By John Seal
September 23-29, 2002
It's a new week, and you need to fill up your TiVo drive! Make the kids walk the dog and relax in front of the boob tube with these hidden gems! All times PDT.
Monday 9/23/02
5:10am Encore Action
13 West Street (1961 USA): If you ever had a hankering to watch teeny-tiny Alan Ladd beat up a bunch of juvenile delinquents, this is your movie. Ladd plays a defense worker who gets mugged on the way home from work, then proceeds to track down the perps and remind them that there's always a little room for vigilantism in urban America.
7:05am Flix
Elmer Gantry (1960 USA): Burt Lancaster is in top form as the barnstorming salesman, evangelist and adulterer in this excellent adaptation of Sinclair Lewis' novel of the same name. Also airs 9/26 at 10:00am.
Tuesday 9/24/2002
1:00am Flix
The Witches (1966 ITA): It's not really a great movie, but this dramatic anthology does feature Clint Eastwood on the cusp of stardom. Clint presumably shot this in Italy after finishing his work with Sergio Leone on The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. The rest is history!
1:30am IFC
The Clouded Yellow (1951 GB): IFC showed an obscure British mystery-thriller last month (Three Cases of Murder, 1954) and here's another one. I haven't seen it, but with Ralph Thomas in the director's chair and Jean Simmons, Kenneth More, Trevor Howard, and Andre Morell in front of the camera, how bad can it be? Also airs 9/27 at 1:30am.
10:30pm Encore Love Stories
Blue (1993 FRA-POL-SWI): The programming oddity of the week, hands down. Quite how someone decided to show one of Krzyzstof Kieslowksi's Three Colours trilogy on the Love Stories channel is beyond me, but here it is nonetheless. Will it be dubbed? Who knows. All three films are worth seeing, so you may as well start here with this one (it is the first of the three, after all). No hint that Red or White are likely to be broadcast any time soon. Oh, Juliette Binoche is excellent.
Wednesday 9/25/2002
1:00am Encore Westerns
Riders of the Purple Sage (1925 USA): Another one I've never seen, but it's a rare opportunity to see America's favorite cowboy, Tom Mix. This is the second filmed version of Zane Grey's famous novel and also features a pre-Charlie Chan Warner Oland.
1:00am Flix
Coffy (1973 USA): Need someone to put a foot up someone else's ass? Pam Grier is on the case in Coffy, my personal favorite of her '70s black action films. She's out for revenge against the dirty rotten drug dealers who sold her kid sister the bad smack that done her in. Very violent. Also airs 9/28 at 12:35am.
9:00am The Movie Channel
Report to the Commissioner (1975 USA): It's not a great movie, but it's hard to pass anything up with both Michael Moriarty and Yaphet Kotto (the only time they've ever worked together, I should add). If you like gritty crime movies set in New York City, you have no excuse for missing it. Also airs at noon.
4:00pm The Movie Channel
Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 (2000 USA): Bitterly reviled upon its release, here's a film that was simply misunderstood by both the critics and the audience. Director Joe Berlinger, responsible for the deservedly acclaimed Paradise Lost films, tried to shuck off the onus of the first film's smashing success by making a clearly fictional film about documentation and reality. You'll get it if you're familiar with Berlinger's work, so if you haven't seen either of the Paradise Lost films, you should do so before watching this one. Also airs 9/26 at 4:45am and 9/29 at 1:10am.
Thursday 9/26/2002
7:15am Turner Classic Movies
Curse of the Cat People (1944 USA): Hallowe'en seems to have come a month early to TCM, who have a marvelous block of horror films programmed on this day. Starting out with this atmospheric Val Lewton-Robert Wise production, they follow up with King Kong (1933 USA) at 8:30am, the almost-equally good Son of Kong (1933 USA) at 10:30am, The Thing from Another World (1951 USA) at noon, the endearingly crummy Invisible Invaders (1959 USA) at 1:30pm (this is the film that features jacketed zombies and was apparently an influence on the original Night of the Living Dead), and conclude with the disturbing Bette Davis Hammer feature, The Nanny (1965 GB) at 3:00pm. Absolutely no need to leave the house.
