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James Finnegan looks at three vintage movies on RTE and TG4 for your viewing pleasure over the coming week…
As I found out last week, recommending films on terrestrial television can be tempting fate.
A great film (Rainman) scheduled for last Saturday night was dumped at my deadline time by TG4 for a sporting event (Munster v Leinster). So take the following recommendations with that caveat!
Long before the modern realisation of the extinction of so many species of animals came films like Born Free (Saturday RTE2 3.35pm).
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This is the true story of Joy and George Adamson, played by real life husband and wife Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna. George is a game warden in Kenya. He brings home three orphan lion cubs, Big One, Lastika and Elsa, the youngest.
Naturally, lion cubs grow, and the elder two are sent to a zoo. However, the Adamsons decide to keep Elsa. As the years pass, there comes a time when even Elsa becomes too big a liability.
Rather than send her to a Zoo, the Adamsons decide to release her back to the Wild. However, does Elsa have the skills and abilities she would need to survive?
With one of John Barry’s best ever scores, that won the Academy Awards for Best Soundtrack and Best Song, sung by the incomparable Matt Monro, this a film for all the family.
Fiddler on the Roof (Sunday TG4 2.55pm) is one of my favourite musicals ever. It was my great fortune to see it on stage in London with Topol in the title role. This film version has him once again playing Tevye, the father of five daughters.
He hopes to find five husbands for them, as his marriage was arranged, and in accordance with the historical and cultural traditions of his faith.
However, not only has he to deal with strong willed daughters, there are outside influences on his life that make him question everything he believes in.
Directed by Norman Jewison whose film career includes films as varied as The Heat of the Night, The Cincinnati Kid and the original Thomas Crown Affair, this is well worth a watch.
It also won three Academy Awards for Best Music, Scoring Adaption and Original Song score. And yes, that is Paul Michael Glaser (Starsky from Starsky and Hutch) in a minor role. Well spotted!!
Back to environmental concerns, The China Syndrome (Friday RTE1 11.25pm) is one of those films that came out at a truly opportune time.
A company controlling a nuclear plant try to cover up a potential disaster before the story leaks.
Unfortunately for them, there are reporters on site when something obviously goes very close to going very wrong. Supervisor Jack Godell is scared of what almost happened, but his supervisors wish to portray him as emotionally unstable.
With a strong cast including Jane Fonda and Michael Douglas as Reporters Kimberley Wells and Richard Adams, and Jack Lemmon as Jack Godell, this film works as a thriller as well as a warning.
The Three Mile Island nuclear accident in Pennsylvania happened a few days after the film’s release, so it added to the story’s relevance. Enjoy and stay safe!
