TCM TiVo ALERT
For
February
15–Febuary 22
DAVID’S
BEST BETS:
CAGED (February
20, 1:30 pm): Unlike nearly all the others in the unusual but
often-visited women-in-prison film genre, Caged is
well acted. Eleanor Parker was nominated for a Best Actress Oscar as
the young innocent Marie Allen, Agnes Moorehead is great as warden
Ruth Benton, and Hope Emerson was nominated for a Best Supporting
Actress Oscar as the deliciously evil matron Evelyn Harper. Almost
anything bad you can imagine happens to Marie – her new husband is
killed in a robbery, she ends up in prison because she is waiting in
the getaway car, she's pregnant while serving her sentence, she's
victimized by other inmates and Harper, she has to give up her baby
for adoption, and finally becomes bitter and hardened from all of her
bad experiences. The story is similar to other women-in-prison movies
minus the T&A. We still get a shower scene (no nudity as this is
during the Code era) and the stereotypical prison lesbian . But
there's a huge difference between Caged and the
women-in-prison films of the 1970s. It's not only the excellent
acting, but the powerful dialogue and actual plot – it was nominated
for a Best Writing Oscar – that makes this gritty, stark, realistic
film stand out among others in the genre.
DOG
DAY AFTERNOON (February
22, 1:00 am): There are certain 1970s crime-dramas that capture
the gritty, almost completely disgusting, lives of cops, pimps,
two-bit hoods and drug dealers in New York City during that decade.
They include Serpico, The
French Connection, The
Taking of Pelham 123, The
Seven-Ups and Dog
Day Afternoon. Based on
a botched 1972 robbery at a Brooklyn Bank, Dog
Day Afternoon (1975)
is about two would-be robbers (expertly played
by Al Pacino and John Cazale) who are far from professionals. The
entire robbery is botched seconds after it starts when a third guy
gets cold feet and runs out of the bank. Also, the heist is after the
bank's daily monetary pickup so there's only a little more than
$1,000 to rob. The interplay between Sonny (Pacino) and the
police detective sergeant (veteran character actor Charles
Durning), who is the hostage negotiator, is memorable. The scene
where Sonny screams "Attica! Attica!" is so good that it's
worth watching the movie just for that.
ED’S
BEST BETS:
PSYCHO (February
17, 12:00 am): One of Hitchcock’s greatest films, it can be truly
said to be his last great movie. Who else would kill off his leading
lady before the picture was not even halfway through? It's based on
the novel by Robert Bloch, who was influenced by the Ed Gein case in
Wisconsin, but Hitchcock takes it to an entire new level, aided by
wonderful performances by Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles, and Martin
Balsam. The film still holds its shock value today, including the
famous shower scene where the violence was not explicit, but left to
the imagination to fill in the blanks. I remember my cousin, who saw
this in the theater, swearing to me that he saw Janet Leigh stabbed
in the chest. Such is the power of suggestion and Hitchcock was a
master at it.
THE
PRODUCERS (February 21, 6:15 pm): 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 to 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.
WE
DISAGREE ON . . . GIANT (February 16, 1:00 pm)
ED.
B-. Giant is one of the greatest
overrated films of all time. Give people a wide, lush screen
populated by plenty of beautiful people and an overwrought, rambling
soapy plot, so thick the bubbles rise, and audiences think it’s
profoundly wonderful. No, it’s simply Camp in its highest form.
It’s the granddaddy of such soapy tripe as Dallas, Dynasty, Falcon
Crest, and others. Note that the actors are not so much acting as
they are posing; the film is almost a series of iconic stills. Based
on another self-important novel by Edna Ferber and directed by George
Stevens, it’s a picture postcard with a message. And that message,
in case you don’t get it, or turned it off, is that racism and
sexism are bad. Very bad. Rock Hudson spends a scene driving that
point home by whomping on James Dean. So, given all this, why do I
give Giant the grade I do? Because it is an
example of High Camp, that’s why. Besides, the picture is
pretty to look at (remember that Stevens was a top cinematographer
before turning full-time to directing), and the performances overall
are not bad, at least during those times when they’re allowed to
act. Taylor is excellent, given the scope of her part, and Hudson is
finally being seen today not merely as a pretty mannequin, but as
someone capable of delivering a decent performance. Dean, for his
part, is not as bad as some say, but not as good as others attest.
One can see that he still had a way to go before he could master his
craft, and the fact that he was killed after making only three
pictures leaves us wondering what he could have accomplished if he
had lived. At any rate, Giant is a film one cannot
take seriously in any form. It is best viewed in a small gathering
with friends like Crow T. Robot or Tom Servo. I'm sure David, my
partner, will trash this film, and he’s right to do so. But he
misses the irony of the whole experience. For me, this is a film that
any serious film buff should see at least once. More than that should
be taken at your own risk. Perhaps the most disturbing thing about
the movie is that Liz Taylor gives birth to Dennis Hopper. Think
about it.
DAVID:
D+. I certainly can't argue with Ed's assessment
that Giant is one of the most overrated films of all
time. It's that and so much more – or more accurately, so
much less. I can think of dozens of better ways to spend nearly three
and a half hours including various types of torture though sitting
through this film should also be considered a kind of torture. It's
hard to describe how bad this film is. For such a long movie, it
doesn't tell much of a story, and what we get on the screen is
incredibly dull, self-important, overwrought and a rambling mess. How
James Dean became a legendary actor after over-dramatic performances
in three fair to poor movies is something I'll never
understand. Giant is the worst of the films – and
the worst of his performances. Elizabeth Taylor, who I barely
find tolerable as an actress, is passable in this movie and Rock
Hudson shows he's as mediocre in "serious" films as he was
in those romantic comedies. The story moves at a snail's pace and
isn't good to begin with. The makeup used to show the three of them
aging is laughably bad, particularly for a supposed epic. It's bloated, way too long and even
its attempts to deliver messages against racism and sexism fall flat.
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