What's on telly tonight ?

[spiney]

Saturday (August 26th).

Around the World in 80 Days, BBC2, 3.20pm .

Huge, spectacular, highly colourful period costume drama version of the Jules Verne sci fi adventure classic, and multi Oscar winner. Made partly to "launch" the - then new - Todd AO process (which later was incorporated into Panavision).

Very entertaining, and lots of cameo apperarences, you might want to record this, and then playback later, to see how many "famous faces" you can find.
(The piano player is Frank Sinatra, which you don't realise until he turns round. Sorry, I can't remember any others!).

1950s Hollywood film production, at its best!
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_World_in_Eighty_Days_%281956_film%29 .

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd-AO

The Towering Inferno, Ch4, 4.00pm.

The Posieden Adventure came first, but this was much better, and "sparked off" the 1970s disaster movies craze. From Irwin Allen (Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea). Great performances (Newman, McQueen). Excellent special effects (after Posieden, more money was available).

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Towering_Inferno_%28film%29 .
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irwin_Allen .
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disaster_film.

Die Hard 2, ITV1, 23.10pm.

Excellent slick film making, what Hollywood does best! Bruce willis, doing what he does best ......

This has been shown a lot recently, but being so well made, will stand repeated viewings. As Hitchcock rightly said, it's all about "suspense". The bomb's there, and you know it's going to go off, but the interest comes from the interplay of different characters, watching how people react.

Interestingly, despite the recent real-life air travel terrorism, ITV don't appear to have "pulled" this showing (something the BBC is prone to, eg, cancelling The Wicker Man during the supposed Orkneys child s_x abuse scandal).

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Die_Hard_2

The Godfather, film4, 9pm.

Also not sci fi, but - if you've never seen it - don't miss! One of the all time greats. Responsible for the catchphrase "make him an offer he can't refuse". Also has Brando in one of his highly eccentric very mumbling performances, but nevertheless very effective.

This is widely regarded as one of the best films ever made, and appears at the top in many lists, IMDB rating it at no 1.

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_godfather .
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Ford_Coppola .

 

[spiney]

APOLOGY !

In post just above, I said Dirty Harry was on Ch5 9pm Saturday, but in fact it was a day earlier, which I discovered by switching on my telly! Ooops.

(have just managed to remove that mistake, before the 24 hours editing deadline!).

 

[spiney]

Sunday (Aug 27th).

The Big Sleep, CH5, 2.40pm.

DON'T MISS.

Not sci fi, in any way, but a great work of art, and a very watchable film, from Howard Hawks (The Thing), based on the excellent Raymond Chandler novel (I can never follow Chandler's plots, always get lost after about 10 pages in! But then, nobody can, Hawks himself said he couldn't keep track while actually making the film!).

At the time, Bogart and Bacall had just famously had an affair (during making Cassablanca), I can't remember if they were married during making Big Sleep, but were certainly lovers, Hawks cunningly used this, and as a result, the screen positively smoulders!

There were several screen Marlowes (Chandler's famous hard bitten cynical 1940s LA private dick), including an interesting later film starring James Garner, but Bogart was the definitive one!

(Switch on the telly (or video), put up yer feet (or paws), get out the beer (or herbal tea) and cheesesticks (or couscous), and - just enjoy!).

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Big_Sleep_%281946_film%29
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond_Chandler

Frankenstein, film4, 3.00pm (repeated after midnight).

One of the most important films ever made. If you missed this before, don't miss it again (see above post).

The Private Files of J Edgar Hoover, ITV4, 10.50pm.

Don't miss this "minor gem". Entertaining, very watchable.

Like the earlier - and extremely funny! - "Washington behind closed doors", about corrupt President Nixon, this was a similar-style made for tv film, about another corrupt public person, the director of the FBI!

Hoover is shown over many years, slowly ageing, as he progresses in his career, becomming ever more corrupt, blackmailing people along the way. It's also suggested he was actually homosexual (he had a deep hatred of gays), whereas we now know - after this film was made - that he was a cross-dresser!

