Moviedrome revisited

I can’t quite recall why, but the other day someone mentioned something which put me in mind of Moviedrome, the BBC2 banner under which first Alex Cox, and then Mark Cousins, selected and introduced films.

I always preferred Cox’s era (1988-1994) to Cousins’ (1997-2000). For a start it coincided with me being of an age where I was hungry for brain food, and Cox – Elvis sneer, palsied chops, assertive voice and all – was ready to deliver. Cousins, with his nervous, Celtic purr, just seemed too artsy, too formal.

But they both introduced me to some great films. True, some pretty meh ones too, occasionally, but damn, looking down the list compiled by Kurtodrome, an impressive strike rate.

Looking through the list I decided to finally tally up how many movies Moviedrome had actually initiated me into. Of course, the passage of time buggers up one’s memory somewhat, so I can’t always definitively say if I first saw a film on Moviedrome or not; but I have had a crack. List is as follows…

COLOUR KEY
RED = HAVEN’T seen it (on Moviedrome or anywhere else)
PINK = HAVE seen it but NOT on Moviedrome
AMBER = HAVE seen it and FAIRLY CERTAIN saw it on Moviedrome
GREEN = HAVE seen it on Moviedrome

1988
The Wicker Man
Electra Glide in Blue
Diva
Razorback
Big Wednesday
Fat City
The Last Picture Show
Barbarella
The Hired Hand
Johnny Guitar
The Parallax View
The Long Hair Of Death
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1956)
The Fly (1958)
One From The Heart
The Man Who Fell To Earth
The Good, The Bad And The Ugly
One-Eyed Jacks

1989
The Man With The X-Ray Eyes
Jabberwocky
D.O.A.
The Thing From Another World
The Incredible Shrinking Man
California Dolls
THX 1138
Stardust Memories
Night Of The Comet
The Grissom Gang
The Big Carnival (AKA Ace In The Hole)
Alphaville
Two-Lane Blacktop
Trancers
The Buddy Holly Story
Five Easy Pieces
Sweet Smell Of Success
Sunset Boulevard

1990
Assault On Precinct 13
Brazil
Get Carter
Goin’ South
Dead Of Night
The Terminator
The Honeymoon Killers
Ulzana’s Raid
The Loved One
An American Werewolf In London
Yojimbo
A Wedding
The Phenix City Story
Walk On The Wild Side
Il Grande Silenzio
Quien Sabe?

1991
The Beguiled
Vamp
Knightriders
Something Wild
Carnival of Souls
Badlands / The Prowler
Performance
At Close Range
The Duellists / Cape Fear (duels)
The Music Lovers
Manhunter
Hells Angels on Wheels / Rumble Fish (gangs)
Whatever Happened To Baby Jane?
Solaris
Mishima

1992
Mad Max II / F for Fake
Dead Ringers / Rabid (Cronenberg)
Inserts
The Serpent And The Rainbow
Les Diaboliques
La Strategia Del Ragno
Escape From New York
Alligator / Q – The Winged Serpent
Wise Blood / The Witchfinder General
Lolita
Play Misty For Me
Walker
Tracks
The Day Of The Locust / The Big Knife (Hollywood satires)

1993
Darkman
House Of Games
Escape From Alcatraz / Un Condamné À Mort S’est Échappé (prison)
The Hill
Cry-Baby / Lenny
Invasion Of The Body Snatchers (1978) / Romance Of A Horsethief
Gothic / The Navigator
The Terminator
Get Carter / Week-end
Rebel Without A Cause / 200 Motels
Django / Grim Prairie Tales
Run Of The Arrow / Verboten! (Fuller)
The Long Riders
The Big Combo
Face To Face
Requiescant
¿Qué He Hecho Yo Para Merecer Esto?
Carrie

