INSIGNIFICANCE
TCM, 2:00 a.m. ET
This 1985 movie rarely is televised – and though it’s easy to understand why, it’s also a fascinating flop. It’s a fantasy about four icons who end up one night in the same hotel room. They’re identified only by occupation – the professor, the actress, the senator, and the ballplayer – but clearly, they’re meant to be Albert Einstein, Marilyn Monroe, John F. Kennedy and Joe DiMaggio. And they’re portrayed, respectively, by Michael Emil, Theresa Russell, Tony Curtis… and Gary Busey. Nicolas Roeg directs, and was involved with Russell at the time, which is the only understandable reason for her being cast in that role. As bad movie performances go, hers, in Insignificance, goes a very long way.