Advertisement

Although the 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of...

Share

Although the 1991 Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (CBS Sunday at 8 p.m.) can’t compare with 1938’s “The Adventures of Robin Hood” starring Errol Flynn, the perfect Bandit of Sherwood Forest, or with the silent 1922 “Robin Hood” with Douglas Fairbanks Sr., it is an enjoyable mishmash. It is directed with much energy and good nature by Kevin Reynolds and stars a likable but all-too-American Kevin Costner, who is nearly upstaged by Alan Rickman’s deliciously evil Sheriff of Nottingham. Co-starring Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio as Maid Marian.

Texasville (KTLA Monday at 8 p.m. and Saturday at 11:30 p.m.), the 1990 sequel to “The Last Picture Show,” revisits its lusty Texans 30 years later. Peter Bogdanovich has directed Jeff Bridges, Annie Potts and a fine and mellowed Cybill Shepherd into platinum performances. But there’s so much going on that it’s hard to see how good this trio really is.

Shepherd also stars in Chances Are (KTLA Tuesday at 8 p.m.), a winsome 1989 comedy about reincarnation, featuring Robert Downey Jr. as the eternal return of Shepherd’s long-dead husband. Director Emile Ardolino (“Dirty Dancing”) gives it that soft, upscale sheen, while Downey suggests he could be sensational if the script weren’t so squeaky-cute. The setup is excellent, the delivery slack, and the spirit of Hollywood’s idealistic fantasy romance comedies remains buried.

Advertisement

The 1985 Real Genius (KTLA Saturday at 6 p.m.) is not to be confused with “Weird Science,” “My Science Project,” “Real Science,” “Weird Genius” or even “My Real Weird Science Project.” This Martha Coolidge’s tangled tale is funnier than any of them; a teen-age laser research prodigy (Val Kilmer) is at odds with a tyrannical professor (William Atherton).

Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (KCOP Saturday at 8 p.m.) is a key film of the ‘60s and the final teaming of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. The legends play a couple whose daughter (Katharine Houghton, Hepburn’s real-life niece) brings home her fiance (Sidney Poitier) for the first time.

Advertisement