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6:00 PM Showtime
Meek’s Cutoff (2010 USA): Fans of revisionist westerns will love Meek’s Cutoff. Fans of John Wayne and Gene Autry movies, on the other hand, would probably prefer to poke their eyes out with a flaming arrow than watch it. Regular readers know I’m no fan of the meat and potatoes western, so Meek’s Cutoff is definitely further up my alley than is, say, Sagebrush Troubadour or Cahill, U.S. Marshall. Directed by Kelly Reichardt, whose Wendy and Lucy I also greatly admire, the film stars Michelle Williams, Bruce Greenwood, Shirley Henderson and others as pioneers stranded in the Oregon high desert circa 1845. When "The Indian" (Rod Rondeaux) shows up, the group are uncertain whether or not to accept his help: will he assist them across the Oregon Trail to their new settlement, or will he simply scalp and rape the lot of them? Deliberately paced and relentlessly downbeat, this is a film for a quiet evening’s contemplation. In other words, don’t put on your cowboy hat and plastic sheriff’s badge for this one, pardner. Also airs at 9:00 PM and throughout the month.

Saturday 6/2/12

4:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Catalina Caper (1967 USA): Chances are, if you’ve ever seen this dreadful film, you saw it on Mystery Science Theatre 3000. Now we get an opportunity to scope it out sans both commercial interruptions and silly robot commentary! Tommy Kirk, fresh off his twin triumphs in Mother Goose-A-Go-Go and It’s a Bikini World, stars as Don Pringle, a clean cut teen who stumbles across an art theft on Southern California’s Catalina Island. Also involved are Lyle "Carol Burnett Show" Waggoner and Little Richard, who gets to croon the decidedly out of character tune ‘Scuba Party’. Catalina Caper was shot by Ted Mikels (currently producing Corpse Grinders 3!) and directed by Lee Sholem, which pretty much tells you everything you need to know about this indie feature’s questionable qualities.

6:45 AM Fox Movie Channel
Making It (1971 USA): Hollywood eminence grise Peter Bart got his start with this comedy-drama about the sexual foibles of a young man in a hurry. Phil (Kristoffer Tabori) is a high school senior whose adolescent libido is taking him in all sorts of directions - including towards his P.E. teacher’s attractive wife (Marlyn Mason) and cute-as-a-button classmate Debbie (The Velvet Vampire’s Sherry Miles). Needless to say, all the canoodling gets him into deep waters - including an unwanted pregnancy that causes the film to shift abruptly and uneasily from goofy generation gap comedy to hyper-serious abortion drama. The shift is not well executed by Bart’s screenplay, but Making It’s interesting cast (including a very young Bob Balaban, John "Piglet" Fiedler, and not one but TWO Van Pattens) renders it classic TiVoPlex material.

9:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Dick Tracy (1937 USA): Chapters 6, 7, and 8 of Republic’s Dick Tracy serial air this morning. Can Dick negotiate his way through Dangerous Waters, and will brother truly be pitted against brother? Tune in to find out!

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