TCM TiVo Alert for February 15-22

TCM TiVo ALERT

For

February 15–February 22

DAVID’S BEST BETS:

THE CANDIDATE (February 15, 12:15 am): 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. 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. 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. 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.

SHAMPOO (February 17, 4:00 am): Besides The Parallax View, this is my favorite Warren Beatty film – and he made a lot of excellent films. Beatty is a Beverly Hills hairdresser who cuts the hair, and has sex with, a laundry list of beautiful women. His dream is to open his own hair salon, but his libido gets in the way. For the longest time, the film is very funny. But the ending is almost Ingmar Bergman sad with Beatty's character, George, losing everything including his dream because of his lack of discipline and business sense while still having to go on living a life that seemed so perfect earlier in the day. (The film takes place in one day.) You'd be hard-pressed to find a better supporting cast. Lee Grant (who won an Oscar for her performance) and Jack Warden (nominated for one) work exceptionally well together as a married couple with Beatty bedding Grant, and anything else that moves (including Julie Christie and Goldie Hawn), while trying to get Warden's character to provide the money for his elusive hair salon.

ED’S BEST BETS:

THE PRODUCERS (February 15, 2:15 am): Mel Brooks began his directorial career with a film reviled at the time by many critics, but now justly seen as one of the classics of cinema. Two Broadway producers (Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder) discover that they can make more money putting on a flop than financing a hit. All they have to do is raise more cash than they need for the play. But they just find a sure-fire flop, for they have pre-sold somewhere around 10,000% of the play, and if it’s a hit, they can’t pay off the backers. Their vehicle is a musical titled “Springtime for Hitler,” the love story of Adolf Hitler and Eva Braun in song. They chose the worst director, the worst actor, and have signed the play’s author, a nutty Nazi living in Greenwich Village. I won’t say any more in case you’re one of the few that hasn’t yet seen this classic. 

SERGEANT YORK (February 22, Midnight): Howard Hawks directs Gary Cooper to the Oscar in the ultimate morale film based on the true story of the World War 1 hero. In fact, in order to sign over the rights for the film to Warners, York stipulated that only Gary Cooper could play him. Cooper captures the struggles of York perfectly and is backed by a marvelous cast, including Walter Brennan (who almost walks away with the picture), Joan Leslie, George Tobias, Margaret Wycherly, and Stanley Ridges. That the film still resounds with audiences today is a testament to the director, cast, and writers, one of whom was John Huston.

WE DISAGREE ON ... THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (February 19, 2:15 am)

ED: B. In what is widely regarded as his masterpiece, director Peter Bogdanovich does an excellent job of capturing the chiaroscuro of not only the time and place of a small 1951 Texas town, but also the mood, as seen through the lens of its younger inhabitants. The film shows in plain and unpatronizing terms what it means to be young in a town that has lost any sense of vibrancy; where the recreational escapes are a pool hall, an all-night cafe and a rundown movie theater on the verge of closing. It also shows in stark terms the the despair that follows high-school graduation, when one realizes that to have any sort of meaningful life means having to put as many miles between oneself and the town. However, the film breaks down in its second half due to its shallow depiction of town life, becoming uncomfortably close to what a television soap opera would be if it focused on ordinary experience without hint of exploitation and with depth and humor. In short it descends into a sort of Peyton Place, albeit better photographed, but a soap opera nonetheless; perhaps the ideal example of what television reached for but was unable to attain.

  

DAVID: A+. This film is a perfect examination of life in a small, dying West Texas town in the early 1950s largely centered around two high school seniors, played by Timothy Bottoms and Jeff Bridges. The two young stars are excellent and are helped by the older supporting cast – particularly Ben Johnson and Cloris Leachman (who both won Best Supporting Oscars), and Ellen Burstyn. Filming it in black and white was an excellent decision that enhances the bleakness of not only the dying town, but its residents who are also dying along with it. The characters, many who are lonely even if they are married, engage in sexual relationships for companionship, to try to recapture an excitement for life, to dull the pain of their existence or to get what they want. Cybill Shepherd – who plays Jacy Farrow, a popular girl desperate to find a rich boyfriend to marry – is ideal for the role. A stunningly beautiful woman in her first film, Shepherd does a great job of conveying the character's vulnerability while still being manipulative, sometimes doing so without saying more than a few words. The acting is superb and director Peter Bogdanovich's ability to juggle several different storylines without confusing the audience make this a very special and memorable film.

For the complete list of films on the TCM TiVo Alert, click here.