FILM LIST
and blow away the real scumbag
I attempting to clear his sullied name
, culprit.
Cheery Charlie stumbles through
another witless piece of grade 2
fodder. Glasgow; Rio. Strathclyde; Rialto
Edinburgh; ABC. Glasgow; ABC Sauchiehall Street, Rio. Strathclyde; I LaScala,Rialto
3 0 No Surrender ( 15) (Peter Smith.
UK, 1985) Michael Angelis, Bernard Hill, Ray McAnally. 104
mins. New Year’s Eve in a seedy
Liverpool nightclub. In a farewell gesture of bloody~mindedness the departing manager arranges a baptism of fire for his successor by double-booking two groups of lively OAPs; one Protestant, the other Catholic.
Unsettling black farce crossing the Boys from the Blackstuff with Fellini-esque nightmare and all in the worst possible taste. Edinburgh; Filmhouse 0 Out of Africa (PG) (Sydney Pollack, US. 1985) Robert Redford, Meryl Streep, Klaus Maria Brandauer. 161 mins. True story of the remarkable Karen Blixen and her love affair with both the vast continent ofAfrica and enigmatic English game hunter Denys Finch Hatton.
A carefully measured tragic romance suffused with images of
I awe-inspiring beauty and topped by
another flawless performance from Strecp. Glasgow; ABC Glarkston Road,
Heavenly Pursuits (15) (Charles Gormley, UK, 1986) Tom Conti, Helen Mirren, David Hayman. 92 mins. Emerging from a screening of Guys and Dolls, movie mogul Sam Goldwyn is alleged to have adjudged it brimming
with ‘warmth and charmth’. lf old Sam
were still with us I suspect that he might have said the same about Heavenly Pursuits.
Tom Contl stars as a gifted and caring
; remedial teacher at the Blessed Edith
Sample School in Glasgow. Edith Semple died in 1917 with one authenticated miracle to her credit and now there are anxious moves afoot to prompt a further two manifestations of her bountifulness and thus secure a promotion to sainthood. Conti, quite sensibly, views the miracle lever through the jaundiced eyes of a dues-paying Doubling Thomas and channels his energies into the daily miracles of communication with his pupils.
When events transpire that can only
3 be explained by divine intervention ; even Conti's scepticism begins to ; crumble. Amidst a welter of newspaper
headlines, conflicting evidence and self-doubt the question arises - has he
i been chosen as Edith Semple’s latterday miracle man?
1_____-.--_-_____ ___. 20 The List 19 Sept — 2 Oct
With his second feature, writer-director Charles Gormley spins an engaging, lightweight yarn that approachesthe field of comedy-drama with a spirit mercifully devoid of the seemingly unavoidable prevailing requirements of vulgarity, eccentricity
0 Police Academy 3: Back In Training (PG) (Jerry Paris, US, 1986) Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, Bobcat Goldthwait, George Gaynes. 83 mins. More mindless mayhem from the boys in blue. Police Academy 4 is now in production, you lucky people. Edinburgh; Dominion
o Poltergeist ll-The Other Side (15) is (Brian Gibson, US, 1986) Jobeth Williams, Craig T. Nelson, Will Sampson. 93 mins. The long-suffering family from Tobe Hooper’s enthusiastic original are again buried by a plethora of increasingly risible special effects in this turgid sequel. An atrocious script asks us to swallow gallons of pseudo-mystical hogwash. and to be frightened by a malevolent tequila-bottle worm and killer dental braces. One images the cast must have had a hard time keeping their faces straight. Dog of the Year, and destined for Golden Turkey-style infamy.
Edinburgh; ABC. Glasgow; ABC Sauchiehall Street. Lothian; ABC. Strathclyde; ABC Grecnock, ABC Kilmarnock
0 Pretty In Pink ( 15) (John Hughes, US, 1986) Molly Ringwald, Harry Dean Stanton, Jon Cryer. 98 mins. Molly is the girl from the wrong side ofthe tracks forced to choose between two men; Cryer the idolising ‘zoid‘ and Andrew McCarthy the ‘richie‘ she really lusts
(HEAVENLY PURSUITS
and excess. His film has the, perhaps old-fashioned, virtues of charm and wit mingled with the good-humoured sense of well-being indicative of 3 Frank Capra film.
