TiVoPlex

By John Seal

October 14-20, 2002

The weather's getting colder and the pull of the boob tube is overwhelming! You can put your feet up in the TiVoPlex and relax with another week's worth of quality moving pictures! All times PDT.

Monday 10/14/02

9:00pm Fox Movie Channel
Cinderella Liberty (1973 USA): James Caan's finest work is on display in this adaptation of Darryl Ponicsan's novel. Ponicsan also wrote The Last Detail, a superb slice of Navy life that was also adapted for the screen with great success in the same year. I haven't read the source material for this film, but the result is a fine example of character-driven '70s cinema. Caan plays a sailor whose Navy paperwork gets misplaced. As a result, he hangs around portside, meeting and falling in love with single mom and all-around woman-of-ill repute Marsha Mason. Mason is superb in a tough role, and the film has a rough but bittersweet edge that ultimately leads to a happy ending. Not the wide-screen print Fox sometimes airs, but worth seeing. Also airs on Encore Love Stories 10/17 at 9:05pm.

Tuesday 10/15/02

7:00am Fox Movie Channel
Lifeboat (1944 USA): Alfred Hitchcock's story of a boatful of torpedoed survivors at sea is one of his least gimmicky and most affecting films. The survivors include a German sailor, and the film deals with the most basic themes of humanity and racism. Underlining this is the presence of a black steward, played effectively by Canada Lee. The rest of the cast is excellent, if somewhat overshadowed by the presence of Tallulah Bankhead. Also airs 10/16 on Black Starz! at 3:30am.

9:00am Fox Movie Channel
Pickup on South Street (1953 USA): This tough-as-nails take on communist subversion in Cold War America is one of the few films dealing with that theme, and from that period, that remains watchable. Director Samuel Fuller was always at his best with morally compromised characters, and he has one of the best in this film's Richard Widmark character, a petty criminal who gets sucked into intrigue and espionage. The film's heartbeat belongs, of course, to the wonderful Thelma Ritter, excellent as always. Also airs at 11:00pm.

6:30pm Turner Classic Movies
Hitler's Children (1943 USA): TCM has a block of Nazi-themed movies this evening, starting out with this naïve (in retrospect) look at the horrors of life in Hitler's Germany. A good second-string cast, led by Tim Holt, Bonita Granville, and Hans Conried, do their best to overcome the hackneyed script. It's followed at 8:00pm by the wonderfully-titled Hangmen Also Die (1943 USA), Fritz Lang's take on the assassination of Reinhard Heydrich in 1942. Somehow Walter Brennan got cast as a Czech civilian, but the film is worth watching nonetheless, especially for James Wong Howe's cinematography. Rounding out the night at 10:30pm is Hollywood's other version of the same story, Hitler's Madman (1943 USA). This one is directed by Douglas Sirk, who went on to make so many successful tearjerkers in the 1950s. John Carradine plays Heydrich, and accordingly brings a Shakespearian flare to this villainous role. Sirk's film is a lower-budget affair, but benefits from work by a large crew of European émigrés. No truth, however, to the rumor that They Met in Argentina (1941 USA, being aired at 6:00am the following morning by TCM) deals with the trials and tribulations of Nazi war criminals.

8:45pm HBO 2
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills (1996 USA): A few weeks back, I recommended that anyone planning to watch and enjoy Joe Berlinger's Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2 should first see his two films about the West Memphis Three, and lo and behold, here they are. A lengthy documentary about some particularly loathsome murders and the three teenage boys who were charged and convicted for them, these films will challenge viewers' faith in the criminal justice system. For more information on the case, visit http://www.wm3.org. Also airs at 11:45pm.

Wednesday 10/16/02

3:35am Encore Action
Project A (1983 HK): This is one of Jackie Chan's most enjoyable films, dealing with turn-of-the-20th century piracy in the waters just off the coast of Hong Kong. Jackie and Sammo Hung are both in top form, and there's a deliciously evil performance by Dick Wei as the chief baddie. Also airs at noon.

