SATURDAY
FEBRUARY 21
2015

BIANCULLI’S BEST BETS

 

IFC, 5:00 p.m. ET

The Independent Spirit Awards, conceived 30 years ago as a sort of impertinent anti-Oscars, has developed into an awards show with a clout, and a charm, all its own. Held the day before the Oscars, when all the film talent already is in town, it celebrates the movies not released by major studios – and these days, that means a lot of really good, interesting movies. This awards show is repeated in prime time at 10 p.m. ET, but if you want to watch it live, IFC is televising it as it unfurls, beginning at 5 p.m. ET. The co-hosts are Kristen Bell and Fred Armisen – and given their respective musical talents, expect them to sing some sort of irreverent medley, or song, at some point in the show.

 
  
 
 

HBO, 8:00 p.m. ET

Since starring as George Clooney’s daughter in 2011’s The Descendants, Shailene Woodley has made some impressive career choices. She’s starred in a successful new movie franchise, starting with last year’s Divergent – and also last year, starred in this film, a bittersweet romantic drama in which she and co-star Ansel Elgort play teens who meet, and eventually fall in love, at a cancer support group.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 8:00 p.m. ET

Tonight’s TCM lineup is full of movies that dominated conversation in the early 1970s. This lavish biographical drama stars George C. Scott as Gen. George S. Patton, a military figure who was brazenly and proudly pro-war at a time (Patton was released in 1970) when “hawks vs. doves” was a major dividing point widening the so-called generation gap. Interestingly, the story and screenplay were co-written by Francis Ford Coppola, who would turn around and make The Godfather two years later – and the largely anti-war Apocalypse Now film seven years after that.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 11:00 p.m. ET

This 1971 Robert Altman film is a gorgeous piece of cinema, and a perfect representation of Altman’s vivid, visionary style of filmmaking. Warren Beatty stars as an Old West gambler who teams with a professional madam (Julie Christie) to offer their respective areas of expertise to the rubes in a remote Old West mining town. Think of it as an early version of Deadwood, if you like – but whatever you have to think to tune in, do it. This film is a distinctive, often underrated classic, and the images of winter, especially, rival those from the movies of Ingmar Bergman.

 
  
 
 

TCM, 4:00 a.m. ET

This 1971 movie has a plot which has been examined, and re-examined, hundreds of times on film and TV. A detective, working on a murder case, falls in love with the beautiful young woman who’s in danger of being the killer’s next victim. The twist here, and even that isn’t so unusual, is that the woman is a prostitute – played by Jane Fonda, in the role that won her an Oscar, and a new patina of respectability from mainstream Hollywood. The detective, who actually has the title role, is played by Donald Sutherland, and he delivers a performance that’s as moody and mysterious as the film itself. Alan J. Pakula directs, and does it superbly. This one’s worth recording, to catch at a more convenient time.

 
  
 
 
 
 
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David Bianculli

Founder / Editor

David Bianculli has been a TV critic since 1975, including a 14-year stint at the New York Daily News, and sees no reason to stop now. Currently, he's TV critic for NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross, and is an occasional substitute host for that show. He's also an author and teaches TV and film history at New Jersey's Rowan University. His 2009 Dangerously Funny: The Uncensored Story of 'The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour', has been purchased for film rights. His latest, The Platinum Age of Television: From I Love Lucy to the Walking Dead, How TV Became Terrific, is an effusive guidebook that plots the path from the 1950s’ Golden Age to today’s era of quality TV.