By John Seal
June 3rd - June 9th, 2003
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated-they all have a home in the Tivoplex! All times PDT.
Tuesday 06/03/03
1:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Dial 1119 (1950 USA): A young psycho comes to town and takes a bar full of average Joes and Janes hostage. It's not as good as that early '50s set-up implies, but this low budget MGM pseudo-noir is reasonably entertaining, and stars Marshall "Daktari" Thompson as the disturbed vet who shows up one day on the Greyhound. A still hairy William Conrad appears as Chuckles the Bartender and long time Gong Show punch-line Keefe Braselle plays a waiter.
8:00 AM Encore Mystery
Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969 USA): Not to be confused with cinematic queries regarding Baby Jane Hudson, this above average thriller stars Geraldine Page as a somewhat odd desert denizen who has a way of making her household help disappear permanently. Nicely photographed by Joseph Biroc, this thoroughly enjoyable suspenser also features the always wonderful Ruth Gordon as well as Rosemary Forsyth, Robert Fuller, and Mildred Dunnock.
4:00 PM HBO Signature
The Gambler (1974 USA): I can't really explain the ending of this downbeat companion piece to this year's excellent Owning Mahowney, but this remains an excellent character study of an addictive personality spinning out of control. James Caan stars as an English professor whose penchant for betting money he doesn't have soon gets him into trouble with local bookie Paul Sorvino. Incisively written by James Toback before he ran out of ideas and brilliantly directed by Karel Reisz, The Gambler also features small roles for Vic Tayback, Antonio Fargas, and James Woods, particularly entertaining as an unctuous bank official.
Wednesday 06/04/03
1:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Fitzwilly (1967 USA): It's been a good twenty-five years since I last saw this Dick Van Dyke comedy, so forgive me if it doesn't turn out to be as good as my adolescent memories tell me it is. Van Dyke plays a butler who moonlights as a criminal in order to support his employer's (Dame Edith Evans) lavish lifestyle and philanthropic bent. The good supporting cast includes Barbara "99" Feldon at the height of her popularity as well as Cecil Kellaway and Norman Fell. Also shot by Joseph Biroc, this Delbert Mann film was a late but pleasant entry in the lush romantic comedy cycle begun by 1959's Pillow Talk.
12:15 PM Showtime Extreme
So Evil, So Young (1961 GB): An odd choice for the Extreme Channel, this is pretty genteel stuff, especially considering it's a women behind bars flick. The film has a great title and an early appearance by Jill Ireland, but at heart it remains what it is: a Danziger Brothers production. That means a poor script, a largely unknown cast, and a minimum of thrills. Nonetheless, this film is relatively interesting, being one of the few Technicolor films the Brothers produced. Perhaps the Eadie money arrived early that month. It's always fun to see these glimpses of pre-Beatles coffee bar culture in England, especially when you can see how bright red the glace cherries are on the buns, and there are a couple of brief snippets of early '60s rock and roll, performed by John Charlesworth as Tom, Jill's love interest whilst she's behind bars in a girls' borstal serving time for a crime she did not commit. Not to worry--justice is ultimately served. Also airs 6/9 at 4:10 AM.
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Penguin Pool Murders (1932 USA): If you like good old fashioned murder mysteries with a dash of humour, you'll love this entry in the brief Hildegard Withers series. The delightful Edna May Oliver appeared in three films as the incorrigible school marm turned private detective who solves crimes and locks horns with local police inspector Oscar Piper, played to the hilt by the great James Gleason. The title tells you everything you need to know about the plot setup, and the supporting cast of this RKO programmer is quite remarkable: Robert Armstrong a year before King Kong and stardom, Mae Clarke a year after breaking bread and grapefruit with James Cagney in The Public Enemy, and Gustav Von Seyfferitz. Sheer good fun.
