FILM LIST
wimp Arnie restores a 1957 Plymouth Fury he finds in a derelict garage. Now able to attract girls and also incurring the wrath of the school bullies. he finds that the car. named Christine, and possessed by seemingly hypnotic powers. soon exerts a malevolent hold over him. Slick. sinister slice ofcars ‘n‘ girls ‘n‘ rock ‘n‘ roll. competently assembled by Carpenter but surprisingly lacking in excitement. Edinburgh: Cameo O Cobra ( 18) (George Pan Cosmatos, US. 1986) Sylvester Stallone, Brigitte Neilsen, Andrew Robinson. 87 mins. Stallone and Rambo director Cosmatos do a Dirty Harry for the Reagan era with a no-bullshit cop determined to combat the crime wave by blowing the scum off the streets. Edinburgh; Cannon 0 The Color of Money ( 15) (Martin Scorcese. US. 1986) Paul Newman, Tom Cruise. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. 119 mins. Generally satisfactory if tardy sequel to The Hustler with Newman’s immaculately played ‘Fast‘ Eddie Felson finding redemption through his cynical involvement with young pool hotshot Cruise. Glasgow; Odeon. Edinburgh; Odeon. Lothian; Cannon Falkirk o Crocodile Dundee (15) (Peter Faiman. Australia. 1986) Paul Hogan. Linda Kozlowski. Mark Bluym. 98 mins. Mild-mannered, disarmineg self-mocking, old- fashioned comedy-romance with ‘Hoges‘ as a legendary croc hunter in the Northern Territories of Australia. discovered by an American journalist and persuaded to sample the dubious delight of Manhattan. Glasgow; Cannon Clarkston Road. Cinema. Grosvenor. Odeon. Edinburgh; Dominion. Odeon. Strathclyde; Odeon Hamilton, Rialto 0 Danton (PG) (Andrzej Wajda. France. 1982) Gerard Depardieu. Wojciech Pszoniak. 136 mins. Depardieu is in towering form in this brilliant and stirring historical epic of the fear and petty vindictiveness rampant during Robespierre‘s Reign ofTerror following the French Revolution. Well worth seeing. Edinburgh: Cameo 0 Deadly Friend (18) (Wes Craven, US. 1986) Matthew Laborteaux, Kristy Swanson. Michael Sharrett. 90mins. Boy genius Laborteaux has perfected his own robot known as BB. When his sweet neighbour is bumped off by her deranged dad he helpfully allows her to rise again by implanting BB into her corpse. L'nderstandably. she wants revenge on her dotty dad. Glasgow; Cannon Clarkston Road 0 Desert Hearts ( 18) (Donna Deitch. US. 1985) Helen Shaver. Patricia Charbonneau. 91 mins. Reno. Nevada. 1959. Vivian Bell arrives to complete the formalities ofa quick and convenient divorce. Her desert retreat it) meant to provide healing solitude but instead she finds herself falling in love with another woman. An appealing and intelligent treatment ofpotentially melodramatic themes. hindered by budgetary privations but graced with
The Fourth Protocol (15) (John Mackenzie, UK, 1987) Michael Caine, Pierce Brosnan, Joanna Cassidy. 119 mins. Frederick Forsyth's efficiently mounted espionage story is based on the genuinely chilling premise that it is now possible to construct a DIY atomic bomb and detonate it in your front room without any prior threat or warning. A 1986 Treaty between America, Britain and Russia includes four secret extra clauses, one of which expressly forbids the above scenario but, what if some superpower were to breach that fourth protocol? Thus we have the basic plot of this film in which a crazed Russian general, fearful of his position within the KGB hierarchy, dispatches a top agent to Britain with a mission to unleash an atomic device in a sleepy East Anglian village situated near an American strike bomber base. The object is to destabilise the NATO Alliance and not even the Soviet general's colleagues know of his audacious plan.
One of the inherent structural worries of Forsyth’s story, a problem shared with the more successful Day of the Jackal, is that one immediately suspects the outcome; the would-be bomberwill be apprehended in much the same way as the assassin was prevented from killing De Gaulle. A film with a foreseeable conclusion is, inevitably, a film lacking suspense or tension. Instead directorJohn Mackenzie dutifully leads us along familiar lines as agent Brosnan carefully assembles his bomb, and
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anti-establishment British spycatcher Caine stumbles across something amiss and races against time to prevent the unthinkable.
The film is crisply photographed, uses its locations well and rather underuses a typically stalwart British cast. Whilst wasting the splendid Joanna Cassidy as a Soviet scientist it does allow Brosnan to smoulder and put in a fair imitation of what his Bond might have been like and comfortably returnsthe always reliable Caine to the shambiing, deglamourised espionage world that was once the preserve of his memorable Harry Palmer characterisation.
