TiVoPlex
By John Seal
March 19, 2012
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 3/20/12
1:35 AM Sundance
Pablo’s Hippos (2010 GB-COL): If you enjoyed the recently aired HBO documentary Sins of My Father, but felt that you wanted to know more about Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar, look no further. Pablos’ Hippos details what happens when a man with more money than sense becomes the seventh richest man in the world: he buys a menagerie complete with pet hippopotami. It would be ridiculous if it weren’t so tragic, as is made abundantly clear in this feature produced for BBC4, which examines how Escobar’s animal importing "cartel" became almost as feared as the big man’s goon squads.
5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Gold Diggers of 1933 (1933 USA): I know this isn’t an uncommon film, at least not by the standards of the TiVoPlex, but it’s been positively ages since I last recommended it and the pickings are a bit slim this week. Though never a big fan of things all singing all dancing, I happily make an exception for Gold Diggers of 1933 (and while I’m at it, 42nd Street, too), a prime example of Depression-era glitz featuring magnificent production numbers, terrific songs, and a marvelous cast, including Warren William, Aline MacMahon, Dick Powell (whose singing doesn't repulse me for once), Ruby Keeler, Joan Blondell, and character actors Ned Sparks and Guy Kibbee. The scene that always sticks with me is the Pettin' in the Park number, featuring a leering Billy Barty as a baby in a rain slicker! Directed with joie de vivre by Mervyn LeRoy, it’s the movie musical for folks who don’t like movie musicals.
Wednesday 3/21/12
9:45 PM Sundance
Mad Bastards (2011 AUS): With a title like Mad Bastards, you’d expect an Australian film about hard drinking ‘roo hunters riding emus through the outback whilst grilling shrimp on the barbie and shooting aborigines for fun. And you know what? You wouldn’t be far wrong. Mad Bastards is a thoroughly entertaining, episodic road trip movie about a man’s (Dean Daley-Jones) search for his lost son in the remotes of Western Australia, where he does indeed encounter a fascinating array of eccentric characters. While director-screenwriter Brendan Fletcher’s story is perfectly serviceable, it’s Allan Collins widescreen cinematography that really impresses, and the film was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at last year’s Sundance.
Thursday 3/22/12
10:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Five Finger Exercise (1962 USA): Based on a play by Peter Shaffer (Sleuth), this is an awkward but still intriguing screen adaptation helmed by Daniel Mann. Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackert’s screenplay is less a problem than is the rather odd casting, which sees Rosalind Russell and Jack Hawkins playing the fussin’ and feudin’ Harringtons, an unhappily married couple who spend most of their time arguing and/or corralling their troublesome offspring (Richard Beymer and Annette Gorman). The introduction of a handsome tutor (Maximilian Schell) into the volatile mix doesn’t help matters. Columbia’s decision to relocate the story from Britain to America is awkward, but Russell is the real problem, her major league bluster completely overwhelming the proceedings, and Beymer is as wooden as a park bench. Still and all, it’s an interesting failure.
9:00 PM Sundance
Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2009 CAN): I haven’t seen this film yet, but without a doubt it’s the best title I’ve had the opportunity to mention since Hobo with a Shotgun aired. Plot synopses make the film sound like a Canadian take on the Harmony Korine style, which is not a good thing, but I’m going to check it out anyway. Plus, who could resist a movie written and directed by twin sisters (Jen and Sylvia Soska)??
Friday 3/23/12
Midnight Fox Movie Channel
Murder Once Removed (1971 USA): I could have sworn up and down I wrote about this film quite recently, but I can’t find the proof, so here’s my (re?) take on the matter. In my humble opinion, Murder Once Removed is at the top of the second tier of TV Movies-of-the-Week, with Barbara Bain and John Forsythe both top notch as lovers on the sly trying to knock off unwanted hubby Richard Kiley. The film is suspenseful, well-acted, and reasonably believable, and also features small screen regular Joseph Campanella as a cop who suspects something’s up.
Saturday 3/24/12
8:00 AM Flix
The Romantic Englishwoman (1975 GB): Here’s a highbrow drama where you can really feel the quality. Based on a novel by Thomas Wiseman and adapted for the screen by Tom Stoppard, The Romantic Englishwoman stars Michael Caine as Lewis Fielding, a novelist hoping to overcome his writer’s block by penning a film script. Recently returned from abroad wife Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson) introduces him to holiday fling Thomas (Helmut Berger), and Lewis decides to work Thomas and Elizabeth’s infidelity into his screenplay. Perfect post-modern material for Stoppard, The Romantic Englishwoman co-stars Michael Lonsdale and Kate Nelligan, and is one of the best of director Joseph Losey’s "late period" features. Flix is airing this highly satisfactory think-piece in its original aspect ratio.
9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Lord of the Jungle (1955 USA): Bad news, Bomba fans - this is the end of the road. Allied Artists threw in the loincloth after Lord of the Jungle, leaving Johnny Sheffield unemployed and - let’s be honest - unemployable, at least in the motion picture field. This time, our hero is tasked to eliminate a group of troublesome elephants, who’ve been stampeding left and right and tramping all over the natives. Luckily, series regular Eli (Smoki Whitfield) is not one of the victims - and speaking of Smoki, his career didn’t end here: he made another dozen films in which he portrayed some slightly more dignified working-class characters.
Sunday 3/25/12
9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
La Roue (1923 FRA): This epic tale of life in the French railyards cemented Abel Gance's reputation as the world's most technically innovative filmmaker (Eisenstein and Vsevolod Pudovkin came to him for tips, if you can imagine that). Originally running a Warholian 9 hours(!), La Roue airs tonight in a truncated but beautifully restored four hour print.
Monday 3/26/12
Midnight Fox Movie Channel
Footsteps (1972 USA): Here’s another pretty decent made-for-TV movie, this one especially of interest to fans of American football. Despite the fact that I’m about as interested in football as I am in Nelson Eddy and Jeanette MacDonald movies, I’ve noticed that gridiron flicks are almost always entertaining, as are baseball movies. Basketball, on the other hand, is not a good movie sport - and unless we’re talking about Talladega Nights, don’t even get me started on NASCAR. Anyhoo, Footsteps stars Richard Crenna as Paddy O’Connor, a coach hired by a small college to improve their pigskin program. Paddy’s up for the task, but hasn’t reckoned on the local mobsters, however, who need his team to keep failing. Nominated in 1973 for a "Best TV Movie" Golden Globe, Footsteps co-stars Ned Beatty, Joanna Pettet, Clu Gulager, Forrest Tucker, Robert Carradine, and - in one of his very first roles - James Woods.
8:45 AM Turner Classic Movies
Arrow in the Dust (1955 USA): You know the routine: TiVoPlex doesn’t do westerns very often, especially of the non-Spaghetti variety. That said, there are always exceptions, especially when Sterling Hayden is headlining. This time, Sterling plays Bart Laish, a US Army deserter who finds himself in plot complications worthy of a film noir. Produced by lowbrow Allied Artists, Arrow in the Dust really isn’t more than an average second feature oater, but I’m a huge Hayden fan and the supporting cast - including Lee Van Cleef, Iron Eyes Cody, Coleen Gray, and Sheb "Purple People Eater" Wooley - is pretty hard to resist.