FILM LIST
and the CIA. is asked to lead an investigation into the murder ofa Washington socialite.
Beautifully paced conspiracy thriller with fine performances all round. Recommended. Glasgow: Salon. Strathclyde; Cannon I NUTS ( 18) (Martin Ritt. US. 1987) Barbra Streisand. Richard Dreyfuss. Karl Malden. 111 mins. Streisand. out toprove her dramatic worth. is a high-class hooker on a charge of manslaughter who must first prove her mental competence to stand trial. Glasgow; Cannon Sauchiehall
Street. [idinburgthannon
I1 +1 =3 (Ileidi Genee. W. Germany. 1979) Adelheid Arndt. Christpher Guest. Dietrich Leiding. 85 mins. A likeable story of a pregnant actress who decides to have her child as a single mother despite offers of marriage from two men friends. Glasgow; Goethe lnstitut
I A Passage to India (PG) (David Lean. IIK. 1984) Judy Davis. l’eggy Ashcroft. James Fox. 163 mins. Characteristically overblown latterday Lean in which a young Iinglish girl in search of the ‘rcal lndia' finds her life in turmoil. Edinburgh; Royal Scottish Museum
I Pennies from Heaven ( 15 ) ( l lerbert Ross. US. 1981 ) Steve Martin. Bernadette Peters. Jessica Harper. 108 mins. Dennis Potter's acclaimed BBC series becomes a big-budget spectacular with Steve Martin as a sheet music salesman in Depression-era Chicago searching for sexual and spiritual silver linings. Glasgow; GFI
I Platoon ( 15) (Oliver Stone. US. 1986) Charlie Sheen. Willem Dafoe. 'I‘om Berenger. 12(lmins. Writer-veteran Stone‘s multiple ()scar-winner seeks to portray. as vividly as possible. the experience of the ordinary infantryman on combat duty in Vitenam around the turn of 196768.
I The Postman Always Rings Twice ( 18) (Bob Rafelson. US. 1981 ) Jack Nicholson. Jessica Lange. 121 mins. The intense infatuation of a drifter and a young woman leads them on a self-destructive course of murder and deceit when they decide to dispose of the encumbrance of her husband. Mean. moody and magnificent version of the James McCain novel Glasgow; GFI‘
I River's Edge ( 18) (Tim Hunter. US. 1986) Crispin Glover. Keanu Reeves. Dennis Hopper. 99 mins. A motiveless killing is the catalyst for a moral crisis amongst a group of teenage buddies.
Challenging exploration ofalienated youth and their attempts to forge a value system in a society of numbing moral blankness. Edinburgh; Filmhottse
I RODDCDD ( 18) (Paul Verhoeven. US. 1987) Peter Weller. Nancy Allen. Ronny Cox. 103 mins. Slick and stomach-churnineg violent futuristic thriller. blending elements of Dirty Harry. Frankenstein and the Six Million Dollar Man. When diligent policeman Murphy is shot to pieces by vicious thugs. his remains are mechanically reconstructed into a hi-tech law enforcement officer. Glasgow; Cinema. Grosvenor. Salon. Central; Cannon. Strathclyde; Kelburne. ()deon Hamilton. Rialto I Rumble Fish ( 18) (Francis Ford Coppola. US. 1983) Mickey Rourke. Matt Dillon. Dennis Hopper. 94 mins. Electrifying expressionist visuals grace an existentialist parable about the need to forge one‘s own identity and the alienation it can bring. Intense and stylish. Edinburgh; Edinburgh Film Guild I Salvador ( 18) (Oliver Stone. US. 1986) James Woods. Elpidia Carrillo. Jim Belushi. 122 mins. Raw. abrasive reporting of journalists under fire asa sleazy ‘war junkie' photojournalist Woods travels to El Salvador and finds his senses belatedly assaulted by the fear and corruption perpetrated by the ruling elite. Strathclyde: Haldane Film Society I Shattered Dreams (PG) (Victor
— THE LAST or ENGLAND
The Last Of England (18) a (Derek Jarman, UK, 1987) Tilda Swinton, Spencer Leigh, Spring, Derek Jarman. 91 mins. From the biographical and aesthetic concerns that marked his last feature, Caravaggio, Derek Jarman now moves into a locus that is much more overtly political, contemporary and autobiographical. In some ways a return to the strategies of Jubilee, which set a glorious imperial past against the decay of the present, the film is an ambitious weave of several different strands. A central section shot a night in the director’s study as he works on a new painting, blend with desolate, evocative images of lestering inner cities, home movies charting the Jarman family history in the colonies and the RAF, and expressionistic fragments of Tilda Swinton and Spencer Leigh in an imagined movies love story.
The process whereby Super 8mm footage has been transferred through video scanning to full 35mm cinema standards adds an intriguingly grainy texture to the images, which are often swiftly intercut and juxtaposed against an eclectic soundtrack (everything from singing tramps to Fergie’s wedding celebrations) to create an eloquence which lies outside
conventional narrative but remains an overpowerineg forceful cinematic expenence.
