FROM SANTA, TO DICKENS, TO KARLOFF, TO OPRAH ... XMAS HITS THE AIR WAVES.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic In ``Tuesdays with Morrie,'' Mitch Albom's phenomenally best-selling memoir - two years and counting on The New York Times list - Albom's college mentor, Morrie Schwartz, tells his charge that in infancy and old age, we are dependent on other people, but warns, ``In between, we need others as well.'' In ``Oprah Presents: Tuesdays With Morrie,'' Jack Lemmon's Morrie ups the ante: ``In between,'' he wheezes, ``we need others even more. It's that ``even more'' that could've sunk ``Tuesdays With Morrie.'' It's not as though Albom's slender book isn't packed with enough sentimental bromides that a screenwriter really needs to make it any more manipulative, though that is the traditional Hollywood narrative gambit. And anyone who's seen ``Dad'' can tell you that Lemmon can plunge a tearjerker tear·jerk·er n. Slang A grossly sentimental story, drama, or performance. tear  -jerk into thermonuclear meltdown. But Lemmon and Hank Azaria, his co-star playing Detroit Free Press The Detroit Free Press is the largest daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, USA. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Freep". Some still refer to it locally as "The Friendly" -- a slogan from an ad campaign in the '70s. sportswriter Albom, leaven leaven (lĕv`ən), agent used to raise bread or other flour foods. Physical leavens include water vapor, which is released as steam at high temperatures (as in popovers), and air, which is incorporated by beating. the pathos by employing wit whenever they can. Moreover, director Mick Jackson (``L.A. Story,'' ``The Bodyguard'') demonstrates a light enough touch that the film is largely able to make its points, as alternately heartrending and uplifting as they may be, without an undue amount of treacle. Azaria (who will strike few as a credible sportswriter) plays Albom as the only guy in the locker room with a witty bon mot at the ready; he's also the busiest man in the Motor City, with TV and radio gigs on the side. But he drops (almost) everything when he discovers on an episode of ``Nightline'' that Schwartz, the college professor who helped mold his way of thinking, has been stricken with Lou Gehrig's disease Lou Geh·rig's disease n. See amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. . His former professor receives him gladly and anguishes over his malady: ``It melts you like a candle.'' Morrie, as presented here and in Albom's book, is one of those real-but-bigger-than-life characters straight out of the movies, hardly the sort of guy accustomed to melting away. He hit dancehalls frequented by the hip crowd in his 70s and delighted in rabble-rousing, once demanding of a sports crowd chanting ``We're No. 1,'' ``What's wrong with being No. 2?'' Despite his condition, Morrie is still anxious to deliver a few more life lessons before he heads to that dancehall dance·hall n. 1. or dance hall A building or part of a building with facilities for dancing. 2. See ragga. dancehall Noun a style of dance-oriented reggae for colorful characters in the sky. These homilies are filtered through a wince, as Mitch is there to witness Morrie's resilience wither in his painful last days. There are the requisite teleflick touches - en route to his final destination, Morrie helps Mitch learn not to be such a workaholic (given that Albom hosts his own radio show, appears regularly on ESPN ESPN Entertainment and Sports Programming Network and writes books on the side, it's a lesson he apparently didn't fully digest). In the book, a newspaper strike frees up Albom's time to visit Morrie; in the film, Albom and his editor clash and he takes time off. Likewise, Mitch's workaholic nature threatens his relationship with his girlfriend in the movie when, in fact, Albom was already married. Still, Lemmon and Azaria create resonant moments together, managing to make potentially cliched scenes truly touching. Morrie's message is hardly earth-shattering: Don't hold grudges, don't be afraid to be different; don't fear the unknown; ``love always wins.'' Not a directive you'd imagine would get parked atop The New York Times best-seller list for two years, although a perfect one for a TV movie. Virginia, your friends