FILM LIST
Prick Up Your Ears (18) (Stephen Frears, UK, 1987) Gary Oldman, Alfred Molina, Vanessa Redgrave, Wallace Shawn. 110 mins. From the homosexual initiation in front of the Coronation on TV, to the lusty sexual athletics in an underground gentlemen’s convenience to the outrageous anagram in the last word of the title, Stephen Frears’ biopic of Sixties playwright hero Joe Orton, from a devastating script by Alan Bennett, exudes an atmosphere of libidinous exuberance of which its subject might even have approved. Focusing on the private ratherthan the public figure, the film details Orton’s long-standing relationship with Kenneth Halliwell who, after educating working-class Joe in the mysteries of the great art was gradually to languish in the shadows of his success and eventually, driven by his own jealousy and Orton’s undoubted callousness towards him, to end the young writer’s brilliant career by cracking open his skull, an act closely followed by his own suicide witha bucketful of pills.
Bennett's screenplay adopts a tricksy flashback structure, with the story reeling off as a study in a failed marriage as revealed by biographer John Lahr who tracks down Orton’s steely agent in his efforts to uncover more information and is given his unexpurgated diaries by her. Gary Oldman cuts a suitably attractive figure as the apparently charming
uncharacteristic Ford film. Edinburgh; Filmhouse 0 Midnight Express ( 18) (Alan Parker. UK. 1978) Brad Davis. John Hurt. 121 mins. An American tourist ends up in a hellish Turkish prison after being caught in possession of drugs. Brilliantly acted. this brutal melodrama represents Parker‘s visceral filmmaking at its most effective. Glasgow; OFF 0 Mona Lisa ( 18) (Neil Jordan. UK. 1986) Bob Hoskins. Cathy Tyson. Michael Caine. 104 mins. Hoskins gives a heartrending much-lauded performance as the ex—con with a battered heart in this brilliant thriller/film noir from the exceptionally talented Jordan. Not to be missed. Edinburgh; Filmhouse o The Name of The Rose ( 18) (Jean-Jacques Annaud. West Germany-France-ltaly. 1986) Sean Connery. F. Murray Abraham. Christian Slater. 131 mins. Lovingly crafted film version ofthe Umberto Eco bestseller with Connery on top form as the Sherlock Holmes-style monk/sleuth investigating murder and mayhem in a medieval monastery. Glasgow; Odeon. Edinburgh10deon 0 No Mercy ( 18) (Richard Pearce. US. 1986) Richard Gere. Kim Basinger. 95 mins. Chicago cop Gere in the backwaters of Louisiana to track down his best buddy‘s murderer. finds himselffalling for Cajun maiden Basinger. Formulaic stufflifted out ofthe rut by director Pearce's stylish handling of the atmospherics. Glasgow: Salon.
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protagonist, with Alfred Molina suffering lugubriously, neurotically as Halliwell, at home doing the dusting while his wayward partner indulges his penchant for dangerously public promiscuity or discusses movie projects in Paul McCartney’s Rolls. With a sure sense of pacing, Frears interweaves Lahr's painstaking research with a series of splendid set-pieces, including a visit to litthe balding Halliwell with a ridiculous wig torthe opening night of Entertaining Mr Sloane, fun with Joe and Ken and hordes of nubile young Moroccans in Tangiers, and a hilarious courtroom sequence as the pair are tried for graphically defacing the most innocent .
Strathclyde; ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton
0 Once Upon A Time in America (18) (Sergio Leone. US. 1983) Robert De Niro. James Woods. Tuesday Weld. Massive. ambitious panoramic gangster chronicle with a dazzling structure of flashback within flashback illuninating corruption. double-dealing. fratricide and the perversion of the emigrant‘s American dream. Staggering. bloody. operatic. Glasgow: Grosvenor
0 Personal Services ( 18) (Terry Jones. UK. 1986) Julie Walters. Shirley Stelfox. Alec MeCowan. 105 mins. Suggested by the life. times and exploits onynthia Payne this ribald and engaging commentary on the British way ofsex features a top-notch performance by Julie Walters as the knowing yet somehow 11211ch Madam. Glasgow; Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh; Cannon
0 Piccadilly (PG) (13. A. Dupont. UK. 1929) Gilda Gray. Anna May Wong. Charles Laughton. 94 mins. A Chinese scullery maid. who is preparing to replace a fading cabaret dancer. is suddenly murdered. Part of the ‘City Life‘ season. examining a mythological representation of London on this occasion. Laughton‘s first feature film appearance. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
0 Pink Floyd -The Wall (15) (Alan Parker. UK. 1982) Bob Geldof. Bob Hoskins. 92 mins. Hysterically overwrought. plodding story of a
burnt-out rock star and his paranoid
of library books. While we are left with little impression of the importance of Orton’s acclaimed work, what we do get out of this is a virtuoso display of Alan Bennett’s gift for slyly abrasive yet terribly English comic dialogue which dominates the proceedings throughout - as Orton and disdainful girlfriend pick their way through much uninhibited outdoor writhing at the Festival of Britain celebrations, he offhandedly asserts ‘Well, what do you expect? many of them are obviously Australians.‘ Wicked stuff, and plenty more where that came from. Recommended indeed. (Trevor Johnston)
self-obsession as he sits in a Los Angeles hotel room watching The Dam Busters. A treat for the hard of hearing. Edinburgh: Cameo
O Platoon ( 15) (Oliver Stone. US. 1986) Charlie Sheen. Willem Dafoe. Tom Berenger. 120 mins. Writer-veteran Stone’s multiple Oscar-winner seeks to portray as vividly as possible the experience of the ordinary infantryman on combat duty in Vietnam around the turn of 1967-8. Private Charlie Sheen is a university drop-out who soon finds his ideals ofcourage and honour trampled underfoot in the sweat and blood and fear of patrol.