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076567/ .
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Edgar_Hoover

 

[Saturlight]

Spiney, have you ever written for magazines or newspapers? I have, I bet you have. ;)

 

[spiney]

(sorry, JTA, not saying anything that will give away my identity. That's neither yes nor no! Rolfw has my real name, and that's all I'm saying. Except, obviously, I've seen lots of films!).

Erratum. The Big Sleep (just above). Of course, Cassablanca starred Ingrid Bergman, NOT Lauren Bacall, how the heck did I get that wrong? Bogart and Bacall met doing To Have And To Have Not, similar to Cassablanca and made straight afterwards, to "cash in" on it.

(Bank Holiday) Monday, 28 Aug.

Bugsy Malone, BBC2, 11.25am (before midday).

Really silly and tasteless film from Alan Parker, in which singing dancing children pretend to be Chicago prohibition era gangsters (so, break out the alcopop, and the machine guns!). Frankly, you'll have much more fun just yawning for 90 minutes.

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugsy_Malone .

Ice Cold In Alex, CH4, Midday.

Nostalgically remembered Britflik, in which several people travel across the scorching Egyptian desert in a wonky jeep, and end up drinking a glass of cold beer in Alex(andria).
Great cast, including Anthony Quayle, and - of course - much missed Sir John Mills, who died last year.

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ice_Cold_in_Alex .
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Mills .

The beer drinking scene was also made into the most famous ever beer advert! Since the beer glasses in the original film actually had "Carlsberg" on them, all Carlsberg had to do was keep showing this bit of film!

The Spirit of St Louis, Ch5, 12.30pm (afternoon).

Alcock and Brown proved it was possible to cross the Atlantic in an aeroplane. But, it was Linburgh's later one-man effort that really fired the public imagination. Partly because it was an "endurance feat", partly because he wrote an excellent book about it, and also because his small babay was famously kidnapped for 3 weeks, then got returned without a ransom demand (this mystery was never solved!).

This excellent Billy Wilder film tells the story of Lindbergh's crossing, with the actual flight being puctuated by "memory flashbacks" into his earlier life (just the journey alone would have got a bit boring!). Tech details, actually building the plane, and how Lindbergh had to try and stay awake the whole flight!

Wilder (Some Like It Hot) was one of Hollywood's best ever directors. Jimmy Stewart - of course - was one of its best ever actors, is on camera most of the time, and gives the performance you'd expect.

During World War 2, many Hollywood actors were exempted from active military service (fair enough, films were important morale boosting propoganda). However, Jimmy Stewart first became a pilot instructor, then did active service flying aircraft, continually risking his life and getting medals for it! So, when you see him flying the aricraft, it isn't just "acting make believe", he really knows what he's doing!
(because of this. Stewart was then in several other aviation movies, inc No Highway, Flight of the Phoenix, etc).

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spirit_of_St._Louis_%28movie%29 .
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Stewart .
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billy_Wilder .

The 3 Musketeers, BBC2, 1.30pm.

Enjoyable swashbuckler, from cult director Richard Lester (Hard Days' Night). Good cast, including much missed "troublesome actor" Oliver Reed, who frequently challenged colleagues to drinking contests, and once got his penis tatooed!

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oliver_Reed .

Bride of Frankenstein, film4, 3pm, also 2am.
Repeat showing, see above post.

Reach For The Sky, film4, 4.20pm .

I don't like silly "stiff upper lip" stuff, and not a fan of Kennth Moore either (what the heck did people see in him?). But, this is "respected", so I'll mention it.
(But, I DO like Lewis Gilbert, the director!). PS, if you really want to know about Douglas Bader, read his actual book!

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reach_for_the_Sky .

Apocalypse Now, film4, 9pm.

****** DO NOT MISS THIS FILM ! ********.

film4 have a really silly irritating slogan, "films to see before you die". But, in this case, it happens to be true! Quite simply, one of the very best movies ever made.

In Conrad's novel Heart Of Darkness, Marlowe journeys through jungle, along the Congo River, to find the mythical Kurtz. This journey is an allegory for entering the unconscious mind, out of which come many chaotic and evil impulses that tend to wreck human existance, Kurtz being an "embodiment" of these (the "Freudian unconscious" did not become generally known about until well after this novel was published).

This film version is tranposed to Vietnam. The USA was "getting to grips" with its disasterous experience, and there had been earlier film The Deerhunter, but it was Apocolypse that really set the public's imagination on fire.

