3 version 108 mins) See panel review.
mins. DeNiro and Streep are the
j suburban couple whose chance brief encounter leads to romance. Both. are already married and a genuine
Q infatuation leaves them unable to
3 cheat on their legal partners nor to
stature by the potent chemistry of
closet composer who moonlights as a pizza delivery man. Such is the blend of fantasy and reality in the lives of three showbiz hopefuls in a rundown I LosAngeles suburb. l Pleasant. low-key study of modest charm and gentle wit. Edinburgh; o Filmhouse. l 0 Enemy Mine (PG) it (Wolfgang Peterson. US. 1985) Dennis Quaid. Louis Gossett Jnr. 93 mins (US
Edinburgh: Odeon. Glasgow: Odeon. l o Enterthe Dragon ( 18) (Robert Clouse, US. 1973) Bruce Lee. John Saxon. Jim Kelly. 97 mins. Martial arts maestro Lee infiltrates a mysterious tournament on an island fortress. Straight action chop socky adventure. one ofthe best of its kind. Edinburgh: Cinema
0 Falling in Love (PG) (Ula Grosbard.US.l98-l) Robert DeNiro. Meryl Streep. Harvey Keitel. 106
dismiss their attraction as a passing fancy. Mild. old-fashioned romance given
the stars. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. o Ghostbusters (PG) (lvan Reitman.US.198~l) Bill Murray. Sigourney \V'eaver. Rick Moranis. 1(15mins.'1'hree wacky unemployed parapsychologists pursue a little private enterprise as exterminators in a spook infested New York. Wildly overrated comedy; sparsely humorous. repetitive and top heavy with special effects. Edinburgh; ()deon. Glasgow; GFT. Grosvenor. o Jagged Edge (18) (Richard Marquand. US. 1985) JeffBridges. Glenn Close. Robert Loggia. 109 mins. Bridges stands accused ofthe brutal slaying ofhis wealthy wife. Close is the defence lawyer whose involvement with her client blends business and pleasure in a lethal mix. Unremarkable courtroom whodunit. Edinburgh; Dominion. Glasgow; Salon. 0 Jewel of the Nile (pg) (Lewis Teague. US. 1985) Kathleen Turner. Michael Douglas. 108 mins. Lacklustre. ramshackle sequel-by-numbers to the altogether more persuasive Romancing the Stone. Edinburgh; ()deon. Glasgow: ABC Clarkston. Grosvenor. Odeon. Rio.
0 Local Hero (PG) (Bill Forsyth.UK. 1983) Burt Lancaster. 9 Denis Lawson. Fulton Mackay. 111 mins. A high-flying American business man is despatched to Scotland on an oil-related deal. Removed from the high-pressure atmosphere of his workplace. he leams a little of life‘s simple pleasures.
A lyrical. melancholy examination of the foibles and eccentricities of mankind with some delightful moments. An ambling. discursive
treat. Edinburgh; Filmhouse.
The Color Purple (15) (Steven Spielberg, US, 1985) Whoopi Goldberg, Danny Glover, Margaret Avery. 152 mins. No matter how successful Spielberg’s films have been with the public, there has always nested in the dark hearts of critics the nagging suspicion that he has never tackled anything ‘serious’ (this being the mark of a major film-maker, of course). Now, however, Spielberg has gone ‘serious’. Alice Walker’s novel having won the Pulitzer Prize, we are now in the hallowed presence of LITERATURE. This, in Hollywood terms, means a large cast of characters, a little sensitively-handled depravity, a running time of around two and a half hours and a hat-full of Oscar nominations.
0 Man olAran (U) (Robert Flaherty.UK.1934) 76 mins. Seminal documentary chroniclingthe constant struggle for day-to-day survival among the fishermen on the Isle of Aran off the Galway coast of Ireland.
0 Mask(15) (Peter Bogdanovich.US.1985) Cher. Eric Stolz. Harry Carey Jr. 121) mins. The true story of California youth Rocky Dennis. Stricken by a rare bone disease that causes extreme facial disfigurement. he is determined to live life to the full and is aided by the strong support of his unconventional biker mother.
A moving drama. similar to The Elephant Man. that tells its story with good grace and a lack ofexcess tear-jerking. Cher and Stolz are magnificent. Glasgow: GF'I‘.
o Mishima: A Life in Four Parts ( 15) (Paul Shrader.US-Japan. 1985) Ken Ogota. 12(1mins. Restrained. unconventional biopic of
; controversial novelist Yukio j Mishima. interweaving straight l biographical narrative. stylised
dramatisationsofexcerpts from his novels and documentary reconstruction of his final day. Ambitious but a little cold. Edinburgh; Filmhouse.
