TiVoPlex
By John Seal
May 16, 2011
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 5/17/11
3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Big Shot (1932 USA): Eddie Quillan plays a callow youth taken in by swindlers in this forgotten RKO comedy. Eddie is Ray Smith, a hotel clerk hoping to make a fortune selling a new type of puncture-proof tire he’s developed. Unfortunately, the tires prove to be anything but, and it’s back to the drawing board for Ray, whose girlfriend (Maureen O’Sullivan) mortgages the family home so he can make a sure-fire real estate investment. Alas, Ray’s investment turns out to be swampland, but there’s a twist in the tale and all comes right in the end. Co-starring Roscoe Ates in one of his trademark, oh-so-politically-incorrect stuttering roles, The Big Shot hasn’t been seen on television in at least 30 years, so don’t miss it this morning!
4:50 AM Encore Love Stories
Frankie and Johnny (1966 USA): Here’s one of the few Elvis movies TCM has, to be the best of my knowledge, never aired. Why, I don’t know - it’s neither any worse nor any better than any of the other crap Elvis churned out in the mid-'60s - but here it is on Encore. That means, of course, that it’ll be airing in pan and scan, but what’s an Elvis completist supposed to do? We need this film in our collection, and maybe TCM will haul a letterboxed print out of the vault at some point. As for the story, it’s the old chestnut about squabbling lovers aboard a Mississippi riverboat. Johnny is Elvis, naturally, whilst Frankie is portrayed by Elly May Clampett herself, Donna Douglas. Though widely regarded as one of the King’s least interesting features, Frankie and Johnny does feature an intriguing supporting cast, including Harry Morgan, Billy Benedict, Jerome Cowan, and...Eddie Quillan!
6:30 AM HBO
Monica and David (2009 USA): Not too long ago, folks with Down Syndrome were marginalized from society at best or institutionalized at worst, and their life expectancy was a shocking 25. Today, the stigma is lessening and the lifespans are lengthening, as we learn from this HBO original documentary about a pair of 30-something Syndrome sufferers who get married just like "normal" people do. The film follows them through the trials and tribulations of their first year of marriage, during which David plans to get a job at a grocery store and Monica tries to map out their new independence. Directed by Monica’s cousin, Alexandra Codina, this is a pitch-perfect, up-close-and-personal doc. And what better film to watch after Frankie and Johnny? It’s just a shame that Frank Perry’s David and Lisa isn’t also airing this morning. Also airs at 9:30 AM.
9:45 AM Encore Mystery
Late for Dinner (1991 USA): Remember when The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai was going to provide writer-director W. D. Richter with his big commercial breakthrough? It never happened, of course, and in fact this is the only film the enigmatic Oscar nominee has since directed. Late for Dinner stars Peter Berg and Brian Wimmer as Willie and Frank, two guys running from a murder rap in 1962. And what do you do when fleeing the police? Why, go to the nearest cryogenics facility, of course, where a sawbones named Dr. Chilblains (Bo Brundin) will put you into suspended animation for 29 years, after which you’ll wake up and wonder why cars no longer have tailfins. Will Frank’s wife (Marcia Gay Harden) still love him after he’s missed dinner over ten thousand times? It’s an interesting concept, but you’ll need to, ahem, suspend your disbelief in order to enjoy it.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Snowfire (1958 USA): Remember that ‘70s pop song, Wildfire? The one about the girl whose pet pony gets lost in a blizzard? We’ll be ridin’ Wiiiiiildfire... The song was particularly popular in the teenage girl demographic back in the day - the same demographic, I suspect, who most appreciated Snowfire when it came out in 1958. Judging from the many IMDb reviews of this film - which I had neither seen nor heard of until now - young women flocked to see it back in the day, thrilling to its tale of a girl who manages to tame a vicious equine (a metaphor, I assume, for sweaty ‘50s masculinity). Snowfire seems to have been a family affair: written and directed by Dorrell and Stuart McGowan, it stars Don and Molly McGowan as characters named Mike and Molly McGowan. If you like horses or people named McGowan, look no further.
Wednesday 5/18/11
12:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Casey’s Shadow (1978 USA): And speaking of horses, gee-gee movies are the TCM theme of the month. Here’s another one guaranteed to please the saddle-sore equestrian in your life. This one I’ve seen, though not recently, and it comes with a substantially superior pedigree to Snowfire, being directed by Martin Ritt and headlined by Walter Matthau. Matthau plays Lloyd Bourdelle, a washed up Cajun horse trainer with a drinking problem. Lloyd ruins every colt he gets his hands on, until Casey’s Shadow comes along and presents him with an opportunity for redemption. Matthau’s accent is pretty atrocious and the story fairly routine stuff about overcoming adversity, but the film provides enough Louisiana atmosphere to choke a gator. Look for the always wonderful Whit Bissell as a veterinarian, whilst the still beautiful Alexis Smith co-stars as a wealthy southern belle who likes to invest in horseflesh.
