TV highlights for the week of March 14, 2021

March 11, 2021 at 11:09 p.m.
TV highlights for the week of March 14, 2021
TV highlights for the week of March 14, 2021

John Mulderig

NEW YORK – The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies on network and cable television the week of March 14. Please note that televised versions may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence, and sexual situations.

Monday, March 15, 5:30-8 p.m. EDT (AMC) "Escape Plan" (2013). More intelligent than many of its genre peers, this actioner pairing Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger also is too harsh for all but the hardiest viewers. Stallone plays an expert on prison security who poses as an inmate to test each institution he investigates. He gets more than he bargained for, however, when he goes undercover in a privately run maximum-security jail with a cruel warden (Jim Caviezel) who knows his real identity but refuses to treat him as anything other than an ordinary convict. Joining forces with Schwarzenegger's character, the slammer's top dog, he searches for flaws in the system that could help them both fly the coop. Working from a script by Miles Chapman and Arnell Jesko, director Mikael Hafstrom uses the Sherlock Holmes-like observational skills of Stallone's persona to good effect, and implicitly raises real-life issues about the treatment of captured terrorists and other criminals. But brutality abounds in the movie's main setting; inmates brawl among themselves, masked guards beat their charges with gusto, and the two main characters stage fights as part of their escape plan. So the basic question remains how much pleasure or edification moviegoers will derive from watching the former governor of California head-butt Rocky. Constant violence, much of it gory, an implied nonmarital situation, a revenge theme, much rough and crude language, a coarse joke, a couple of obscene gestures. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was L – limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association rating was R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Tuesday, March 16, 6-8 p.m. EDT (Showtime) "Hoosiers" (1987). Dedicated but dictatorial coach (Gene Hackman) leads a small-town high school basketball team to the 1952 Indiana state championship while effecting some attitude adjustments in the community and rebuilding his self-esteem along the way. Director David Anspaugh's film recalls and celebrates a vanishing American rural ethic where integrity is everything and winning is the spice of life. Brief instances of mildly vulgar language and a courtside scuffle. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-I – general patronage. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG – parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Wednesday, March 17, 5:30-8 p.m. EDT (TCM) "Finian's Rainbow" (1968). Enjoyable screen version of groundbreaking 1940s Broadway musical about an Irish father (Fred Astaire) and daughter (Petula Clark), a lovelorn leprechaun (Tommy Steele), a racially bigoted judge (Keenan Wynn), and a stolen pot of gold, all set in the American South. Burton Lane and Yip Harburg's songs are the real gold. Director Francis Ford Coppola, pre-"Godfather" fame, strove to make a traditional musical, with some innovative 1960s flourishes, and the cast is first-rate. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-I – general patronage. The Motion Picture Association rating was G – general audiences. All ages admitted.

Saturday, March 20, 1:30-3 p.m. EDT (TCM) "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955). Morality tale in the form of a tense thriller set in a small Western town whose residents are forced to face their guilty past when a one-armed stranger (Spencer Tracy) arrives in 1945 asking for the whereabouts of a Japanese-American farmer. Director John Sturges gets much suspense from the uneven odds against the lone, handicapped outsider confronted by increasingly hostile locals (Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine). Growing menace and brief but painfully effective violence. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-II – adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association.

Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.


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NEW YORK – The following are capsule reviews of theatrical movies on network and cable television the week of March 14. Please note that televised versions may or may not be edited for language, nudity, violence, and sexual situations.

Monday, March 15, 5:30-8 p.m. EDT (AMC) "Escape Plan" (2013). More intelligent than many of its genre peers, this actioner pairing Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger also is too harsh for all but the hardiest viewers. Stallone plays an expert on prison security who poses as an inmate to test each institution he investigates. He gets more than he bargained for, however, when he goes undercover in a privately run maximum-security jail with a cruel warden (Jim Caviezel) who knows his real identity but refuses to treat him as anything other than an ordinary convict. Joining forces with Schwarzenegger's character, the slammer's top dog, he searches for flaws in the system that could help them both fly the coop. Working from a script by Miles Chapman and Arnell Jesko, director Mikael Hafstrom uses the Sherlock Holmes-like observational skills of Stallone's persona to good effect, and implicitly raises real-life issues about the treatment of captured terrorists and other criminals. But brutality abounds in the movie's main setting; inmates brawl among themselves, masked guards beat their charges with gusto, and the two main characters stage fights as part of their escape plan. So the basic question remains how much pleasure or edification moviegoers will derive from watching the former governor of California head-butt Rocky. Constant violence, much of it gory, an implied nonmarital situation, a revenge theme, much rough and crude language, a coarse joke, a couple of obscene gestures. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was L – limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. The Motion Picture Association rating was R – restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

Tuesday, March 16, 6-8 p.m. EDT (Showtime) "Hoosiers" (1987). Dedicated but dictatorial coach (Gene Hackman) leads a small-town high school basketball team to the 1952 Indiana state championship while effecting some attitude adjustments in the community and rebuilding his self-esteem along the way. Director David Anspaugh's film recalls and celebrates a vanishing American rural ethic where integrity is everything and winning is the spice of life. Brief instances of mildly vulgar language and a courtside scuffle. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-I – general patronage. The Motion Picture Association rating was PG – parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Wednesday, March 17, 5:30-8 p.m. EDT (TCM) "Finian's Rainbow" (1968). Enjoyable screen version of groundbreaking 1940s Broadway musical about an Irish father (Fred Astaire) and daughter (Petula Clark), a lovelorn leprechaun (Tommy Steele), a racially bigoted judge (Keenan Wynn), and a stolen pot of gold, all set in the American South. Burton Lane and Yip Harburg's songs are the real gold. Director Francis Ford Coppola, pre-"Godfather" fame, strove to make a traditional musical, with some innovative 1960s flourishes, and the cast is first-rate. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-I – general patronage. The Motion Picture Association rating was G – general audiences. All ages admitted.

Saturday, March 20, 1:30-3 p.m. EDT (TCM) "Bad Day at Black Rock" (1955). Morality tale in the form of a tense thriller set in a small Western town whose residents are forced to face their guilty past when a one-armed stranger (Spencer Tracy) arrives in 1945 asking for the whereabouts of a Japanese-American farmer. Director John Sturges gets much suspense from the uneven odds against the lone, handicapped outsider confronted by increasingly hostile locals (Robert Ryan, Lee Marvin and Ernest Borgnine). Growing menace and brief but painfully effective violence. The Catholic News Service classification of the theatrical version was A-II – adults and adolescents. Not rated by the Motion Picture Association.

Mulderig is on the staff of Catholic News Service.

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