HBO (Sat., Nov. 21, 8 P.M. ET)
A
This study of Josef Stalin, the universally reviled tyrant, is mesmerizing, in large degree because of its star. Robert Duvall, heavy makeup transforming his face into a cruel, slightly Asiatic mask, radiates menace as the Soviet autocrat. More than 20 million Soviet citizens perished during his 24-year reign of terror, as this punishing paranoid remade a sprawling, agrarian country into an industrialized military superpower.
Shooting in and around Moscow, often within the Kremlin itself, director Ivan Passer and cinematographer Vilmos Zsigmond have crafted a dark, largely interior film that doesn't really concern itself with the big events of Stalin's regime. The focus, instead, is on the impact Stalin had on the people closest to him. Julia Ormond (see story, page 84) is appealing as the dictator's wife, Nadya. Impressive, too, is Jeroen Krabbé as the idealistic revolutionary Bukharin. And Roshan Seth is wonderfully sinister as Beria, Stalin's brutal hatchetman, the minister of interior affairs.
The strategy of taking a more personal approach to Stalin was wise, making this not a historical opus, but a great gangster movie.
Syndicated (Check local listings)
D
A monk in modern-day Spain comes to give a condemned prisoner the last riles. But wait, the monk is in fact a notorious rebel, played by stubbly-faced Michael (Flashdance) Nouri; the two break out of jail and escape by mingling with men running with the bulls at, yes, Pamplona.
That's just the opening salvo in this astoundingly plotted mini. A trio of nuns persecuted by a vicious army colonel (a goateed James Brolin) flee their convent and take refuge with Nouri and his rebel band. But wait, one of the nuns (Elizabeth Gracen) is a mob boss's daughter who is wanted for murder. Another (Deborah Raffin) is an orphaned American heiress. The third (Amanda Plummer) is just plain crazy. There follows an endless chase through the countryside to the accompaniment of flamenco guitar thrums.
It's worth tuning in just to hear Nouri and Brolin do their husky Spanish accents, acquired, it would seem, from watching old episodes of Zorro. Nouri tells Raffin, "Seester, we are risonable peoples." Pero no, señor. Risonable peoples would not have signed up for this silly siesta.
NBC (San., Nor. 22, 9 P.M. ET)
C-
The body of the wife of a corrupt, well-connected Chicago lawyer (Treat Williams) is found in a ear submerged in a canal. One stubborn cop (Brian Dennehy) is determined to link Williams to the murder.
This two-parter, based on actual events, commits the cardinal sin for a TV movie: It doesn't lure its audience right away. It then compounds that problem by jumping into an extended flashback before rooting viewers in the present story. (The conclusion airs on Monday night.) If ever a tale didn't warrant a four-hour treatment, this singularly uninvolving project is it.
Williams is convincing as a smooth sociopath, his hooded eyes glacial, his sudden mood swings terribly volatile. But Dennehy, who looks bored throughout, is wasted in a dull franks-and-beans role.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
