TiVoPlex
By John Seal
March 22, 2004
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 03/23/04
4:05am Encore
Hot Stuff(1979 USA): Dom DeLuise, auteur. Three words that rarely, if ever, belong together in a single sentence. Nonetheless, the rotund one made his behind-the-camera debut with this screwball comedy about three undercover cops whose fencing sting soon leads to police corruption. Blessed by a good cast, including Ossie Davis, Sydney Lassick, Marc Lawrence, and the entire DeLuise clan, the film - co-authored by crime novelist Donald Westlake - is actually quite funny, and hasn’t shown up on cable in a while. If you can survive another of Jerry Reed’s novelty country-western songs on the soundtrack, you might just enjoy it.
6:30pm IFC
Escape From New York (1981 USA): It’s not my favorite John Carpenter film, but IFC is airing a nice wide-screen print of his dystopian epic about a future Manhattan populated entirely by criminals. Produced whilst the Big Apple was settling to its lowest ebb, Escape From New York’s premise may have seemed prophetic in 1981, but now simply plays as another twist on the bleak-future genre that the film presaged. Starring an eye-patched Kurt Russell as tattooed bad boy Snake Pliskin, it’s an inverted version of Carpenter’s earlier Assault on Precinct 13, with the bad guys - led by a snarling Isaac Hayes - on the inside looking out. Co-starring Donald Pleasence as the vaguely smarmy President of the United States and Lee Van Cleef as the top-ranking spook who uses Russell (here channeling the spirit of Clint Eastwood’s Man With No Name character) to rescue Pleasence from Hayes’ clutches, Escape is at its best with its action sequences, which are legion, and its briskly-paced story concludes on a typically sardonic Carpenter note. The film stumbles when any kind of political discourse is introduced, however, and the less said about the aerial matte effects the better. Whilst Escape From New York hasn’t aged as well as 1988’s They Live, this remains a reminder that the director has, sadly, been on autopilot for the better part of a decade, treading water with regurgitated slop like Vampires and Ghosts of Mars. Also airs at 10:15pm.
Wednesday 03/24/04
8pm Turner Classic Movies
The Pilgrim(1923 USA): The final film of Charlie Chaplin’s First National career, The Pilgrim marked a transitional point between the Tramp’s comedy shorts and his feature-length comedy/dramas. Starring Chaplin as an escaped convict disguised as a clergyman, the film retains familiar faces Edna Purviance and Mack Swain whilst stretching the narrative to 40 minutes and exploring some weightier subject matter (guilt, sin, and forgiveness). There’s also some wonderful stuff featuring Charlie’s beloved brother Syd in a triple role. If you missed Richard Schickel’s fine - if somewhat staid - documentary Charlie: The Life and Art of Charles Chaplin earlier this month, you missed some absolutely wonderful home movie footage of the two brothers clowning around in retirement, and it’s a shame that Sydney never gets even a fraction of the attention that Charlie does (Schickel’s film makes another appearance on March 30 at 10:15pm).
9:35pm Sundance
Black Picket Fence (2002 USA): This documentary about living on the mean streets of Brooklyn creeps up on you. Focusing on a petty criminal turned aspiring rapper, Tiz, the film seems destined to follow a preordained narrative path, especially when we’re introduced to Tiz’ drug-dealing, shiv-wielding jailbird friend Mel, a casting-office tough guy who seems destined to bring our protagonist’s dreams to an ignominious crack-dealing end. By the final reel, however, Tiz is preparing to feed his newborn son whilst Uncle Mel bounces the little nipper on his knee, his music career seems to be on the upswing, and street life is receding into his past. Though its hardly an up-by-your-bootstraps salute to the Horatio Alger School of Hard Knocks, Black Picket Fence paints a distinctly more positive picture of young working-class African-Americans than we’re used to seeing on-screen. Unafraid of depicting the harsh realities of Brooklyn life but equally unwilling to caricature its subjects, the film lives up to the faux suburbia implications of its title and provides an uplifting peek into the lives of a struggling-but-eternally hopeful extended family. Also airs 3/28 at 11:05pm.
