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Thursday 11/22/07

9:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
The Crowd (1928 USA): It's not King Vidor's greatest - that honor would probably be reserved for 1926's The Big Parade - but The Crowd is still one of the most memorable films of the silent era. It's the story of a born-on-the-Fourth of July Everyman, Johnny Sims (James Murray), trying to adapt to the hustle and bustle of modern life circa the Roaring Twenties. The film avoids most of the dramatic cliches you might expect – it's not the typical rise and fall story of a man driven to succeed - and features a subtle performance by Mrs. King Vidor, Eleanor Boardman, as Johnny's wife. Bolstered by marvelously evocative location work in New York City, The Crowd garnered only two Oscar nominations, but has aged better than most of its contemporaries.

Friday 11/23/07

5:00 PM Sundance
Muhammad Ali, the Greatest (1969 FRA): Not to be confused with the more familiar 1977 docudrama The Greatest, this is a rarely seen feature from expatriate American director William Klein. It's a documentary that places Ali in a broader cultural and political context, from his humble upbringings in the racially segregated South to his counterculture status as a symbol of ‘Black Power' who preferred jail time to service time during the Civil Rights era. Filled with amazing footage of the turbulent ‘60s, Klein's film deftly intertwines the media image of Cassius Clay with the reality of Muhammad Ali, who gamed and beat the system designed to milk him for whatever he was worth. Not to be missed.

Saturday 11/24/07

2:25 PM Showtime Extreme
Born to Defense (1986 HK): Young Jet Li (in only his third picture) plays Jet, a Chinese soldier subjected to the scorn of his countrymen after the Yankees come to town and lend a hand in the waning days of World War II. Jet can't get any respect from the local Tsing Tao villagers, who sneer at his battalion whilst heaping praise upon the glamorous Americans - but when a Yank officer runs over an elderly man with his tank, they rapidly change their tune. Jet soon finds himself trying to bring the killer to justice, and utilizing both traditional martial arts and western boxing techniques to do so. Born to Defense also marked Li's debut behind the camera, and though it's clearly the work of a beginner, is reasonably entertaining if a bit rough around the edges.

9:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Movers & Shakers (1985 USA): This is not a good film, but it is an interesting one, especially when you consider all the talent involved. Purportedly a comedy about the machinations of Hollywood, Movers & Shakers was a vanity production for actor Charles Grodin, who spent years shopping his screenplay before United Artists took the bait. Grodin cast himself as Herb Derman, a down on his luck writer (what a surprise) who joins forces with producer Joe Mulholland (Walter Matthau) and director Sid Spokane (Maude's Bill Macy) in order to bring a sex manual entitled Love In Sex to the big screen. Unfortunately, the foreplay is better than the climax, and instead of following the (fictional) film through various stages of production, the (real) film bores us with uninteresting stuff about the personal lives of the characters. That said, Movers & Shakers is still worth a look for its cast (which also includes Vincent Gardenia, Tyne Daly, Gilda Radner, Steve Martin, Penny Marshall, and Luana Anders) and its crew (led by Beach Party director William Asher). It's currently unavailable on home video and makes its widescreen television premiere this evening.

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