From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated, they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times PDT.
Tuesday 08/05/03
1:30am Turner Classic Movies The Boob (1926 USA): This is one of those ancient films rescued from perpetual obscurity by TCM, and while it may not be on a par with Keaton or Lloyd, it's still an entertaining and quite funny film. George K. Arthur is the Keatonesque milquetoast on the trail of bootleggers, and while he lacks Buster's acrobatic skills and doesn't really connect emotionally, he's all right. Charles Murray has some of the film's funniest moments as the perpetually soused cowboy Cactus Jim, but the film really stands out during some terrific fantasy sequences, including a flying bed scene and a Frederick Remington painting come to life. The Boob is a genuine discovery for lovers of silent comedy.
3:10am Encore Action The Bandit of Zhobe (1959 GB): Welcome to another edition of Low Expectations Theater, where we pay homage to the cinematic rarities of the past that probably earned their obscurity the old-fashioned way: they simply aren’t very good. Here’s a sword-and-sandals story starring Victor Mature as an Arabian bandit thirsting for revenge against the British colonial masters responsible for the death of his family. Crooner Anthony Newley co-stars as a redcoat non-com, and Walter Gotell, who appeared as the Soviet General Gogol in four mid-period James Bond features, appears as Mature’s sidekick. Originally shot in wide-screen, this will be a pan-and-scan print, so prepare yourself for the sight of some very tall and narrow camels.
10:30pm HBO Barfly (1987 USA): Barfly is a rarity in recent American cinema: a character study that doesn't worry about telling a story with a beginning, middle, and explosive end. Mickey Rourke is excellent as Henry Chinaski, a writer and habitué of skid row who isn't so much slumming as soaking in it. The real surprise here is Faye Dunaway as his love interest; it's easily her best performance since Chinatown (1974 USA) and proves she hadn’t completely lost the plot after embarrassments like The Champ (1979 USA) and Supergirl (1984 GB). Also of note is Frank “brother of Sly” Stallone as Eddie, the barman who keeps getting into one-sided fistfights with Henry. A triumph and one of the best American films of the ‘80s, Barfly was a very uncharacteristic product of Menachem Golan and Yoram Globus’ Cannon Films, home of the American Ninja and Missing in Action franchises.
Wednesday 08/06/03
3:30am Sundance Bartleby (2001 USA): Previously filmed on several occasions - including a not very successful British version in 1970 starring Paul Scofield - Bartleby is adapted from a short story by Herman Melville. I haven’t seen this version yet, but with Crispin Glover cast as the obnoxious office clerk who refuses to follow instructions, it can’t be completely without merit. David Paymer co-stars as Glover’s boss, and the cast also includes solid regulars like Maury Chaykin, Seymour Cassel, Carrie Snodgress, and, erm, Joe Piscopo. Also airs at 12:30pm and 8/9 at 8:30am and 4:30pm.
10:30pm Flix Born to Win (1971 USA): Ivan Passer’s overlooked drug-addiction drama is a near-classic look at the desperation and debilitation of the junkie, here played with surprising conviction by George Segal, a man generally associated with light comedy. He plays J, a smack addict formerly employed as a hairdresser, and now fighting a losing battle against the monkey on his back. He meets Karen Black as he attempts to steal her car and the two fall in love, with Black serving as Segal’s enabler as he hatches further ridiculous schemes to get his next fix. With the police in hot pursuit (including a young and lean Robert De Niro) and a dope dealer (the excellent Hector Elizondo) in search of his money, the noose begins to tighten around the hapless couple. Complete with a typically downbeat ‘70s ending, Born to Win deserves the attention of anyone interested in the films of the Decade Under the Influence.
Thursday 08/07/03
12:20am The Movie Channel Brimstone and Treacle (1982 GB): When Sting came to that big fork in the road of life, he made the wrong choice, condemning the Earth to drown in a sea of insipid and unrecyclable pop-jazz CDs. It’s a shame, because when he appeared on the silver screen, he left a much more benign impression, whether in Quadrophenia (1979 GB), The Filth and the Fury (2000 GB), or this dark comedy about a strange young man who insinuates his way into the household of a middle-class professional (Denholm Elliott) and his family (wife Joan Plowright and daughter Suzanna Hamilton). (Oops, I forgot to mention Dune; there goes that thesis). The former Gordon Sumner’s intentions are naturally not good, as he has lascivious eyes for the ripe young Ms. Hamilton, but the film does a fine job of pulling its punches and doesn’t tip its hand until the final reel. Based on a Dennis Potter play (and adapted for the screen by the author), Brimstone and Treacle is a bitter but fascinating concoction. Also airs at 3:20am.