Thursday 03/25/04
1:30am Turner Classic Movies
The Chaplin Revue(1959 USA): This 1959 repackaging of three Chaplin shorts also includes The Pilgrim, which you’ve just read about. It probably won’t be in as good a condition as the print airing the previous evening, though. Re-released as interest in silent comedy was just starting to kindle anew, The Chaplin Revue is noteworthy both for the interesting, Chaplin-hosted wrap-around segments and the inclusion of new musical scores by the filmmaker, whose career was temporarily in ascendance following the production of 1957’s A King in New York. Also including one of the Little Tramp’s greatest shorts, the flag-waving classic Shoulder Arms (1918 USA), as well as the extremely funny A Dog’s Life from the same year, The Chaplin Revue is a unique compilation of interest to Chaplin scholars and comedy fans alike.
3am IFC
The Brother From Another Planet (1984 USA): After an absence of many years from the small screen, John Sayles’ parable of intergalactic racism has returned. Somewhat reminiscent of Nicolas Roeg’s The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976 GB), this film is a warmer, grittier affair, with long-time character actor Joe Morton’s performance as a black alien lost on the streets of Harlem trumping The Thin White Duke’s stranded-in-the-desert space oddity. Besides contending with befuddled New Yorkers puzzled by his odd feet and inability (or refusal) to talk, bounty hunters from beyond (played by Sayles and frequent collaborator David Strathairn) are pursuing Morton, intent on returning him to his home planet. If it isn’t Sayles’ best film - Eight Men Out and Matewan would certainly factor into that discussion - it’s deserving of consideration. Look for the late Steve James, the man who’s played Chuck Norris’ sidekick more times than you’ve had hot dinners, in a co-starring role as one of the locals. Also airs at 7pm and 3/26 at 1am.
7pm Turner Classic Movies
Big Wednesday(1978 USA): I’m not as big a fan of this period piece as some, but TCM is giving it a rare wide-screen airing, so it’s worthy of mention. Starring cuddly Jan-Michael Vincent, William Katt, and a still-lithe Gary Busey as a trio of surfing buddies whose lives are turned upside-down by the advent of adulthood, Vietnam, and the draft, this is a somewhat mawkish and predictable look at the less-than-swingin’ side of the Swingin’ ‘60s. At two hours it’s overlong, the period detail stinks (as in does it most ‘60s-set films made in the ‘70s), and full of clichés, but the surfing footage will look fantastic in 2.35:1.
Friday 03/26/04
1:30am Turner Classic Movies
On Any Sunday(1971 USA): If you’ve seen and enjoyed the wonderful (if somewhat esoteric) surfing documentaries of Bruce Brown, you’ll want to take a look at his exploration of the world of motorcycle racing. As in Brown’s earlier sun-and-fun films like Endless Summer, Surf Crazy, and Waterlogged, the director-narrator’s gentle but intelligent humor shares center-stage with some incredible footage of sports enthusiasts in action. Additionally, On Any Sunday features added Hollywood luster in the person of hog maven Steve McQueen, whose financial aid helped Brown complete the film, in a variety of action-filled sequences. Now if only someone would resurrect Bruce’s 1967 slope-side doc, The Incredible Pair of Skis…
9:05am Sundance
The Emperor’s New Clothes(2001 GER-GB-ITA): This week’s speculative pick may be a real stinker for all I know, but I simply can’t resist any film that casts Ian Holm as The Little Corporal. Yes, during the same period he was portraying Bilbo Baggins, the diminutive Holm played an even shorter chap with real-life pretensions of greatness, Napoleon Bonaparte. Directed by Alan Taylor, recently employed on the entertaining TV series Keen Eddie, The Emperor’s New Clothes also features Iben Hjelje (John Cusack’s love interest in High Fidelity) in a romantic suspense tale involving Napoleon’s (fictional) escape from exile on St. Helena. Someone slip the little fella some arsenic before he can get back to Paris.
5pm Turner Classic Movies
Madigan(1968 USA): Spun into a brief, six-show cop series in the early 1970s, Don Siegel’s Madigan is the far superior, though still episodic, progenitor. Starring Richard Widmark (who continued as Daniel Madigan in the series) and Henry Fonda as NYPD fuzz, the film is a tough-minded, shot-on-location look at the stressful and dangerous lives of big-city coppers. Filled with familiar faces like Harry Guardino, James Whitmore, Michael Dunn (Dr. Loveless!), and Abel Fernandez (The Untouchables), Madigan is prime Siegel, filled with backstabbing, adultery, family crises, and even a few violent criminals.