Thursday 06/05/03
6:30 AM HBO Signature
Last Orders (2001 GB): Fred Schepisi's road movie about four friends transporting an old chum's ashes to Margate is blessed with an outstanding script by the director that for the most part avoids sentiment and clichés in a story that easily could have succumbed to either. Michael Caine stars in flashback as the now deceased bad boy on his way to a watery grave thanks to his three friends (Bob Hoskins, David Hemmings, and Tom Courtenay) and his estranged son (Ray Winstone). The friends also appear in flashback sequences, played by actors well cast to match the physical and vocal attributes of their elder counterparts, including Hemmings own son, Nolan, playing his old man as a young man. Helen Mirren is the icing on this kitchen-sink cake as Caine's widow. Also airs 6/5 at 6:00 PM and 6/9 at on HBO at 1:05 AM and 4:05 AM.
12:30 PM HBO Signature
Murder On A Sunday Morning (2001 USA-FRA): This astonishing HBO documentary (co-produced by Pathe of France) is a bare bones affair detailing the trial of a 15-year old African-American boy for murder. All the classic elements are here-incompetent and corrupt police, incipient racism, and a righteously indignant public defender-but it's all the more powerful because it's all true. This is well above average for an HBO documentary and outstanding by any measure.
10:05 AM Showtime 3
The Swindle (1997 FRA-SUI): This recent Claude Chabrol caper film airs at a time when the French director's work is undergoing considerable reappraisal thanks to the release on DVD of nine of his classic films as The Claude Chabrol Collection via Pathfinder Video. Isabelle Huppert co-stars with Michel Serrault as a pair of con artists trying to scam a multinational out of five million francs with the help of company employee Francois Cluzet. It's a comfortable fit for Chabrol, certainly not his best work, but thoroughly watchable, and being aired widescreen to boot. Also airs 6/6 at 2:45 AM and 6/9 at 10:15 PM.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Dilwale Dulhania le Jayenge (1995 IND): Mmmm. Obscure foreign films I've never heard of, never mind seen…does it get any better than this? TCM is airing Indian films previously unreleased in the United States throughout the month of June. The festival kicks off with this massive sub-continental box office hit, a romantic comedy set and shot in and around London. Boy meets girl, girl is already pledged to other boy as part of an arranged marriage: the plot doesn't sound particularly original, but it played for FIVE YEARS on Indian screens, so I'll be tuning in to see what the fuss was about-and to savour the location photography. Fans of Bend It Like Beckham should note that Anupam Kher, who played Parminder Nagra's father in that film, has a sizable role in this one. It's followed at 8:30 PM by 1995's Bombay, a drama about religious and class conflict in modern India, and at 11:00 PM by 1977's Amar Akbar Anthony, an action-comedy about three estranged brothers trying to rescue the kidnapped girlfriend of one of the siblings.
9:45 PM The Movie Channel
Short Eyes (1977 USA): This brutal prison drama stars Bruce Davison as a man charged with child molestation and jailed with some decidedly unsympathetic inmates. Based on a play by former Sing Sing inmate Miguel Pinero, Short Eyes was filmed on location in the infamous Tombs, a 19th Century New York prison still in use today. The interesting supporting cast includes the debut of 20 year old Luis Guzman, Tex-Mex singer Freddy Fender, and singer-songwriter Curtis Mayfield. It's a great film, but not easy viewing. Also airs 6/6 at 12:45 AM.
Friday 06/06/03
2:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Nick Carter Master Detective (1939 USA): Walter Pidgeon stars as the titular sleuth in this MGM "B" feature about spies at a fighter plant. Director Jacques Tourneur was still apprenticing at this point, and the film doesn't really bear his imprint, but it's a modestly interesting little espionage flick nonetheless, and features a sturdy supporting cast, including Henry Hull, Sterling Holloway, Martin Kosleck, and Milburn Stone.
