TiVoPlex
By John Seal
February 28, 2006
TiVoPlex for Tuesday February 28 through Monday March 6 2006
By John Seal
From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times Pacific.
Tuesday 02/28/06
5pm Turner Classic Movies
The Conversation (1974 USA): Film fans remember Francis Ford Coppola for his overrated Godfather trilogy and his masterpiece, Apocalypse Now. In between those Marlon Brando mumble-fests, however, Coppola made this quiet little film that remains one of his personal best, and also one of the best productions of the decade. Starring Gene Hackman as Harry Caul, a mild-mannered surveillance expert with a nifty assortment of bugging devices, The Conversation anticipated the explosion of spying technology at the end of the 20th century. Harry is hired to stalk a couple apparently engaged in an illicit romantic relationship, but as he gathers and pieces together the evidence, a murder plot begins to emerge, and he has a crisis of conscience: is he aiding and abetting an assassination scheme? More timely now than ever before, The Conversation is a film about complicity, privacy (or the lack thereof), and the amoral world of big business. Frederic Forrest and Cindy "Shirley" Williams are the couple, John Cazale is Hackman's sidekick, Harrison Ford has a small role as a corporate flunky, and TiVoPlex favorite Allen Garfield puts in an appearance. The NSA eavesdropping era is the perfect time to reacquaint yourself with one of the best films of the 1970s, which airs this evening in wide-screen.
Wednesday 03/01/06
2:35am Sundance
In Search of Gregory (1969 GB-ITA): Drop by my office some time, and I'll show you my autographed photo of Julie Christie. The goddess of Swinging Sixties British cinema has been an idol of mine since I was too young to fully understand why I liked her so much, so it's with considerable excitement that I note the small screen arrival of this very rare example of late ‘60s Euro-cinema. It features the Divine One as Catherine, a woman on her way to attend her father's fourth wedding in Geneva, where, on the advice of her brother (John Hurt), she also plans to hook up with the titular hip young swinger (Michael Sarrazin). Upon arriving in the Swiss capital, however, she learns he's decamped for Rome, so it's back to the highway for Cath, whose fantasies about Gregory are fuelled by the mildly risqué reminiscences of those she meets along the way. This was the only big-screen feature helmed by stage and television director Peter Wood, but he was blessed with a high-quality Continental crew, including screenwriter Tonino Guerra (Amarcord, Blowup), DoP Otto Heller (Alfie), and composer Ron Grainer. The frisky title tune was provided by R & B singer Georgie Fame, and the cast also features former Bond villain Adolfo Celli. Never available on home video, this is absolutely essential viewing for anyone smitten with Christie, or, for that matter, with John Hurt. Also airs at 5:15am and on 3/5 at 2:30am and 4am.
7:05am Showtime Extreme
Deadlier Than the Male (1967 GB): A failed attempt to revive Bulldog Drummond as a big screen attraction, Deadlier Than the Male features Richard Johnson (The Haunting) as the famous sleuth, here unsurprisingly (and not terribly successfully) transformed into a Bond-style secret agent. He's on the trail of a Mediterranean-based super-criminal who employs two gorgeous but deadly women (Sylva Koscina and Elke Sommer) to keep unwanted visitors at bay. There's a predictable assortment of gadgets and bikini-clad babes, a memorable Scott Walker theme tune, and a game Johnson, working hard to overcome the paint-by-numbers screenplay. It won't make you forget From Russia With Love, but it's a damn sight better than A View to a Kill.
9pm Turner Classic Movies
Paper Moon (1973 USA): This delightful comedy/drama, set in the early 1930s, features precocious Tatum O'Neal as Addie, the wise-beyond-her-years charge of Moses Pray, a dishonest traveling Bible salesman played by Tatum's real life Dad, Ryan. Following the death of Addie's mother, Moses is assigned the task of transporting her from Kansas to her legal guardian in distant Missouri. Before they get there, however, there are Bibles to be sold and grieving widows to be bilked, and Addie takes to the shady dealings like a fish to water. Directed by Peter Bogdanovich, Paper Moon blends whimsy with world-weary Depression-era cynicism, filtered through breathtaking black-and-white cinematography by the great Laszlo Kovacs. A sizable hit when it came out, the film spawned a single-season ABC television series featuring Jodie Foster as the incorrigible Addie. Ten-year old Tatum's performance earned her a well-deserved Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, and she remains to this day the youngest thespian to win an Oscar in head-to-head competition. Paper Moon is followed at 11pm by Bogdanovich's earlier critical success, The Last Picture Show, and both, of course, will be airing in wide-screen.
