By John Seal with Chris Hyde
September 16-22, 2002
We offer another week of hidden gems and guilty pleasures for your delectation. All times are PDT, so adjust accordingly. Ignore
the spouse and the kids; step into the TiVoplex!
Monday 9/16/02
8:00pm Sundance
Happiness (1998 USA): Todd Solondz' take on family relationships is predictably bleak but deserves your attention thanks to the superb work of its ensemble cast, particularly Philip Seymour Hoffman and the wonderful Jane Adams.
9:00pm Starz!
Pandaemonium (2000 GB): No, it isn't the awful Tom Smothers movie; that's Pandemonium (1982). This is Julien Temple's film about Coleridge and Wordsworth, and though I haven't seen it, I'll be curious to see if Temple draws parallels between these 18th-century intellectuals and the Sex Pistols. Also airs 9/17 at midnight and 9/19 at 8:00am and 11:00am.
11:50pm Black Starz!
Amazon (1991 USA): This is an ecological thriller that is better than it should be, considering its big-name star is Robert Davi. Directed by Finn Mika Kaurismaki (brother of the more well known Aki), this is a serious look at the politics and economics of deforestation. If you overlook another bad performance by Rae Dawn Chong, you'll be pleasantly surprised; plus Sting is nowhere to be seen! Also airs 9/17 at 12:05pm and 9/20 at 9:35pm.
Tuesday 9/17/02
3:45am More Max
Microcosmos (1996 FRA-SWI-ITA): Terrific insects'-eye view documentary of life in a French meadow. Watch out for the dung beetle! A great one for inquisitive kids who like gross, squishy things.
4:30am Sundance
Burden of Dreams (1982 USA): Les Blank's documentary of the making of Werner Herzog's Fitzcarraldo is a memorable look at the great German obsessive, especially as he works with the great German loon, Klaus Kinski. Watch out for Strolling Bones singer Mick Jagger in the early footage. Also airs at 1:00pm.
10:15am HBO Signature
Bob Roberts (1992 USA): Hollywood leftie Tim Robbins plays a right-wing populist running for President in this prescient look at the point where politics meets Entertainment Weekly. Nice cameo appearance by cranky Gore Vidal. Robbins also wrote and directed, so I guess this one is pretty close to his heart.
9:00pm Turner Classic Movies
Grand Central Murder (1942 USA): One of the most entertaining B mysteries you're likely to see, this MGM bill-filler boasts a good performance by Van Heflin and some better-than-B-grade photography by George Folsey.
9:35pm Sundance
Drugstore Cowboy (1989 USA): This was the film that made me realize that Matt Dillon was more than just a pretty face. It's been downhill for director Gus Van Sant ever since he made this look at '70s drug culture, but this one is near letter prefect. Great supporting cast, including a grumpy William S. Burroughs (was he ever NOT grumpy?), indie stalwart James LeGros, Heather Graham, and Max Perlich.
Wednesday 9/18
3:45am More Max
The Doberman Gang (1972 USA): This absurd action flick, about a gang of ne'er-do-wells who train a pack of dogs to rob a bank, is outrageously entertaining. I'm probably biased because my dad occasionally worked in the bank branch used to film this prime piece of '70s cheese.
7:30am IFC
Walkabout (1971 AUS): A stunningly beautiful film about two children lost in the Australian outback, where they are befriended by an Aborigine. Directed and lensed by Nicolas Roeg at the apex of his powers, and featuring a sepulchral score by John Barry and Karlheinz Stockhausen. Also airs 9/19 at 5:00am.
10:15am Turner Classic Movies
Intruder in the Dust (1949 USA): A classic Hollywood take on racial injustice, Intruder in the Dust is a somewhat dated but still powerful film. Featuring Will "Grandpa Walton" Geer as a nasty sheriff and the wonderful Juano Hernandez as the target of the lynch mob. Hernandez went on to play a judge in 1955's Trial, probably the first time a black man appeared in a position of authority in an American film. Stay tuned to TCM for an 11:45am airing of Flamingo Road (1949 USA). Hungarian-born director Michael Curtiz is
best known for the classic Bogart-Bergman romance Casablanca, but this later film paints a much less noble picture of human endeavors. Joan Crawford plays Lane Bellamy, a sideshow dancer stranded in a Southern town whose collision with small-town politics and mores leads to scandal and sadness. Also starring the great Sydney Greenstreet as the sheriff, which likely should have been the tip-off that this town was rotten from the inside out. Reportedly one of Rainer Werner Fassbinder's ten favorite films. (Thanks to Mr. Hyde for the scoop on this one!)
5:00pm Fox Movie Channel
The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 USA): One of the greatest science fiction films of all time, and a pretty nifty plea for multiculturalism, too. Michael Rennie and Patricia O'Neal are perfectly cast as the man from space and his Earthbound paramour (respectively). Dare I say…Klaatu Barada Nikto?
5:00pm Encore True Stories
The Christine Jorgensen Story (1970 USA): Ahh, 1970. The year of Myra Breckenridge and Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Surely America was ready for a tell-all biopic about the pioneering sex-changer of the '50s? Perhaps they were, but unfortunately they got this incredibly banal piece of celluloid slurry that looks like a TV movie of the week with augmented breasts. Do I recommend it? Hardly, but if you're in the mood for something truly bizarre, here it is. Sadly not the wide-screen print that TNT aired a few years back, but that print was missing the augmented breasts, so it's a reasonable tradeoff. Did I mention that it was directed by Irving "Now Voyager" Rapper?