1994 (Alex Cox’s final year)
The Andromeda Strain / Fiend Without A Face
Talk Radio
Carnal Knowledge
Coogan’s Bluff / The Narrow Margin
The Harder They Come
Salvador
The People Under The Stairs
Halloween / The Baby
Carny
Girl On A Motorcycle / Psychomania (motorcycles)
Race with the Devil / Detour (keep death on the road)
Rope / 84 Charlie Mopic (experimental filming)
To Sleep With Anger / Le Mépris
Excalibur / Nothing Lasts Forever
Naked Tango / Apartment Zero (Buenos Aires)
Major Dundee / Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia (Sam Peckinpah)
Kiss Me Deadly

1997-1998
Scarface
Westworld / Demon Seed (futuristic)
The Fly / Society
Exotica
Blue Collar / American Gigolo (Paul Schrader)
Dazed And Confused / La Vie Sexuelle Des Belges (growing up)
The Girl Can’t Help It / Take Care Of Your Scarf, Tatjana (music)
The Warriors / La Haine (gangs)
Spanking The Monkey
Logan’s Run / Fahrenheit 451 (future)
The Fog / Darkness in Tallinn
Storyville / Ruthless
Vanishing Point / The Devil Thumbs A Ride (road movies)
Targets
Liebestraum
Bad Timing
The Conversation
All That Heaven Allows / The Reckless Moment

1998
Trespass
Shaft / Force Of Evil
Funny Bones
Cat People
The Killers (1946)
Caged Heat
Thunderbolt And Lightfoot
Carrie
Léon / Le Samourai
El Patrullero

1999
Clockers
Ed Wood / The Body Snatcher (B-film)
Prêt-À-Porter
Videodrome / Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye
Carlito’s Way
The Osterman Weekend
Mommie Dearest
Johnny Guitar
Branded To Kill
The List Of Adrian Messenger
One-Eyed Jacks

2000
Blood And Wine / Plein Soleil (nouvelle vague directors)
Rumble In The Bronx / Clubbed To Death (“guilty pleasures”)
The Killers (1964) / On Dangerous Ground
The Underneath / The Hitch-Hiker (film noir)
Walkabout / Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg)
White of the Eye
The Last American Hero

Totting up, I make that:

• A total of 203 different films aired;
• Of which I have seen 109 films;
• 99 of those films I am either definite (56) or fairly certain (43) that I caught them on Moviedrome;
• 10 films shown I missed on Moviedrome but have since caught elsewhere;
• 94 films broadcast on Moviedrome I have not seen at all…

Hmmm, 94 films – reckon I have a new project for 2012…

So, how many films did Moviedrome introduce you to? Any memories of Moviedrome presentations? Who did you prefer, Cox or Cousins?

ETA1:

On his website Alex Cox supplies PDFs of the two Moviedrome guides, which collect together notes on the films covered in the 1988-1993 series:

• Moviedrome Guide #1
• Moviedrome Guide #2

ETA2:

After realising some films (Get Carter, One-Eyed Jacks, Johnny Guitar, The Terminator, Carrie) were repeated, I have revised the above numbers to make them more accurate – my bad.

Mystery Pic #011

Answers. In. The. Comments. Please.

ETA:

No correct answer having been put forward, I hereby announce that this is from Blow Out, the Conversation/Blow Up-splicing conspiracy thriller from everyone’s favourite sadosexual Hitchcock hat-tipper Brian De Palma.

Review: Defence Of The Realm

Vodka, and Coca Cola… Détente in a glass!

Vernon Bayliss (Denholm Elliott) is a veteran hack, and a very pissed one at the moment. He’s tired, past his sell-by date, a leftie serving out his time on a right-wing rag – and he’s just helped stitch up an old friend for his newspaper.

