TCM
TiVo ALERT
For
January
23–January 31
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
INHERIT
THE WIND (January 25, 4:00 pm): An all-star cast –
featuring Spencer Tracy, Fredric March, Gene Kelly, Claude Akins, and
Harry Morgan – do a splendid job in this well-written film
adaption of this fictionalized version of the famous 1925 Scopes
Monkey Trial in which a teacher in the South is brought up on
criminal charges for teaching the theory of evolution to his high
school class. Most of the film takes place in a courtroom. The film,
expertly directed by Stanley Kramer, gives viewers the feeling of
being in that hot, packed courtroom with hostility in the air. While
the storyline is an attack on Creationism, the actual target of this
1960 film is McCarthyism.
THE
DISCREET CHARM OF THE BOURGEOISIE (January 26, 10:00
pm): Expertly directed by the great Luis Bunuel, this 1972 surrealist
movie, which won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, mixes
reality with dreams as a group of six bourgeoisie friends repeatedly
try to have dinner together only to have it fail every time. The
first effort is a scheduling mistake, but with each passing attempt,
the excuses become more and more bizarre from going to an empty
restaurant with lousy service and loud crying as the owner died a few
hours prior and the staff is crying over his dead body to the
interruption of French soldiers to learning they don't really exist
and are part of a stage play. The movie has everything from
exceptionally funny scenes to biting satire with a strong, and very
strange, storyline and solid performances by the actors. It's a
scathing indictment of the shallowness of the ruling class yet it
also portrays them in a sympathetic light. It's a difficult balancing
act but this film manages to pull it off in an approachable and
entertaining way.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
CARRY
ON CABBY (January 24, 10:30 am): The Carry On films
have always held a special place in my heart. When I was in the
8th grade, they were shown at 1:00 on Monday mornings
by Channel 4 in New York, and I used to stay up to catch them, which
made for some sleepy Mondays in school. But I loved them; their
lowbrow humor never failed to make me laugh, and I count this one as
my personal favorite. The great Sidney James is the owner of a
successful taxicab company who is so involved in his business that he
forgets his wedding anniversary. To get revenge, his wife, played by
the hilarious Hattie Jacques, starts her own cab company, called
“Glamcabs” and staffed by female drivers. Soon she’s dominating
the business and poor Sid can’t figure out why his competition is
always one step ahead of him. Also starring series regulars Kenneth
Connor and Charles Hawtrey.
TOKYO
STORY (January 25, 3:00 am): One of the true and
enduring classics of the cinema. Director Yazujiro Ozu’s portrait
of the elderly in a rapidly changing Postwar Japan is both touching
and poignant. An elderly couple (Chishu Ryu and Chiyeko Higashiyama)
travel to the city to visit their children, who have no time for them
and treat them rather tactlessly. It is a powerful look at the
problems of the elderly, the disappointments parents face with their
children, the children’s fear of growing older, and how the
traditional values as pertains to families are disappearing as Japan
becomes more and more modernized. To put it succinctly, it’s a
masterpiece that should not be missed.
WE
DISAGREE ON ... THE CANDIDATE (January 27, 8:00 pm)
ED:
B. The Candidate is a slickly produced,
well-acted film that, unfortunately, comes up short on
substance. The film expects us to believe that a politician running
for the Senate can be a hardcore idealist, and, further, would be
more concerned about having the campaign be based on "truth and
values" rather than opinion polls and winning. Of course, our
candidate has to be a Democrat, because the Republicans – as
we know – are just evil and must be destroyed.
But being as this is Hollywood and Redford, what can we expect? In
the end, rather than being a study of the American electoral
process, it's a motion picture advertisement for the Democratic
Party. That is the only insight one will walk away with after
this movie is over.
DAVID:
A. This film is among the finest political satires
I've ever seen, and its message of having to sell your soul and give
up your integrity to get elected is more relevant today than it was
when The Candidate came out in 1972. Robert Redford
is Bill McKay, a liberal attorney and son of a former California
governor (played by the great Melvyn Douglas), recruited by
Democratic political operative Marvin Lucas (Peter Boyle) for a
longshot challenge to popular Republican Senator Crocker Jarmon (Don
Porter). No known Democrat will challenge Jarmon so the party is just
looking for anyone to get into the race. Lucas tells McKay he can say
whatever he wants on the campaign trail if he runs. McKay agrees, but
the plan isn't working. McKay appeals to other liberals, but he isn't
making much headway with anyone else. The Democrats expect McKay to
lose, but polls show he'll get destroyed, and that's not acceptable.
At Lucas' recommendation, McKay softens his message a little bit,
compromising his principles – and it works. So McKay
continues further down the road, talking in platitudes while gaining
popularity. I don't understand why Ed believes this film is a "motion
picture advertisement for the Democratic Party" as they are the
ones who come across as insincere and willing to do anything to get
elected. Jarmon stays true to his good-old-boy Republican character.
McKay and Jarmon essentially become one as both say the same thing,
but the difference is McKay is young and good-looking, and Jarmon is
older and doesn't look like Robert Redford. During a debate between
the candidates, McKay stays true to what Lucas tells him to say and
then says the debate is a farce as real issues aren't being
addressed. He's about to get a wave of negative publicity. But the
press is distracted by the appearance of McKay's father after the
debate and his support of his son that the debate outburst is quickly
forgotten. McKay wins, but loses his identity and integrity, leading
to two memorable lines. The first is from McKay's father said
sarcastically to his son, "You're a politician." The other
is a panic-stricken McKay grabbing Lucas, bringing him into a room
and asking, "What do we do now?" as the movie ends. The
storyline is intelligent and compelling, giving viewers a fascinating
inside look at the political process in a documentary-style of
filming. The acting is top-notch, particularly Boyle and Redford,
with Douglas memorable in his secondary role. Interestingly, this
could be a biography of California Gov. Jerry Brown.
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