An uncomfortable experience and an undoubtedly well-crafted one. with its genre connotations and lack of a genuine overview on the situation. this landmark in grimy authenticity remains a classic war film that just happens to be set in Vietnam. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh; ()deon o Prick Up Your Ears (18) it (Stephen Frears. UK. 1987) Gary Oldman. Alfred Molina. Vanessa Redgrave. 110 mins. See panel and Feature. Glasgow; Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh; Cameo.
0 Ouai Des Brumes (Port of Shadows) (PG) (Marcel Carne France. 1938) Jean Gabin. Michele Morgan. Michel Simon. 90mins. In a supremely sinister. fogbound Le Havre dour. stoical deserter Gabin prepares to steal himselffrom the country until he discovers bliss with Miss Morgan. Wonderfully atmospheric. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
0 Queen Christina (PG) (Rouben Mamoulian. US. 1933) Greta Garbo. John Gilbert. 101 mins. The 17th century Swedish monarch is appalled at the thought of a political marriage and. disguised in men‘s clothes. conducts a search for an eligible male throughout the country before finding romance with the Spanish ambassador.
Superny entertaining historical nonsense in Hollywood's best manner. fluidly directed by a master craftsman and featuring one ofthe star‘s most iconic performances. Edinburgh; EUFS 0 Room With A View (PG) (James Ivory. UK. 1985) Helena Bonhatn Carter. Maggie Smith. Denholm Elliott. 117 mins. Highly agreeable. perfectly realised version of the E. M. Forster novel. now an institution at this particlar venue. Edinburgh; Dominion o Salvador(18) (Oliver Stone. US. 1986) James Woods. Jim Belushi. John Savage. 122 mins. Raw. abrasively brilliant drama of journalists under fire. as a sleazy ‘war junkie‘ photojournalist travels to Salvador and finds his senses assaulted by the corruption and fear abounding and his conscience finally pricked by the suffering of his fellow human beings.
Angry. bravura filmmaking that not only demands your attention but deserves it. Edinburgh; Filmhouse O Scarface (18) (Brain De Palma. US. 1982) Al Pacino. Michelle Pfeiffer, Steven Bauer. 169 mins. After expulsion from Cuba. Tony Montana lands in Florida and gets involved as a hired thug for drug smugglers. Through ruthless brutality he rises to a position of power. but too many enemies and too much indulgence in his own cocaine lead to his demise. De Palma's epic reworking of the 1932 Howard Hawks film sets out to examine the dark underside of the American Dream but ends up as just another ‘crime doesn‘t pay‘ melodrama. The sheer blood-spattered. bloated excess of the thing is simulataneously dazzling and dismaying. Glasgow; GET 0 Stand By Me (15) (Rob Reiner. US. 1986) Wil Wheaton. River Phoenix. Richard Dreyfuss. 88 mins. Looking back to a special summer in his youth. middle-aged writer Dreyfuss recalls the camaraderie of his childhood chums as they brawled. bragged and traded ingenious obscenities during a vital weekend in his growing up and future development as a storyteller. A wholly winning. near-perfect evocation ofchildhood on the brink ofadolescence. Strathelyde; ('annon Greenock 0 Stop Making Sense (PG) (Jonathan Demme. US. 1984) 88mins. Dynamic footage ofTalking Heads in concert. Glasgow; GFT. Edinburgh: Cameo o A Summer at Grandpa’s ( U) (Hou Xiaoxian,Taiwan—China. 1984) 102 mins. A boy and his sister are dispatched to their granparents for their holidays. The visit presents them with their first chance to fully appreciate the countryside and to
13 The List 29 May — 11 June