Highly Memorable Moments. The ceiling fan becoming a heicoptor rotor, since when it's been much parodied (surely, Coppola must have "had in mind" 2001, where the ape's thrown bone becomes a spaceship?). The striptease act, in front of hundreds of soldiers, right in the middle of a jungle clearing. The helicoptors attacking a village from above, arriving to Wagner's Ride Of The Valkyries (this is one of the most memorable scenes ever filmed, still moving, still shocking). Finally, the long slow ride upriver, during which the protagonist becomes physically exshausted, slowly losing all sight of people - and reality - until he finally finds .....Kurtz!

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_now .

 

[rolfw]

They don't sound very Sci-Fi to me spiney. ;)

 

[spiney]

Well, I dunno, Bride, Spirit, Apoccy, all have "sci fi like" features!

But, yes, it has become a bit general!

Where do you think this would be better instead, critics' corner?

I've also noticed links sometimes get deactivated, a bit annoying! The whole point of hyperlinks is they're active, otherwise you're just typing in "command lines", rather pre-windows-ish!

(well, you're in charge, tell me what to do .....).

 

[spiney]

Tuesday (Aug 29)

True Lies, ITV2, 10.30pm.

Excellent enjoyable fantasy thriller. Totally preposterous plot, but that doesn't matter, because it's Arnie!

Mr Schwarzenegger (spelled right?) is really a secret agent, but his wife (Jamie Lee curtis) think's he's a bank clerk! We see Arnie doing secret agent type stuff, hi tech situations, explosions, etc. Then, the film has a "middle bit", invoving a con man, which is basically an excuse to have Curtis take (almost!) all her clothes off, move around a lot, and show us her amazing physique (nice stuff!). Then, finally, hubby and wife work together to escape from kidnappers, and in so doing re-kindle their mutual love, which was getting a bit strained (ie, happy ending!).

Arnie gets to fly a Harrier jump jet (all faked, of course!).

Action/sci fi film director James Cameron had previously made Terminator and Terminator2, Aliens, and (also excellent, but different!) The Abyss. Then, he made Titanic (ugh!).

_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Lies .
_http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Cameron .

 

[spiney]

Advance notice .... (in case I forget!).

Friday, 1st Sept, film4, 11.50pm.

Repo Man.

DO NOT MISS THIS AMAZING FILM !!!

This excellent bizarre hallucinatory cult film seemed to "come from nowhere", in 1984, and instantly made the reputation of director Alex Cox.

Emilio Estervez is a punk (in the Brit - not USA! - sense) who suddenly has to get a job, somehow, so becomes a repo(session) man, basically taking back people's cars when they've defaulted on hire purchase payments. Of course, they don't want to let him do this .......

He is apprenticed to an older experienced repo man (cult film actor Harry Dean Stanton), who shows him "tricks of the trade". Meanwhile, he finds himself entering an increasingly bizarre world, populated by strange people, conspiracy theorists, cults, UFOs ......

Meanwhile, just driving around randomly, is a very strange man with a "doomsday machine thing" in his car boot ......

("The Thing" is a reference back to Altman's film verison of Micky Spillane's "kiss me deadly", in which private detective Mike Hammer follows a trail to get back "the thing", a doomsday weapon that's just a small innocent looking box, until you open it .....).

The end of this film just has to be seen! Is it a techno version of the Christian Ascension? Or, maybe a parody of Close Encounters (or both, and more .....).

The film's main set is - a car park !

(This was a low budget film, from my memory without a Dolby soundtrack, so let's hope film4 remember to throw that damn switch!).

On the strength of this, Cox made some other - fairly poor - films, before returning to form with Highway Patrolman (but, nowhere near as good as Repo Man!).
(He also did a long stint introducing "strange films" on late night BBC2, and still does that, occasionally "popping up" on various tv channels ....).

-http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Repo_Man .
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Repo_man .

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kiss_Me_Deadly .
-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex_Cox .

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Dean_Stanton .

 

[spiney]

Wed 30 Aug.

True Lies, ITV2, 9.00pm . Arnie's secret Agent spoof. Repeat of last night. Worth catching.