5:15am Encore Action
When Worlds Collide (1951 USA): There are few science fiction films from the '50s that can still invoke a sense of wonder. This is one of them, as mankind is forced to adapt to Planet Earth's looming destruction due to an oncoming collision with a roving planet. The film must have been particularly effective for Cold War audiences, but it's still a gem.

1:00pm Turner Classic Movies
The Young Stranger (1957 USA): I haven't seen this early John Frankenheimer film, but there's a good cast on hand (Whit Bissell, the recently-deceased James Gregory, and the recently-deceased Kim Hunter) and the topic - the then-recently discovered Generation Gap - should make this worthwhile. It's sad to think that Gregory, Hunter, and Frankenheimer all died within a three-month period this year.

8:50pm HBO 2
Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000 USA): Here's the second part of Joe Berlinger's film, a follow-up to the events and trials covered in Part 1. The ongoing tragedy of the West Memphis 3 continues.

11:55pm Encore Action
Truck Turner (1973 USA): This week's dose of black action comes complete with super-cool Isaac Hayes, here playing a bounty hunter out to get what's coming to him. Yaphet Kotto co-stars, and Star Trek heroine Nichelle Nichols is on hand in a decidedly out-of-character role.

Thursday 10/17/02

1:00am Encore Action
War of the Worlds (1953 USA): Another stunning science-fiction film from producer George Pal (who also produced When Worlds Collide!), this is the best film adaptation of the famous H. G. Wells novel. I say that with confidence, as the forthcoming Hollywood remake will surely pale in comparison, even though it will undoubtedly feature larger and more explosive explosions and gooier aliens. Shot in glorious and gaudy Technicolor, this film features some terrific spaceships and some very fleeting - but very effective - peeks at the Martian invaders.

11:15am Showtime 3
Who'll Stop the Rain (1978 USA): Ah, a Nick Nolte film from when he was an out-of-control bad boy…good to know some things never change. Nolte plays a Vietnam vet who gets mixed up in running heroin for his wartime pal, the always-excellent Michael Moriarty. This is one of the few instances where a popular song (the Creedence Clearwater Revival hit of the same name) actually seems to belong on the soundtrack and doesn't simply serve as filler or a marketing tool. Also airs 10/20 at 8:00pm and on Showtime Extreme 10/19 at 4:50pm.

2:30pm Turner Classic Movies
Hush…Hush, Sweet Charlotte (1964 USA): Robert Aldrich's Southern Gothic is a film very much in the vein of Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962 USA), another film based on a Henry Farrell novel that featured Bette Davis as a fading harridan. This time, she plays opposite Olivia de Havilland instead of Joan Crawford, but the result is much the same, an entertaining early '60s grotesquerie that wouldn't have been out of place as an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

5:00pm Turner Classic Movies
Freaks (1932 USA): Tod Browning's classic take on carnival life features the unofficial Box Office Prophets Fight Song. It remains one of the most disturbing and horrifying films of all time. If you've never seen it, here's your once-a-year chance. You will not forget it.

8:30pm Turner Classic Movies
The Unknown (1927 USA): Not quite as well known as Browning's sound films, The Unknown is nonetheless an outstanding example of silent horror, featuring a brilliant performance by Lon Chaney as an apparently armless circus knife-thrower. He wants to win the heart of a young Joan Crawford, who has a fervid fear of men's appendages (I'm not making this up; only Tod Browning could do that). You won't believe the conclusion.

11:00pm Flix
Joyride (1977 USA): This road movie is an underappreciated example of the genre and stars a 20-year-old Melanie Griffith before she became incredibly annoying. Griffith plays a young woman who heads off on a road trip to Alaska with her good buddies Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Robert Carradine (always the least appreciated and most talented brother, in my opinion). They hit some speed bumps on the way and turn to a life of crime. Complications ensue.

11:30pm Turner Classic Movies
Mask of Fu Manchu (1932 USA): Turn off your PC meter; here's Boris Karloff as the great Chinese villain, out to subjugate the Occidental world. Featuring Myrna Loy as his daughter, this is a fine example of pre-Code horror. Watch for Jean "One Day They'll Name an Award After Me" Hersholt in a small role.

