In The Crucifier of Blood (KTLA Sunday...
In The Crucifier of Blood (KTLA Sunday at 6 p.m.), a 1991 cable movie, Charlton Heston is cerebral and aloof as Sherlock Holmes, but there’s a stolidity about his performance that makes it difficult to accept him as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s semi-Bohemian sleuth. The production is meant to be an evil journey, but occasionally the focus veers to near parody. Plotwise, it’s about a box full of jewels with a curse on it, stemming from a blood pact made in mutinous India by three British soldiers that leads to murder in London 30 years later. Richard Johnson is a scruffy but gallant Dr. Watson who falls for the story’s mystery woman.
Writer-director Heywood Gould’s 1991 One Good Cop (NBC Sunday at 9 p.m.) looks to be a cross-fertilization of “Hill Street Blues,†“Kindergarten Cop,†and “Kramer vs. Kramer.†In its own subtle way, it hammerlocks you into an emotional response. Michael Keaton stars as a New York police detective whose widowed partner is killed in a shootout, leaving Keaton the legal guardian to his three daughters. The problem is that in the eyes of the adoption agency, Keaton and his wife (Rene Russo) don’t make enough money to be fit providers.
In one warming stroke, the 1976 Rocky, (KTLA Tuesday at 8 p.m.) revived the vital tradition of the modestly budgeted, unpretentious movie that creates new stars (and myths) and commands the affection of audiences by showing the possibilities of love, hope and triumph in the lives of ordinary people. Part “Marty†and part Brando of “On the Waterfront,†Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky is an awkward club fighter who, as a patsy promotion stunt, gets a shot at the heavyweight title.
Rocky II (KTLA Wednesday at 8 p.m.) is a fairy-tale that has the emotional wallop of “Rocky,†and is set up better than most sequels because the original fight with Apollo Creed (Carl Weathers) demanded a rematch. The 1979 film works because Stallone, who has both written and directed, knows the terrain.
Like its predecessors, the 1982 Rocky III (KTLA Thursday at 8 p.m.) is a movie with thundering sound and lots of inspirational music. What’s amazing is how well Stallone has Rocky up on his feet for yet another bout, this time with Mr. T.
As for the 1985 Rocky IV (KTLA Friday at 8 p.m.), not to mention “Rocky V,†Stallone should have quit while he was ahead.
Frank Borzage’s romantic and beautiful 1932 film of Hemingway’s Farewell to Arms (KCET Saturday at 9 p.m.), with Gary Cooper and Helen Hayes, is far better than the 1957 version with Rock Hudson and Jennifer Jones.
Only good movies
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