By John Seal
December 16-22, 2002
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or under-appreciated - they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times PST.
Monday 12/16/02
1:50 AM Encore Action
Adrenaline Drive (1999 JAP): A thoroughly entertaining blend of comedy and thrills, Adrenaline Drive tells the implausible story of a rental car clerk who happens upon a bag full of yakuza money thanks to a propitious gas main explosion. The rest of the film is a dizzy collection of chase scenes, as the clerk and his girlfriend - a meek nurse who transforms into a tough cookie - try to evade the mob and keep the loot. Absurd, fast-paced fun.
7:30 AM Sundance
La Bete Humaine (1939 FRA): Falling in between Grand Illusion and Rules of the Game in the Jean Renoir filmography, this tragedy has been undeservedly overshadowed by those two classic films. Starring French box-office idols Jean Gabin and Simone Simon, the latter soon to flee occupied France for the cozy confines of Hollywood, La Bete Humaine is based on an Emile Zola novel about the ever popular topics of love and murder, this time set amongst the rail-yards of Paris. Renoir's reason for making this film was not particularly high-minded: according to Alexander Sesonske's book JEAN RENOIR: THE FRENCH FILMS 1924-1939 ( Harvard, 1980), he and Gabin "wanted to play with trains." Proof that the French invented film noir before Americans sold it back to them, this is a rare opportunity to see this excellent film. Also airs 12/20 at 9:05 AM.
9:30 AM Sundance
No Man's Land (2001 GB-FRA-BEL-SLO-BOS-ITA): Danis Tanovic's comedy of errors about the brutality and stupidity of war - in this case the fighting in Bosnia circa 1993 - does a reasonably good job of avoiding war movie clichés and ends with one of the most startling and surprising cinematic scenes of recent years. Georges Siatidis gives the stand-out performance of the film as a French peace-keeper torn between his moral obligation to help the soldiers stuck in "no man's land" and the orders of his superiors, which dictate a hands-off policy. Also airs at 6:00 PM.
7:00 PM HBO 2
Southern Comfort (2001 USA): I haven't seen this HBO-produced documentary of a transsexual living with cancer amidst an atmosphere of prejudice and hate, but it won awards at Sundance and the San Francisco International Film Festival, so I'll be making time for it tonight. Also airs at 10:00 PM.
Tuesday 12/03/02
2:30 AM Black Starz
The Emperor Jones (1933 USA): All of star Paul Robeson's films are of historical interest, but this one has the best story and allows Robeson to display the full range of his acting talents. He plays Brutus, a character with a suitably tragic name who starts life as a Pullman porter (one of the few decent-paying jobs available to African-Americans in the Jim Crow years) and ends up the tin-pot dictator of a small Caribbean island. Based on a play by Eugene O'Neill, the film looks crude even by the standards of the time, but Robeson's performance carries it, especially as he descends from megalomania to madness in the last reel.
10:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Key Witness (1960 USA): This minor crime drama was almost impossible to see for decades, but TCM dug it up in August and is airing it again tonight. The film's claim to fame is a very early performance by Dennis Hopper as a nasty street punk named Cowboy who kills a rival and then terrorizes the only witness willing to talk, the strait-laced Jeffrey Hunter. Directed by hard-boiled auteur Phil Karlson (Kansas City Confidential, The Phenix City Story), the film looks great thanks to cinematographer Harold Wellman, but is let down somewhat by a pedestrian script. It's still essential for fans of Hopper and Karlson - and it may disappear again for another thirty years, so catch it while you can!
1:50 PM Encore Action
Sister Street Fighter (1974 JAP): Only peripherally related to Sonny Chiba's Streetfighter films, this feminist take on martial arts mayhem is not to be missed by action movie fans. Another fun film rescued from the trash-heap of history by Quentin Tarantino (I guess he's good for something), Sister Street Fighter stars Hiroshi Miyauchi as the woman with the "killing fist". Unfortunately not being aired in wide-screen - you'll need to find the out of print New Line laserdisc to see it in its full glory - but still worthwhile.
