FILM LIST
Lee. A facile, glamourised portrait of hackdom. Strathclyde; La Scala, Saltcoats.
0 Peter Pan (U) (Wilfred
Jackson, Clyde Geronomi, Hamilton Luske, US. 1952) 76 mins. Typically beguiling Disney magic of the little boy who cannot grow up and three London children who join his adventures in Never Never land. Edinburgh: Odeon.
o The Philadelphia Attraction (15) (Peter Gardos, Hungary, 1984) Karoly Eperjes, Kamil Feleki. 94 mins. Modest tale of an unusual friendship that develops between a crotchety old man and an aspiring Harry Houdini-style escapologist. Glasgow; Glasgow Film Theatre.
0 Purple Rain (15) (Albert Magnoli, US, 1984). Thinly disguised Oscar-winning autobiographical drama on the life and hard times of His Purpleness. The music is all and includes When Doves Cry. Glasgow; Grosvenor.
e The Purple Rose of Cairo (PG) (Woody Allen, US, 1985) Mia Farrow, Jeff Daniels, Van Johnson. 82 mins. In Depression-ridden America Mia Farrow is a downtrodden waitress and dogsbody to an unappreciative spouse. She gains solace from her frequent visits to the local movie house where she escapes into a world of exotic locales. witty banter exchanged over cocktails and romance where every ending is a happy one. During one visit an emboldened admirer steps down from the screen and confesses his love for her.
Purple Rose is another brilliantly orchestrated blend of pathos and humour as Allen salutes the simple comfort and joy provided by a night at the pictures. Witty, touching and beautifully economic in its execution. A total delight. Edinburgh: Odeon.
o Rambo: First Blood Part ll ( 15) (George Pan Cosmatos, US, 1985) Sylvester Stallone, Richard Crenna. 96 mins. Inferior sequel to Stallone's 1982 hit. His monolithic Vietnam vet is released from incarceration to seek out his buddies still rotting in Vietcong prison camps. On one level this is a simple-minded, taut action film directed at an exhilarating pace. It is also a Charles Atlas fantasy on a national scale with dramatic liberty restoring the pride of a country irredeemably tarnished by Vietnam and Watergate.
Edinburgh; ABC. Glasgow; ABC, Sauchiehall St.
0 Red Sonia (pg) (Richard Fleischer, US, 1985) Brigette Nielson, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sandahl Bergman. 88 mins. The Conan the Barbarian team conjure up another slice of sword and sorcery with Sylvester Stallone’s girlfriend Brigette Nielson as a legendary warrior out to combat the wicked queen Gedren who has evil designs on world domination. Hokum. Glasgow; ABC, Sauchiehall Street.
0 Restless ilatives (pg) (Michael Hoffman, UK, 1985) Vincent Friell, Joe Mullaney, Teri Lally. 89 mins.
J uvenilc Highland fling as two casualties of Thatcher’s Britain get on their bikes and hijack coaches
bursting with wealthy tourists becoming the Butch and Sundance of Edinburgh town. Strained whimsicality and cuteness abound in this dismal Bill Forsyth clone. Strathclyde; Kilbume, Paisley. 0 Return to 02 (U) (Walter Murch, US, 1985) Nicol Williamson, Jean Marsh, Fairuza Balk, Piper Laurie. 109 mins. Six months after her resumption of life down on the farm in Kansas Dorothy is pitched anew into that land over the rainbow. However, the Yellow Brick Road is in a shocking state of disrepair, the Emerald City is in ruins, and there isn’t a Munchkin in sight. Now the land shudders under the dark shadow of the Nome King and the wicked Princess Mombi. Dorothy has arrived in the nick of time to restore order. A proficient example of traditional storytelling with excellent Claymation effects compensating for the lack of magic and music that so endeared Judy Garland’s visit to our hearts this will be best enjoyed by older, book-loving children. Edinburgh: Dominion. O Roar (PG) (Noel Marshall, US, 1981) Noel Marshall, Tippi Hedren, John Marshall. 101 mins. A family’s misadventures with 150 wild lions, tigers, panthers and elephants on a solitary ranch in East Africa. 11 _ Years in the making at a cost of $17 million this is little more than an expensive home movie with no plot or characterisation to speak of. Only
h’ w .. Mad Max- Beyond Thunderdome (15) (George Miller and George (lgilvie, Australia, 1985) Mel Gibson, Tina Turner, Bruce Spence. 107 mins. The lone, rugged post-Apocalypse survivor Max has plenty to be mad about in the third episode in the series. Firstly he is robbed in the desert by a flying scavenger then when he ioumeys to Bartertown, a community run on the methane gas obtained from pig manure he becomes an unwitting pawn in a power struggle betmen dictatorial Aunt Entity (the electrifying Tina Turner) and the influential Masterblaster. Banished once more into the desert he ls befriended by a tribe of children who hall him as the long-awaited Messiah who will lead them to the promised land.