Hound of the Baskervilles, ITV3, also 9pm. Alas, not the truly excellent 1958 Hammer version, but a "long episode" from the ITV series. However, any version of "Hound" is watchable (thanks to the excellent story), and Jeremy Brett was a good Holmes.

Stigmata, BBC3, 10.00pm. A Vatican Priest has to try and decide whether a woman's stigmata are "real".
I seem to remember this film as "so and so". However, the subject matter is fascinating, as Stigmata really do happen in real life (as do visions of the Virgin Mary, although, very interestingly, she seems to only actually appear in Catholic countries!).

Stardust, Men+Motors, 10pm. Interesting slice of 1970s Britpop nostalgia, starring David Essex, a "superstar" at the time (after doing Godspell).

That's mainly sci fi, and no links, OK Rolf?

Thur 31st Aug.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, BBC4, 10.50pm. (episode 2).

(Not sci fi, however "very exceptional", and well deserves a mention).

I'm no fan of the late John Le Carre's turgid, unreadable books! However, this particular adaptation of them was riveting. In the 1970s, made after a spate of spy revelations, it had the entire nation "on the edge of its seat". One of the very best such things things the BBC has ever done (along with I Claudius, and Edge of Darkness).
(The story really starts in episode 2, so if you start watching now, you haven't missed too much!).

 

[spiney]

Also Thur 30th Aug. (not much sci fi, sorry Rolf!).

(Sorry, above episode of TInker Tailor was episode 2, tonight is episode 3. However, this is where the story "takes off", so you can still follow it! I can't stand the books, but this 70s tv version was brilliant, especially Alec Guiness).

6.40pm, film4, Chariots of Fire. This so and so "inspirational" biopic got several Oscars, inc for Vangelis' music, the memorable scenes being a run round Trinity College quad, and a slow motion run along a beach. Nicely shot (the settings made it look a bit like Brideshead Revisited, possibly accounting for some of the USA success!), and a "known faces" cast of good Brit actors.
It was heralded as the "renaissence" of British film making, we were going to compete with Hollywood again (how many times has that been claimed?)! Puttnam's Goldcrest Films carried on, a while, then had several huge box office flops (Puttnam then moved to the USA, where Columbia Pictures hoped he would replicate the British "success", but he fell out with them).

10.50pm, film4, Saturday Night Fever. This "landmark" film made unknown Travolta a star, is supposedly "based on" the famous Studio 54 disco, and started a disco craze. It also helped make the Bee Gees rich(er!), via the soundtrack.
To quote Shakespeare, this film is "more honoured in the breech than in the observance", having been very widely parodied, eg in the Airplane and Austin Powers films, etc.

 

[spiney]

Friday 1st Sept.

A good sci fi/horror feast tonight, on "free" British tv, but unfortunately all 3 films time-overlap! I strongly recommend Repo Man, as the most interesting and least shown.

Air Force One, BBC1, 10.35pm.

A good watchable high octane (as they say) thriller, where USA president Harrison Ford has his presidential plane hijacked, and fights back, constantly frustrating the criminals. The snag is, Ford shows "unrealistic" knowledge of modern aircraft, and otherwise behaves in a way hard to believe, a bit like a secret agent (USA presidents being mainly either politicians, businessmen, or lawyers!).

Don't Look Now, ITV4, 11.30pm.

Excellent! Nick Roeg's 3nd film, after Performance (remember Mick Jagger naked?) and Walkabout (remember Jenny Agutter naked?). And - some people would say - pretty much his last ever coherent film! Well, never mind.
Based on Daphne Du Maurier's (short, mini-novel) highly atmospheric ghost-horror story. Donald Sutherland is an architect, commissioned to restore a Venice church. His vulnerable wife Julie Christie - their baby girl has just drowned - with him. Scenes of Venice, mixed with religion, there's "premonitions", and they meet a very wierd couple of ladies, one a blind mystic, the other her helper (and maybe mature content lover). Their son in an English boarding school falls ill (a "portent"), and it all races towards a tremendous very unexpected climax (which I'm not giving away).
The very unusual love scene in this film - between Sutherland and Christie - is widely regarded as the best ever filmed!

Repo Man, film4, 11.50pm.

