Celluloid suicide
TWIGGY was a better fashion model than she was an actress. Discovered by photographer David Bailey, she became the most famous face of the 60s. In 1970 she made a promising screen debut in Ken Russell's The Boyfriend, but then committed celluloid suicide with roles in the likes of Pygmalion and The Doctor And The Devil.
In 1990 she starred in Istanbul (World, 9.30pm). It was a comeback, but not a successful one. Istanbul bombed and Twiggy went down with the ship.
Timothy Bottoms, perhaps best known for his role in The Paper Chase, is a journalist who arrives in Istanbul with his daughter to seek information about the family of his wife's son. As expected, he becomes involved in intrigue and Twiggy pops up as Maud, a mystery woman.
Robert Morley tries to lend weight, both literally and figuratively, but is swimming against the tide. Istanbul is about as interesting, said one venomous critic, as watching camel spit dry.
THE melodrama Silence Like Glass (Pearl, 9.30pm) is better, but not for those prone to navel-contemplation. It is about cancer, or two women dying from it. Jami Gertz is the stricken ballet dancer who once dreamed of dancing at Covent Garden and Martha Plimpton is the hospital roommate who makes a pact with her to fight their mutual enemy.
CHEECH Marin's comedy Born In East L.A. (World, 1.30am) was inspired by the Bruce Springsteen song with a similar name. Marin once made a spoof version of the record.
A third-generation American-Hispanic gets caught in an immigration raid minus his ID and is deported to Tijuana. The film concerns his efforts to get back.
THE titles are as clever as the camera angles in NYPD Blue (Pearl, 8.30pm). In Tempest In A C-Cup Sipowitz (Dennis Franz) goes under cover in a topless bar, hence the laborious nomenclature. He is offered certain services by a young woman and accepts,but like every good police officer makes his excuses and arrests her after the money changes hands.
Continuing the breast theme, Fancy hires a well-endowed new civilian officer, despite fears that she might distract his predominantly male staff.
Kelly (David Caruso), meanwhile, faces the rather more mundane task of interrogating a man suspected of a number of taxi robberies.
IN Eye On Hong Kong (Pearl, 7.20pm) Jade Chan goes on a date with Oliver Tan. She also goes behind the scenes of the Bolshoi Theatre Yuri Griogorovich Ballet, which is more fun to watch than it is to pronounce. The company is currently performing The Golden Age at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre.
Gloria Wu talks to some Chelsea Football Club players, still licking their wounds after a mauling by Manchester United in the English F.A. Cup Final earlier this month, and John Dykes previews two movies - What's Eating Gilbert Grape, starring Johnny Depp, and Mr Jones, starring Richard Gere.
IS the film The Paper (starring Michael Keaton and Glenn Close and currently showing in Hong Kong) fact or fiction? Dan Rather spent two days and two nights at The New York Daily News for 60 Minutes Plus (being repeated on Pearl at 11.50pm) and got a surprising and entertaining glimpse into the wild world of scoops and scandals. There are characters at the Daily News as dramatic and unpredictable as any Hollywood would dare to invent. Here is the dramatis personae: Martin Dunn: the flamboyant editor who manoeuvres his staff through 48 hours of murder and mayhem (and that's just at the office).
Linda Stasi: unfortunately-named gossip columnist who is responsible for peeling away the peel on the Big Apple. She is ''this close'' to The Donald (aka Donald Trump) and has two assistants prowling nightclubs and hotspots in search of big names and scoops.
Amy Pagnozzi: columnist and tabloid superstar, sought after by talk shows and Hollywood producers. We follow her as she hits the pavement in pursuit of a murder story.
Rob Speyer: brash cub reporter, the youngest scribe at the Daily News, but with a surprising pedigree.
