Cable to celebrate MLK Day with Burnett film fest
Turner Classic Movies is known for its thematic film festivals, but this year it comes up with something truly exceptional for the Martin Luther King holiday.
TCM runs a Charles Burnett film fest in prime time starting with his landmark 1977 directorial debut, "Killer of Sheep," at 7 p.m. Monday. There is no better way to honor King's memory and legacy -- at least not from the comfort of your favorite chair or couch.
The Library of Congress made "Sheep" one of the first 50 movies in the National Film Registry in 1990, and in 2002 the National Society of Film Critics named it one of the 100 Essential Films of all time. But it was more renowned than actually seen.
That's because Burnett made it in black and white for an estimated $10,000 (and most of that in grant money) in 1977 as his master's thesis at UCLA and didn't bother to pay for the rights to the music he used. That music is essential to the film, beginning with Dinah Washington's "This Bitter Earth," which pops up a couple of times, including at the end.
So for years, after winning the Critic's Award at the 1981 Berlin Film Festival, "Sheep" received no general film distribution. It wasn't seen on cable or even at college-campus revivals, but only at the odd film festival or museum screening. Burnett, meanwhile, went on to direct a series of fine films, with his biggest "hit" probably 1990's "To Sleep With Anger," starring Danny Glover.
The original "Sheep" was turned over to UCLA's film-preservation department in 2000, and by last year Milestone Film & Video had arranged clearances for the music, with a little financial help from director Steven Soderbergh and, yes, TCM. It was released in a 35mm format to theaters last year, and now the new print makes its TCM debut.
And yes this is absolutely a classic motion picture. If you've never seen it, clear your evening (or plan to stay up for the rerun at 11:30) and prepare to be floored.
Not to hype expectations. The best thing about "Sheep" is its humility, the way it doesn't set out to say anything, but ends up saying everything about the black experience in the Los Angeles neighborhood of Watts in the '70s. There's no story to speak of, and no moral -- just a series of vignettes strung together in a way that enchants, enthralls and ultimately leaves a viewer entranced and altered.
Think of an Italian neorealist masterpiece crossed with the experimental daring of Melvin Van Peebles' "Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song" and, above all, the pervasive humanity of the blues and you have the recipe -- but the recipe alone -- for what makes "Sheep" a magical movie.
Henry Gayle Sanders stars as Stan, the title character, as he works at a sheep slaughterhouse and meatpacking plant. Kaycee Moore is his wife and the mother of their two children.
In fact it's the children -- and above all the neighborhood kids -- who exert a hold over Burnett's camera, starting with the opening scene in which a father scolds his son.
"You're not a child anymore. Soon you'll be a (goshdarn) man," he says. "So start learning what life is about now." And then he slaps the child in the face.
From there, "Sheep" revels in the recklessness of youth -- kids having a war with dirt clods, or blithely leaping across the opening in an apartment-building roof two stories up from the ground.
At the same time it deals in adult concerns, interrupted by moments of unexpected calm, as when Stan and his wife dance in their living room to "This Bitter Earth."
Because it's so seemingly simple, every small detail takes on significance, starting with, yes, the slaughtering of the sheep. A girl wanders the neighborhood in a dog mask. Stan buys an automobile engine only to lose it off the back of a truck. A flat tire keeps them from going to the track to play the ponies when, in the days before off-track betting, one guy just knows he has a winner in the ninth race.
So no, Burnett didn't bother to get the rights to Louis Armstrong's "West End Blues," but when his film draws on that song it proves itself fully entitled to it -- and considering that Armstrong's early masterpiece remains one of the most powerful performances in jazz, that's high praise.
"Sheep" is followed by the 1973 Burnett short "The Horse" at 8:40 p.m. Monday, then the 1983 feature "My Brother's Wedding" at 9, followed by the 1995 short "When It Rains" at 10:30 and 1969's "Several Friends" at 11, before "Killer of Sheep" starts it all again at 11:30. And that all completes a daylong black film fest, starting with "The Jackie Robinson Story" (starring Robinson himself) at 5 a.m. and including "A Raisin in the Sun" at 4:45 p.m.
So, by all means, get out Monday and do something to make Dr. King's still-not-yet-fully realized dream a reality. But you know what? You could do a lot worse to honor his memory than just stay home and watch TCM all day.
In the air
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