TCM
TiVo ALERT
For
July
1–July 7
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
VILLAGE
OF THE DAMNED (July
3, 12:45 pm): An exceptionally well-done and thoughtful sci-fi
film. One day all the people and animals in a quaint English
town become unconscious, wake up and two months later, all the women
capable of having children are pregnant. In all, 12
very white-looking kids are born. The children are
geniuses, are able to read minds and control others to do whatever
they want, including murder and suicide. As time passes, a professor
from the village (George Sanders) decides he's going to teach the
mutant kids, who want to take over the world, to use their powers for
good. While a noble idea, it's also poorly thought out as these
children are serious about world dominance. Realizing he's not
going to win, the professor plants a bomb to destroy the kids,
and thinks of a brick wall in order for the children to not read his
mind. Films like this can easily become cliche and
embarrassingly bad, but this one is special. Sanders is fantastic and
the kids are great. It's a very entertaining horror film.
THE
DEVIL'S DISCIPLE (July 4, 6:30 pm): Burt Lancaster
and Kirk Douglas co-starred in a number of excellent films, but
besides Seven Days in May, this is their best
together. The Devil's Disciple is a delightfully
funny story of a straight-laced preacher (Lancaster) and a colonial
rebel (Douglas) during the Revolutionary War. Add Sir Laurence
Olivier as British General John Burgoyne and a screenplay based on
the George Bernard Shaw play and you've got an outstanding film
that's a must-see for anyone who considers themselves a film fan. The
chance to see Lancaster, Douglas and Olivier in a film is reason
enough to see this. On top of that, it's funny, lively, filled with
action and incredibly entertaining.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
THIS
LAND IS MINE (July 2, 7:15 am): Jean Renoir’s
classic about Occupied France still packs something of a punch years
later because of the performance of its star, Charles Laughton. He is
terrific as the mild-mannered schoolteacher living in a constant
struggle between his fears and his responsibilities. Though we’re
told at the beginning that the film is set “Somewhere in Occupied
Europe,” we know Renoir is talking about his homeland. With an
excellent supporting cast including Maureen O’Hara as his colleague
and unrequited love, George Sanders as O’Hara’s turncoat
betrothed, Una O’Connor, and Walter Slezak in fine form as the Nazi
heel, this film succeeds in showing us that life in a occupied
country is not as easy as first imagined. Also give Renoir kudos for
staying out of writer Dudley Nicholas’ way, not an easy task
considering the subject matter.
ATTACK
OF THE 50-FOOT WOMAN (July 5, 12:00 pm): This is
it – the quintessential drive-in movie made by three guys
who made their fortune in the drive-in business, the Woolner
Brothers. Made for $89,000, it grossed around $480,000 in its initial
theatrical run. Yes, but isn’t this a bad movie? You bet it is, and
that’s the fun of it. Leonard Maltin describes it perfectly when he
calls it “Hilariously awful sci-fi with some of the funniest
special effects of all time.” The purpose of a movie is to
entertain, and with this one, we know just what we’re getting,
unlike many of the big-budget borefests that scarred the cinema
landscape of the ‘60s. Watch for the scene when the almost
transparent giant alien (courtesy of lousy double exposure) lifts the
sheriff’s car. When he throws it to the ground, it is clearly a
different make and style. It’s just another reason why I love
movies.
WE
DISAGREE ON ... WHO'S AFRAID OF VIRGINIA WOOLF? (July 5,
8:00 pm)
ED:
C+. It’s amazing
to me the number of people I know that absolutely hate this film as
Liz and Dick tire of making glossy soap operas and go the slob actor
route instead. The trouble with the film, after one gets over the
shock of seeing Liz and Dick as two booze-soaked domestic fighters,
is that it gets so repetitious that it becomes tiring to watch. Lines
are repeated over and over again as Liz and Dick try to scandalize
the young couple they invited over for drinks (and drinks and drinks
and drinks) as it takes us what seems like an eternity to get to the
punchline: that Liz and Dick never had a son after all. Liz’s
opening line, “What a dump!” is lifted from the Bette Davis camp
stinker, Beyond the
Forest, and makes us
wonder how much better this would be if it were Bette playing Martha.
(Jack Warner, in negotiations with the play’s author, Edward Albee,
told Albee that Davis and James Mason would star.) Albee’s
wonderful satire of academic married life is turned into a turgid
Freudian piece of slop, notable only for the fact that Liz looks
slovenly and says such things as “son of a bitch,” phrases
intended to shock us and pass the word of mouth around to generate
interest in the film when it was originally released. The only reason
I graded it as high as I did was because of the direction of Mike
Nichols, who does a decent job. Yes, some cheese gets riper as it
ages; other cheeses simply grow mold. This film is of the latter.
DAVID:
D+. This is likely the most overrated film in
cinematic history. Nominated for Oscars in all 13 categories in which
it was eligible, it won five, including Elizabeth Taylor's second
Best Actress award (as equally undeserving as her first win
for Butterfield 8). Unlike Ed, I'm amazed at the number
of people who love this film. Yes, people often fall all over
themselves praising films in reviews on IMDB.com, but it's taken to a
ridiculous level with Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? An
interesting twist to this film is it's the first time in the history
of the "We Disagree" feature in which we both dislike the
film and try to outdo each other articulating our contempt for it.
It's an utter piece of garbage. Taylor fattened herself to play
Martha (and never lost the weight) with Richard Burton, her real-life
husband at the time of this 1966 movie, doing what he normally did at
the time – drink a lot. He plays Taylor's on-screen
spouse, George, a history professor at a small New England college,
who aspired to be much more. The film consists of the two of them
bitterly arguing about everything, which gets tiring very quickly.
The two of them argue in particular about their son. As Ed wrote, it
takes an eternity for them to admit they don't have a son. That seems
rather ridiculous as they live in a small town, Liz is the daughter
of the college's president and it would be hard to conceal such an
elaborate lie. It's difficult to focus on the film, which is 132
minutes in length, as it's not compelling. It comes across as it is:
a play converted into a movie without much thought about how to
properly adapt it to the big screen. The two of them verbally spar in
front of a young couple, played by George Segal and Sandy Dennis.
Dennis won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her performance.
Burton and Segal were nominated for Oscars, but didn't win. The young
couple unsuccessfully try to leave as Dick and Liz yell at each
other. The arguing and bickering is somewhat impressive as it had to
be a challenge to their mouths as the two chew the scenery at an
unprecedented level. Instead of just walking away from a nightmare of
an evening, the young couple spends hours with Segal getting into bed
with Taylor at one point. Ed believes Mike Nichols did a "decent
job" directing the film. I contend he failed to keep control
over Burton and Taylor, and did a poor job in his film directorial
debut. Yes, the two are supposed to be verbally cruel to each other,
but the film quickly gets to the point where the arguing goes over
the top that it loses its effectiveness, and as Ed wrote, it just
repeats itself. The film is praised for its groundbreaking profane
dialogue and sexual innuendo, but the movie doesn't hold up today and
comes across as more annoying than shocking.
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