are wrong. Hollywood will always find new Christmas specials to broadcast - and if they can't, they'll just remake the old ones. Case in point: ``A Christmas Carol,'' with Patrick Stewart, who starred in an acclaimed one-man stage adaptation of the Charles Dickens classic. Stewart himself brought the entire story to life on stage, but in the film, playing cranky old Ebenezer Scrooge, he's shunted off to the side of the picture a lot, as ghosts and special effects and sweetly sick moppets vie for screen time. No matter. Stewart remains a commanding presence in a strong, straightforward production; his supporting cast (including Richard E. Grant Richard E. Grant (born May 5, 1957) is a British actor known for portraying the world-weary, drug-crazed alcoholic Withnail in Withnail and I. Biography Early life Grant was born Richard Grant Esterhuysen as Bob Cratchit and Joel Grey as a particularly fey, if doleful-eyed, Ghost of Christmas past Ghost of Christmas Past the Scrooge’s first monitor; spirit presenting past. [Br. Lit.: A Christmas Carol] See : Ghost ) contribute efficient, brisk work. But no Santa Claus! Virginia, if I could tell you the number of times I've heard that one, you'd choke on your eggnog. However, ``Santa and Pete'' manages something of a fresh spin on the story, relating the Dutch legend of St. Nicolas' sidekick, a 17th-century Moor who helps him escape from a Spanish prison and accompanies him to the New World. Apparently, the only reason we all don't know more about Pete is because Santa has a better personal publicist. ``Santa and Pete'' may be the first holiday buddy film - only they're both good cops. In New Amsterdam, Santa (Hume Cronyn) delivers a message of love spanning the ocean, reunites a lost little girl with her parents and tries to establish peace between the settlers and the Indians. Pete (comedian Flex Anderson), for his part, helps initiate such St. Nick standbys as fruitcake fruit·cake n. 1. A heavy spiced cake containing nuts and candied or dried fruits. 2. Slang A crazy or an eccentric person: "a fruitcake under the delusion that he was Saint Nicholas" , Santa's sleigh, slipping down the chimney and stuffing gifts in stockings. It's all presented with an agreeable level of tongue-in-cheek humor - who knew Santa flirted briefly with a ghastly raccoon raccoon, nocturnal New World mammal of the genus Procyon. The common raccoon of North America, Procyon lotor, also called coon, is found from S Canada to South America, except in parts of the Rocky Mts. and in deserts. hat before winding up with his traditional red cap? ``Santa and Pete'' is a winsome, generously multicultural tale, enlivened in particular by Anderson's bright and witty performance, which could prove to be a star-making turn for him. James Earl Jones, the acknowledged master of the wrap-around narrator NARRATOR. A pleader who draws narrs serviens narrator, a sergeant at law. Fleta, 1. 2, c. 37. Obsolete. sequence, handles the chore again here in a too-protracted sequence. The film's main drawback is that's it's scheduled far too late for younger viewers, who would enjoy it most. Yes, Virginia, there is a Pete, and if he's not careful, he may get spun off into his own series of holiday specials. The behind-the-scenes story of Erich von Stroheim's ``Greed'' is almost as intriguing and sordid as the one on screen. Von Stroheim was basically Orson Welles Version 1.0, an eccentric and utterly rudderless genius: Legend has it he spent a couple of weeks shooting a decadent bacchanal bac·cha·nal n. 1. A participant in the Bacchanalia. 2. The Bacchanalia. Often used in the plural. 3. A drunken or riotous celebration. 4. A reveler. adj. for one film - during Prohibition - though he knew only a few minutes would actually make it on screen. By the time the silent era had died, his career pretty much had, as well, though he played a parody of himself in Billy Wilder's 1950 classic ``Sunset Boulevard.'' ``Greed'' (1924) was a 9-1/2-hour epic tale of avarice in a strangulated strangulated /stran·gu·lat·ed/ (strang´gu-lat?ed) congested by reason of constriction or hernial stricture. strangulated congested by reason of constriction or hernial restriction, as strangulated hernia. love triangle that the director's studio, MGM MGM in full Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc. U.S. corporation