TiVoPlex
By John Seal
February 14, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 2/15/11
4:00 AM Flix
Courtship (1987 USA): Flix has been on a bit of a Horton Foote rampage recently. Last month they brought us his rarely seen big screen adaptation of 1918; this month we get the even more obscure film version of Foote’s play Courtship. I’ve never seen it, and as I sometimes say, neither have you: the film has no reviews on IMDb and was apparently shot for pennies on location in Mississippi. How can I be sure the budget was of the bargain basement variety? Because half the cast consists of people whose last name is "Foote" - we’ve got Daisy, Hallie, and Horton Junior treading the boards here, in a tale of young love and disapproving parents in Texas circa 1914 — and the other half is named "Amanda Plummer." Flix is apparently airing Courtship in widescreen, though all indications are that it was probably shot on a Brownie. (And if you don’t know what a Brownie is, you’re too damn young.)
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985 BRA-USA): William Hurt suffers from a severe case of deadly smoochie boochies in this late-period Universal Sherlock Holmes mystery starring Gale Sondergaard as the Spider Woman. No, not really — he actually plays a gay prisoner doin’ time on cell block 9 with fellow inmate Raul Julia in Hector Babenco’s adaptation of Manuel Puig’s magical realist novel. Hurt plays Luis, a man imprisoned for immorality, whilst Julia is Valentin, a political prisoner locked up for sticking it to the Man. (Now, now. You know what I mean.) Luis spends his days spinning outrageous fantasies as a way of escaping the narrow confines of their cell, whilst macho realist Valentin thinks he’s a bit of a wuss for doing so and would prefer it if all concerned would just man up. The two eventually develop an understanding and become allies after they realize they each deeply respect Sonia Braga, though for different reasons. Hurt won an Oscar for his performance here, proving as usual that no one can play a homosexual window dresser as effectively as a heterosexual man.
Wednesday 2/16/11
Midnight Fox Movie Channel
Moving Violation (1976 USA): Is it March yet? No? Oh, well, in that case there’s room in the TiVoPlex for this run of the mill action entry, which Fox isn’t even giving us in widescreen! C’mon, guys! Pontypool’s Stephen McHattie stars as Eddie Moore, a free spirit who offends the powers that be in a small California town: him being Canadian and all doesn’t sit too well with the Sherriff, played with stereotypical glee by Lonny Chapman, who made a career out of playing corrupt and/or overbearing authority figures. Moving Violation is a perfectly decent time-waster with a good supporting cast (Eddie Albert, Kay Lenz, Will Geer, Dick Miller), but please, Fox...let’s get this one screening in its full 1.85:1 glory soon.
5:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Chang (1927 USA): No, this is not a documentary about Chang and Eng, the world-famous Siamese twins and Confederate sympathizers...but it is a documentary (of sorts) filmed in the jungles of Siam (Thailand). Directed by the Kings of Kong, Merian C. Cooper and Ernest Schoedsack, Chang is a dramatic re-telling of the adventures of real-life tribesman Kru, with particular focus on his encounter with a baby elephant—and all the other elephants that have a vested interest in said baby’s safety. A remarkable technical achievement, the film was nominated for an Oscar in a category that only existed for a single year: Best Picture, Unique and Artistic Production. Chang may no longer look like a documentary, but unique and artistic it most definitely is.
10:00 PM Flix
The Others (2001 USA): I’m not a big Nicole Kidman fan, but even I like this above average tale of the supernatural, now airing on Flix in widescreen. Directed by Alejandro Amenabar (The Sea Inside) and set during World War II, the film features Kidman as Grace Stewart, a woman waiting for her husband to return home from his tour of duty. Grace’s living conditions are not the best: her two children are photo-sensitive, and as a result she is forced to live sequestered in near darkness within her island mansion. In order to help maintain the household under such trying conditions, she hires a trio of servants...but the newcomers bring some unwelcome surprises with them. Though the film features a gimmicky "surprise ending," it’s still one of the better spook shows of recent memory, and will appeal to fans of films like The Uninvited (1944) and The Innocents (1961).
Thursday 2/17/11
2:45 AM Starz
The Secret in Their Eyes (2009 ARG): 2010’s Best Foreign Film Academy Award winner makes its American television debut in the wee, wee hours of this Thursday morning. Ricardo Darin (Nine Queens) headlines as Benjamin, a retired investigator rekindling a long dormant relationship with Irene (Soledad Villamel). Irene is now a judge, but 25 years earlier she was a lawyer — and Benjamin a court clerk — involved in a particularly nasty case involving rape and murder. Benjamin now plans to write a novel about the case, with the central thesis being that the men imprisoned for the crime were not guilty, and that politics may have played a role in their conviction — but in order to do so, he must reopen old wounds and reconnect with Irene. Directed by the previously unheralded Juan José Campanella, The Secret in Their Eyes was not supposed to win last year’s Oscar tilt — which was considered a two-way horse race between Un Prophete and The White Ribbon — but apparently split the lane and scooped the gong. It’s a solid, unflashy, and resolutely old-fashioned character study, which may explain its appeal to Academy voters. Also airs at 5:45 AM.