Thursday 9/19
12:30am Showtime
Theatre of Blood (1973 GB): Vincent Price and Diana Rigg in the same film; how can you go wrong? Of course you can't. Theatre of Blood is a delightfully gruesome horror comedy based on the works of Shakespeare, and features a virtual who's who of great British character actors: Jack Hawkins, Harry Andrews, Arthur Lowe, Eric Sykes, Ian Hendry, Dennis Price, and the unforgettable Robert Morley. Also airs at 3:30am.
4:05am More Max
Blue Denim (1959 USA): Surprisingly mature take on teen sexuality in the '50s, starring a young and beautiful Carol Lynley on the cusp of semi-stardom and Brandon De Wilde, who uttered the immortal line, "Shane! Come back!" a few years prior.
Friday 9/20
1:00am Turner Classic Movies
Elvis: That's the Way It Is (1970 USA): Presumably this will be the re-edited version that TCM commissioned a year or two ago. Even if it isn't, it's well worth your time, as it serves as a reminder that fat Elvis was still a hell of a showman.
5:05am The Movie Channel
A Fistful of Dynamite (1972 ITA): After reaching new heights in 1969 with Once Upon a Time in the West, Sergio Leone directed this Euro-oater, a political western that wasn't nearly as successful at the box office. You need to see it in its correct aspect ratio, but until TCM gets around to showing it, you have to settle for pan-and-scan. Worthwhile regardless, with Rod Steiger and James Coburn in the lead roles. Also airs at 8:05am, and 9/21 at 1:15am and 4:15am.
10:50pm Encore Action
Three the Hard Way (1974 USA): One of the most exciting black action films of the '70s, featuring the Holy Trinity of Fred Williamson, Jim Brown, and Jim Kelly. Director Gordon Parks Jr. is better known for the earlier Superfly, but this is the superior film, as the guys stick it to The Man, who's plotting to wipe out African-Americans via putting something nasty in the water system.
11:00pm Turner Classic Movies
Paisan (1948 ITA): It's been 25 years or more since I last saw this Rossellini classic and I missed it during TCM's recent neo-realism series, so it's nice to see it airing again so soon.
Saturday 9/21
1:30am Turner Classic Movies
The Kid Brother (1927 USA): I've never seen this one, but it's Harold Lloyd, so you know it will be good.
7:00am Turner Classic Movies
The Set-Up (1949 USA): One of the great boxing movies of all time, The Set-Up stars Robert Ryan as a washed-up pugilist and Audrey Totter as his long-suffering wife. Superbly filmed by noir-master Robert Wise, still in the land of the living at age 88 (happy belated birthday, Mr. Wise!).
3:00pm Turner Classic Movies
A Patch of Blue (1965 USA): It could have been painfully corny, but Guy Green's sensitive direction and screenplay have kept A Patch of Blue fresh and watchable today. Green (also still alive, and about to celebrate his 89th birthday) was also responsible for The Mark (1961 GB), another overlooked gem of socially conscious cinema. Sidney Poitier is the lead here, and as good as you'd expect, but he's ably supported by Elizabeth Hartman as the blind (white) girl who falls in love with him. Shelley Winters isn't as satisfying as Hartman's ogreish mother, delivering one of the over-the-top performances that marred her career.
3:15pm Flix
Pulp (1972 GB): If you enjoyed 1999's Croupier or the original version of Get Carter, you need to see this film, another unsung entry in the Mike Hodges filmography. Michael Caine is on hand again, this time as a ghostwriter who ends up involved in a real-life murder mystery. The film is narrated by Caine in a hardboiled homage to pulp fiction, and the film also features Mickey Rooney (good for a change), Lionel Stander, and Lizabeth Scott.
Sunday 9/22
12:30am Showtime
Act of Vengeance (1974 USA): Also released as the sensitively-titled Rape Squad, this is one of those victim-takes-vengeance films that were just becoming popular at the time. Definitely more exploitative than the unfairly maligned I Spit on Your Grave, Act of Vengeance should satisfy the latent right-winger in all of us. Also airs at 3:30am.
9:00pm Turner Classic Movies
Prisoner of Zenda (1922 USA): This week's Silent Sunday entry from TCM, this is the third film version of this classic tale, and probably the earliest to survive. Starring Ramon Novarro and directed by Rex "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" Ingram, my expectations are that this will probably not be up to the Doug Fairbanks action standards of the day, but will be worth seeing simply because it is what it is, another rare, silent obscurity.
11:00pm Turner Classic Movies
The Bed Sitting Room (1969 GB): WOW! Here's one I haven't seen since I was in grade school. I'm absolutely thrilled that this is being aired and am thoroughly prepared for it to disappoint me. It was directed by Richard Lester, and all I can remember is a lot of smoke or mist (the film is set in post-nuclear war England). Instead of dying, however, people (amongst them Ralph Richardson) are mutating...into furniture. Only in the '60s, right? I can't wait!
