Box Office Prophets: TiVoPlex

TiVoPlex

By John Seal

August 26-31, 2003

Things were a lot more yellow in those days.

From the obscure to the obscurest to the merely overlooked or underappreciated; they all have a home in the TiVoPlex! All times PDT.

Tuesday 8/26/03

12:30am Flix
Where It’s At (1969 USA): The title alone should be enough to tip you off to this film’s flailing efforts to be in with the In-crowd. It might have passed muster ten years earlier (maybe even five), but Garson Kanin’s screenplay is strictly for the squares, man. Give Kanin his due: his work with Frank Tashlin on 1956’s The Girl Can’t Help It resulted in one of the funniest and sharpest social satires of the ‘50s, a film that didn’t quite “get” rock and roll, but nonetheless brilliantly highlighted its influence on American culture. At any rate, Where It’s At is worthwhile primarily for its solid cast, including David Janssen, Rosemary Forsyth, Brenda Vaccaro, and the absurdly proportioned Edy Williams. Set in Las Vegas, it’s fairly standard-issue Generation Gap stuff, with casino operator Janssen squaring off against his upstart college-age son (Robert Drivas, a few years away from his best performance in Larry Cohen’s God Told Me To). The film does manage to score some extra hipness points via an appearance by counter-culture comedy troupe The Committee, but the film is really aimed at an adult audience, and will be a disappointment for those in search of psychedelic thrills.

1:15am Turner Classic Movies
The Hook (1963 USA): Kirk Douglas stars yet again as a granite-jawed military man, delivering a performance not a million miles from his work in Stanley Kubrick’s Paths of Glory (1957 USA) in this George Seaton-directed war drama about American (mis)treatment of a POW during the Korean War. This time Kirk is merely a lowly non-com, in command of GIs Robert Walker Jr. and Nick Adams, two aspiring stars who never really made it to the big time (indeed, Adams would be dead of an overdose within five years, and Walker would be larding his resume with biker movies). Written by Henry Denker, whose play Time Limit had been turned into a decent Richard Widmark movie in 1957, The Hook, like its predecessor, deals with the morality and ethics of warfare and wartime situations. This was also one of half-a-dozen films scored by harmonica virtuoso Larry Adler. Not quite a classic, but still worth watching.

9pm The Movie Channel
The Hunting Party (1971 GB): I haven’t seen this revisionist Western and it doesn’t have the best reputation, but I’m excited about this one anyway. Perhaps it’s due to the film’s much-ballyhooed ultra-violence, or perhaps it’s merely down to my predilection for British Westerns. One of only two feature films directed by television veteran Don Medford (the other being Sidney Poitier’s The Organization, also from 1971), The Hunting Party stars Gene Hackman as a nasty rancher who keeps his wife (Candice Bergen) locked up like the proverbial bird in a gilded cage. When outlaw Oliver Reed kidnaps her, the gloves come off, and Hackman is in hot pursuit of the couple who, of course, are falling in love. Shot in Spain with a strong supporting cast, including Simon Oakland and L. Q. Jones, this features a Riz Ortolani score, which is usually a good thing. Also airs 8/27 at midnight.

Wednesday 08/27/03

4:05am Showtime
Black Girl (1972 USA): Starring Leslie Uggams and directed by Ossie Davis, Black Girl is a straightforward family drama about a pair of sisters, a stepdaughter, and a mother whose love for her adopted child spurs resentment on the old homestead. It’s decidedly low-key stuff, especially compared to the regular run of features being made with the African-American community in mind during the ‘70s, but is blessed with a superb cast, including Brock Peters (To Kill a Mockingbird), Claudia McNeil (Raisin in the Sun), and Davis’ long-time flame, Ruby Dee. Adapted for the screen by Houston playwright and NEA fellow J. E. Franklin, this film was a labor of love for its cast and crew, and well worth the attention of serious drama fans. Also airs at 10:05am.

9pm Turner Classic Movies
The Petrified Forest (1936 USA): Robert Sherwood’s downbeat play made a glorious transition to the big screen in 1936, with stage star Humphrey Bogart coming along for the ride as nihilistic gangster Duke Mantee. This film made Bogie a star, but Leslie Howard was the film’s initial box-office draw, and he’s excellent as Alan Squier, a mentally-scarred World War I veteran who falls in love with waitress Gabby Maple, played by Bette Davis in one of her most affecting performances. It’s a surprisingly mature film for the mid-1930s, and somehow got away with featuring a black actor (Slim Thompson) as a moody gang member distinctly out of sync with Hollywood’s preferred view of African-Americans as comic sidekicks or servants. One of the highlights of Warner Bros’ considerable catalogue of crime pictures, this is an unforgettable classic that also features Dick Foran and Charley Grapewin.

6pm Sundance
The Piano Teacher (2001 FRA-OST): Director Michael Haneke’s film about sexual obsession and repression is a fascinating but deeply disturbing film anchored by a remarkable performance by Isabelle Huppert. Huppert plays an apparently cold-blooded piano instructor who seems to dislike and resent all her students, until she meets self-taught prodigy Walter Klemmer (played well by the handsome Benoit Magimel). She becomes obsessed with Klemmer, confronting him in the men’s bathroom of a concert hall, where she proceeds to, um, satisfy his needs, as long as he doesn’t watch her while she does so. What follows is either the pathetic thrashings of a deeply insecure and repressed woman, or the assertive actions of a woman who knows exactly what she wants and isn’t afraid to get it, regardless of the cost. Is this a feminist film, a misogynist’s delight, or something in between? If it weren’t for Huppert’s remarkable performance, I’d plump for the former, but she’s so strong in her role that it’s hard to see her as the simpering toy of a masculine superman, which Magimel decidedly is not, though his inner woman-beater surfaces toward the end of the film. If you’re uncomfortable with onscreen sex, well, this film isn’t going to make things any easier for you. It’s difficult viewing, much like Haneke’s Funny Games (1997 OST), but provides considerable food for thought. As an added bonus, Annie Girardot is superb in a small but important part as Huppert’s world-weary mother.