6:00 PM Sundance
Hell House (2001 USA): I'm really looking forward to this one. Every Halloween we read news stories of fundamentalist Christian churches sponsoring gruesome haunted houses depicting the "reality" of eternal damnation. This is a documentary about one such exhibit in Cedar Hill, Texas, a Dallas suburb awash in born-agains. Apparently the film doesn't take the easy (critical) route and approaches the subject with a neutral and objective eye. Call me cruel, but I'm still anticipating a few good chuckles..
Wednesday 12/18/02
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Shiralee (1957 GB): Peter Finch is terrific as a traveling swagman, traversing the Australian outback in search of work and shelter. Finding his Sydney-based wife shacked up with another man, he takes his daughter (Dana Wilson) and resumes his wandering ways. The film does a good job of keeping a lid on sentiment and features outstanding cinematography by Paul Beeson, who usually worked on less inspired fare like Tarzan Goes to India, Die Monster Die!, and Starcrash. One of the last efforts of Ealing Studios, and a good one, though certainly not on a par with the Alec Guinness comedies that TCM has been airing throughout December.
1:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
A Christmas Carol (1938 USA): Sadly, the definitive 1951 film version-starring Alistair Sim as Scrooge-isn't being aired this holiday season, so we have to settle for second best. The film seems to have been a low-budget afterthought for MGM, clocking in at a brief 69 minutes, and missing any of the big stars then contracted to the studio. The "B" team does reasonably well, however, with Reginald Owen a decent Scrooge and Gene Lockhart a warm-hearted Bob Cratchit. Also airs 12/22 at 11:15 PM.
5:00 PM IFC
Hard Eight (1996 USA): The first major film of Paul Thomas Anderson, Hard Eight is a more straightforward affair than works like Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love. (That may be considered a recommendation for folks not keen on rains of frogs.) Already assembling parts of his regular acting company - including Philip Baker Hall and John C. Reilly in the starring roles and Philip Seymour Hoffman and Melora Walters in smaller ones - Anderson tells a compact story for a change. Reilly plays a loser who gets picked up by the fatherly but mysterious Hall, whose ulterior motives slowly come to the fore. Also airs 12/19 at 1:00 AM.
Thursday 12/19/02
5:00 AM Fox Movies
Secret World (1969 FRA): This French obscurity stars Jacqueline Bisset as an older woman who arouses the passion of a younger man. Sounds pretty French, doesn't it? One of only three films directed by the great British photographer Robert Freeman - who shot all the classic early Beatles LP covers - Secret World should look terrific if nothing else.
8:00 AM Black Starz
Otomo (1999 GER): Otomo plays a lot like a typical liberal Hollywood exposition on racism, until one realizes that it's based on the true-life case of an Ivoirian immigrant in Germany whose death came at the hands of overzealous police officers. The title role is brilliantly realized by Isaach De Bankole, also outstanding as the ice-cream seller in Jim Jarmusch's masterful Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai. De Bankole brings the perfect balance of empathy and mystery to his character, a man forced to try to survive by any means necessary.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Scott of the Antarctic (1948 GB): TCM is bringing us another night of Ealing Studios films tonight, with the focus on their dramatic output. The evening starts out with this retelling of Robert Falcon Scott's failed attempt to be the first man to reach the South Pole. John Mills - due to celebrate his 95th birthday this coming February - is superb as Scott and is ably supported by a typically excellent Ealing supporting cast, including a very young Christopher Lee, James Robertson Justice, and Kenneth More. Of particular note is the wonderful score by Sir Ralph Vaughn Williams, later more fully developed as his Sinfonia Antartica. It's followed at 7:00 PM by The Ship That Died of Shame (1955 GB), a crime film starring Richard Attenborough. I haven't seen it, but it's based on a Nicholas Monsarrat novel, as is The Cruel Sea(1953 GB) which follows at 9:00 PM. Monsarrat's book is considered one of the best military novels ever written, and the screen adaptation - written by Eric Ambler - is a worthy one. Starring Jack Hawkins, Stanley Baker, and Denholm Elliott, this is the highlight of tonight's Ealing block. Finally at 11:15 PM we get Decision Against Time, another Jack Hawkins vehicle, in which he plays a pilot unable to land his malfunctioning aircraft.