8:45pm Showtime Extreme
The Halfway House (2004 USA): I don't know anything about this feature other than what I read on IMDb, but any film with artwork featuring Mary Woronov in a nun's habit is going to get a mention in TiVoPlex. It's rated R "for strong sexuality/nudity, horror, violence and language", and takes place in a Catholic institution for wayward young women. Woronov plays Sister Cecilia, who's become a bride of Christ in order to escape her own troubled past, and House on Haunted Hill's Janet Tracy Keijser plays a spunky young thing investigating the disappearance of her sister. Director Kenneth Hall was previously responsible for such fine fare as Evil Spawn and Linnea Quigley's Horror Workout, so I'm not anticipating much in the way of socially redeeming value.
Thursday 03/02/06
2am HBO Signature
See You in the Morning (1989 USA): Relationship dramas aren't usually my cup of tea, but this Alan J. Pakula feature has enough going for it to earn a recommendation, plus it's unavailable on home video. The film features Jeff Bridges as Larry, a doctor whose marriage to Jo (Farrah Fawcett) ends in a bitter divorce that leaves him unwilling to commit to a new relationship. Things begin to change when he meets Beth (Alice Krige), the widowed mother of two children, who is equally reluctant to put the memory of her dead husband (David Dukes) to rest and finds herself struggling with a massive case of the guilts and a bad migraine to boot. Though it's hard to empathize with the characters - all of whom live within the cozy confines of upscale Manhattan - See You in the Morning's cast is the film's main attraction. Bridges is always good (if a tad too earnest here), and Krige is, in my opinion, one of Hollywood's overlooked treasures, an actress capable of lending instant credibility to utter schlock such as 1992's Stephen King adaptation, Sleepwalkers. The feature also includes a troika of child stars - Drew Barrymore, Lukas Haas, and Macaulay Culkin - an added attraction which, depending on your perspective, will either cement your need to see this film or induce vomiting.
5am Turner Classic Movies
Twilight of Honor (1963 USA): This long-forgotten drama was the high-water mark in the life and career of actor Nick Adams, a TiVoPlex favorite who died of a drug overdose in 1968. Adams could have been a star, but a combination of poor luck, bad film choices, and bad behavior conspired against him. He snagged an Academy Award nomination for his performance here as Ben Brown, a murder suspect whose lawyer (Richard Chamberlain) uncovers some skeletons in the closet of the prosecuting attorney and some unhappy truths about the victim himself. Within two years of this picture, Adams had relocated to Japan, where his career sputtered to a halt courtesy of appearances in films such as Frankenstein Conquers the World and Monster Zero. He's the best thing about this otherwise stodgy courtroom drama, which also features Joey Heatherton (rrroowww!), James Gregory, Pat Buttram, and - in his penultimate big-screen appearance - Claude Rains.
Friday 03/03/06
6:15am Encore Westerns
(1971 USA): George Peppard is the hero of this long-forgotten Andrew V. McLaglen oater about a pair of Old West bank-robbing buddies whose friendship ends in violence. He plays Harker Fleet, an ex-con whose co-conspirator pal Nolan (the late, great John Vernon) took off with Fleet's share of loot and his woman (Diana Muldaur), too. Harker is determined to get revenge, and when he finds out that Nolan has been terrorizing some Chinese railroad workers, thinks he knows how to give him his comeuppance. A fun, old-fashioned Western, One More Train to Rob also features Marie Windsor, Richard Loo, and Harry Carey, Jr. Also airs at 5pm.
