TCM
TiVo ALERT
For
August
1–August 7
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
CHINA
SYNDROME (August 1, 5:45 pm): This 1979 anti-nuclear
film is anchored by excellent writing and a cast of terrific actors,
most notably Jack Lemmon and Michael Douglas, who also produced it. A
television news crew goes into a nuclear power plant by chance during
an emergency shutdown. We later find out that the plant is about to
go into meltdown mode. We get corporate greed, government corruption
and how the demand for energy results in people compromising their
integrity. By coincidence, the film was released 12 days before the
infamous Three Mile Island partial nuclear meltdown, giving credence
to the message of the China Syndrome during the
height of the "no-nukes" period.
ADVISE
AND CONSENT (August 3,
2:15 am): This 1962 film about the confirmation process of a
secretary of state nominee (Henry Fonda) was ahead of its time.
Having the president (Franchot Tone) dying while the proceedings are
occurring is overdramatic, but the storyline rings true with politics
of later years that saw and still see numerous presidential nominees
have their entire lives scrutinized just for the sake of partisanship
and not for the betterment of the country. It's dialogue heavy, but
the dialogue is so good that it elevates the quality of the film. The
cast is excellent with Fonda, Lew Ayres, Charles Laughton,
Walter Pidgeon, and Burgess Meredith (in a small but memorable role)
- and outstanding directing by Otto Preminger.
The film is interesting, intelligent and compelling.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
LOVE
FINDS ANDY HARDY (August 4, 6:00 am): The Andy Hardy
series at MGM was the most profitable B-movies series ever made. They
were essentially B-movies with an A-budget and style. Sure, they were
corny as hell and tried to evoke an America that didn’t even exist
at that time, but they are a lot of fun to watch, although I think it
all comes down to how one feels about Mickey Rooney. This one tends
to stand out due to the supporting cast, specifically Lana Turner and
Judy Garland. Turner’s a wonder to behold here, with her natural
auburn hair (before it was bleached), and Garland plays the role of a
young girl with a crush on Andy Hardy almost to perfection. And she
gets to sing, as well. The plot, with Andy minding his friend Beezy’s
girlfriend (Turner) while he’s away, and the sidebar, with Mrs.
Hardy having to travel to Canada to nurse her sick mother, are
nominal. It’s the Rooney-Garland relationship that comes to the
center of the film. The only flaw in the pudding is that Andy’s
girlfriend, Polly Benedict, is also conveniently away for the
holidays, so we miss out on the gorgeous Ann Rutherford for most of
the film. Also look for the young Gene Reynolds (who went on to
become a prolific television director) as a young friend of Andy’s.
I
AM A FUGITIVE FROM A CHAIN GANG (August 6, 8:00 pm):
Warner Brothers used to boast that they ripped the stories of their
films “right out of the headlines,” and in this case it was true.
This film, easily the best Mervyn Leroy ever directed, was based on
the famous case of Robert Eliot Burns, who was a true victim of
circumstance, landing on the infamous Georgia chain gang for a crime
he didn’t commit. He escaped, twice, and led a life on the run,
exposing the truth of his story and the brutality of the Georgia
chain gang system in a best-selling book. This film brilliantly
displays the brutal conditions, allowing no subplots and keeping the
action focused on its subject. Easily the best of Warner Brothers’
Pre-code films, it still retains a strong punch today.
WE
DISAGREE ON ... CAT BALLOU (August 1, 9:15 pm)
ED:
B+. This comic
Western about a prim and proper lady (Jane Fonda) who forms a gang of
outlaws after her father is murdered by a land-grabbing corporation
would normally only be worthy of a “C” if it weren’t for the
fact the Lee Marvin, in a dual role, no less, as opposing
gunslingers, walks away with the film. Marvin is a wonder to behold,
especially for those of us who had never seen him play comedy before.
(There’s a good reason for that - this was his first attempt at
comedy. Until then, he had been a heavy, a tough noir hero, or a
bystander in supporting parts.) When we take into consideration that
the film was originally projected to be a B-movie (as Western
comedies weren’t exactly in fashion), our astonishment at Marvin’s
performance grows greater. It was word of mouth about his performance
that enticed people into the theater and made this modest little
comedy a hit. It also earned Marvin a long overdue Academy Award.
DAVID:
C-. There are so
many missteps in this film that it's difficult to know where to
begin. I'll start with the lead actress, Jane Fonda. While she's
great to look at, she isn't believable in the slightest bit as the
prim aspiring school teacher or as the kick-ass outlaw. Lee Marvin is
good, and the only reason I don't give this film a D grade. However,
he's not good enough to save this poor Western spoof from being a
poor Western spoof. And who thought Nat King Cole, who was
dying of lung cancer from years of smoking of all things, and Stubby
Kaye as a Greek chorus was a good idea? They're annoying and only add
to the overall mess of a movie. The plot is that of a basic Western,
but its attempts at humor miss by a country mile. It's similar to the
film's only funny scene when Kid Shelleen (Marvin's drunken
gunslinger character who shouldn't be confused with Marvin's other
character, Tim Strawn, his evil brother who is a mostly sober
gunslinger) tries to shoot the side of a barn and misses. As someone
who likes Westerns and comedies, I'm disappointed that this film
doesn't rise to a mediocre level.
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