The film certainly cannot be accused oi a fact: of plot and therein lies its trouble for the surfelt oi disparate
I for the children of those with fond
memories of Daktari. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. o Romancing the Stone (PG) (Robert Zemeckis, US, 1984) Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner. Danny DeVito. 106 mins. Bright and breezy escapist yarn in the Indiana Jones tradition. Turner is a bestselling novelist pitched slap bang in the middle of real life intrigue when she receives a treasure map from her late brother-in-law in Colombia. Douglas is a dashing Sir Galahad and Turner does a terrific line in distressed damsels. A sequel . Jewel ofthe Nile, opens in America this Christmas. Glasgow: Glasgow Film Theatre. I Sharltey’s Machine (18) (Burt Reynolds, US, 1981) Burt Reynolds. Rachel Ward, Brian Keith. 122 mins. Superior thriller with Reynolds as cop and voyeur taking a tumble to threatened high-class hooker Ward. Glasgow; Grosvenor. O A Soldier’s Story (15) (Norman Jewison, US, 1984) Howard E.
Rollins Jr, Adolph Caesar. 101 mins.
The murder of an unpopular coloured sergeant in wartime Louisiana unveils some home truths about racism and black consciousness.
Norman Jewison translates this well-crafted stage success to the screen as a pale re-run of his 1967 feature In the Heat of the Night with Harvard-educated investigating officer Rollins in the Poitier role.
/' f.
elements are never satisfactorily or convincingly interwoven into a seamlessly compelling narrative. The film is bloated with references to other films and other genres as if the directors had decided to throw everything and anything into the melting pot of their imaginations lest anyone feel cheated. The primitve Bartertown society is a rather repellent notion but a set designer's dream assignment and is symptomatic of an Impression that, overall, excitement has been sacrificed to eccentricity. Anyone anticipating the exhilaration of a pure action film like Mad Max 2 will wind up a restless native of their local cinema. Only in the gladatorial combat of the Thunderdome arena and a last reel chase do the sparks fly. Otherwise Mad Max 3 is an anti-climax to the series.
(Allan limiter)
Unfortunately where there was once taut, coiled tension there now lurks the conventional framework of a whodunnit; methodical flashbacks laced with liberal concern. Disappointing. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
0 Subway (15) (Luc Besson, France, 1985) Christopher Lambert, Isabelle Adjani. Michael Galabru. 102 mins. Impetuous peroxide safe-cracker Lambert has fallen head over heels for the scintillating Adjani and hopes to win her by means fair or foul. Absconding with a sheaf of incriminating papers he takes refuge in the man-made catacombs ofthe Paris metro where he discovers a friendly twilight zone that encourages him to dream the impossible dream.
A smooth. stylish thriller likened to Diva but witha drive. energy and exuberance of its own. Glasgow: Film Theatre.
0 Threads (TV) (Mick Jackson, UK, 1984) Karen Meigher. 110 mins. Remorseless BBC production focusing on the casual escalation of international antagonism into nuclear war and its aftermath as it affects the everyday concerns of British families. The comforting statistics and empty rhetoric of the nuclear debate are brought chillingly close to home as issues are humanised and the fate of faceless thousands personalised when the threads that bind us all together are rent asunder. Glasgow: Glasgow Film Theatre (Future Imperfect Event).
0 Trading Places (15) (John Landis, US, 1983) Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy, Don Ameche, Jamie Lee Curtis. 116 mins. Two elderly members of Philadelphia’s Heritage Club indulge in a wager that black down-and-out can make it as a commodities broker and instal him in a partnership, while the former broker he has replaced (now reduced to vagabond status himself) decides to fight back. Superb comedy is intricately scripted and beautifully timed, with Eddie Murphy almost stealing the show from Denholm Elliot’s plucky butler and Ameche and Ralph Bellamy‘s curmudgeonly old codgers. Worthy of comparison with 305 models, and you even come out having learned something about the commodities market. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
o The Twilight Zone (15)(John Landis/Steven Spielberg/Joe Dante/George Miller,US, 1983)Dan Aykroyd, Vic Morrow, Scatman Crothers. 101 mins. Uneven tribute to the beloved television series with some distinguished directors well below their best. Spielberg offers a patronising tale of second childhood at an old folks home but best of all is Miller’s tale of a terrified airline passenger, something with which we can all identify Glasgow; Grosvenor.
o A Very Moral flight (15) (Karoly Makk, Hungary, 1977) Margit Makay, Gyorgy Cserhalmi. 99 mins. In a turn-of-the-century town the inmates of a local brothel take a povery-sticken medical student under their wing. Complications arise whenever the lad’s poor old
26 The List 18-31 October