Despite my just above remarks, this is tonight's film you shouldn't miss!

(see previous post above, for comments).

 

[spiney]

Saturday 2nd Sept.

The Goonies, 2.05pm BBC2

Sorta "Spielbergised" version of Dante's earlier Gremlins idea, so of course centered around children, and cloyingly sentimental. Undemanding fun for younger viewers.

The Mummy, film4, 3pm.

The original in the 1930s mummy series, one of the great Universal Studios horror films. Although, no doubt, too "talky" for modern tastes (which tend towards no dialogue, all action, a dreadful pity!). Boris Karloff plays the monster (of course!). Lacks "the edge" of the best horror films, form James Whale, but still good.
Re-made by Hammer in 1959 (1-off, they did'nt continue the series), then again more recently, as a "special effects-fest").

The Ipcress File, 8.45pm, BBC4.

Not brilliant, not a masterpiece, but perhaps the most “iconic” film of the mid 1960s.

There’s 3 great fictional British “spyworlds”; James Bond (glamour); George Smiley (“spycraft”); and Harry Palmer (beaurocracy). Of these, the last is the most realistic and interesting (although still fictional, of course).

Len Deighton’s 1st 1962 novel was great. It describes a world that would have been very familiar to most readers. A grimy sleazy London. Unpainted dingy offices. Living in a draughty Wimbledon flat, “south of the river” (taxis won’t go there). Constantly filling in silly forms, in triplicate. Not enough money to pay the bills. A boss you don’t get on with (“we’d decided to hate each other; being English, this manifested itself as oriental politeness”). Dire greasy food. And so on …..

Deighton’s Spy remains nameless. Except, in one of the books, he says “now, my name’s NOT Harry, but in this business you can never be sure ….”. However, it would have been impossible to have any film dialogue with a nameless person (!), so the name Harry was used.

The film’s opening is highly memorable. After a brief “teaser”, we get a huge eye, blurry vision, then Palmer’s glasses (how many spies wear glasses?), Harry makes himself breakfast (James Bond would never have done that), and then that wonderful sleazy music starts …. and you know it’s going to be a highly enjoyable ride!

Great moments: “do you ever take off your glasses?” “Only while I’m in bed” (so she takes them off for him). And that’s the s_x scene! Highly effective, far more so than most others …

What’s it about? Oops, I almost Forgot! There’s a plot to brainwash the entire intelligesia (key politicians, scientists, businessmen ..) of Britain. Colonel Ross sends Harry to a different department, supposedly just a new job, but actually he’s “bait”, although he doesn’t realise it …….

The film follows the book closely, till about halfway through, then becomes very different (the book has a nuclear explosion, difficult to film!). The film’s version of the Ipcress brainwashing process is – unfortunately – a bit silly and unconvincing, oh well …..

The sets were by Ken Adams, who also did the James bond films, but … how very different!

(ps, I strongly recommend the book, a hugely enjoyable read! After which, you'll want to read the other 5 or 6 in the series. Alas, Deighton's later Bernard Samson books aren't half as enjoyable ....).

Boogie Nights, 11.20pm, Ch5.

Excellent, very entertaining, film about the 1970s mature content film industry, and what happened as things changed during the 1980s, when video technology became more easily available.

Whalberg plays "Dirk Diggler" (!), a mature content movie star supposedly based on real life John Holmes. But, the real star is Burt Reynolds, who here is brilliant, just this one film would be enough to show him as a serious actor (as opposed to his early comedy films, then the later self parodies of them!).

Nice Moments. In a 1970s hi fi shop, where they sell "decks, woofers, tweeters" as if they were 2nd hand cars .....

 

[spiney]

Monday 4th September.

The 39 Steps, Zone Horror, 6pm.
(CORRECTION, that's OPEN ACCESS 2 channel, sorry!).

Often shown, but still a masterpiece! Based on Buchan's spy adventure story. Hitchcock's next to last "big film" made in Britain - for almost 30 years! - before departing for the USA, and a "turbulent" relationship with producer Selznick.

Famous for introducing his "MacGuffin" idea, ie, a bizarre "plot twist" that merely advances the action, but is otherwise entirely irrelevant!