Friday 2/18/11
1:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Do the Right Thing (1988 USA): A long, hot summer in racially charged New York City is examined in this Spike Lee joint — the film that enabled him to break out of the indie straitjacket after his successful freshman effort, She’s Gotta Have It. Do the Right Thing built on that success, and still plays pretty well despite all the hi-top fades and campy Daisy Age garb in evidence. Lee headlines his own film as Mookie, a minimum-wage employee at a Bed-Stuy pizzeria operated by crotchety racist Sal (Danny Aiello). Mookie is definitely of the "go along to get along" school, but violent events on a scorching hot day force him to reassess his position. For once, Lee isn’t terrible in front of the camera, and a terrific supporting cast — including Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, John Turturro, Richard Edson, Giancarlo Esposito, Roger Guenver Smith, Bill Nunn, Samuel L. Jackson, Rosie Perez, and even Martin Lawrence — plus a terrific hip-hop soundtrack make this essential viewing.
Saturday 2/19/11
12:30 AM Fox Movie Channel
The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972 USA): Okay, I’m really grasping at straws now. Regular readers know I am NOT a big fan of westerns, but I’ve gotta have something to write about this week. Step right up, Culpepper Cattle Co. — it’s your moment to shine! Directed by Dick Richards (Farewell My Lovely, March or Die), it’s the story of a teenage farmhand (Gary Grimes) who finagles his way into a cattle drive. So, True Grit with moo cows, then. I know I saw this once back in the ‘70s but honestly remember nothing about it, good or bad — but it does feature a Royal Dano cameo, which means it can’t possibly be completely terrible.
8:50 PM Encore Mysteries
Body Snatchers (1993 USA): Bad boy director Abel Ferrara dallied briefly with the mainstream via his version of Jack Finney’s timeless tale of pods from outer space and the awful things they do to your love life. In this iteration, Ferrara focuses the narrative on teenage Marti (Gabrielle Anwar, actually 23 when she made the film) and her family’s discovery of an insidious plot to replace humans with passionless pod people. Body Snatchers is one of Ferrara’s better pictures, and benefits tremendously from an excellent performance by Forest Whitaker, here cast as a military man trying to stem the tide of biohazardous material. Serial screamer and apparent Tea Party acolyte R. Lee Ermey appears as Forest’s superior officer. (Stick to acting, R. Lee — you clearly have NO IDEA what a real socialist looks like.)
Sunday 2/20/11
3:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Gospel Road (1973 USA): Hello, I’m Johnny Cash — and this is my tribute to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Did you enjoy such films as Pat Boone’s The Cross and the Switchblade? How about biblical epics like The Greatest Story Ever Told and King of Kings? Then you’ll love Gospel Road, in which my good friend Robert Elfstrom plays Jesus. Bob isn’t really an actor, as you’ll soon discover. My lovely wife, June Carter Cash, plays Mary Magdalene! She’s not an actor either, but hey, neither am I...and I starred in Door-to-Door Maniac way back in 1961! When you’re filled with the spirit of the Lord, you don’t need to know how to act anyway. Did you know Bob’s kid plays Baby Jesus? I think that’s kinda neat.
8:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947 USA): I wrote about this film at some length back in December before I’d actually seen it. At the time I was reading screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas’s autobiography (entitled, of course, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim) and been intrigued by what she wrote of it — her experience permanently soured her on the movie business. I’m happy to report that The Shocking Miss Pilgrim is actually well worth your time — even though I can sympathize with Ms. Maas, who must have been disgusted by Fox’s turning her serious story into a musical comedy with romantic overtones. So what’s to like? Well, start with Betty Grable, who’s terrific as Cynthia Pilgrim, a 19th-century gal who’s completed a course in typing and is now determined to carve out a career with the revolutionary new tool. Then add heavy lashings of proto-feminism—enough left over from Maas’s original work to make the film fairly radical by the standards of the mid ‘40s. Finally, leaven with the glowering presence of Gene Lockhart, here cast as an irascible male chauvinist pig forced to work with our heroine, and that of the delightful Anne Revere as a suffragette. Okay, Dick Haymes is a terrible lead, but you can’t have everything, I guess — it’s still a pretty good film.
Monday 2/21/11
11:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Two Arabian Knights (1927 USA): TCM has hauled this obscure Howard Hughes-produced silent out of the vaults for 31 Days of Oscar. Long out of circulation, Two Arabian Knights was recently donated by the Hughes estate to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Film Department, who restored it with an assist from TCM. Virtually unseen since its initial release, the film was directed by the great Lewis Milestone, who won the 1929 Academy Award for Best Director/Comedy Picture for his work here (the separate comedy category was eliminated after 1929). Written for the screen by James O’Donohue, this is a rugged wartime comedy à la What Price Glory, and features Mary Astor, William Boyd, Louis Wolheim, and - in a bit part - Boris Karloff.