Go Socceroos !

Really a most quiet and disappointing week for movie lovers on the teev. If you watched (or taped as I did) Sergio Leone’s first foray into westerns last week, A Fistful of Dollars, then you will welcome its sequel, For A Few Dollars More (Sat 7 1130P). “Less stylish than [universally regarded classic] ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ but a vast improvement on ‘A Fistful of Dollars,’ its heavy on blood and guts with lots of grunting to augment the Morricone score, atmospheric set-ups and grim faces.” Stars of course Clint and Lee Van Cleef.
The only other contribution of note is Val Lewton’s The Seventh Victim (Tue 2 1A) : one of nine psychological horror movies he produced for RKO during the 1940s. Unlike his predecessors who associated horror movies with monsters (like Frankenstein or Kong) Lewton produced films that demonstrated an inner horror : “is it real or am I imagining it ?” While not especially scary by today’s standards, they remain fascinating and atmospheric and are precursors to a lot of modern horror films. The Seventh Victim tells the story of a woman looking for her sister who has belonged to satanic cult but is now on the run for betraying its secrets. “Avoiding explicit shock effects and gore, this is a transcendent journey to the dark side of human endeavour.”
And for those motivated by such things, you hardly need reminding that the Australian Socceroos play Greece tonight (broadcast on SBS) before they head back to Europe for the World Cup finals. Their next practice match is against the Netherlands on Sunday week.