Also very famous for the bedroom scene, a prolonged "insider joke" about over-prurient film censorship! There were very strict rules about what you could show, for example the USA Hayes Code said a kissing actor and actress must - between them - have at least 1 foot on the floor (so they couldn't be seen kissing in bed!).
So, in the story, Hitchcock has Donat and Carroll handcuffed together. Then, they have to constantly touch each other, in ways "officially" not allowed. This ridiculing of censorship rules would have been well understood by contemporary audiences, and provoked huge laughter.

There's a brief appearence by Shakespearian actor John Laurie, who for many years kept "briefly popping up" in lots of films, although is now most famous - of course - as Private Fraser in Dad's Army ("we're doomed, I tell ye, we're all doomed ...).

The plot hinges on the fact that the "spymaster" has part of his little finger missing. In my personal opinion, Hitchcock has turned this into a joke about penis size! Am I wrong? Watch for yourself, and decide ...

La Belle et La Bete, film4, 1.10am (Tues morning).

A rare showing for Cocteau's surrealist masterpiece!

Not "entertainment" in the usual Hollywood sense, but far more an intellectual exercise, nevertheless very engrossing! So, try it, give it fair a chance, and you might find yourself being drawn into a "very different experience" (less special effects, more imagination) .....

The most memorable scene is where "beauty" is eating dinner, and the "magic table" keeps handing her stuff. Surreal, indeed!
Many years later, Disney "borrowed" quite a lot of this, for its musical cartoon version. For example, the "living" candlestick and teapot!
In real life, the beast - Jean Marais - was Cocteau's homosexual lover (which makes the film "a bit more interesting"!).

(a brilliant short explanation, by Cocteau himself!
http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=6&eid=271&section=essay ).

 

[spiney]

APOLOGY!

Just above, I said 39 steps was on zone horror channel, in fact it's Open Access 2, I think only available on Sky. Sorry, if anyone's already set the recording timer, however it should get shown again in 4-6 weeks!

film4 are also showing "the 39 steps", but unfortunately that's the turgid 1959 Ronald Neame remake starring Kenneth Moore (who had his moments, but this wasn't one of them!).

Tuesday, 5th September.

Time Lock, Ch4, 2.10pm.

Good 1950s Brit made thriller, about a small boy accidentally locked inside a bank vault. He must be released - somehow - before the air supply runs out, which involves cutting through lots of administrative red tape (as well as metal!). Good story, well written. Also, a sorta side-swipe at the British class system, unusual for the period (as a general rule, such films had plummy Rank Charm School accents, with dire acting, and poked fun at trade unions!).

Sean Connery appears as a welder, apparently it was his first movie "speaking part"!

Repo Man, film4, 1.15 am (Tues morning).

Another chance to see this "don't miss" - if you missed it Friday - remember to set the video this time! (see an above post for comments).

 

[spiney]

Wednesday, 6th Sept.

Dr Cyclops, film4, 3pm.

I haven't seen this one, so can't give the usual "witty" (ahem!) comments. However, writeups say it has good special effects, and unusually - for horror films of that period - it's in colour.

Silver Dream Racer, Men+ Motors, 10pm.

A "poorly regarded" Brit flik from 1980, remarkable for getting made at all, in that year! However, it's about motorbikes, which I know will interest at least some members.

Famous for the song "silver dream machine", which went high in the charts, can't remember if it made no.1 .

Thursday 7th Sept.

The Wild Bunch, BBC4, 9.20pm.

This is without doubt "film of the day" (but not of the week, cos it's an amazing weekend on fta Brit tv!).

Sam Pekinpah's very famous "landmark" Western, notorious for for its violence (machine guns appearing in westerns), and - hence - a lament for the end of the "traditional" Western, as defined by John Ford.

The opening scene of Tarantino's Resevoir Dogs is (deliberately) pretty much a copy of Pekinpah's opening here.

Monty Python did a famous parody (of the violence), where they start chopping off their own limbs, and watch the blood spurting out!

Wrong Turn, Ch4, 10pm.

Alright, I suppose, if you like cannibal films, but George Romero did it first, much earlier and much better!

Dangerous Liasons, BBC1, 11.20pm.

(Not sci fi, but a famous play/film).

