From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or under-appreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times PDT.
7:05am Showtime 3
The Swindle (1997 FRA-SUI): This deliberately paced caper film from director Claude Chabrol is a little thin in the story department but benefits from two terrific performances by stars Isabelle Huppert (still radiant at 42) and dapper leading man Michel Serrault. Too bad the film was released in the US with such a mundane moniker, as the original French title, Rien ne va Plus, is much more evocative of the high stakes atmosphere surrounding two all-star grifters trying to weasel their way out of a particularly tricky situation.
9:30pm Turner Classic Movies
The McKenzie Break (1970 GB-IRE): If you enjoyed The Great Escape but feel the need for another World War II prison break film, look no further. Whilst not up to the standards set by the aforementioned Steve McQueen epic, this is a perfectly serviceable and quite enjoyable film starring Brian Keith as an Irish officer sent to a British POW camp to suss out the escape plans of a German officer (Helmut Griem). Ian Hendry co-stars as the commander of the camp, there’s a decent Riz Ortolani score, and very attractive location photography in Ireland and Turkey.
1:40am Encore Mystery
Shadow on the Window (1958 USA): Starring Jerry Mathers as the Beaver...sorry; as a shell-shocked child who witnesses an assault on his mother, Shadow on the Window is a decent B film with a solid cast and a good script. Jerry's dad, played stoically by Phil Carey, happens to be a police officer, and mom is Betty Garrett, well-cast as a woman under constant threat from three stereotypical teen bad boys. One of the miscreants is played by Corey Allen, who revisited the archetype in the similarly themed Key Witness (1960 USA), and the others are John Drew Barrymore; apparently channeling the spirit of an evil Dobie Gillis, and lovable lunk Gerald Sarracini. Beach Party director William Asher displayed his serious side here, and cinematographer Kit Carson got some nice set-ups across roof tops and through subway tunnels during the climactic chase scene. The film appears to have been shot in or around California’s Imperial Valley; if any readers can confirm that, I’d be much obliged.
11:30pm Encore Action
The Last Blitzkrieg (1958 USA) : This slightly off-kilter Columbia programmer stars Van Johnson as a Nazi double-agent who first wins the confidence of the American POWs he’s housed with and is then sent on a secret mission to infiltrate US forces during late 1944’s Ardennes offensive (more commonly known as The Battle of the Bulge). Johnson does his best as a bad guy, though the film makes an unreasonable stretch to make him sympathetic towards the end, and Dick York is quite good as an army sergeant thrust into a command position by the iniquitous actions of the German infiltrators. As always with a Sam Katzman production, the film tries to mask its low budget with plenty of stock footage, but it also benefits from location footage in The Netherlands. It’s no classic, but is a pleasant enough diversion that also features Kerwin Mathews in a rare performance as a really, really bad guy.
5am More Max
Corvette Summer (1978 USA): Mark Hamill’s first film after starring as Luke Skywalker in 1977’s Star Wars, this PG-rated car flick features the Oakland-born thespian as a high-school auto enthusiast who hits to road to recover a stolen Corvette Stingray. Along the way he runs into woman-of-the-evening Annie Potts (her big-screen debut) in Las Vegas, and the two team up to find the missing motor. Also appearing is former Partridge Family member Danny Bonaduce, and keep your eyes peeled for movie bad guys Brion James and Dick Miller in small roles.
9pm IFC
The Honeymoon Killers (1969 USA): Based on the true story of a misfit couple who took advantage of elderly (and generally well-off) widows, The Honeymoon Killers is finally due for a decent DVD restoration courtesy of The Criterion Collection. It’s being released in late July, but if you can’t wait till then, here it is on IFC. Tony Lo Bianco and Shirley Stoler play unlikely lovers masquerading as a brother and sister. Lo Bianco preys on recently bereaved older women, ultimately marrying them and then moving his “sister” into the household where, after a brief period of marital bliss, she murders the new brides. Starkly shot in black-and-white by Oliver Wood, who has since, erm, distinguished himself with films such as The Adventures of Ford Fairlane (1990 USA) and The Adventures of Pluto Nash (2002 USA), this is a noir classic. Also airs 6/21 at 3am.
2:30am Sundance
An Act of Conscience (1997 USA): This documentary about tax protesters isn’t about the back-to-the-land Posse Comitatus types who hunt bear and print their own currency. Instead, the film focuses on a Massachusetts couple who, beginning in 1979, chose to withhold tax payments to protest military funding. Twelve years later, the ever-vigilant IRS finally cracked down on them, seizing their home and selling it to another family. An Act of Conscience investigates the ethical and legal quandaries we all face when we realize that some of our tax dollars are funding things we can’t square with our own moral compass.
4am Sundance
Won’t Anybody Listen (2001 USA): The rock band NC-17 (dreadful name, lads) are featured in this documentary about the brutal realities of the music business. Fronted by a pair of Michigan brothers who relocated to Southern California in search of fame, glory, and money, NC-17 soon found themselves being scammed by their record company, pursued by the IRS (hello!), and generally living a life bereft of the glamour they anticipated. Gang of Four member Hugo Burnham inexplicably shows up as one of the interviewees. If you’ve ever dreamed of fronting your own rock band, this film will swiftly disabuse you of the notion.
11pm Turner Classic Movies
The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing (1973 USA): Okay, I have to admit I’m including this simply for its title, which has puzzled and fascinated me since the film’s initial release when I was a pre-teen. I never got around to seeing it then, but I’m finally going to find out what cat dancing is, and whether or not the dreadful animated film Cats Don’t Dance (1997 USA) had it wrong all along. Starring Burt Reynolds, Lee J. Cobb, Sarah Miles, and George Hamilton, this western directed by Richard Sarafian (responsible for 1971’s terrific road movie Vanishing Point) also features Jay Silverheels in a small role. Not yet available on DVD, the film’s 2.35:1 aspect ratio will be widely seen for the first time since its initial theatrical run.
6am The Movie Channel
The Apple (1980 BRD): Also airs at 9am.
I try not to subscribe to the so-bad-it's good camp, but The Apple is truly one of the most bizarre movies you will ever see, an ineptly-made musical with unlikable stars and positively dreadful songs, set design, and costuming. A cross betweenFame and The Rocky Horror Picture Show, it's Showgirls-bad, and just as entertaining. It's one of the short-lived "New Wave musical" genre that began with Times Square (1980 USA) and died with Breaking Glass (1983 GB). The story takes place in the far-flung future...er, 1994, where two young Canadians are competing in the Worldvision Song Contest. Take THAT, Eurovision! They cross paths with an unscrupulous music-industry bigwig, a man with the astonishingly clever name Mr. Boogalew, played by all-purpose bad guy Vladek Sheybal, a Polish actor who had started his career in high-quality films like Kanal (1957 POL) and Return from the Ashes(1965 GB). There are also embarrassing career moments for Joss Ackland, Miriam Margolyes, and '50s torch singer Yma Sumac(!). If you couldn’t keep your eyes off 1987’s Garbage Pail Kids Movie, you’ll fall in love with The Apple.