Friday 10/18/02

11:00am Encore Westerns
The Beguiled (1971 USA): This odd Clint Eastwood film almost feels like a Gothic horror film, and it actually shares some plot devices with The Unknown (see above). Clint is a Civil War soldier who stumbles into a home for girls' boarding school as the war draws to a close. The film deals with the mythological trappings of the Old South and is one of Eastwood's most unusual films. Also airs at 6:30pm.

5:00pm Fox Movie Channel
Careful, He Might Hear You (1982 AUS): Made at the height of the Australian film boom of the late '70s and early '80s, this is a moving drama of a young boy torn from the bosom of his family by the advent of the Second World War. Featuring Aussie stalwarts John Hargreaves and Wendy Hughes, this is an understated gem.

7:00pm Turner Classic Movies
Soylent Green (1972 USA): Much better than its reputation, Soylent Green was Edward G. Robinson's final film and he delivers an incredibly moving performance. His death scene is particularly riveting, and reminiscent of Jason Robard's similar scene in Magnolia (1999 USA). TCM is airing their wide-screen print, so get your anamorphic TV ready for some yummy thrills with the entire Soylent family of products!

11:00pm Turner Classic Movies
Black Sabbath (1964 ITA): I don't know if TCM is airing the Italian or re-edited American cut of this horror anthology, but it's worth watching for the Boris Karloff episode ("The Wurdulak") alone.

Saturday 10/19/02

5:00am IFC
Blind Swordsman Samaritan (1968 JAP): IFC has been airing many of the Zatoichi films as part of a series called "Samurai Saturdays", and I've been remiss in not recommending them sooner. For those unfamiliar with the character, Zatoichi is a blind tramp who also happens to be a superb swordsman and inveterate gambler. More often than not, the gambling gets him into trouble, and the swordplay gets him out of it. The films were a staple on Japanese screens for many years, and were produced by the Daiei Corporation until that firm went bankrupt in the '70s. Like most Japanese films of the time, they are gorgeous to look at, filmed in (very) wide-screen (many were shot in astounding 2.55:1 or 2.70:1 ratios), and show occasional splatter that was still unusual in American films. Zatoichi was played by Shintaro Katsu, an excellent actor who owned the role for close to 30 years. Also airs at 11:00am and 10/20 at 3:00am.

1:30pm Encore Mystery
Repulsion (1965 GB): Roman Polanski's English-language debut is a disturbing tale of mental disintegration. This was also Catherine Deneuve's first English role, and she's perfectly cast as an unstable young woman trying to come to grips with a lonely and foreign existence.

Sunday 10/20/02

2:05am More Max
Hit! (1972 USA): There was a time when Billy Dee Williams was known neither for selling King Cobra malt liquor nor for portraying Lando Calrissian. He once was a talented young actor, and his skills were never on better display than in this very long (134 minutes) Mafia movie that also features a terrific performance by Richard Pryor. This is NOT a blaxploitation film, however; it's actually a pretty straight crime film, directed well by Sidney Furie, the Canadian responsible for such excellent films as The Leather Boys and The Boys of Company C.

4:05am Black Starz!
The Incident (1967 USA): One of the first films to really play up the overwhelming fear of crime that was to define the city of New York in the '70s and early '80s, The Incident stars Tony Musante and a young Martin Sheen as two toughs who take over a subway car and terrorize the passengers. Riveting stuff, if a little dated.

7:00pm Showtime Extreme
Vigilante (1982 USA): And speaking of out-of-control crime, here's another of those films where the characters have to take the law into their own hands. This time it's up to good guy (?) Fred Williamson. The film also features Robert Forster and is directed by William "Maniac Cop" Lustig. Grind-house thrills aplenty!

9:00pm Turner Classic Movies
Haunted Castle (1921 GER): Closing as we always do with Silent Sundays on TCM, here's yet another horror rarity, this time by F. W. Murnau, the incredibly talented director of Nosferatu (1922) and Sunrise (1927). I've never seen it, but it's Murnau's earliest surviving work and should not be missed.