47 guide 12-18 Aug 2017 tv films
campaigner Sydney Wade
(Annette Bening). This
is a White House with a
warm – rather than heat-
seeking – glow.Cape Fear
(J Lee Thompson, 1962)
6.50pm, TCM
One of the late J Lee
Thompson’s best fi lms,
more restrained and
chilling than Scorsese’s
lurid 1991 remake.
Robert Mitchum’s
Max Cady is a sadistic
sex off ender seeking
revenge on the lawyer
who put him in prison
(Gregory Peck) by
terrorising his wife
(Polly Bergen) and
teenage daughter
(Nancy Bowden). Sam
Leavitt’s black-and-
white photography is
sharp and stark; the air
of menace palpable.Susan Sarandon and
neglected wife Geena
Davis head off on a
weekend jaunt that
quickly swerves out of
control when they kill a
rapist. The tone remains
upbeat, often funny, but
from here on they’re on
a road to nowhere.
Tuesday 15 August
Billy Budd
(Peter Ustinov, 1962)
5.15pm, TCM
A powerful and astute
screen version of Herman
Melville’s last novel
from Ustinov. A seagoing
allegory that pits naval
law against moral justice
on board a British man
o’ war in 1797, it stars
Terence Stamp in his fi rst
screen role as the angelic
Billy Budd, technically
guilty but spiritually
innocent of the murder
of the satanic Claggart
(a terrifying Robert
Ryan). Ustinov also plays
the conscience-torn
Captain Vere, who must
decide at the trial if Billy
is to hang.
Wednesday 16
August
The Place Beyond the
Pines
(Derek Cianfrance, 2012)
1.30am, Channel 4
Ryan Gosling’s Luke is
a motorbike stunt rider
who puts the brakes
on his footloose ways
when he discovers that
one of his exes, Romina
(Eva Mendes), has had
his child. Attempting
to settle in town, he
starts out on a series
of bank heists, leading
cropper are a treasure,
with a little light
romancing of Paulette
Goddard’s gamine for
good measure.Friday 18 August
The American President
(Rob Reiner, 1995)
7.35pm, Sony Movie
Channel
Reiner’s polished,
diverting romantic
comedy stars Michael
Douglas as a highly
convincing most
powerful man in the
world. His Democrat
president Andy Shepherd
may be up to his neck
in noble-minded policy-
mongering – gun control,
green measures – but he
is also a widowed single
dad who fi nds time to
romance charming eco-him to local police offi cer
Avery (Bradley Cooper)- at which point this
highly individual drama
strikes out confi dently in
a new direction.
Thursday 17
AugustModern Times
(Charlie Chaplin, 1936)
10pm, Sky Arts
Chaplin made his fi nal
appearance as the Tramp
character here, and
this was the last of his
fi lms in the silent-movie
style. It’s a wonderful
mix of Depression-era
politics (man v machine,
the individual v the
industrial complex) and
slapstick genius. The
scenes on the assembly
line where his embattled
factory worker comes a(Ted Kotcheff , 1971) Saturday, 1am, Film4
A lost classic of the Australian new wave, Canadian director Kotcheff ’s
drama has become notorious for its real-life kangaroo-hunting scene
but is most impressive for its relentless, sweat-stained focus on
outback teacher Gary Bond’s long, dark weekend of the soul. En route
to Sydney (and “civilisation”) the self-centred loner gets waylaid in
a dusty mining town after losing all his money gambling. Extended
bouts of ferocious drinking, fi ghting and general larrikin behaviour
ensue, and nobody comes out it looking particularly good.Hidden gem Wake in Fright