TCM
TiVo ALERT
For
January
23–January 31
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
BONNIE
AND CLYDE (January 25, 6:00 pm): A groundbreaking
film in terms of style, content and graphic violence from 1967, which
I consider to be among the two or three finest year in cinematic
history. The leads – Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway –
are outstanding in their roles as the famed outlaw duo oozing
passion, violence, charisma and charm at every turn. The supporting
cast – notably Gene Hackman and Estelle Parsons with Gene
Wilder in a small but memorable role – are equally strong. The
movie's violence goes from almost comic to intensely graphic. The
final scene in which the two are shot dozens of times is outstanding,
particularly the quick looks of horror Beatty and Dunaway give each
other when they realize they're about to die a very brutal death. It
conveys more emotion and intensity than almost anything you'll seen
in film. A tidbit on this film, Francois Truffaut was asked to direct
it, but opted instead to make Fahrenheit 451, the
legendary French director's only English-speaking movie.
ALIEN (January
25, 10:15 pm): This 1979 film
still scares the hell out of me. The nearly two-hour film has a slow
build with little happening in the first 45 or so minutes developing
the plot and the suspense that eventually leads to a lot of action.
Sigourney Weaver is Lt. Ripley, a member of a space crew in a sleep
state on its way back to Earth when a distress call is received from
another planet. Of course it's alien life forms and one gets on the
ship causing havoc, death and general mayhem. Super gory in some
cases such as when the alien life form explodes out of the body of
one of the ship members. But it's also a thinking-person's film as
the alien and Weaver match wits and wills in a final climatic scene.
It's largely based on It!
The Terror From Beyond Space,
a very good 1958 B movie, and spawned numerous inferior sequels. But
the original is a sci-fi classic.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
THE
MAN IN THE WHITE SUIT (January 24, 1:45 am): In this
reviewer’s opinion, this is not only the best film to come from
Ealing Studios, but possibly the sharpest satire ever filmed, a
wonderful skewing of the monomaniac with an idea versus those all too
ready to cash in on it – until they see just what the real
consequences are. Alec Guinness is Sidney Stratton, a monomaniacal
scientist who will take the lowliest job offered – provided it’s
at a textile plant, where he can get into the laboratory. Why? So he
can perfect his idea: a suit that never wears out and never needs
cleaning. He actually pulls it off, initially to the excitement of
everyone – until they realize this invention would end up putting
them all out of business. With sterling support by the deliciously
feline, beautiful Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough, and
Ernest Thesiger as the “Mister Big” of the textile industry.
They’ve never been made any better.
TO
BE OR NOT TO BE (January 28, 5:30 pm): They didn’t
call it “the Lubitsch Touch” for nothing, and it’s in full
regalia in this film, an extremely witty send up of Hitler and his
Nazi thugs. Black comedy has never been better than here in the hands
of a true master like Lubitsch. Jack Benny has a role of a lifetime
as the egocentric Polish actor Joseph Tura, who in reality is one of
the biggest hams ever to appear on stage. Carole Lombard, tragically
in her last film, is Tura’s co-star and suffering wife. When the
Germans invade Poland, Tura’s theater is closed and his troupe put
out of business – until they become involved in espionage trying to
save the list of the Polish underground fighters from being handed
over to the Gestapo by a traitor, and they find their acting skills
put to a real test. Lubitsch took quite a beating from critics over
this film, and it was not a success at the box office. Many felt that
treating the Nazis as comical characters was in poor taste, but
Lubitsch defended his position by saying, "What I have
satirized in this picture are the Nazis and their ridiculous
ideology. I have also satirized the attitude of actors who always
remain actors regardless how dangerous the situation might be, which
I believe is a true observation.” Today the film is viewed as a
classic and the 1983 Mel Brooks remake is faithful to the original
both in letter and spirit. Brooks himself echoed Lubitsch by saying
that if one were to argue with a dictator, he would lose because the
dictator has the fanaticism of his ideas, but if one were to take
both the dictator and his ideas and make fun of them, it’s far more
effective in discrediting both. Look for the great opening gag with
Tom Dugan parading around as Der Fuehrer. This is a film not to be
missed.
WE
DISAGREE ON ... FLAMINGO
ROAD (January 23,
12:15 am)
ED:
B+. By the late
‘40s Joan Crawford’s career went into decline, but she could
still rally and give the occasional excellent performance from time
to time. As time passed these turned from occasional to rare, and
finally to nonexistent, to the point where she was simply relying on
her name power to bring viewers to the box office. However, in 1949,
Joan still had it and it shows in this excellent film directed by
Michael Curtiz, who handled her well and kept her from going off the
acting rails. This came from a script that was floating around the
studio for a couple of years and was thought by Jack Warner to be the
perfect vehicle to get Joan to act up and give him cause to cancel
her contract. (Although Mildred
Pierce was a smash
hit, Joan’s followups, Humoresque and Possessed,
though filled with good performances, failed at the box office.) But
although she came through with a well-mannered performance, it was
Curtiz, who chose the supporting cast and coming through with some
great, moody atmosphere using lots of dark shadows, that made the
film into a box office hit. Zachary Scott is excellent as Joan’s
lover, a deputy sheriff in a corrupt county where thoroughly corrupt
sheriff Sydney Greenstreet runs the show in arguably his best
performance since The
Maltese Falcon. In an
era where a sort of Southern Gothic was beginning to make an
influence in the movies, this film exudes a sweaty and delirious aura
that makes it compelling, with Joanie firmly in the center as a
stranded carnival dancer who gets – and gives – much more than
she bargained for. Even those who don’t care for Crawford will find
much to enjoy here.
DAVID:
C-. I'm
not suggesting viewers avoid this 1949 film, but take it for what it
is: an outrageously ridiculous mess. Joan Crawford, 44 years old
at the time, plays a sexy carnival cooch dancer (a role that is
suited for a woman in her early 20s) left behind in a small hick
town. Between her and Sydney Greenstreet, the amount of scenery that
is chewed – particularly, when they are together, which
is often – is amazing. The two of them try to make the most of
a film with a weak, predictable script, but come up short in being
entertaining. Crawford's character falls for a guy but dumps him for
the richest guy in town, who lives on Flamingo Road. She goes
toe-to-toe with Greenstreet, who plays a corrupt Southern sheriff (is
there such a thing in cinema as an honest Southern sheriff?) and
political kingmaker. Joan loses it when the sheriff tries to make her
original boyfriend, an alcoholic deputy sheriff, into a gubernatorial
candidate. The poor sap (played by Zachary Scott) can't handle the
pressure and corruption anymore, and commits suicide. Joan tries to
take down Greenstreet, and during a struggle, accidentally shoots and
kills him. The movie ends with Joan in the slammer and her husband
promising to stand by his woman. The film is filled with cliched
lines and characters. While it's certainly not Mildred
Pierce, made only four years prior, it's also nowhere nearly as
bad as Joan's films of the 1960s. I don't know if that's a fair
comparison as few movies are as bad as her 1960s films.
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