Forsyih’s book was a more complex, involving and satisfying yarn; the film is a straightforward, perfectly competent but ultimately unexclting and old-fashioned lukewarm Cold War thriller. (Allan Hunter)
fine performances and a generally assured touch. A commendany positive lesbian drama depicting an overcoming ofseIf-repression with which we can all empathise. Glasgow; GFT
o Eraserhead (18) (David Lynch. US. 1976) John Nance. 90mins. the very strange Henry who lives with his strange girlfriend and even stranger baby. runs into incredibly strange problems with pus. The barely-lit action takes place in a disturbing domestic landscape somewhere between nightmare and reality. and features a great haircut battling against some stomach-churning effects. Weird. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
0 First Blood (15) (Ted Kotcheff, US 1982) Sylvester Stallone. Richard Crenna. Brian Dennehy. 97 mins. First and best of the Stallone Rambo movies in which the former Vietnam veteran and Green Beret encounters the narrow-minded mentality of smalltown America and responds by rampaging throughout the local countryside. Reminiscent ofthe Hounds onaroffand far more watchable than the sequel. Edinburgh; Cannon
0 Fiesn for Frankenstein (18) (Paul Morrissey. US/Italy. 1974) Udo Kier. 93 mins. Andy Warhol meets Frankenstein! The other halfofa Morrissey sicko-schlock double-barf special has the good count up to his elbows in viscera as he vainly tries to stick together a creature from
various bodily odds and sods. The presence ofa Karloff. or even a Christopher Lee is sorely missed in this sorely unatmospheric version. a long. long way after Mary Shelley. Edinburgh; Cameo 0 Flight ofthe Navigator (U) (Randal Kleiser. US. 1986) 90 mins. Inferior E.T.-inspired Disney holiday fare in which a plucky youngster is the only one capable ofpiloting an alien craft back to its home planet. More big screen space invadors. Edinburgh; Odeon O The Fly ( 18) (David Cronenberg, US, 1986) JeffGoldblum, Geena Davis. John Getz. 96 mins. Brilliant ‘reconeeptualisation‘ ofthe 1958 camp classic Required viewing. Glasgow; Cinema. Strathclyde; Odeon Hamilton. Rialto o The Fourth Protocol (15) a (John Mackenzie. US, 1986) Michael Caine. Pierce Brosnan, Joanna Cassidy. 119 mins. See panel. 0 Giant(PG) (George Stevens. US. 1956) Elizabeth Taylor. James Dean. Rock Hudson. 201 mins. High. wide and handsome screen version of the Edna Ferber novel about cattle and oil barons in the state ofTexas. Hudson. giving one of his best performances. is Bick Benedict. owner ofa half-million acre ranch. Taylor is city girl Lesley. who becomes his wife. and Dean is the surly. poor-born ranch hand to worships her and dreams ofowning the wealth to win her hand.
Sprawling. sumptuous soap-opera. Glasgow; GET
0 The Golden Child (PG) (Michael Ritchie. US. 1986) Eddie Murphy. Charles Dance. Charlotte Lewis. 94 mins. Substandard Murphy on the trail of a perfect infant born once every thousand generations who is the repository of all goodness and compassion.
Ludicrous mumbo-jumbo mystical adventure-comedy that seems like an Indiana Jones cast-off and is not very funny. A tap-dancing Pepsi-Cola can steals the show. Glasgow; Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh; Cannon. Strathclyde; Odeon Ayr. Odeon Hamilton 0 Heart Beat ( 18) (John Byrum. US. 1979) John Heard. Sissy Spacek. Nick Nolte. 108 mins. Desultory. part-biopic ofJack Kerouac focusing on his on/off relationship with Neal and Carolyn Cassady. Decent performances cannot compensate for the plodding. uninteresting execution of an over fanciful script. Edinburgh; Cameo
O The Hitcher ( 18) (Robert Harmon, US. 1986) Rutger Hauer. C. Thomas Howell. JenniferJason Leight. 98 mins. A tense. skilful tale of cross-country motorised combat ensues when drowsy driver Howell stops to pick up the refreshing company of Hauer. a deranged killer with a penchant for in-car slayings. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
o inspecteur Lavardln (15) a (Claude Chabrol. France. 1986) Jean Poret. Jean-Claude Brialy. Bernadette Lafont. 100 mins. See panel. Glasgow; GFI‘. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
o lvan the Terrible (PG) (Sergei Eisenstein. USSR. 1944—46) Part One 99 mins. Part Two 88 mins. Eisenstein‘s last completed work focuses on the struggle of Czar Ivan Grozny to consolidate the Russian Empire by freeing it from the Eastern hordes and standing up against the corrupt self-interest of the Boyars dynasty.
The director‘s brilliant compositional skills and the breathtaking photography make the film as visually striking as it is thematically intriguing. given Eisenstein‘s ability to analyse his own times through the lessons of history. Glasgow; GET 0 Jagged Edge (18) (Richard Marquand. US, 1985) Glenn Close. JeffBridges. Robert Loggia. 109 mins. Bridges stands accused of the brutal slaying ofhis wealthy wife. Close is the defence lawyer whose involvement with her client dangerously mixes business and pleasure. Old-fashioned, unremarkable courtroom whodunnit. Glasgow; GET 0 Jewel of the Nile (PG) (Lewis Teague, US. 1985) Michael Douglas. Kathleen Turner, Danny De Vito. 108 mins. Lacklustre. ramshackle sequel-by-numbers to the altogether more persuasive Romancing the Stone. Strathclyde; Odeon Ayr o Kanakerbraui(18) (Uwe Schrader. W Germany. 1983) 62 mins. In Berlin slang ‘Kanaker‘ is the abusive
12 The List 3 — 16 April