11:30am Encore Mystery With A Friend Like Harry (2001 FRA): Continuing today’s theme of smarmy intruders, With A Friend Like Harry is a superior Hitchcockian thriller starring Sergi Lopez (currently on American screens in Stephen Frears’ Dirty Pretty Things) as the unctuous high-school chum of Michel (Laurent Lucas), a happily married man living an idyllic existence in the French countryside. The two are reunited by happenstance, and Michel invites Harry home, where his old chum recites one of Michel’s old school poems and starts obsessing about his friend’s need for more creative downtime. Michel doesn’t have any interest in verse anymore, but Harry insistently starts to remove all the societal and familial barriers on behalf of his friend, resulting in some bloody deaths and a very unhappy ex-poet. Also airs at 8:30pm, 8/9 at 12:40pm, and 8/10 at 12:45am.
Friday 08/08/03
3:35am Encore Mystery Tight Spot (1955 USA): Perhaps it’s that I have a dirty mind, but the title of this gangster film always makes me imagine that it’s an early porno movie or mid-‘50s stag reel. It isn’t, of course, though it does feature Edward G. Robinson, a man who makes Ron Jeremy look attractive. Almost. Directed by crime specialist Phil Karlson, Tight Spot stars Ginger Rogers as a moll held incommunicado by the police, who are trying to get her to testify against Lorne Greene, cast here against type as the bad guy. It’s a solid if unspectacular mid-‘50s feature, not quite on a par with Karlson classics like Kansas City Confidential (1952 USA) and The Phoenix City Story (1955 USA), but worthwhile for gangster-movie buffs and Robinson fans. Also airs 8/11 at 5pm.
8:30am Flix Attack of the Puppet People (1958 USA): Screenwriter-director Bert I. Gordon - known to genre fans as “Mr. BIG” - has had a long career producing films featuring characters or creatures of unfeasible size, both large and small. 1957 saw Gordon release the successful drive-in classic The Amazing Colossal Man, followed a year later by both its sequel, War of the Colossal Beast, and this fan favorite about a mad scientist (John Hoyt) who has developed a machine to shrink people, purportedly to keep him company in his old age. Leading man and genre star John Agar is one of Hoyt’s victims, and the film also marked the first film appearance of Gordon’s daughter, Susan, who became a staple of her father’s output throughout the ‘60s. Attack of the Puppet People is a minor pleasure at best, unable to match either the story or effects of 1957’s Incredible Shrinking Man, but good clean fun for the whole family. Also airs 8/11 at 5:15am.
9:30am Fox Movies Black Sheep (1935 USA): This forgotten Fox B feature was directed by the great silent filmmaker, Allan Dwan, and features Edmund Lowe as a high-seas gambler who unexpectedly meets his estranged son whilst plying his trade on a cruise ship. Claire Trevor co-stars as Lowe’s gal pal, and there are smaller roles for TiVoPlex favorite Eugene Pallette and Mack Sennett regular Billy Bevan.
Saturday 08/09/03
Midnight Sundance Pure (2002 GB): Gillies MacKinnon is an underappreciated Scots filmmaker best known in the United States for the Kate Winslet road movie Hideous Kinky (1998 GB), but he’s also responsible for low-budget gems like 1996’s Small Faces and 1997’s Regeneration. This is his most recent and arguably successful effort, another entry in the drug-addiction sweepstakes, decidedly less flashy than Darren Aranofsky’s similar Requiem for a Dream (2001 USA) but effective nonetheless, with Canadian–born Molly Parker outstanding as a heroin-addicted single mother who passes her curse on to her son, played brilliantly by Harry Eden. Fans of Keira Knightley, please note: your heroine is featured here in a small pre-stardom appearance.
12:30pm HBO Signature American Hollow (1999 USA): HBO producer Rory Kennedy, responsible for the excellent 2002 documentary The Execution of Wanda Jean, directed this look at life in the backwaters of Kentucky. Americans briefly discovered the plight of the rural poor during the Great Society days of the mid-1960s, but have since forgotten them, moving on to more pressing issues like the plight of the nation’s over-taxed rich folks. They’re still with us today; under-educated, under-employed, and all but forgotten by both political parties. With bluntness but no condescension, American Hollow reminds us that a lot of folks got left behind during and after the go-go ‘90s.
