Box Office Prophets: TiVoPlex

TiVoPlex

By John Seal

December 23-29, 2002

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

Monday 12/23/02

3:00 AM Cinemax
Microcosmos (1996 FRA-SWI-ITA): Terrific insects'-eye view documentary of life in a French meadow. Watch out for the dung beetle! A great film for inquisitive kids who like gross, squishy things, Microcosmos has phenomenal photography and absolutely no dialogue or narration, so the sensitive can feel free to scream as loud as necessary at the sight of countless creepy-crawlies filling the screen. Also airs at 6:00 PM.

8:05 AM Flix
Electra Glide In Blue (1973 USA): Flix reverted to a pan and scan print for the last few broadcasts of this quirky 70s drama, but now they're back to the widescreen version, and we can recommend it again. Robert Blake delivers one of his best performances as a very, very short CHP officer whose insistence on 'going by the book' drives his fellow Chips to distraction. Conrad Hall's cinematography does a great job of capturing those sweeping desert vistas and we even get to enjoy the dubious pleasures of rock super group Chicago!

Tuesday 12/24/02

10:35 PM Flix
Where's Poppa? (1969 USA): Christmas Eve, and whilst the pickings under the tree may be improving, the pickings in the TiVoPlex are mighty slim. Carl Reiner's black comedy about love and senility is the best I can offer. The film stars George Segal as a young man trying to get out from under the wings of his addled mother, played with verve by the always delightful Ruth Gordon. With supporting performances by Vincent Gardenia, Rob 'thanks for the paycheck, dad' Reiner, and Paul Sorvino, this looks to be an entertaining if politically incorrect little film.

Wednesday 12/25/02

3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
From the Manger to the Cross (1912 USA): Here's a very rare and very religious silent feature from the Vitagraph Corporation. Reputedly the first 'feature length' American film, it was filmed on location in the Middle East at what must have been considerable expense. Primarily of interest to film students and connoisseurs of silent cinema (not to mention Christians), this fascinating historical document won't be airing for at least another year, so catch it now!

3:40 AM More Max
The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946 USA): Told many times since (and in the case of Luchino Visconti's Senso, before), this is still the definitive version of James M. Cain's powerful novel. Bumping heads with the production code in a big way, the film manages nonetheless to produce a palpable aura of eroticism, as drifter John Garfield falls into a murder scheme with bored wife Lana Turner. This is an atypical MGM film with a great supporting cast, including Audrey Totter, Hume Cronyn, and Cecil Kellaway as the in-the-way husband who's got to go.

9:00 PM IFC
Sisters (1973 USA): The only time Brian De Palma really did the Hitchcock homage right, Sisters is a lively tale of psychological horror that features a sterling Bernard Herrmann score (hmmm, maybe that helped nail the Hitchcock thing) and the best use De Palma ever made of his trademarked split screen effects. It's absolutely essential to see the film widescreen to appreciate the split screen work, so here's your chance. Also airs 12/26 at 3:00 AM.

Thursday 12/26/02

1:15 AM More Max
Bread And Roses (2000 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 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.

9:00 AM Fox Movies
Panic In the Streets (1950 USA): A terrific suspense film with a noir attitude, Panic In the Streets chronicles the efforts of a doctor and policeman trying to track down the source of bubonic plague before it spreads throughout the city of New Orleans. Directed by Elia Kazan and adapted by Richard Murphy, the film features one of Richard Widmarks' best performances as Doctor Clint Reed, as well as the debut of Jack Palance as an unwitting carrier of the dread disease. The underappreciated Paul Douglas plays police officer Tom Warren, and he and Widmark make an excellent pairing in this early take on the buddy movie. Also airs at 11:00 PM.

11:30 AM Turner Classic Movies
Follow That Dream (1962 USA): There were good Elvis movies after King Creole. Repeat after me: there WERE good Elvis movies after King Creole, and this is one of them. Admittedly it's no Jailhouse Rock, but it's miles better than unwatchable fluff like Frankie and Johnny and It Happened At the World's Fair. Having said all that, the TCM schedule indicates this is NOT going to be a widescreen broadcast, so there's even more reason to skip it. Nonetheless, I'm very fond of this film. Elvis has a decent role-as a sharecropper's son trying to find a new home with his extended family-and he doesn't sing a lot. (I'm as big an Elvis fan as any, but when Elvis sings in one of his 60s movies, it's usually embarrassing.) Arthur O'Connell is marvelous as Elvis' dad, Simon Oakland plays a hood who can't come to grips with the King's disingenuous manner, and there's the usual assortment of Memphis Mafia floating in the background. Elvis doesn't Do the Clam, nor does he have Room to Rhumba In a Sports Car, but he does the humble thing real fine, ma'am.

11:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Nowhere to Go (1958 GB): This obscure British crime movie was one of the last films from Ealing Studios and stars George Nader, a gay American actor about to establish himself as secret agent Jerry Cotton in a series of popular-in-West Germany spy movies. Directed by Basil Dearden and Seth Holt, the film also features Maggie Smith in her first credited role as well as Bernard Lee, Harry 'Steptoe and Son' Corbett, and Lionel Jeffries.

Friday 12/27/02

3:00 AM Turner Classic Movies
Here Comes Mr. Jordan (1941 USA): Confusingly remade with Warren Beatty in 1978 as Heaven Can Wait, this is the vastly superior original about a deceased boxer who gets a second chance at life as a millionaire. Mr. Jordan is the angel who provides him with transportation between life on Earth and life in Heaven, and the role seems tailor-made for the dapper Claude Rains. Boxer Joe Pendleton is played by Robert Montgomery, a leading man I never had much affinity for, but he can't be faulted for his work here. This is one of the most memorable MGM fantasies, right up there with On Borrowed Time and A Guy Named Joe.

4:00 AM HBO2
Southern Comfort (2001 USA): I'm happy to report that this HBO documentary is well deserving of the praise it received at Sundance and the SF Film Festival. The story of a year in the life-and death-of a female to male transsexual named Robert Eads, Southern Comfort moved me more than any other documentary since Silverlake Life in 1993. A reminder of the resilience, strength, and courage of humanity, this is simple and powerful filmmaking. Also airs at 7:00 AM.

7:00 PM Encore
The Fly II (1986 USA): My guilty pleasure pick of the week, this sequel to David Cronenberg's squishy remake of The Fly keeps the goo factor high while managing to tell a relatively engaging and somewhat thoughtful story. Eric Stoltz plays Martin Brundle, the slightly off-kilter offspring of the first film's Seth Brundle. Stoltz will never be mistaken as a great actor, but he portrays well the innocence of a man whose life has been spent in the confines of a scientific laboratory and the strangeness of a man born into the world with fly genes stapled to his human DNA. Lee Richardson is deliciously evil as Bartok, the venture capitalist responsible for continuing to play God with Brundle's life, and Daphne Zuniga is a reasonably unannoying gal pal supplied for love interest. Also airs at 10:00 PM.

Saturday 12/28/02

9:00 AM Fox Movies
Seven Women from Hell (1961 USA): Another slow day, so here's a Fox obscurity that probably won't be anything to write home about. Shot in Cinemascope, the film features Cesar Romero in a wartime tale of resistance fighters in the Philippines. And who are the 'seven women'? Patricia Owen (Al Hedison's long-suffering wife from the 1958 version of The Fly), Parisian Denise Darcel, Margia Dean (Superman and the Mole Men), Yvonne 'Batgirl' Craig, Pilar Seurat (memorable in John Frankenheimer's The Young Savages), and the otherwise unknown Evadne Baker and Sylvia Daneel. Sounds like more than enough to keep the Imperial Japanese Army under control. Also airs at 11:00 PM.

12:15 PM The Movie Channel
Tapeheads (1988 USA): This flawed but at times hilarious comedy stars then newcomers Tim Robbins and John Cusack as two inept security guards who switch careers and start their own video production company. Ooo, topical! Musical guests include Sam Moore and Junior Walker, and Stiv Bators appears as heavy metal star Dick Slammer. It hasn't aged gracefully, but it wasn't very graceful to start with, and there are enough laughs to keep any but the most hidebound entertained.

Sunday 12/29/02

7:00 PM Turner Classic Movies
Brannigan (1975 GB): Gosh, what a week. I'm reduced to recommending this late period John Wayne movie, a set-in-London crime movie with Wayne in a 'fish out of water' scenario as a tough Chicago cop bringing back an American mobster from the land of finger sandwiches, tea breaks, and Branston Pickle. Mmm, Branston Pickle…anyway, the film is ably directed by Douglas Hickox and is well stocked with British actors, including Richard Attenborough, Judy Geeson, and James Booth. The baddies are played by Mel Ferrer and John Vernon, so North America is well represented, too. A letter-boxed print makes this one the pick of a very skimpy day.