7:00 PM Sundance
The Motorcycle Diaries (2004 ARG): The Motorcycle Diaries comes from the great Brazilian director Walter Salles (Central Station), and like all his films, it looks absolutely stunning; no one can capture the wide open expanses of South America quite like Salles. As with Central Station, the story is also utterly compelling, as it follows our overly-earnest young hero, Che Guevara (Gael Garcia Bernal) and his light-hearted buddy Alberto (Rodrigo de la Serna, in one of the great overlooked performances of 2004) as they embark on a road trip around the continent. The two middle-class boys soon discover a world of poverty and despair far from the privileged one they've inhabited, setting the idealistic Che on the path towards revolutionary fervor and T-shirt immortality. This beautiful and moving film also features a superb score from Gustavo Santaolalla.
Thursday 5/19/11
3:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Escape in the Desert (1945 USA): This odd Warners second-feature relocates 1936’s The Petrified Forest from peacetime to wartime and replaces the original film’s gangsters with Nazis. In Escape in the Desert, four German POWs break out of a prison camp and hold hostage the inhabitants of a motel somewhere in the California desert. Dutch-born actor Philip Dorn stars as Philip, a Dutch pilot who is mistaken for one of the Nazis but ends up saving the day for motel operator Gramp (Samuel S. Hinds) and sweet young thing Jane (Jean Sullivan). It’s a perfectly enjoyable billfiller, but can’t hold a candle to the original film - which, by happy non-coincidence, airs immediately following at 4:45 AM.
Friday 5/20/11
7:20 AM Sundance
Let It Rain (2007 FRA): Agnes Jaoui directs herself in this excellent comedy-drama/ensemble piece. Jaoui (and yes, that’s her real name!) plays Agathe Villanova, an aspiring politician who returns home to help sister Florence (Pascale Arbillot) settle their late mother’s affairs. Whilst sorting through bric-a-brac, she’s approached by Karim (Outside the Law’s Jamel Debbouze), an amateur filmmaker producing a documentary about successful women. Karim asks her to appear in his project, but what she doesn’t know is that he’s working in collaboration with film teacher Michel (Jaoui’s real life husband, Jean-Pierre Bacri), who’s having an affair with Florence in hopes of wooing her away from her husband. Complications ensue, and yes...it rains in this film. A lot.
Saturday 5/21/11
9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Tarzan’s Desert Mystery (1943 USA): Jane is offstage again in this entry in the Tarzan series, but she still manages to make her presence felt by writing a letter to the Jungle Lord asking him to bring her a plant with special curative powers (she’s busy assisting the war effort by nursing Allied soldiers back to health). The T-man is happy to oblige but must beat up on giant spiders, carnivorous plants, and stock footage dinosaurs in order to do so. It’s definitely one of the more outrageous and fun Tarzan pictures.
8:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Johnny Doesn’t Live Here Any More (1944 USA): It’s Simone Simon night on TCM, and true to form the channel has dug up a real obscurity starring the sepulchral French beauty. I haven’t seen Johnny Doesn’t Live Here Any More, but it features Simon (Cat People) as a defense worker who unwittingly gets entangled in the private affairs of several G.I.s, one of whom is played by a very young Robert Mitchum. For added spice, there’s also a brief appearance by everyone’s favorite acromegaliac, Rondo Hatton, as a gravedigger. This was also the last film helmed by Joe May, legendary director of such silent German classics as The Indian Tomb.
11:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
House of Pleasure (1952 FRA): Zut alors! Is TCM now competing directly against Skinemax for the softcore porn audience? In a word...non. Though zestily entitled House of Pleasure for the American market, this film - originally known as Le Plaisir - is actually an extremely tasteful Max Ophuls joint starring French matinee idol Jean Gabin, amongst others. It’s an early example of the omnibus feature, and consists of three segments based on stories by Guy de Maupassant, all of them focused on - what else - pleasure in its various permutations. Simone Simon also pops up here, as do Jean Servais (Rififi), Claude Dauphin (Casque d’Or), and Danielle Darrieux (still with us today at 94, and working as recently as last year).
Sunday 5/22/11
9:15 PM Turner Classic Movies
Speedway (1929 USA): Nope, this is not the Elvis film of the same title - it’s a silent comedy about a dashing auto mechanic (William Haines) and the gal pilot he loves (Anita Page). The two of them make a great team, and I still don’t understand why Haines isn’t remembered as fondly as are some other stars of the silent era. Also on hand: handsome John Miljan, plug ugly Karl Dane, and plucky Polly Moran. Speedway is followed at 11:00 PM by Kanal, director Andrzej Wajda’s second cinematic salute to the Polish partisans of World War II.
Monday 5/23/11
2:15 PM Encore Action
Cobra (1986 USA): Sly Stallone reunites with Rocky IV co-star and sometime spouse Brigitte Nielsen in this thoroughly enjoyable and completely over-the-top crime drama. Sly plays "Cobra" Cobretti, a tough as nails cop who drives a 1950s police cruiser and doesn’t bother with any namby-pampy rules about Miranda rights and not beating up prisoners. A member of the so-called "Zombie Squad," Cobretti is on the trail of The Night Slasher, the boss of a group of psychos who dabble in random acts of violence and mayhem. When passerby Ingrid (Nielsen) witnesses a Slasher killing, she’s immediately placed in protective custody - but there’s a mole in the police department and danger lurks around every corner. If you like non-stop action and cheesy one-liners, you’ll love Cobra.