10:45pm HBO Family The Double McGuffin (1979 USA): I don’t think I’ve ever recommended anything on this channel before, but in between episodes of Babar and Curious George comes this PG-rated “thriller” about a group of kids who stumble across a suitcase full of money, a body, and an assassination plot. All things considered, The Double McGuffin is enjoyable if predictable stuff, but features a fun cast, including Ernest Borgnine, George Kennedy, Ed “Too Tall” Jones, Elke Sommer, and steroids victim Lyle Alzado, not to mention narration by the ubiquitous Orson Welles! Producer-director Joe Camp was the man behind the Benji franchise (not to mention the bizarre camel comedy Hawmps! in 1976), so don’t expect much in the way of bloodshed, profanity, or car crashes. Also airs 8/10 at 1:45am.
Sunday 8/10/03
5pm Fox Movies Zoo in Budapest (1933 USA): With a title like Zoo in Budapest, you’d have a hard time convincing me NOT to watch this film, but as an extra-added bonus, it’s actually a pretty good movie, too. Directed by Son of Frankenstein helmer Rowland V. Lee, it’s a romantic tale of two young lovers (Loretta Young and Gene Raymond) who meet at the zoo where Raymond is employed. After a brief courtship, the pair elope, with Young running away from the orphanage she calls home and setting up house with Raymond overnight in the bear cave (!). It’s all rather strange, but thoroughly compelling in that odd early-‘30s way, and beautifully shot by cinematographer Lee Garmes. Watch for O.P. Heggie, the blind hermit from 1935’s Bride of Frankenstein, as the zoo director, Doctor Grumbach.
6:45pm Flix Pressure Point (1962 USA): One of Sidney Poitier’s least-known films, Pressure Point features him as a prison psychiatrist trying to treat a racist inmate (Bobby Darin) for insomnia. Though the film was somewhat controversial in its time, it looks much too polite today, but remains another fine showcase for Poitier’s tremendous talent. Also featured are Peter Falk as Poitier’s young (!) associate, Dick Bakalyan, Yvette Vickers, and little Butch Patrick a few years before Eddie Munster made him famous.
Monday 8/11/03
12:30am IFC The King of Comedy (1983 USA): The Jerry Lewis movie for people who hate Jerry Lewis movies, The King of Comedy stars Robert De Niro as a pathetic and unstable comedy writer bound and determined to sell his jokes to Lewis, playing Jerry Langford, the most popular late-night talk show host on television. Lewis plays off his own vile public persona and De Niro is painful to watch at times, as he veers from desperation to kidnapping in his efforts to break into big-time comedy writing. Though the film has its funny moments and can be peripherally considered another of director Martin Scorsese’s love songs to New York City, it’s ultimately a very dark look at the cult of celebrity, and will have most viewers squirming uncomfortably by the end. Also airs at 3pm.
9:30am Showtime 3 What’s the Matter with Helen? (1971 USA): Not to be confused with 1962’s What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, 1969’s Whatever Happened to Aunt Alice?, or 1971’s Who Slew Auntie Roo?, this is another psychological thriller written by Henry Farrell, the novelist who earlier created the character of Baby Jane Hudson. This time the title character is a 1930s-era dance teacher (Shelley Winters) whose son’s murder conviction spurs her to relocate to Hollywood, where she opens a dance studio with her sister (Debbie Reynolds), whose son is, defying all the odds, ALSO a convicted murderer. Can madness, mayhem, and tap-dancing be far behind? Also featuring Dennis Weaver and Agnes Moorehead, as well as perpetual scene-stealer Timothy Carey, Helen has a definite Movie-of-the-Week feel, perhaps not surprising considering director Curtis Harrington was also responsible for small-screen fare like Killer Bees (1974 USA) and The Dead Don’t Die (1975 USA), as well as the aforementioned Who Slew Auntie Roo?, which also featured Ms. Winters as another deeply-disturbed woman.
3:30pm Black Starz!! Abouna (2001 CHA-FRA): This week’s previously unheard of (by me at least) African film comes from Chad, a former French colony in west Africa, and a neighbor of other film hot beds such as Mali, Burkina Faso, and Senegal. It’s interesting that the French-speaking nations of the continent consistently produce quality cinema, whilst the English-language countries - most notably, Nigeria - produce next to nothing. Abouna deals with two brothers in search of their missing father, who seems to have gone abroad in search of work. That’s about all I can tell you about this film, but adventurous viewers and foreign-film fans shouldn’t hesitate to make time for this one.
