TCM
TiVo ALERT
For
May
8–May 14
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
THE
BEST MAN (May 8, 8:00 pm): While dated primarily
because political party national conventions are no longer where
presidential nominees are selected, this 1964 film is among the
finest ever made about politics. Henry Fonda and Cliff Robertson play
the two leading presidential nominees of a political party (while
never specified, it's likely the Democrats as Fonda's character is
very similar to Adlai Stevenson and you can see Bobby Kennedy, Harry
S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson in others). The backroom deals,
exploiting the opponent's weaknesses and not-so-hidden secrets, and
political trading are expertly portrayed by a fine cast – with
Lee Tracy as the Truman-like former president stealing nearly every
scene he's in – along with an excellent script from Gore
Vidal, who wrote the play of which the film is based.
WALKABOUT (May
9, 1:45 am): A marvelous 1971 Australian film about a teenage girl
and her younger brother who become stranded in the outback after
their father goes crazy, tries to shoot them and then kills himself.
The two are hopelessly out of their element and are as good as dead
when a young Aborigine boy, who is on a right-of-passage quest, helps
them survive. Even though they don't speak the same language, the
Aborigine and white siblings learn to communicate and become close
friends. The images and the powerful connection between the three are
incredible to experience. It's a beautiful, emotional film and an
important one in cinematic history.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
STELLA
DALLAS (May 10, 8:00 pm): It’s Barbara Stanwyck
giving one of her finest performances in what is really the
definitive soap opera. Stanwyck is Stella Dallas, a woman who had it
all when she married rich, socially prominent mill owner Stephen
Dallas (John Boles), but her refusal to control her wild ways led to
divorce. Now Stella must sacrifice by stepping out of her daughter
Laurel‘s life so Laurel (Anne Shirley) can marry and achieve a
place in society. Also look for Alan Hale in his best performance as
Stella’s trashy boyfriend. But in the end, the reason to watch is
Stanwyck, who gives a five-hankie performance in a film that
catapulted her to superstardom.
HAUSU (May
10, 3:45 am): One of the most surreal films ever to come from
Japan, Hausu can best be described as a
teens-meet-demon-killers-in-a-haunted-house movie filmed as a surreal
fairy tale and decked out in bright candy colors. The girls, who have
names such as Gorgeous, Melody, Prof, Fantasy, Kung Fu, Sweet, and
Mac, go with Gorgeous to meet her benign spinster aunt. But once they
arrive they discover that nothing is as it seems and the girls
disappear one by one until the horrible secret is revealed. When I
first saw this I had to see it twice because I couldn’t believe
what I was seeing. You may have the same experience. At any rate,
it’s one helluva ride.
WE
DISAGREE ON ... BOOM TOWN (May 9, 1:30 pm)
ED:
A-. Clark Gable and
Spencer Tracy made for one the best buddy combos in movies.
Basically, they’re playing the same characters they did in San
Francisco: Gable is a
colorful, rough-hewn Texas version of Rhett Butler. He lives and
romances large. Tracy is the solid, down-to-earth partner who
performs as Gable’s conscience, as he did in San
Francisco. Their
friendship and their fortunes survive several ups and downs over the
years, and they mesh well together, with Tracy underplaying his role
to the larger-than-life Gable. The reason I didn’t grade this
higher was because I felt the female leads could have been better
cast. Colbert is good, but someone in the mold of Jean Arthur would
have been better. As for Hedy Lamarr, well, at this point in her
career she couldn’t act to save her life; anyone would have been an
improvement. However, we’re not tuning in to this movie to see
Colbert and Lamarr. We’re watching for Gable and Tracy, and they do
not let us down. Boom
Town is solid
entertainment.
DAVID:
B-. With a casting
boasting Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, Claudette Colbert, Frank Morgan
and Hedy Lamarr, I expected significantly more than what I got
from Boom Town,
a 1940 release from MGM. Gable and Tracy are oil wildcatters who go
from one rig to another, all the while trying to strike it rich.
Overall, the acting isn't that strong, which is very disappointing.
The slapstick is too much at times, and the film is sometimes boring
as the love-story angle hurts the movie as we get more of that than
action. The film isn't awful, but fails to deliver as I was expecting
excellent and got above average. It's too predictable for me to give
it a grade higher than a B- and even then the grade is more for the
film's potential and casting than its actual execution.
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