erich Maria Remarque's story , All Quiet on the Western Front earned director Lewis Milestone the Academy Award.
Saturday 11/16/02
5pm IFC
Gimme Shelter (1970 USA): The Maysles' Brothers documentation of the infamous Rolling Stones concert at the Altamont Motor Speedway in 1969 is one of the most chilling films you will ever watch. The Stones and their entourage couldn't see it, but the Maysles cameras picked up on the uneasy atmosphere of the event from the very beginning. Ending with the horrendous stabbing death of Meredith Hunter, Gimme Shelter is the film that nailed the lid on the coffin of the Love Generation and prepared America for the grim decade ahead of them.
6:45pm IFC
SLC Punk! (1999 USA): Anyone who has spent time in the American punk underground will find many points of reference in SLC Punk!. The film is an amazingly realistic portrayal of the suburban punk subculture. All the issues are here: poseurs, sell-outs, authenticity, straight-edge, rebellion, boredom...and, of course, the perennial problem of whether mods and punks can get along! Matthew Lillard is terrific as a rebellious kid trying to escape the humdrum realities of suburbia, belying the fact that he was also about to appear in dreck like Wing Commander and She's All That.
Sunday 11/17/02
1pm Fox Movie Channel
Bedazzled (1967 GB): The rare cult film that deserves its reputation, Bedazzled has, of course, since been re-imagined by the insidious Hollywood money machine, to ill effect. Well, OK; it wasn't THAT bad, but compared to the original - a truly inspired and unique piece of work - it was a load of old codswallop, as my granddad used to say. At any rate, Fox is showing the REAL Bedazzled, complete with Peter Cook, Dudley Moore, Raquel Welch, the beautiful Eleanor Bron, and, of course, Dame Edna himself, Barry Humphries. I could reel off numerous chunks of dialogue, but I suppose that would be boring. I'd better just pop out to the shops for a bottle of Fruney's Green Eyewash.
8:35pm Showtime Extreme
Rolling Thunder (1977 USA): William Devane plays Major Charles Rane, a returning Vietnam war hero who is having trouble readjusting to civilian life. The first two acts of this film slowly outline the coming storm, as Rane's homecoming is first dampened by clueless civilians and then destroyed by even more clueless petty criminals. The final act is action filmmaking at its best, as Rane and his army buddy (played well by a young Tommy Lee Jones) take their violent, but not pointless, revenge.
9pm Turner Classic Movies
West of Zanzibar (1928 USA): It's Silent Sunday night, and TCM's treat of the week is actually a double-header of sorts. West of Zanzibar is not one of Lon Chaney's most famous features, but it's another excellent example of his work with director Tod Browning. It's followed at 10:15pm by Mysterious Island (1929 USA), an early film version of the Jules Verne novel. The film is overlong (a crime that Verne's stories are frequently guilty of) but has enough magical moments, probably courtesy of the uncredited and renowned Swedish director Benjamin Christiansen, to make it worthwhile. It's also not strictly a silent film, as there are a few scenes with that newfangled development, sound. It won't last.