0 9V2 Weeks ( 18) (Adrian Lyne. US. 1985) Kim Basinger. Mickey Rourke. Margaret Whitton. 113 mins. Divorcee Basinger becomes a slave to love when she succumbs to
_ FILM LIST
THECOLORPURPLE
Which is precisely what we get with The Color Purple. Those who expect to see a milestone of Black American Feminist fiction brought to the screen may be disappointed, because what they get is an expertly-crafted and etficientlytear-milking canter through the highlights of a classic, just the sort of thing David Lean used to do so well before senility struck. 0n the plus side, this approach is not without its telicities.
A labyrinthine saga of a narrative spanning half a lifetime is handled with the utmost clarity, detailing with compassionate precision a woman’s growing awareness of her own lowly position and her buried sexuality, until a final, emotive act of liberation frees her. Typically, Spielberg cajoles a set
the rampant charms ofsmug commodoties broker Rourke. Lovely to look at empty handed ‘designer bonking‘. Glasgow: ABC (Sauchiehall Street)
0 Peter Pan (U) (Wilfred Jackson. clyde Geronomi. Hamilton Luske. US. 1952) 76mins. 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; Dominion. Glasgow; Cinema. Grosvenor. Rio. Lothian: ABC. Regal. Strathclyde; ABC Greenock. ABC Kilmarnock.
Kelburne. ()deon Hamilton. Rialto.
o Pinocchio (U) (Walt Disney Production. US. 1940) 77 mins. 'I‘echnically breathtaking animated tale ofthe little puppet toys ofpine brought to life by the Blue Fairy who must earn his right to be human by outwitting some rapscallions and escaping from the belly ofa whale. Disney‘s painstaking craftsmanship reached an unrivalled peak with this utterlycharming feature that hasn‘t aged a jot in 46 years. Edinburgh:
()deon
0 Police ( 15) a (Maurice Pialat.France.1985) Gerard Depardieu. Sophie Marceau. Richard Anconina. 113 mins. See caption review. Edinburgh; Filmhouse.
0 Police Academy 3: Back in Training (pg) (Jerry Paris. US. 1986) Steve Guttenberg. Bubba Smith. Bobcat
of faultless performances from his talented cast. Aided by a sharp script l which has a good feel for the sort of domestic detail an audience will home in on (the key to E.T.’s success perhaps), Whoopi Goldberg strikes up an immediate empathy with the viewer, we are left in no doubt who to root for. And root we do. The preview audience I saw it with found themselves choking backthe tears atthe film’s climax.
This sort of sentimentality, however, may be too glutinous for some. There seems little doubt that the edge of the novel is blunted by a bashlulness in treating the elements of the protagonist’s lesbian tendencies and the scenes in the ’Joot Joint’ and the local church too easily tend to lapse into the sort of Uncle Tomish cliche that Alice Walker seems at pains to dispel. There is certainly something quite Dickensian about the way in which the audience pleasure principle beats stony realism into a sweet and creamy domestic drama easily digested by an intellectually toothless audience spoon-fed on TV soap and historical romance.
Yet, like E.T. (a modern Little Nell, methinks), the lactthatyou are well aware of the skillful manipulation at work does not stop the film's emotional onslaught. I should know better but, dammit, I capilulaled. The sound you hear, dear readers, is that of a critic grudgingly admitting to enjoying something he damn well knows he shouldn’t have. It really is a good old wallow despite its faults. Pass the Kleenex. (Trevor ‘softy’ Johnston).
Goldwait. George (iaynes. 83 mins. More wacky mayhem with those oh-so comic boys in blue. In this outing the original recruits return to help a new batch pass a test of law enforcement upon which the entire fate of the Academy depends. Sounds side-splitting edge of the seat stuff. A least the running time is mercifully briefif distinctly poor value for money.
Edinburgh; ABC. Glasgow; ABC Clarkston Road. ABC Sauchiehall Street. Cinema. Grosvenor. Rio. Lothian; ABC. Regal. Strathclydc; ABC Greenock. ABC Kilmarnock. Kelburne. La Scala. ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. Rialto.
o Pyscho ll (15) (Richard Franklin, US, 1983) Anthony Perkins, Vera Miles. Cheeky and surprisingly effective sequel to the grandfather of current shockers with Perkins' nasty Norman Bates deemed restored to sanity and allowed to resume his previous life at the hotel.
0 The Purple Rose of Cairo ( PU) (Woody Allen.US.l985). Mia Farrow. Jeff Daniels. Van Johnson. 82mins. Unhappy Depression-era waitress. Mia Farrow. escapes her sorrows at the local flcapit and falls in love with a dashing fictional leading man. A shining gem of ingenious wit and dazzling invention.
0 0ueimada(15)((iilo Pontecorvo.ltaly’France.1969) Marlon Brando. fivaristo marquez.
The List 11— 24 July 13