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5:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Marius (1931 FRA): The first entry in director Marcel Pagnol's "first name" trilogy, Marius stars Raimu as the titular Marseilles café owner. Marius is in love with Fanny (Orane Demazis) and works with his son Cesar (Pierre Fresnay), characters whose names would later supply the titles for Pagnol's next two productions. All three films are leisurely, avuncular expositions on life and love in 1930s France, and cinephiles have long been smitten with them; when the rep house was in vogue you could count on them turning up at least once every couple of years and sometimes more frequently. It's been a long time since I've seen any of the three, so I can't offer much in the way of appraisal here, but I'm delighted to have the opportunity to reacquaint myself with Marius, which was co-directed by Hungarian émigré Alexander Korda, on his way to Britain and huge success via production company London Films. It's followed at 7:30 PM by Korda's first British film, 1932's Service For Ladies, in which Leslie Howard plays a headwaiter with social aspirations far above his class.

9:00 PM Fox Movie Channel
The Vindicator (1986 USA-CAN): I'd accuse this dreadful sci-fi actioner of being a Robocop ripoff — except it came out one full calendar year before Paul Verhoeven's dystopian classic. Which leaves The Vindicator as a prescient, but still dreadful, sci-fi actioner, I guess. The delightfully named David McIlwraith stars as scientist Carl Lehman, whose invention — an indestructible space suit—is grafted to his body after an unfortunate but intentional "accident" leaves him dead. Mayhem ensues, much of it in a reliably low-rent sewer system. Even a supporting cast with the likes of Pam Grier and Maury Chaykin can't save this one, but it's not on DVD, so fans off all things psychotronic may want to check it out anyway.

Friday 03/06/09

7:00 PM Sundance
The Boss of It All (2006 DEN): How did I miss this one? After all, I'm a reasonably big Lars von Trier fan, but The Boss of It All has somehow completely eluded me. Apparently, it finds the cheeky director returning to his Nordic roots, and features plenty of barbed dialogue about those iniquitous and cold-hearted Icelanders. Yeah, it's all in good fun — until someone's financial system melts down, and then everyone gets hurt. Play nice, Lars.

11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Willie Dynamite (1973 USA): A pair of quite obscure black action films premiere tonight in the TCM Underground, beginning with this so-so tale of Willie D, a well accoutred New York street hustler fighting The Man and the competition. There are very few deviations from the "blaxploitation" template here, and the film is, dare I say it, a bit dull. Still, the attraction for most folks will be the presence of Sesame Street's Roscoe Orman in the lead role of Willie, whose outfits actually bear a slight resemblance to Big Bird's plumage. Don't tune in expecting to see anything as good as Elmo's Potty Time (2006), however. It's followed at 1:00 AM by the even rarer Sweet Jesus, Preacherman! (1973), a drama starring Hit Man's Roger Mosley as a professional assassin posing as a preacher.

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