Saturday 03/27/04
3pm Trio
Butley(1974 GB-CAN): The recently-deceased and much-missed Alan Bates essayed one of his finest roles in this Harold Pinter-helmed film adaptation of Simon Gray’s play. Playing a self-loathing gay teacher whose past and present relationships are causing him endless grief, Bates is breathtaking, and Pinter’s pitch-perfect direction helps this American Film Theater production avoid the deadening staginess that plagues other films in the series. A long-overlooked gem, Butley is now widely available on DVD, but hasn’t been seen on TV for many moons. Also airing today at 6:00 and 9pm on Trio is 1973’s The Homecoming, AFT’s film adaptation of the excellent Pinter play of the same name. I haven’t seen the film version, but Bilbo - er, sorry, Ian Holm - headlines in a role he made famous on stage and the source material is topnotch, so it’s probably worth a look if you have a spare two-and-a-half hours.
6pm Starz!
Holes (2003 USA): Andrew Davis’ screen adaptation of the very popular children’s novel by Louis Sachar makes its television debut this evening. One of the best films of 2003, Holes is a completely satisfying film for pre-teens, adolescents, and adults, though the existential nightmare of its first half-hour may be more than most toddlers can handle. Starring newcomer Shia LaBeouf as Stanley Yelnats IV, the unlucky progeny of an equally unlucky family (personified with comic brilliance by Henry Winkler, Siobhan Fallon, and Nathan Davis), the film follows our unfairly imprisoned hero’s misadventures at an absolutely hideous camp for juvenile offenders (made all the more hideous by the fact that such camps exist in real life). Owned and operated by the deceptively straight-shooting Sigourney Weaver and patrolled by an over-the-top (in a good way) Jon Voight in cowboy gear, the camp has a secret that is the key to the past and future fortunes of the Yelnats family. Beautifully shot in the deserts of California by Stephen St. John, Holes also features a marvelous score and wonderful character turns by Daryl Hannah, Tim Blake Nelson, and Eartha Kitt, as well as a full cast of promising adolescent actors. Grown-ups shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking this isn’t for them; Holes is a film that anyone can enjoy and appreciate, and I recommend it strongly. Also airs at 9pm and throughout the balance of the month.
Sunday 03/28/04
6:30pm Turner Classic Movies
The Outlaw Josey Wales(1976 USA): It’s not my favorite Clint Eastwood western, but…you probably get as tired of reading “it’s letterboxed” as I do of typing it, but we mustn’t forget how lucky we are to live in a time when correct formatting is becoming the norm for home viewing. Sometimes I feel like a baseball analyst pointing out the obvious (OBP trumps BA, strikeouts per nine innings trumps ERA), but if we don’t make a noise and acknowledge this positive change, we could well slide back to the time when pan-and-scan was the order of the day on the small screen. I think we may have passed the tipping point - probably thanks to DVD and big-screen TVs - but, heck, even five years ago it was hard to see many films in their (yawn) correct aspect ratios on either television or home video. To cut a long story short: this is a decent if not particularly special Clint film. If it weren’t being aired in 2.35:1, it wouldn’t get the time of day from me. But who can resist the inexorable pull of John Vernon, Royal Dano, and Sheb “Purple People Eater” Wooley in wide-screen? Not this cowpoke.
Monday 03/29/04
8:30pm Sundance
The Hunt(1998 GB): If you want to see the spoiled and wealthy of the English countryside hoist by their own petard, here's your film. Dutch director Niek Koppen was given unprecedented access to the operators of the Ludlow Hunt, one of scores of legal bloodsports organizations in Britain. By withholding all narrative judgment, Koppen lets the hunters speak for themselves. Their bizarre belief that they are somehow protecting the countryside by engaging in their ritual killing game will soon convince you that they are out of touch and ultimately heading to their own personal knacker's yard. Their disgusting disloyalty to their hunting dogs - who get put down the instant they can no longer sniff out a fox or keep up with the pack - is the final proof that these people care little about animals, life, or anything other than dressing up for a day of eco-terrorism and drinking. A damning but fair documentary, The Hunt should be avoided by squeamish viewers.
Print this column