Saw the original play, didn't like it, then saw this film version, and didn't like that either. Alright if you want to watch people in wigs. Otherwise, the plot - about 2 bored aristocrats having a bet on seducing a young girl - fails to engage.
The acting - from Close and Malkovich - is top notch, but that's not the main problem here!

 

[Saturlight]

Cheers for that, Spiney. ;)

 

[spiney]

Apology, this was a double post, more "public computer" trouble!

 

[spiney]

Friday,8th September.

The Sixth Sense, 9pm, ITV2.

Almost everyone thinks this Ghost story - from curiously named M NIght Shyamalan - is brilliant. Not me, I think it's complete and utter rubbish.

Psychologist Bruce Willis is called in to help a "disturbed" boy. As trust is slowly built up, the boy reveals that he can "see" dead people .....
At the very end, there's a sudden "plot twist", to which the rest of the film is entirely subordinated, thus explaining why it's so badly made! In my view, a very big mistake.

A Clockwork Orange, film4, 11.10pm.

This film is about the human (mostly male!) enjoyment and glorification of violence. School bullies, thugs, football yobs, street gangs, sadistic bosses, prisons, the military ...... in fact, all the different types of institutionalised violence.
Is this universal problem, in fact, something pathological, ie, an actual medical condition? (Arthur Koestler thought we should all be drugged, via the public water supply!). If so, then it might be "treatable", but - paradoxically - that would then become a new type of violence!

Notoriously, after some tabloid "newspapers" reported copycat attacks, Kubrick banned this film in the UK for almost 30 years (there was just one illegal showing, at London's Scala Cinema, which got it closed down!).

Of the great film makers, Kubrick was "the master technician", usually achieving his desired effects by very clever use of the camera. However, this was already by far the wierdest of his films (!), so a "straightforward" style was used. Which - paraoxically - instead of playing down the wierdness, actually emphasised it!

The central characters wear diapers, emphasising their regressed infantile state. Also bowler hats, apparently from the Ulster "marches" (themselves, a form of institutional violence). Main character Alex is subject to a pederast school teacher (also a type of violence), and lives in what's obviously a run down council estate (further violence), some time in the mythical - obviously increasingly violent - future .......

Institutionalised violence degrades, taking us below animal level, to something sub-human. So, sexual activity is here rightly shown as something farcical, basically just as choreographed rape ....

The synthesised classical music soundtrack was by Walter Carlos - then already famous for "Switched-on Bach" - who later had a s_x change, and is now Wendy Carlos.

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Carlos

The original book, by Anthony Burgess, is largely written in an invented language (apparently based on Russian), which makes it almost unreadable! A pity, because Burgess was one of the last century's great English writers, a man who liked life, so none of his work is dry or academic!
Excellent are his early Malay Trilogy, and his superb comic creation the continually farting poet Enderby (who writes his award winning poetry while sitting for hours on the toilet). The later novels are just as good, but tend to be huge!
If anyone wants to "try out" Burgess, then I can highly recommend "Honey for the Bears", and "The Doctor is Sick". Both are standard length paperback novels, an easy read and hugely enjoyable, with sci fi like features (a bit like Philip Dick, only much better written). Also - perhaps - "The Wanting Seed", but that's very macabre, so be warned!

-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nadsat

USE YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY ...... OR LOSE IT !

 

[spiney]

Saturday 9th Sept.

Barry Lyndon, BBC2, 2.30pm.

Yet another Kubrick film, after last night's "Orange"; copletely different, interesting to comparare and contrast!

This is a film version of Thackery's book The Luck of Barry Lyndon (well, parts of, Victorian novels being huge!). As suggested, it's partly about how pure luck can affect life, whatever our best intentions!
(Hence, the references to gambling - including cheating - which take up a large part of the film. The Chevalier character is a reference to the founding of probability theory by French mystic and mathematician Blaise Pascal).

Famous for the photography (actually by John Alcott, though at Kubrick's instigation). To film the 18th century, the "most real" way would be using natural daylight, and not modern lighting techniques with huge lamp arrays, reflectors, etc! So, they got hold of some extra special f 0.7 lenses made by Zeiss for the moon landings (as there were no actual moon landings, NASA didn't need them, ha ha!). The interior scenes at night are filmed entirely by the light from the candles! The effect is interesting, being rather like old master paintings - which normally assumed a single light source - instead of the multi light sources we're more used to.