10:00am Encore Mystery
The Stone Killer (1973 USA): Right before Michael Winner and Charles Bronson made Death Wish, they made this equally reactionary crime movie set in New York and Los Angeles. Add in some crazed Vietnam vets, and you have your typical big-studio '70s grindhouse epic. For some reason I like these movies; perhaps they give this bleeding heart of mine permission to unreservedly hate the bad guys for 90 minutes. Also airs at 8:15pm.
6:35am The Movie Channel
Halls of Anger (1970 USA): Calvin Lockhart stars as a teacher in the predominantly black school that has to adapt when white kids are bussed in. You'll enjoy playing spot the future star (hey, there's Jeff Bridges! Whoa, Rob Reiner!), and the film itself is surprisingly decent, avoiding some (but not all) clichés and doing its best to be gritty and realistic. Also airs at 9:35am and 9/27 at 1:30am and 4:30am.
9:00pm Turner Classic Movies
Barquero (1970 USA): Not a spaghetti western, just trying hard to be one. Lee Van Cleef, Warren Oates, and Forrest Tucker star. I haven't seen it, but I won't be missing it.
Friday 9/27/2002
6:00pm Turner Classic Movies
The King of Comedy (1983 USA): There are quite a few films this week I've never seen, and this is one of the major oversights. How could I miss a Scorsese flick? Well, I've never seen New York New York, either. Hopefully Jerry Lewis doesn't ruin the film.
7:00pm Fox Movie Channel
Barton Fink (1991 USA): My favorite of the Coen Brother's "serious" films, Barton Fink is a claustrophobic look at a young man (John Turturro) who comes to Hollywood to write screenplays. He hooks up with Coen regular John Goodman, who plays a traveling salesman who is more than he seems, and meets a drunken novelist (John Mahoney, playing a thinly disguised William Faulkner). One I can watch over and over again.
7:45pm IFC
Haxan (1922 SWE): Presumably the original version of Benjamin Christiansen's docudrama about witches and witchcraft, this film is also being aired by IFC as Witchcraft Through the Ages (9/28 9:00pm, 9/29 5:00am), the American version which features William S. Burroughs narration. Either way it's an amazing artifact, superbly lensed and quite shocking for the time, even in liberal Sweden!
9:45pm IFC
Sisters (1973 USA): The only time Brian De Palma really did the Hitchcock homage right, Sisters is a lively tale of psychological horror that features a sterling Bernard Herrmann score (hmmm, maybe that helped nail the Hitchcock thing) and the best use De Palma ever made of his trademarked split-screen effects. Also airs 9/28 at 3:00am.
Saturday 9/28/2002
4:40am Encore Mystery
Return From the Ashes (1965 GB): Pretty decent tale of marital skullduggery, starring the ruggedly handsome Maximilian Schell and a beautiful Samantha Eggar (she's never looked better on screen). The plot is pretty confusing, so pay attention.
7:00pm IFC
The Vanishing (1988 HOL): Here's the original version of the film that was remade by Hollywood in 1993 with Jeff Bridges. I haven't seen that version, but the Dutch original is a terrific and tense mystery that will keep you guessing. Also airs 9/29 at 12:15am and 10:45am.
Sunday 9/29/2002
1:45am Encore True Stories
The Wrong Man (1957 USA): One of Alfred Hitchcock's lesser-known films, The Wrong Man stars Henry Fonda, perfectly cast as the good guy in the wrong place at the wrong time. It doesn't have the twists or surprises of prime Hitchcock - it's more of a courtroom procedural - but Fonda is outstanding. Hey, there's even a Bernard Herrmann score to enjoy!
9:00pm Turner Classic Movies
Salt For Svanetia (1931 USSR): Trust the Soviets. It's 1931, and they're still making silent movies! This isn't one of the greats, but it is still a powerful documentary about people scratching out a bare existence in one of the more obscure regions of the USSR. Depressing as hell, but extremely well made.
