Turn towards the off switch
THANK God it's Friday, and if you weren't already thinking of going out, one look at tonight's TV line-up should be enough to change your mind.
Apart from the final episode of the excellent Kennedys (Pearl 8.30pm) there's not a lot to get excited about, just a slew of reruns.
TO believe in Red Dawn (Pearl 9.30pm, Original Running Time 114 mins) you have to swallow the premise that the Russians would be daft enough to invade America, starting from the middle. Also that they would do it using every weapon available except the nuclear variety - conveniently allowing the town's students to start spouting patriotic platitudes and rise up against them.
That aside the film is quite compelling, as the teens turn themselves into guerilla fighters, but the purple posturing is difficult to swallow.
Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey, who would later be paired in Dirty Dancing, star, as do Charlie Sheen and Harry Dean Stanton.
REMEMBER Mark Lester and Jack Wild in the musical Oliver!? They were considered such a successful partnership that they were paired up again soon after in Melody (Pearl 9.30pm, ORT 103 mins). Here too, Lester plays the gentle one, while Wild's the Cockney jokester. They're a couple of teens who rebel against the adults when Lester decides he wants to get married (to Tracy Hyde).
The lads are fairly charming, but this is strictly for the highly sentimental. What's worse, it's all set to Bee Gees music.
LAST week's Mediawatch (World 7.30pm) looked at independent operators within Hong Kong's vast comic industry. Today, it reports on three other areas where independents are trying to break away from the mainstream: video, film and music.
Hosts Gary Pollard and Claudia Mo will be talking to film-maker Chan Tin-sing about his efforts to operate alone, and to music groups Endeavour and The Box, who're attempting to escape the Canto-pop scene and produce less commercial material.
THE ancient Maya people have long been considered a peace-loving civilisation, but new evidence uncovered in Mexico and Central America suggests that prolonged, violent warfare may have contributed to their downfall.
Lost Kingdoms of the Maya (World 8.30pm) is an unusual documentary in which ancient Maya rituals and tradition are re-enacted to bring to life the dramatic story of the rise and fall of the ancient people.
THE best of the ''All Night Long'' films is 84 Charlie Mopic (Pearl 2.45am, ORT 95 mins), whose title is the name of a two-man documentary film crew accompanying a US platoon on a combat mission in Vietnam.
They follow the soldiers in action and at rest, and though the handheld camera used throughout is not easy on the eyes, the film's a worthy attempt to take a new angle on being a soldier in 'Nam.
IN Film '93 (BBC 6.35pm), Barry Norman reports on an enterprising scheme to revitalise Ealing Studios, the place where classic comedies like The Lavender Hill Mob and The Ladykillers were made.
He also reviews Hawk which stars Helen Mirren (Prime Suspect) as a housewife who thinks her husband may be a serial killer.
