THE KID STAYS IN THE PICTURE (2002)
Sky Cinema 1, 8.15pm
Robert Evans was Hollywood’s king of the swingers in the 1960s and 1970s. A former B-movie ham turned studio chief, the notorious serial seducer produced a slate of hits including Rosemary’s Baby, Love Story, The Godfather and Chinatown. He briefly married Ali McGraw (below), developed a monstrous cocaine habit, then destroyed his career in a sleazy murder scandal. Based on Evans’s cult 1994 autobiography, Brett Morgen and Nanette Burstein’s stylish documentary wraps the author’s own hilariously self-serving narration around an innovative animated collage of still photos and jazzy graphics. A ripping yarn, and highly recommended. (93 min)
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HEIST (2001)
Five, 9pm
David Mamet puts plenty of his trademark punchy dialogue into the mouths of a first-class cast in this deluxe reinvention of the hardboiled crime thriller. Gene Hackman, Danny DeVito and Delroy Lindo are the key players in a game of triple cross and jewel theft set in the Caribbean, with Mamet’s own wife, Rebecca Pidgeon, as Hackman’s scheming young spouse. A murky tale of macho brinkmanship and blackmail, Heist is a compelling and coolly cynical update of the noir-ish caper movie. (109 min)
JACKASS: THE MOVIE (2002)
Sky Movies 2, 10pm
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An unlikely side project for Spike Jonze, director of Being John Malkovich, the hit MTV series Jackass is a freewheeling mixture of puerile slapstick and dangerous DIY stunts. Jonze worked as the co-writer and co-producer on Jeff Tremaine’s big-screen spin-off, which hardly differs from its lowbrow television blueprint beyond its uncensored language. It’s horrible, engrossing stuff, depending on your tolerance for watching grown men eat frozen urine or swim with killer sharks while smeared in seafood. (87 min)
LEON (1994)
ITV2, 10pm
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The laconic French star Jean Reno plays a Zen-like assassin who becomes an unlikely father figure to an orphaned 12-year-old girl (Natalie Portman) in Luc Besson’s breakthrough American feature. When crooked cops massacre a family living near by in his New York apartment block, Leon (Reno) becomes both reluctant godfather and angel of vengeance. Despite a highly dubious dash of erotic subtext, Besson’s perverse twist on the Pygmalion story is an engaging comic-book thriller. Gary Oldman’s screamingly preposterous display of volcanic over-acting as a corrupt, opera-loving detective is an added bonus. (112 min)
THE PRISONER OF ZENDA (1979)
ITV1, 12.40am
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A rarely screened Peter Sellers vehicle, The Prisoner of Zenda is a largely flat misfire saved only by its star’s brittle comic charisma. In Richard Quine’s update of Anthony Hope’s much-filmed novel, Sellers plays a double role as the new king of Ruritania and his hapless lookalike, a London cabbie hired to impersonate the imperilled monarch. With a script by Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais, the creators of The Likely Lads and Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Quine’s all-star remake simply lacks spark, proving once again that Sellers had very wobbly judgment at the end of his career. (108 min)