10:00 AM Encore Westerns
Dirty Little Billy (1972 USA): It might not be Exhibit "A" in the file on revisionist westerns, but this decent Columbia feature at least merits a footnote. The reliable Michael J. Pollard plays Billy the Kid as a teenage goof off, and there are early roles for Ed Lauter (his sixth film), Gary Busey (his third) and Nick Nolte (his first). Add in a bit part by counterculture wacko Severn Darden, and you've got an interesting little film. Director Stan Dragoti went on to hit the big time with Love At First Bite (1979 USA) and Mr. Mom (1983 USA). Also airs at 7:00 PM.
Saturday 06/07/03
12:20 AM Black Starz
La Squale (2000 FRA): The difficulties of working-class life in multi-cultural France are explored in this hard-hitting teen drama. Revenge and betrayal are the driving forces of the story, but the uneasy interactions between the white, black, and Arabic residents of a Paris suburb complicate matters further for the youthful characters, played unflinchingly and uncomfortably by a largely amateur cast.
8:30 PM Sundance
Le Trou (1960 FRA): Jacques Becker's story of a prison break is unique in one respect: It's based on the true story of a convict who also happens to play himself in this film! Le Trou is also a terrific suspense story with beautiful wide-screen, black-and-white photography by Ghislain Cloquet, who also did sterling work on Au Rendez-vous de la Mort Joyeuse (1972 FRA) and Roman Polanski's Tess (1979 FRA-GB). Not to be missed.
Sunday 06/08/03
Midnight Sundance
The Cockettes (2002 USA): If cross-dressing hippies performing guerrilla theatre whilst high on LSD are your thing, this is your documentary. The Cockettes were a San Francisco based troupe from 1969 to 1971, creating outrageous political and social satires that eventually took them to Off-Broadway New York City. The cultural antecedents of the Divine Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the Rocky Horror phenomenon, The Cockettes rocketed to a brief fame before imploding due to personal, musical, and political differences.
1:45 AM Cinemax
Hannie Caulder (1972 GB): Prefer Raquel Welch in chaps to ugly chaps in drag? Here's your opportunity, an otherwise not terribly remarkable British (!) western shot in Spain by genre specialist Burt Kennedy. Welch plays a widow out for revenge against the men who raped her and killed her husband, and Robert Culp is the bounty hunter who instructs her in the fine art of gunplay. The bad guys are played loathsomely by Strother Martin, Ernest Borgnine, and Jack Elam, and the British side is kept up by appearances from Christopher Lee and Diana Dors. Also airs at 4:45 AM.
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Tell It to the Marines (1926 USA): This deeply satisfying Lon Chaney drama displays the actor in an unusual setting: without makeup. Chaney plays a Marine drill sergeant cursed with a lackadaisical recruit (William Haines) who is also competing with Chaney for the love of Eleanor Boardman. The film climaxes with an exciting (if racist) rescue mission in China, but it's Chaney's touching performance that is the major reason to watch this silent classic. Chaney befriended Marine Corps Commandant Smedley Butler during the making of this film: Butler went on to write one of the greatest anti-war tracts, War Is A Racket (http://www.lexrex.com/enlightened/articles/warisaracket.htm).
Monday 06/09/03
2:40 AM AMC
C'Mon, Let's Live A Little (1967 USA): Yes, I know: AMC IS A HORRIBLE CHANNEL. They butcher movies, show them pan and scan, and feature more commercials than I care to think about. They rarely if ever show anything interesting or even obscure. This Paramount teen flick isn't much good, but it IS rare, and it does feature Jackie DeShannon, Bobby Vee, and ex-Dodgers pitcher Bo Belinsky. Reluctantly, I'll be tuning in. Feel free to not make the same mistake.
10:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Crossroads (1942 USA): This obscure MGM mystery is something of a "B+/A-" feature, starring William Powell as an amnesiac being blackmailed for crimes he didn't commit. Hedy Lamarr co-stars as Powell's wife, and the film also features Basil Rathbone, Claire Trevor, and H.B. Warner, and was one of the last movies directed by silent cinema stalwart Jack Conway.