9pm Sundance
Die, Mommie, Die! (2003 USA): Decidedly not for all tastes, Die Mommie Die is an arch black comedy featuring drag queen Charles Busch as Angela Arden, a fading torch singer and unhappily married woman engaged in a torrid fling with young tennis stud Tony Parker (Jason Priestley). When hubby Philip Baker Hall won't give her the divorce she wants, can murder be far behind? For those who like a little camp in their lives, this is good if insubstantial fare featuring Natasha Lyonne (as the Ardens' daughter) and SNL alum Nora Dunn. Also airs 3/4 at 2:30am.
Saturday 03/04/06
9am Turner Classic Movies
No Name on the Bullet (1959 USA): For many years, Universal was the Hollywood studio that seemed most reluctant to open its vaults and provide television access to its impressive library. That seems to have changed in the last year or so, with Universal product popping up on a number of premium channels, including this above-average western featuring war hero Audie Murphy. This time out, Murphy plays John Gant, a hired gun who rides into the town of Lordsburg one day with an assignment to kill one of the locals. Trouble is, he's keeping the identity of his target close to the vest, and there are an awful lot of folks in town with a guilty conscience. Briskly directed by Creature From the Black Lagoon helmer Jack Arnold, this thoroughly enjoyable Murphy vehicle also features Virginia Grey and Whit Bissell, and is blessed with a refreshingly intelligent screenplay from future Star Trek scribe Gene Coon, the guy who invented the Prime Directive!
11:45am Flix
Cold Turkey (1971 USA): Dick Van Dyke stars as a chain-smoking clergyman in this hilarious Norman Lear feature about a small Iowa town's efforts to quit smoking en masse. The prize, offered by a savvy tobacco company, is a cool $25,000,000, and the residents of Eagle Rock soon become celebrities toasted from coast to coast by national newsmen Walter Chronic and David Chetley (the inimitable Bob and Ray). Amongst those trying to give up the coffin nails are Jean Stapleton, Vincent Gardenia, and Tom Poston, whilst Edward Everett Horton makes the most of his final film appearance with a wicked turn as the Valiant Tobacco Company's snide CEO. Lear's whip-smart screenplay is a mine of black comedy gold, and it's hard to believe Cold Turkey sat in the can for two years before earning a release thanks to the success of a little TV series called All in the Family. Still unavailable on DVD, Lear's one and only feature film returns to the small screen this morning for the first time in many years.
10:15pm Showtime Extreme
The Peace Killers (1971 USA): Biker movie mavens are in for a real treat this evening, as The Peace Killers - one of the much-maligned genre's most obscure titles - makes its premium channel debut tonight. Twin Peaks' Michael Ontkean stars as Jeff, the brother of hippie chick Kristy (Jess Walton), whose earlier relationship with bad boy Rebel (Clint Ritchie) ended in tears. When the siblings' shopping expedition is disrupted by the marauding Death Rows club - of which Rebel is a charter member - Jeff and Kristy flee for the nearest safe haven, a commune of psycho-babble-spouting Jesus freaks. Can peace, love, and divine intervention keep them safe from the sadistic hog hounds on their trail? Whilst no work of art, The Peace Killers provides all the nudity, violence, and thrills you could possibly want. Footnote: the film was directed by Douglas Schwartz, who years later went on to create and produce a popular television series called Baywatch.
Sunday 03/05/06
9pm Turner Classic Movies
Desert Nights (1929 USA): The more John Gilbert films I see, the better I understand why he was such a big star during the Golden Age of silent cinema. It's obvious that part of Gilbert's attraction was his physical beauty, but he was also an excellent actor, capable of conveying subtle emotion at a time when broad overacting was the norm. This very rarely screened MGM thriller was Gilbert's last silent before his unsuccessful (and studio-sabotaged) transition to talkies, and it's an action comedy that sadly doesn't allow him to show off his full range of skills. He plays the manager of a diamond mine kidnapped by five rogues (including Ernest Torrence) who need his help to negotiate the treacherous desert terrain. Beautifully shot by James Wong Howe, Desert Nights is definitely worth a look for anyone interested in silent cinema, and its truncated running time (only 62 minutes) makes it a splendid introduction to the style for those normally not so inclined.
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