By David “Large” Larzelere
Saturday, 1/26
Enter the Dragon, Bravo, 2:00 a.m.
Bruce Lee gets recruited for an elite martial arts tournament on a mysterious island. But it turns out that the island is ruled by a ruthless dope dealer whose cronies killed Lee’s sister back in the day. So, well… you know how he do. On the Large-ometer of Martial Arts Awesomeness, this 1973 classic rates an 8.2, one of the few non-Sonny Chiba movies out there that come in above an 8. Just keep in mind while you’re watching it – “emotional content… NOT anger.†You figure that one out and you’re well on your way to unlocking the ancient Chinese secret of Whupass. (Check out the clip below where Bruce schools this gringo who evidently has not heard about Bruce.)
Weekend Late-Night Sports Movie TV Guide
Ring of Fire: The Emile Griffith Story, Sundance, 3:00 a.m.
A gripping doc about Emile Griffith, the fighting legend from St. Thomas. It deals in depth with Griffith’s third bout with Benny Paret in March of 1962, a nationally televised bloodbath that caused Paret’s death from a brain hemmorhage. Two things to know about this thing going in – 1. the stagy scene at the end where they have Griffith meet with Paret’s son feels like the worst kind of emotional blackmail, and 2. they show the scene from the third fight when Griffith finishes Paret several times, show it in slo-mo even, and I swear, you can almost see the man’s soul leaving his body. It’s not for the faint of heart.
Nacho Libre, Showtime Too, 10:30 a.m.
I realize that this is stretching the concept of late night a bit, but let’s just be honest with each other and admit that it does happen now and again that 10:30 a.m. marks the end of an evening. And should tomorrow morning turn out to be one of those evenings, well, maybe you’ll be at just the right stage of freaky naughty to think this Jack Black Mexican wrestling crapfest is funny. Myself, I thought it blew, but then I sensed at the time that I was way too unwasted to even begin to comprehend its vicissitudes.
Sunday, 1/27
Blood Surf, Sci-Fi, 3:00 a.m.
I’m Tivo-ing this baby f’real. Here’s the promo – “A film crew is terrorized by a giant saltwater crocodile while documenting a new extreme brand of surfing in Australia.†I mean, how can it go wrong? It combines two of my favorite genres – surfing movies and giant crocodile movies.
The Gambling Ghost, Telemundo, 4:30 a.m.
I’m not sure, cause it’s on Telemundo and all, but I think this is the Spanish-language biopic of Art Schlichter.↵
This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.
