. FILM. LIST
candidate, Edinburgh: EU Filmsoc 0 Best Defence (15) (Willard Huyck. US, 1984) Dudley Moore. Eddie Murphy. 92 mins. The life and loves of a cuddly tank designer. Utterly dismal comedy in which the two stars barely share a scene. Strathclyde: Rialto
o Blggles (PG) (John Hough. UK. 1986) Neil Dickson. Alex Hyde-White, Fiona Hutchison. 92 mins. See caption Review. Edinburgh: ABC. Glasgow: ABC Sauchiehall Street
0 Black and White Like Nights and
, Days(Wolfgang Petersen.W Germany) Bruno Ganz. A chess
championship becomes a war of nerves for one obsessive participant who begins to feel the strain. Glasgow: German Cine-Club
0 Blade Runner ( 15) (Ridley Scott. US. 1982) Harrison Ford. Rutger Hauer. Daryl Hannah. 118 mins. LA, AD 2019. a tough cop tracks down a group ofsophisticated androids gone haywire. Hi-tech retread of Chandler with effects the real stars. Ford suitably gritty. and Hauer as a rogue robot is just a bastard. Edinburgh; Ross Theatre 0 Brazil (15) (Terry Gilliam. UK. 1985) Jonathan Pryce. Michael Palin, Robert De Niro. 142 mins. Disturbing and overpowering fantasia refracting Orwell into a massive, darkly comic satire. Unbelievable visuals are a foil to some memorable performances. and the whole thought-provoking rollercoaster is probably one of the
' films ofthe decade. Edinburgh; Classic. Glasgow:
CW 0 Brief Ecstasy(PG) (Edmund
f Greville. UK. 1937) Hugh Williams.
Linden Travers. Paul Lukas. 72 mins. Scarcely concealed passion smoulders beneath every innocent action in this British melodrama being presented here in a crisp National Film Archive print. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
0 La Cage Aux Folles (15) (Edouard Molinaro. France/Italy. 1979) Ugo Tognazzi, Michel Serrault. 99 mins. Overplayed homosexual comedy which has set back the gay movement several decades in its portrayal of hopelessly stereotyped ‘queens‘. G1asgow:Grosvenor
0 Camila (15) (Maria Luisa
Bemberg. Argentina/Spain, 1984)
Susa Pecoraro. Imanol Arias. 97 mins. Set in Buenos Aries in 1847. this is a true story of a doomed romance between a young upper-class Catholic girl and a priest that scandalised 19th century Argentina. Though undoubtedly less meaningful here than on its home ground. this is a forceful feminist melodrama Edinburgh: 0 Caravaggio ( 18) (Derek Jarman. UK. 1986) Nigel Terry. Sean Bean, Tilda Swanton. 93 mins. The story of late 16th century Italian painter. Caravaggio. is one of artistic innovation and a torrid bisexual triangular relationship with tragic consequences. The product of Jarman‘s rich painterly sensibility, the film constructs an ecstatic
Chiaroscuro landscape and meditates ‘
upon the transient beauties of form and movement that often go
unnoticed Glasgow; GET 0 Le Chat et la Souris (Claude
. Lelouch. France. 1975) Michele l Morgan. Serge Reggiani. Philippe
i
Leotard. 105 mins. Inspector Lechat investigates the murder ofa finance tycoon: The anatomy ofa criminal case exposed with the traditional sense of rhythm and camera movement by the director of ‘A Man and a Woman‘. Edinburgh: French Institute
0 Clockwise (PG) (Christopher Morahan. UK. 1986) John Cleese. Alison Steadman. 97 mins. A pathologically punctual headmaster is chronically late for an important conference. Basically a one-joke
Cleese's incisive comic timing. Glasgow; Cinema
0 Clue (PG) (Jonathan Lynn. US. 1985) Tim Curry. Christopher Lloyd. Madeline Kahn. 87 mins. See panel. Glasgow: ABC Sauchiehall Street.