As for the story treatment, it's deeply cynical! Kubrick was always highly sceptical about human nature, that's very clear in all his films. Here, he ridicules the contemporary way of fighting war battles, between advancing lines of soldiers with limited firepower, since they have muzzle loading muskets. As presented, the battle scene seems laughably ridiculous, but probably isn't very far off what actually happened, in all battles in those days!

Nice music, (which got an award), both from The Chieftans, and classical pieces. Kubrick's use of music is alwyas thoughtful and excellent, which is often forgotten, since he's much more famous for various cinematography innovations.

Great acting - in 1st part - from Leonard Rossiter (who was a top stage actor, he didn't just appear on tv!). Also from Roy Kinnear. Ryan O'Neal was a megastar, at the time, from being in Love Story and Paper Moon.

As with all Kubrick, this was admitted as excellent - from The Master (film) Technician, but criticised as putting style before content, with acting taking 2nd place to various cinematic innovations. But, that's exactly what film is! (a very different thing from live drama). And - like all Kubrick - it's a masterpiece.

It Came From Outer Space, 4.50pm, film4.

(A few days ago, Saturlight asked about sci fi films with happy endings, I mentioned this, and here it is, as if on cue!).

A very famous 1950s sci fi "B movie", from equally famous director Jack Arnold (Creature from Black Lagoon, Incredible Shrinking Man).

"Something Happens" in an isolated USA town, after a meteor falls to the ground, and then some citizens start acting strangely...... Great period sense of 1950s Cold War paranoia, helped by very eerie Theremin music, and wonderful b/w photography.
(Not only would this have been worse if in colour, it was made in 3D, for the anaglyptic progess, so originally was watched in cinemas using those red/green glasses! I've seen such a showing, and at start of film the meteor comes hurtling in over your head, great! "Creature" was also made in 3D, and occasionally "arthouse" cinemas show these 2 films together, in a 3D double bill).

Close Encounters of the Third Kind, 6.25pm, film4.

Speilberg's "UFO Epic" gets regularly shown on tv, these days. Nevertheless, it's a good film, certainly worth seeing if you haven't.

The strange title comes from the Hynek Report, on which this film is based. After the USAF project blue book, and other reports, the American public still wasn't happy, and this was the definitive final report, in which UFO sightings are classified under a new system. Initially, astromomer Hynek was sceptical, but ended up believing UFOs were real.
Hynek's French counterpart was astronomer Jaques Vallee, who at first took UFOs at apparent face value, but then started believing they were malevolent, and wrote "Messengers of Deception", and similar books ..... (nowadays, UFOs seem to have got combined with "channelling" and other similar vaguely occult activities!).

In the film, Lacombe - played by Truffaut, as Spileberg's personal tribute to that great film maker - is loosely based on Vallee.

Dreyfuss is here again, after Jaws, and fine often seen actress Teri Garr plays his suffering wife

At the time, Spielberg was "riding high" - after the mega success of jaws - and had lots of money to play with, so the special effects are marvellous (there's nothing better, even with newer computer techniques!). However, the film suffers from Spileberg's cloying sentimentality, and the re-released "special edition" version is far worse in that respect, whereas the 1977 print from the original distributors is "about right".

(At a "tryout" screening, the end of the film included "when you wish upon a star" on the soundtrack, other references to Disney's Pinnoccio also being quite clear, but film critics - rightly! - fell over laughing, so that was hurridly removed. However, the "gooey" quality remains, to the film's detriment).

Silent Movie, ITV4, 10pm.

That rare thing, a Mel Brooks film that's actually funny! (Spiney, you'll be shot on sight for that remark!).

A tribute to slapstick film comedy of the silent era. No dialogue, except for a line spoken by (normally completely silent!) mime artist Marcel Marceau.

Rocky Horror Show, ITV3, 10.10pm.

Can't be many people that haven't seen Richard O Brien's marvellous musical tribute to fantasy cinema, and then there's Rockies ....

Come on everybody, sing along ... "science fiction, double feature" ... great fun!