Does this ever air?


I saw this about 15-20 years ago on either AMC or Bravo. Caught the tail end of it after work and loved what I saw. Have been hoping beyond hope that it will air again or be released on DVD but apparently, this won't happen?

Have written to several cable channels asking if they'll ever air it, they've replied "No plans to." Every month in my DirecTV guide, I scan for "The Road Builder" or "Night Digger" and it's never listed.

Has anybody seen this in the recent past? Does it ever air???

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[deleted]

Well, it's aired today. But on german televison (channel: rbb) and in german.
Guess this won't help you. Anyway, i'm quite interested and will record it maybe.

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This film is repeated at least once a month (usually around 2am) on TCM in the UK. I love the scenes when the mother and her friend talk about the local priest having a sex change and his wife also having a sex change and then becoming the new priest - it is a nice contrast to the dark subject matter in the rest of the film.

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This film is often repeated on TCM in the UK.

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Yes - but only TCM where I first saw it. I was really taken with this film as very different angle from most films dealing with the subject of isolation and, more controversially, rape. A somewhat sympathetic portrayal of rapist as human is countered with the truly heart-stopping and psychologically disturbing scene of one of his attacks. I think the film is really daring in the same way as something like Todd Solondz 'Happiness' which shows the disturbed and criminally minded (the paedo father) in otherwise neutral and bland settings, interacting quite normally on one level with normal, controlled emotions and affections but always just one side of a destructive double-life. In Night Digger, the daughter of the house compartmentalizes her feelings for the 'young stranger on a big, black motorbike' in order to cope with her own isolation and loneliness. We all know she might suspect him of something but it is a suspicion she represses in order to feel companionship. Both she and the biker live double-lives. While his is blatantly harmful and physically damaging to the rest of society, she also has the potential to be dangerous by harbouring this stranger, mummy-ing him in a way which never condemns or questions his behaviour but could in fact be the root of his continuing to terrorise and attack women. A very Freudian film which I am fascinated by but which some feminists might find objectionable as rather ambiguous (although in I think a very adult way) about responsibility and origins of sexual violence. Perhaps I am just reading too much into it! But I believe Roald Dahl, who wrote the screenplay, had a dark and morbid side and probably intended this to be an intense, psychological drama/analysis in the manner of Hitchcock's 'Psycho'.

I don't have TCM anymore but have just taken receipt of a VHS edition. Give me your email and maybe can do copy.

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[deleted]

For what it's worth, it is on right now (1am Sunday 7th September) on TCM here in the UK!

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It's scheduled for the last week of September as The Road Builder. This was a bit of a surprise to see listed.



P.T. Barnum extremely underestimated the birth rate for Suckers...

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[deleted]

[deleted]

[deleted]

"The Road Builder" (as listed onTVGuide.com) or "The Night Digger" (I saw the ad for it today on TCM) will be on TCM Tuesday Sept. 29th at 9:00pm Central standard time

You are in a position to demand nothing. I, on the other hand, am in a position to grant nothing.

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And like yer sig suggests, you will do nothing. Fine guy.

What is the sound an imploding pimp makes?

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TCM Tues(9/29) 10PM!!!

Triple Irons-"I could have easily have beaten you, if I had three swords"

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YES! 17 minutes and counting. I have waited so long to see this. God bless TCM!

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The version TCM aired on 9/29/09 looked terrible - blurry, poor contrast, smeared colors and full frame, with sides cropped. The running time was 96 minutes, it's supposed to be 97 or 98 minutes long (was it edited?). Why couldn't TCM show a better transfer of this film?. Warner Archives should release this title properly.

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This film last appeared on TCM in America on Tuesday, September 29, 2009 from 10 p.m. until midnight with a running time of 96 minutes. In his introduction to the film, Robert Osborne said that it is a rarely seen film. It is listed in the TCM guide, "Now Playing" under the title, "The Road Builder." So if I were searching for it in future TCM in America listings, I would check under that title.

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