and film studio. It was formed when the film distributor Marcus Loew, who bought Metro Pictures in 1920, merged it with the Goldwyn production company in 1924 and with Louis B. Mayer Pictures in 1925. , hatcheted down to a mere two at the behest of von Stroheim's sworn enemy, Irving Thalberg. The remainder of the movie was reportedly summarily destroyed to reclaim the silver in the film stock. What you'll see in Turner Movie Classics' restored version of ``Greed'' is a four-hour assemblage of the surviving footage with a copious collection of still photos amplifying details of the story, as well as filling in two subplots excised from the film. Gibson Gowland stars as McTeague, an oafish oaf n. A person regarded as stupid or clumsy. [Old Norse alfr, elf, silly person; see albho- in Indo-European roots. ersatz dentist who falls for a patient, Trina (ZaSu Pitts) as she slumbers in his dental chair. Her beau, a proboscis-picking lout Lout - Lout is a batch text formatting system and an embedded language by Jeffrey H. Kingston <jeff@cs.su.oz.au>. The language is procedural, with Scribe-like syntax. named Marcus (Jean Hersholt), gives her up to McTeague, Trina's own opinion on the matter not counting for much, of course. She wins $5,000, which eventually leads to everyone's ruination. The stills of the subplots - a junkman's opportunistic marriage turns deadly and two elderly boarders finally act on an unrequited relationship (resulting in a brief burst of vivid, hand-tinted color) - hint at the depth of the saga von Stroheim had in mind. The final confrontation in Death Valley still boasts a grimly ironic grandeur. Von Stroheim's original length seems excessive, given just how much time passes in the dentist's office alone; the assembled four hours is a long haul itself. At the risk of sounding like a blasphemer blas·pheme v. blas·phemed, blas·phem·ing, blas·phemes v.tr. 1. To speak of (God or a sacred entity) in an irreverent, impious manner. 2. To revile; execrate. v.intr. , here's a suggestion: Tape it and fast-forward through the montages of still photos. That way, you can shave off a chunk of viewing time and still get a strong sense of a vital piece of early cinematic history. The facts The show: ``Oprah Presents: Tuesdays with Morrie.'' What: Heartwarming docudrama based on the best-selling book. Who: Jack Lemmon, Hank Azaria. Where: ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. (Channel 7). When: 9 tonight. Our rating: Three stars. The show: ``Greed.'' What: Reconstruction of the epic 1924 Eric von Stroheim film about venal VENAL. Something that is bought. The term is generally applied in a bad sense; as, a venal office is an office which has been purchased. men and a couple undone by a lottery win. Who: Gibson Gowland, ZaSu Pitts, Jean Hersholt. Where: Turner Classic Movies (TCM (1) (Trellis-Coded Modulation/Viterbi Decoding) A technique that adds forward error correction to a modulation scheme by adding an additional bit to each baud. TCM is used with QAM modulation, for example. ). When: 8 tonight. Our rating: Three stars. The show: ``Santa and Pete.'' What: TV movie about Santa's heretofore unknown assistant. Who: Hume Cronyn, James Earl Jones and Flex Anderson. Where: CBS (Cell Broadcast Service) See cell broadcast. (Channel 2). When: 9 tonight. Our rating: Four stars. The show: ``A Christmas Carol.'' What: The Dickens classic remade. Who: Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant and Joel Grey. Where: TNT TNT: see trinitrotoluene. TNT in full trinitrotoluene Pale yellow, solid organic compound made by adding nitrate (−NO2) groups to toluene. . When: 8, 10 and midnight tonight, Thursday, Saturday and Dec. 12, 18, 19 and 25. Our rating: Three stars. CAPTION(S): 4 Photos Photo: (1) The voice of the late Boris Karloff helps bring the animated ``How the Grinch Stole Christmas,'' to life on the Cartoon Network. (2) Hank Azaria, left, plays Detroit sportswriter Mitch Albom and Jack Lemmon is his dying mentor in ``Tuesdays With Morrie'' on ABC. (3) TCM's ``Greed'' tells the behind-the-scenes story of Erich von Stroheim's 1924 epic. (4) Joel Grey is the Ghost of Christmas Past in TNT's new version of Dickens' classic story, ``A Christmas Carol.'' |
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