TiVoPlex
By John Seal
March 14, 2013
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tuesday 3/19/13
3:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
No Down Payment (1957 USA): Tony Randall steals the show as an alcoholic suburbanite with wandering hands in this engaging Peyton Place-esque ensemble piece. It's an edgy soap about life in suburban Southern California and features a superb cast and an excellent screenplay by blacklisted Ben Maddow, here fronted by his loyal friend Philip Yordan. Starring Joanne Woodward and Cameron Mitchell as a happy couple living in one of the increasingly ubiquitous tract-housing estates then gobbling up orange orchards across the Southland, the film records the travails of their new neighbors (Jeffery Hunter and Patricia Owens) as they try to adapt to life in Paradise. Of course, things aren't as perfect as they seem on the surface, and the bloom soon comes off the utopian suburban rose when Randall's character starts dogging around. No Down Payment - the second effort by director Martin Ritt - was one of the first films to explore the hard facts about life behind the Kiss the Chef curtain, and airs this morning in its original aspect ratio.
4:00 AM Showtime
Thunder Soul (2010 USA): This exhilarating music documentary takes a look at the alumni of a Texas high school band and their efforts to pay tribute to their nonagenarian mentor. Back in the day, Houston music teacher Conrad Johnson took the bull by the horns and turned Kashmere High’s meek jazz band into a tear the roof off the sucker funk outfit that recorded and released a few regional hits. Thunder Soul recounts the band’s illustrious history and includes footage of a reunion concert attended by Mr. Johnson - known to his students as "the prof” – a few months before his death. In addition to some great music, the film also provides a cogent and timely reminder of the value of a high school arts curriculum. Stop cutting the humanities budget, state legislators!
Wednesday 3/20/13
8:45 PM Encore Suspense
The Gauntlet (1977 USA): You’ve seen the story a million times: hard-bitten cop is assigned the task of protecting critical witness from mob pistoleros. In this case, the cop is played by Clint Eastwood, though surprisingly his character’s name is Ben Shockley, not Harry Callahan. Ben’s on babysitting duty for Las Vegas lady of the night Gus (Sondra Locke), a gal who’s got the goods on some high-ranking Mafia types as well as some inside info on other evildoers. Ben needs to transport Gus to Phoenix for an upcoming trial, but can the unlikely duo run the goombah gauntlet and make it there alive? This is barmy, violent fun directed by Eastwood himself, and features a fun supporting cast, including Pat Hingle, William Prince, and ‘50s scream queen Mara Corday.
Thursday 3/21/13
8:15 AM Turner Classic Movies
Laughing Boy (1934 USA): Latin Americans Ramon Novarro and Lupe Velez play Native Americans in this rather bizarre MGM feature. Novarro is the title character, a Navajo tribesman who falls in love with Slim Girl (Velez), an Indian who’s been raised as white but now serves as the mistress of local big-wig Hartshorne (William Davidson). Laughing Boy tries to make an honest woman of Slim Girl and the two marry, but the siren song of town life keeps calling and their relationship is soon on the rocks. It’s not a very good film, but is certainly an interesting example of how Hollywood clumsily dealt with race issues back in the day. In its favor, some of the film’s minor characters are indeed portrayed by Native Americans, including familiar screen face Chief Thunderbird.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Boy With Green Hair (1949 USA): Last time I wrote about this Joseph Losey film, I hadn’t seen it in at least 20 years and was loath to recommend it based on either my own memories (which were dim) or the collective critical assumptions long made about the film (it’s an anti-war allegory with an anti-witch-hunt twist - both director Losey and screenwriter Alfred Lewis Levitt were blacklisted in the early ‘50s, with Losey relocating to Europe and Levitt assuming a pseudonym and a front). That was nine years ago (gosh, I’ve been doing this a long time!), and my 2004 viewing revealed that the film was pretty good, but not quite the leftie classic I’d imagined it to be. Still, it’s hard not to be impressed by Dean Stockwell’s luscious green locks, and any film with Robert Ryan is worth watching. Look for teenage Russ Tamblyn as one of Stockwell’s classmates.
Friday 3/22/13
7:50 AM Encore Action
Night of the Warrior (1991 USA): Here’s another of those cookie cutter action movies in which a hot, sweaty hero beats up and/or kills a bunch of smelly, swarthy bad guys. What’s special about this one? Well, it was co-written by wannabe Grade Z action hero Thomas Ian Griffith and features the last (to date) big screen appearance of the legendary Arlene Dahl and the only film appearance by the even more legendary blues singer Willie Dixon! Oh, I know – you all wish it were Robert Johnson instead, but he wasn’t available.
8:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Machine That Kills People (1952 ITA): Roberto Rossellini month continues this evening on TCM with a very rare small screen airing of this delightfully odd comedy, originally released in Italy as La macchina Ammazzacattivi. This is one of my favorite Rossellinis, no doubt because it’s about as close as he ever got to making a Bunuel film (still not terribly close), and is a breath of fresh air in comparison to his preceding film, the stale and stuffy Europa ’51. A fable in which Satan comes to Earth and begins performing evil deeds through third party photographer Celestino (Gennaro Pisano), The Machine That Kills People was never actually finished (it clocks in at a brief 80 minutes) and was released against Rossellini’s wishes, but I like it anyway. It’s followed at 9:30 PM by India: Matri Bhumi (1959), a film long unavailable unless you happened to make it to one of Pacific Film Archive’s infrequent screenings of their un-subtitled archival print. It’s extremely well regarded, but I’ve never seen it.
Saturday 3/23/13
Midnight The Movie Channel
Candyman 3: Day of the Dead (1999 USA): The first Candyman film was one of the better horror flicks of the early 1990s, a genuinely eerie effort firmly grounded in a reality similar to that of Wes Craven’s underrated The People Under the Stairs. By the time they got around to making this straight-to-video sequel, however, most of the juice had been sucked from the series, leaving it simply another entry in the "Supernatural Serial Killer" sub-genre. That said, star Tony Todd is always good, and his presence here is the sole reason I’m giving Candyman 3: Day of the Dead recognition this week.
6:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
The Hypnotic Eye (1960 USA): Now this is more like it, horror fans! Long out of circulation, this low-budget chiller (shot in amazing HYPNOMAGIC!) stars Jacques Bergerac as The Great Desmond, a hypnotist who uses the titular device to make beautiful women disfigure themselves. Why he does so is, of course, the question: jealousy? Mommy complex? Repeatedly waking up on the wrong side of the bed? The film’s story is utterly illogical, but that’s not why you’re tuning in – you’re tuning in for the scantily clad mutilated women, you disgusting misogynist you! Influenced by Franju’s Eyes Without a Face and laying the groundwork for H.G. Lewis’s The Wizard of Gore, The Hypnotic Eye features Merry Anders and Allison Hayes as potential victims of the crazed Frenchman and his amazing blinking eyeball!
7:00 PM HBO Family
Chernobyl Diaries (2012 USA): What’s going on here? A movie about cannibalistic survivors of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster stalking vacationing American college kids on HBO Family? The movie’s terrible, but really folks - make sure the kiddies get to bed early this evening. Also airs at 10:00 PM.
10:45 PM Turner Classic Movies
La Femme Nikita (1991 FRA): Once upon a time, Luc Besson made a good film. This is it. Anne Parrillaud headlines as the convicted felon given a new lease on life (and a substantial makeover) when she’s hired as a black operative by the spooks running the French government. Her training is long and hard, and she begins to doubt she’ll ever get assigned to a mission – until one day she suddenly finds herself face to face with the man she’s supposed to murder. It’s a terrific action flick and makes its widescreen television debut this evening.
Sunday 3/24/13
7:00 AM Encore
Archangel (2005 GB): Pre-Bond Daniel Craig headlines this intriguing tale of subterfuge and mystery set in post-communist Russia. Craig plays Fluke Kelso, an historian specializing in the Stalin era attending a Moscow conference where his address is interrupted by pro-Communist demonstrators. Little do they know, however, that their nemesis has a much bigger fish to fry: a research opportunity to uncover the secret behind the death of their hero Uncle Joe, and the hand in it played by KGB head Lavrenti Beria! Archangel is a little slow and a little long, but anyone with even a passing interest in post-war Soviet history will find it engaging. Also airs at 10:00 AM.
11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Early Spring (1956 JAP): I’m a big admirer of Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu’s work, but haven’t seen this one. Not to be confused with his films Late Spring, Early Summer, or Late Autumn – and really, how could you get them confused? – it’s Ozu’s tatami-eye take on the post-war salaryman phenomenon. Too bad he didn’t live long enough to make Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring instead of Ki-Duk Kim.
Monday 3/25/13
1:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Big Circus (1959 USA): Yep, it’s a circus movie. Wait...where are you going? You don’t like circus movies? Well, to be honest, I’m not too keen on ‘em either (unless, of course, Lon Chaney is involved). That said, this is a pretty good one about a big top company on the path to financial disaster and the various parties involved in last-ditch efforts to save it. Naturally, there’s a huge cast of big names (Victor Mature, Rhonda Fleming, Vincent Price, Red Buttons, etc), but top marks go to Peter Lorre as Skeeter, the show’s aging and decaying clown. Even if you hate circus movies, this one’s worth checking out for Lorre’s performance alone.