0 Comfort and Joy (PG) (Bill Forsyth. UK, 1984) Bill Paterson. C P Grogan. Rikki Fulton. 106 mins. Paterson is a local radio DJ Alan ‘Dickie' Bird. His Christmas cheer is short-lived when his longstanding kleptomaniac girlfriend walks out on him. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
0 Crimes of Passion ( 18) (Ken Russell. US. 1984) Kathleen Turner. Anthony Perkins. John Laughlin. 107 mins. Russell‘s debunking of the American way ofscx is an
uproariously black satire where moonlighting whore meets dildo-packing clergyman meets ordinary guy who sometimes pretends to be a Human Penis. A strident and courageous piece of film-making in that it casts men as the oppressors. this will arouse fierce opinions in anyone strong enough to take it. Turner and Hopkins excel. Glasgow: ()deon
0 Cross Creek (PG) (Martin Rift. US. 1983) Mary Steenburgen. Rip Torn. Malcolm McDowell. 122 mins. Slow-moving biography of writer
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings (The
Yearling etc) as she removes herself ; to the backwoods of Florida and is
farce, this is an enervated vehicle for ' folks. Glasgow: (iFl‘
touched by the humanity of the local
0 Dead Men Don‘tWear Plaid (PU) ((‘arl Reiner. US. 1982) Steve Martin. Rachel Ward. (‘arl Reiner. 87 mins. Film noir spoof has private eye Martin involved with femme fatale Ward and fiendish Nazi scientist Reiner. Much ofthe
' humour stems from the intercutting
with actual Forties‘ movies in a
. device now copied by the 'IV adverts
for a certain lager. Interesting fact: this is the only film in which the
future ofdemocracy is threatened by
deadly fascist cheese. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
o Defence of the Realm (PG) (David Drury. UK. 1985) Gabriel Byrne. Denholm Elliott. 96 mins. A Fleet Street hack stumbles onto a
CLUEING US IN ON DIRECTING
5"“ fl;
Clue (PG) (Jonathan Lynn, US, 1985) Tim Curry, Christopher Lloyd, Madeline Kahn. Based on the famous ‘Cludeo‘ board game, Clue is set in a creepy New England mansion in the 505 where six strangers are assembled to meet the mysterious Mr Body. All, it transpires, are being blackmailed and all would like it kept quiet. The lights go out and when they go back on Mr
.3...
M’de=mw,mafl,
Body is lying in a crumpled heap on the _
floor. Panic ensues with the police due to arrive within the hour. As the guests,
appropriately named Mr Mustard, Miss 3 The film faithfully recreated the staging
Scarlet etc torthe night, try and discoverthe murderer, the corpses continue to pile up until the identity of the murderer, whoever he, she orthey are, is revealed.
Clue was written and directed by Jonathan Lynn, probably best known as co-writer of Yes, Minister, who
-" ’3
a... a
describes it as a ‘broad comedy, not really a conventional whodunnit.‘ He was approached to write the script by John Landis - of American Werewolf in London fame - who was going to direct it himself. Although Lynn has done a great deal of work on tv and stage, this is his first venture into movies and he admits that the studio took a gamble in asking him to direct. ‘They decided it would be betterto have an English writer, because this type of story is an English thing and I suppose they'd heard of me through Yes, Minister.’
made famous bythe board game and uses the same characters plus some others such as a cook, French maid, singing telegram girl and the ubiquitous butler. I asked Lynn why it was set in America if the Whodunnit was such an English genre? ‘The game
far-reaching conspiracy of murder and deceit that stretches to the heart ofthe Government. Incisive political drama that both stimulates and entertains. Strathcylde: Kelburne
o Desperately Seeking Susan ( 15) (Susan Seidelman. US. 1985) Rosanna Arquette. Madonna. Aidan Quinn. 103 mins. Delightful feminist fantasy concerning mistaken identity in the Big Apple. Strathclyde; ABC (‘rreenock
0 Detective ( 15) (Jean-[-uc Godard. France. 1985) Nathalie Baye. Johnny Hallyday. (‘laude Brasseur. 98 mins. A hotel detective named Prospero: an estranged airline pilot‘s wife: a boxer with the unlikely moniker of'l‘iger Jones: intrigue with the Mafia: chunks quoted from (‘onrad's Lon/Jim: these are just some of the eclectic ingredients in (iodard‘s exasperating but devilishly pleasurable deconstructing re-run of American pulp film noir. replete with cataclysmic final reel shoot-up. which dexterously balances the serious with an ironically self-mocking sense ofhumour. (ilasgow: (il’l'
o Educating mm 15) (Lewis (iilbert. UK. 1983) Michael (‘aine. Julie Walters. 110 mins. A Pygmalion for the Eighties as chirpy working-class hairdresser takes on an ()pen University course and emerges an uncertain independent woman. Glasgow; ()deon
is very popular in America‘ he said,
' ’and the Americans are very parochial,
they wouldn’t be interested if it was set in Britain.’ The reason for setting it in the 503 isthat Lynn feelsthis type of story works better as a period piece. In America the film was released with three different endings, showing in differentcinemas inthe same cities, but this is not the case in Britain, where only one ending will be shown. ‘Britain‘s justtoo small to dothat‘ he explained, ‘there aren‘t enough cinemas.’ Writing a film foran American company and fora largely American audience was not without its problems. ‘There are a lot ofbits I had to change‘, said Lynn. ‘Iike words and gestures which are unknown in America. At one point I had Tim Curry (the Butler) say ‘this is beyond a joke’ and thisthrewthe Americans. ‘What do you mean' they said; ‘do you mean the film isn't funny anymore?‘ so I had to change it to ‘this is getting serious‘. But that doesn't bother me. I don‘t write for myself, Iwrite for my audience and if they‘re not going to understand it, there’s no point in doing it.’
Clue is another in the series of screen farces and as such succeeds more than many going the rounds just now. It is frenetically paced, well set, with some genuinely funny lines. Lynn has enjoyed his first film and would like to do more. ‘Everyone sets out to make the perfect film‘ he told me. ‘All you can do is to get close to whatyou want and with Clue I think I've got pretty close.‘
bClNEMA TIMES AND DATES PAGE 30/31-
the rm to. :9 May 2—7
l l