9:00 PM Fox Movies
The Nickel Ride (1975 USA): For those who like their crime films downbeat, here's one for you - and wide-screen to boot. Jason Miller stars as Cooper, a smalltime hood who's losing his grip and is about to be targeted by his mob superiors. Miller was a terrific actor who never really got his due in Hollywood, even after appearing in films like The Exorcist and Light of Day, and he's at the top of his game here. With support from a goofy Bo Hopkins as a good ol' boy and dapper John Hillerman as Coop's hoodlum higher-up, this is a prime slice of '70s realism.
Friday 12/20/02
8:00 AM Showtime
Skateboard (1978 USA): Rare, yes. Good, probably not. But in all my years of channel surfing, I've never had my buns busted by this exploitation "classic" before. Starring Allen 'son of John' Garfield and featuring a VERY hot-at-the-time Leif Garrett, Skateboard also has room for Chad "Son of Steve" McQueen and Orson Bean as himself!
Also airs at 11:00 AM.
3:10 PM Encore Love Stories
Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice (1969 USA): Another atypical piece of programming from our friends at the Love Stories channel, this is actually a satire on love - and sex - in the counter-culture atmosphere of the late '60s. Would-be swinging couple Robert Culp and Natalie Wood attempt to convince behind-the-times couple Elliott Gould and Dyan Cannon that a new age of sexual freedom is upon them.
5:00 PM IFC
Blood, Guts, Bullets and Octane (1998 USA): Long a late-night programming filler on cable, Joe Carnahan's debut feature is due for reappraisal in anticipation of his much heralded new film, Narc. Few films have received such glowing advance word of mouth as Narc, so I'm looking forward to finally seeing this film, the title of which made me assume it was a bad action movie. Maybe it isn't. Also airs at 10:15 PM.
Saturday 12/21/02
11:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Invisible Boy (1957 USA): One of my favorite '50s sci-fi films, The Invisible Boy shares some thematic similarities to the original Invaders From Mars (1953 USA), but is a much more light-hearted film overall. Philip Abbott plays Dr. Tom Merrinoe, a scientific genius who has helped create Martin, the world's most powerful supercomputer. Alas, as in so many other films, he doesn't realize the extent of the power he has unleashed, and it's left up to son Timmie (Richard Eyer) to rescue Dad, whose mind comes under the control of the malicious mainframe. Add a supporting role for Robbie the Robot, an example of benevolent science at its best, and you have as entertaining a piece of hokum as you could wish for.
Sunday 12/22/02
7:45 PM IFC
Insomnia (1997 NOR): Here's the original version of the film remade earlier this year with Al Pacino and Robin Williams as, erm, Insomnia. The remake actually did the original justice, so this is not an occasion to crow about the superiority of European filmmaking and the un-originality of Hollywood. If you enjoyed the Pacino version, you'll want to see Stellan Skarsgard essay the same world-weary role. Better yet, there are no distracting Hilary Swank cheekbones in this version.
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Christmas Past This is a compilation of silent shorts assembled into a single package by TCM, who have aired this annually over the last few years. None of the shorts are particularly noteworthy, but this is the perfect seasonal antidote to shopping malls and Pottery Barn catalogues: a quiet, simple, and soothing look at the way the holidays were celebrated at the turn of the 20th Century. A mug of hot cocoa and a homemade quilt on your lap are appropriate supplements to this viewing experience.
