Film of the night

Two Days in the Valley (1996), Sky Indie, 9pm

Hollywood was still in love with Robert Altman’s Short Cuts and Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction when the writer-director John Herzfeld delivered this stylish and underrated comic portrait of a city where six degrees of Kevin Bacon divide cops from killers, superstars from psychopaths. Paying fond homage to both directors, and to the self-referential narcissism of Los Angeles itself, 2 Days in the Valley is full of snappy dialogue and quirky characters. A former Olympic athlete, played by the Desperate Housewives star Teri Hatcher, somehow becomes entangled in a murder plot and hostage stand-off involving Danny Aiello’s sweet-natured hitman, James Spader’s coldly sadistic killer and Greg Cruttwell’s obnoxious British art dealer. A then-unknown Charlize Theron also plays her first credited big-screen role in this lively comedy of errors.

Though a seasoned television director himself, before making this Herzfeld had not directed a feature since his 1983 big-screen debut Two of a Kind, a forgettable romantic comedy that reunited the Grease stars John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. (104min)

Best of the rest

Doctor in Clover (1966), Channel 4, 12.35pm

Six films in, the medical comedy franchise replaces suave Dirk Bogarde with leering Leslie Phillips, and genial farce with Carry On innuendo. (101min)

The Abominable Doctor Phibes (1971)/ Doctor Phibes Rises Again (1971), Sky Movies Classics, 9pm/10.40pm

Vincent Price’s splendidly hammy turns as the vengeful megalomaniac killing friends and foes alike from London to Egypt. (94min/89min)

Every Which Way But Loose (1978), ITV4, 10pm

Clint Eastwood directs and stars in this populist crowd-pleaser as a boozy drifter with an orang-utan for a best friend. Until he meets Sondra Locke’s aloof country singer, that is. (110min)

Scream 2 (1997), Channel 4, 10.35pm

Knowingly ironic horror sequel. Neve Campbell, David Arquette, Courtney Cox and Sarah Michelle Gellar line up to be ritually slaughtered. (120min)

The Man Who Cried (2000), Channel 4, 2.40am

Christina Ricci, Johnny Depp and Cate Blanchett join in the general bafflement at Sally Potter’s artful but cryptic Euro fable. (100min)

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