It’s the mid-80s, Thatcher era Britain. American nuclear missiles at airbases across the UK, privatisation, the ‘me’ decade, fag-end of the Cold War… Young reporter Nick Mullen (Gabriel Byrne) is keen to climb the greasy pole in the Street of Shame, and when Labour MP Dennis Markham (Ian Bannen) is caught up in a sex scandal, he sees his opportunity. He looks down at his nose at Vernon, a washed-up old sot, but he realises that Vernon may help him land a scoop on fellow traveller Markham. In essence Mullen is a parasite, feeding on whatever he can suck out of Vernon’s liver-spotted carcass. Venal, self-serving, cunning, Mullen gets his scoop, and Vernon sinks into booze-soaked depression – but we know that something is up…

So, what’s going on? Well, Dennis Markham – a former chair of the Commons Defence Committee – has been sharing a mistress with an East German military attaché. Cue snatched telephoto pics, doorstepped interviews and front page splashes; a man in disgrace. Vernon was the man given the job of putting the accusations to his friend. But despite his alcoholism, we see in Vernon an honour that the cynical, laid-back young Mullen just doesn’t have. That is, until guilt creeps in.

Written by Martin Stellman, who cut his teeth on Quadrophenia and Babylon, and directed by TV specialist David Drury, Defence Of The Realm is just the sort of film that isn’t being made in Britain at the moment. It’s unflashy, muted in places, and most of all, it’s got ideas, an agenda, points to make. Snatch it is not. Red herrings and MacGuffins are thrown casually across the whole film, adding to Mullen’s increasing confusion, when the plot – both of the film and within it – is essentially a very simple one: corruption, conspiracy, cover-up.

The familiar motifs of conspiracy thriller are all here – deep throat sources, anonymous tip-offs, bugging, burgling – but script, direction and acting all raise it above the level of cliché. There are some hackneyed elements, sure – Mullen composes his final article to a classical symphony, his piano a typewriter, for example – but overall the film is an exercise in restraint. Nothing is over-explained, giving the audience a chance to lead itself down blind alleys. The use of TV and radio news reports in the background also helps move the story along, adding depth to many of the smaller plot points, which are rarely if at all, addressed. It’s a sophisticated approach, and one that doesn’t detract from the main storytelling. The point-of-view is subtle too, with the director resisting the temptation to reveal too much of the story from the eyes of anyone but Mullen. The effect? Oppressive, claustrophobic, plodding exposition, entwined with the sugar pill of the reporter-procedural, leading up to a frenzied climax.

In particular it boasts excellent pacing: it starts at a relaxed pace, but by the end, as the pieces fall together, as Mullen becomes driven, leaves behind his old, childish self like a snakeskin, everything quickens to a nauseous crescendo, more detail is painted in, new characters appear from nowhere, old characters reappear in different guises, and the viewer senses bad tidings. There are even hints that this is a tragedy, with an inevitability to the ending: Vernon is Mullen through the kaleidoscope of a lifetime, and we soon find out what that means… Mullen becomes paranoid, mistrustful, insular; he knows bad things are happening, but he doesn’t know who to trust or how to dig himself out. His only ally is Markham’s secretary, Nina (Greta Scacchi), but this is not Woodward and Bernstein uncovering the truth in All The President’s Men; this is a war of survival for them both. A meeting on the old Hungerford bridge, half-drowned out by passing trains, the footfall of passing pedestrians, and aeroplanes overhead (perhaps a nod to that classic of paranoia/conspiracy cinema, The Conversation) demonstrates that these are not two seekers after truth, but scared people caught up in something they know is far bigger than either could deal with. They are not waving, but drowning.

Also worth mentioning is the editing (Michael Bradsell) and photography (Roger Deakins). Cross-cutting and contrasting colours are both used to great effect in creating mood and moving the story along, especially in the final part of the film. It’s discreet as well, and has the effect of signalling a change in tone and pace, something many directors struggle with. The visuals certainly helped Deakins find work – he ended up a stalwart of Coen brother films – which shouldn’t be a surprise to viewers familiar with his slate of British films: Stormy Monday, White Mischief, Sid And Nancy and The Kitchen Toto all came under his lens.

A fine film, which brings in elements that still resonates today – think Dr David Kelly, government secrecy, terrorist attacks, it’s all in there – but in a trad thriller package. Find it, watch it, get scared.

Further viewing:

• Edge Of Darkness (TV)
• State Of Play (TV)
• All The President’s Men
• The Conversation
• Hidden Agenda