Thursday 08/28/03

6am Showtime
The Explosive Generation (1961 USA): Daring for its time, The Explosive Generation rails against parental hypocrisy when the taboo subject of sexuality arises in our public schools. Social studies teacher Peter Gifford (William Shatner, in one of his best performances) inadvertently begins a discussion of the birds and the bees in his high school classroom, realizing that his students have legitimate questions that mom and pop are too uncomfortable to answer. When he has the kids fill out questionnaires regarding the dos and don’ts of teenage courtship, angry parents rise in rebellion, and try to get Shatner fired by principal Edward Platt, a go-along-to-get-along guy who soon caves in to the pressure. Of course, Shatner’s beloved students soon come to the rescue, leading the school in the kind of civil disobedience tactics which would soon become de rigueur on campuses around America. Gently pushing the envelope whilst carefully tiptoeing around some of the stickier questions, The Explosive Generation is a mild-mannered but prescient precursor of the generational conflicts about to burst wide open. Also airs at 9am.

Friday 8/29/03

3pm HBO 2
Bread and Roses (2001 GB): Political films are tricky beasts. They either end up oversimplifying complex issues or become soulless exercises in ideology. Ken Loach is one of the few filmmakers with the intelligence and talent to make deeply political films that make their point through brilliantly-delivered character studies. In the case of Bread and Roses, that performance comes from the remarkable Pilar Padilla as Maya, an illegal Central American immigrant who comes to America to join her family and find work. What she finds is economic exploitation, aimed not only at illegals, but at poor men and women of all backgrounds. Some argue the film undercuts itself by having an illegal as its protagonist - why should SHE be the one organizing American workers? - but the film's conclusion, where Maya is deported home, provides sufficient “payback” for the sins, real or imagined, of her character. Adrien Brody is on hand as union organizer Sam Shapiro, but Padilla is the star, imbuing her performance with a subtle intelligence and sharp wit. There's also a terrific turn by George Lopez as the evil foreman who keeps the ladies of the cleaning crew in a constant state of fear. Deportations aside, the film has an upbeat (if slightly unbelievable) ending that only a reactionary could hate.

7:15pm Turner Classic Movies
The Mackintosh Man (1973 GB-USA): This relatively obscure Paul Newman vehicle always makes me think of dirty old men in grubby raincoats, but this Walter Hill-scripted thriller is actually a prison break-and-intrigue vehicle with the added spice of the beloved spaghetti-sauce king. Bank robber/spy Newman busts out of the delightfully named Scrubs prison in the company of Soviet double-agent Ian Bannen, who takes him on a merry chase from Ireland to Malta. You’ll need a scorecard to keep track of all the crosses and double-crosses, and the film can be confusing, but Newman and Bannen are ably supported by a top-notch cast, including Niall MacGinnis, James Mason, Harry Andrews, Michael Hordern, Peter Vaughn, Hammer star Shane Briant, and, in one of his final roles, Leo Genn. Nicely shot on location by Oswald Morris and featuring one of Maurice Jarre’s typically lush scores, this is a minor but enjoyable spy saga.

Saturday 8/30/03

11am Fox Movies
Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957 USA): Directed by Jerry Lewis auteur Frank Tashlin, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? has long been overshadowed by the aforementioned 1956 Jayne Mansfield vehicle, The Girl Can’t Help It. Mansfield had a brief but brilliant career as a comedienne, and she's at the top of her game here, playing Rita Marlowe, an outrageously accoutered movie star whose endorsement for a new brand of lipstick is sought by television ad man Tony Randall. Drenched in glorious color by Deluxe, this is '50s eye-candy of the highest order, and is a pretty funny film to boot. Also airs 8/31 at 1am.

8:45pm Showtime 2
La Cage Aux Folles (1978 FRA): A huge art-house hit in the United States and a popular mainstream release in France, La Cages Aux Folles was another small step in the march towards gay liberation, at least on the cinema screen. Ugo Tognazzi and Michel Serrault star as a couple who try to disguise their “lifestyle choice” from their son’s fiancée and her parents. Remade in 1993 in the United States as The Birdcage, the original is clearly the version to watch, especially as Showtime is treating us to a subtitled print.

Sunday 8/31/03

12:45am Starz!
Series 7: The Contenders (2001 USA): For those who like their reality shows with a dose of fiction, here’s the perfect prescription. The Contenders remains the next logical step for this sort of programming, with contestants literally out to kill each other in an effort to claim the grand prize. Screenwriter-director Daniel Minahan wisely cast Brooke Smith as his lead character, a pregnant Everywoman who desperately needs to win so she can provide her child with a safe and comfortable future. She’s almost matched by lead actor Glenn Fitzgerald as her old love, a man now wracked with AIDS and looking to leave his wife with a nest egg once he’s gone; and the impressive Marylouise Burke as over-the-edge nurse Connie, a little old lady with a mean disposition and a loaded gun.