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Saturday 2/19/11

12:30 AM Fox Movie Channel
The Culpepper Cattle Co. (1972 USA): Okay, I’m really grasping at straws now. Regular readers know I am NOT a big fan of westerns, but I’ve gotta have something to write about this week. Step right up, Culpepper Cattle Co. — it’s your moment to shine! Directed by Dick Richards (Farewell My Lovely, March or Die), it’s the story of a teenage farmhand (Gary Grimes) who finagles his way into a cattle drive. So, True Grit with moo cows, then. I know I saw this once back in the ‘70s but honestly remember nothing about it, good or bad — but it does feature a Royal Dano cameo, which means it can’t possibly be completely terrible.

8:50 PM Encore Mysteries
Body Snatchers (1993 USA): Bad boy director Abel Ferrara dallied briefly with the mainstream via his version of Jack Finney’s timeless tale of pods from outer space and the awful things they do to your love life. In this iteration, Ferrara focuses the narrative on teenage Marti (Gabrielle Anwar, actually 23 when she made the film) and her family’s discovery of an insidious plot to replace humans with passionless pod people. Body Snatchers is one of Ferrara’s better pictures, and benefits tremendously from an excellent performance by Forest Whitaker, here cast as a military man trying to stem the tide of biohazardous material. Serial screamer and apparent Tea Party acolyte R. Lee Ermey appears as Forest’s superior officer. (Stick to acting, R. Lee — you clearly have NO IDEA what a real socialist looks like.)

Sunday 2/20/11

3:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
Gospel Road (1973 USA): Hello, I’m Johnny Cash — and this is my tribute to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Did you enjoy such films as Pat Boone’s The Cross and the Switchblade? How about biblical epics like The Greatest Story Ever Told and King of Kings? Then you’ll love Gospel Road, in which my good friend Robert Elfstrom plays Jesus. Bob isn’t really an actor, as you’ll soon discover. My lovely wife, June Carter Cash, plays Mary Magdalene! She’s not an actor either, but hey, neither am I...and I starred in Door-to-Door Maniac way back in 1961! When you’re filled with the spirit of the Lord, you don’t need to know how to act anyway. Did you know Bob’s kid plays Baby Jesus? I think that’s kinda neat.

8:00 AM Fox Movie Channel
The Shocking Miss Pilgrim (1947 USA): I wrote about this film at some length back in December before I’d actually seen it. At the time I was reading screenwriter Frederica Sagor Maas’s autobiography (entitled, of course, The Shocking Miss Pilgrim) and been intrigued by what she wrote of it — her experience permanently soured her on the movie business. I’m happy to report that The Shocking Miss Pilgrim is actually well worth your time — even though I can sympathize with Ms. Maas, who must have been disgusted by Fox’s turning her serious story into a musical comedy with romantic overtones. So what’s to like? Well, start with Betty Grable, who’s terrific as Cynthia Pilgrim, a 19th-century gal who’s completed a course in typing and is now determined to carve out a career with the revolutionary new tool. Then add heavy lashings of proto-feminism—enough left over from Maas’s original work to make the film fairly radical by the standards of the mid ‘40s. Finally, leaven with the glowering presence of Gene Lockhart, here cast as an irascible male chauvinist pig forced to work with our heroine, and that of the delightful Anne Revere as a suffragette. Okay, Dick Haymes is a terrible lead, but you can’t have everything, I guess — it’s still a pretty good film.

Monday 2/21/11

11:30 PM Turner Classic Movies
Two Arabian Knights (1927 USA): TCM has hauled this obscure Howard Hughes-produced silent out of the vaults for 31 Days of Oscar. Long out of circulation, Two Arabian Knights was recently donated by the Hughes estate to the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Film Department, who restored it with an assist from TCM. Virtually unseen since its initial release, the film was directed by the great Lewis Milestone, who won the 1929 Academy Award for Best Director/Comedy Picture for his work here (the separate comedy category was eliminated after 1929). Written for the screen by James O’Donohue, this is a rugged wartime comedy à la What Price Glory, and features Mary Astor, William Boyd, Louis Wolheim, and - in a bit part - Boris Karloff.

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