As an admirer and supporter of Gormley’s first feature, Living Apart
,Together, it is heartening to comment
on the maturing virtues of his talents. By comparison, Heavenly Pursuits has a less ragged script, more polished direction and fuller characterisations. However, the main thrust of the drama proves resolutely inconsequential and is unsatisfactorily resolved. Gormley seems unable to resist groan-inducing old chestnuts like one pupil’s assertion that ‘the language here is fucking atrocious, Sir’, and the film’s finale,
l
after. A certain familiarity in the narrative is eclipsed by chic trappings and music, and by Hughes faultless feel for teen dialogue which elevates the film from cliche to winning credibility.
Edinburgh; ABC. Glasgow ABC Clarkston Road. ABC Sauchiehall Street, Grosvenor. Strathclyde; Kelburne
O Prizzi‘s Honour (15) (John Huston, US, 1985) Jack Nicholson. Kathleen Turner, Angelica Huston. 129 mins. ‘Do I ice her or marry her?‘ puzzles Nicholson‘s Neanderthal Mafia hit man when he discovers that the woman who shares his bed also shares his lethal profession.
A delicious black comedy, crafted with a veteran‘s touch by Huston and graced by a rogues‘ gallery of superior performances. Edinburgh; Edinburgh Film Guild. Glasgow. GFT O Rebel (15) fr (Michael Jenkins, Australia, 1985) Matt Dillon, Debbie Byrne, Bryan Brown. Bill Hunter. 93 mins. Sydney, Australia. 1942. War-shattered young serviccman Dillon goes AWOL and falls in love with the lead singer in an all-female showband. Torn between hopping ship to safer climes or pursuing his new romance he remains put, avoiding run-ins with the civil and military authorities and trying to overcome his Guadalcanal-inspired cowardice.
An ambitious musical-drama described elsewhere as a wartime
involving a weak Princess Diana joke, is a distinct disappointment.
Tom Conti, back on home ground, responds well to one of the better scripts he has chosen at late and provides an appealing refinement of his loveable shaggy dog star turn. Helen erren seems to be employed more for decorative purposes than for anything more taxing but the able-bodied Scottish cast lend solid support, particularly David Hayman and David Anderson.
The film displays all the technical expertise that one has now come to expect from the Scottish industry and, while farfrom a miraculous achievement, should assuredly amuse and divert. (Allan Hunter)
antipodean version of Absolute Beginners. Full marks for unconventionality, it nothing else. Edinburgh; Dominion
o Restless Natives (PG) (Michael Hoffman, UK. 1985) Vincent Friell, Joe Mullaney, Teri Lally. 89 mins. Juvenile Highland fling as two casualties ofThatcher’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. Edinburgh; Metro
0 Revolution (PG) (Hugh Hudson. UK, 1985) Al Pacino, Nastassja Kinski, Donald Sutherland. 125 mins. Pacino is the ordinary citizen who values his detachment but is inexorably caught up in the turbulent events of the American War of Independence through the misadventures of his headstrong youngson.
Liberated from an atrocious script and with a few cast changes this might have been an acceptably personal view ofmomentous historical events. As it is, the battle scenes are convincingly chaotic and an occasional striking tableau sticks in the mind but otherwise this is a sad failure. Edinburgh; Filmhouse. Glasgow; GET
0 Romancing the Stone (PG) (Robert Zemcckis. US, 1984) Michael Douglas. Kathleen Turner. 105 mins. Retiring romantic novelist Turner is pitched into real life high adventure in this appealing escapist fare.
Lothian; ABC. Strathclyde; ABC Greenock. ABC Kilmarnock
o A Room with a View (PG) (James Ivory, UK. 1985) Helena Bonham Carter, Maggie Smith, Daniel Day Lewis. 117 mins. Elegantly mounted with an agreeable lightness of touch, this is a near perfect screen version of the Forster novel with some dandy acting. Civilised entertainment at its best. Edinburgh; Dominion
0 Sid and Nancy (18) (Alex Cox, UK, 1986) Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, David Hayman. 110 mins. The story of Sex Pistols bassist and his American girlfriend Nancy Spungen from their gung-ho days as puppy superstars and future rock legends to their final days in New York's Chelsea Hotel and a losing battle with the big H.
For the most part a breathlessly enjoyable bio-pic, Alex Cox’s follow-up to Repo Man gets bogged down in an interminable last half-hour, whose mild horrors one perceives as an anti-drug statement. Glasgow; OFF 0 A Soldier’s Story (15) (Norman Jewison, US, 1984) Howaqrd E. Rollins Jr, Adolph Caesar. 101 mins. The murder ofan unpopular coloured sergeant in wartime Louisiana unveils some home truths about racism and black consciousness.
Jewison translates this well-crafted stage success to the screen as a pale re-run of his 1967 feature In the Heat ofthe Night with Harvard-educated investigating officer Rollins filling Poitier‘s shoes.