Weekend views No.8

A weekend full of nice stuff, really. Picnics, yoga and such. But of course you don't come here to read about my chirpy, London-style hedonism...you come here for incessant ramblings on what I watched on TV! And it was a weekend of two cinematic halves (as always). Saturday night saw me hunkered down in front of Species - starring the scenery chewing antics of Ben(dhi) Kingsley, the macho bullshit of Michael Madsen, the under-used talent of Alfred 'man of a thousand accents' Molina, the over-used 'look at me I'm a sad man' join the dots-stylings of Forest Whitaker and a script ludicrous enough to be great fun. Awesome. Whatever happened to Natasha Henstridge? Oh yeah...she made Species 2 and...err...Species 3! Top alien sex fiend action.
But this pales into insignificance next to Sunday's offering. In a weak attempt to woo viewers away from the Wimbledon Men's Final ITV came up with one of my all-time fave movies. I love a good western (no, we're NOT talking Audie Murphy or Randolph Scott here, pardners). John Ford's Searchers is, possibly, my favourite movie. Full stop.
So roll on Destry Rides Again (1939). James Stewart in pre-war innocence meets tart with a heart, Marlene Deitrich, in the frontier town of Bottleneck. This B&W gem has it all. Cattlemen vs townsfolk; girl-on-girl bar room brawls; and Deitrich singing some GREAT numbers. Stewart as Destry cleans up the town without the aid of firearms (until his friends get killed, natch) and everyone gets what they deserve. Perfect Sunday afternoon viewing. beats two men hitting a furry ball back and forth for three hours, anyhow!