So much so, in fact, that some of the film's thematic difficulties are obscured. The Jarman family footage makes a personal imperialist past seem rather attractive, given the summery and airy quality of these sections in the morass of bleakness which surrounds them. Similarly, urban decay has rarely looked so beautiful as it does in the poetic monochrome treatment it receives here. It seems that the film is attempting to piece together an apocalyptic collage of Britain as post-imperial, post-industrial wasteland, with a set of images and scattershot sounds that never quite cohere enough to support it.
It is, however, for all its straining alter the grand statement, a remarkable piece of film-making, rising in an elegaic final passage (where Tilda Swinton attempts to extricate herself from a wedding dress to the strains of the Skye Boat Song) to a pitch of palpany aching sadness that is the mark of a singulartalent at work. And Prof Norman Stone hates it, which must also be some kind of a recommendation. (TrevorJohnston)
Schonfeld.L'K.1987)173 mins. Lengthy examination of ‘the destruction of Israel‘s dreams of building a progressive. egalitarian society and current Israeli struggles for social renewal' incorporating popular protest music. theatre and footage of old documentary dramas. The director is expected to attend a post—screening discussion. Glasgow; GI’I' I Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs ( U) (Walt Disney Productions. US. 1937) Voices: Adriana Caselotti. Harry Stockwell. Lucille La Verne. 83 mins. ()nc of the most enchanting and influential of animated features. The central character is a mite wet but the individualisticdwarfs. memorable songs and superbly crafted backdrops and incidents make this an essential cinematic experience Edinburgh; Dominion I Stakeout (15) (John Badham. US. 1987) Richard Dreyfuss. Emilio Estevez. Madeline Stone. Aidan Quinn. I()()mins. Dreyfuss and Estevez are two unconventional cops given the task of setting up a stakeout on the ex-girlfriend ofescaped convict Quinn. but romance strikes and the routine becomes more than just a job.
Bland. formulaic cop stuff with moral
dilemmas. well-mounted action highlights and a comic dog. A performance of hard-working charisma from Dreyfuss saves it.
Glasgow; Cannon Clarkston Road. ()deon. Edinburgh; ()deon. Central; Cannon. Strathclyde; ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton
I Stop Making Sense (1’( i) (Jonathan Demme. US. 198-1) 88 mins. Dynamic footage of'I'alking Heads in concert from 1983. Edinburgh; Filmhouse
I Teen WolfToo (PC; ) (Christopher Leitch. US. 1987) Jason Bateman. Kim Darby. John Astin. 94 mins. Witless duplication of the 1985 original with l’ox‘s cousin proving his worth as a collegiate boxing champion. Mindless nonsense. Glasgow; Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh; Cannon. Central; Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton. Rialto
I Time To Die (15) fi (Jorge Ali’I‘riana. Colombian Cuba. 1985) Gustavo Angarita. Sebastian ()spina. Jorge Emilio Salazar. 98 mins. Released from prison after eighteen years. Juan Sayago returns to the town where he killed a man in aduel. knowing that the victim's two sonsare
bound by family honour to extract revenge.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez‘ first original screenplay is a familiar tale of revenge and duty iii the manner of his own Chronicle of a Death I’nrerolrl and many a classic western. though on this occasion he is hampered by clumsy direction and a few uncertain performances. Ilighly watchable stuff. but no masterpiece. Edinburgh: liilmhouse
I Tin Men ( 15) (Barry Levinson. CS. 1987) Richard Dreyfuss. Danny De Vito. Barbara Hershey. 112 mins. Baltimore. 1963. A minor car accident isthe beginning of a major tit-for-tat feud between two aluminium siding salesmen. Returning to the territory he mined so well in Diner. Levinson has produced a thoroughly refreshing. warmhearted character with top notch performances. Glasgow: GI’I‘. lidinburgh; Filmhouse I True Stories (I’G) (David Byrne. L's. 1986) David Byrne. Spalding Gray.John Goodman. 88mins. Writer director star and Talking 1 leads frontnian Byrne is our guide to the mythical small town of Virgil in Texas where we are introduced to the variously charming and idiosyncratic inhabitants. A lightly humorous. ingratiating mosaic of non-narrative fiction that some may find too ‘precious‘ for its own good. Iidinburgh; Filmhotise
I Under Fire ( l5) ( Roger Spottiswoodc. CS. 1983) Nicki Noltc. Gene 1 lackman. Joanna Cassidy. 127 mins. Iixcellcitt Nicaragua-based war drama that refuses to turn into romantic slush or gung-ho heroics.but concentrates instead on the questions of personal commitment and the power of the media whilst maintaininga vice-like grip. Ilighly recommended. Glasgow: Gl’l‘
I The Verdict ( 15) (Sidney Lumet. LS. 1982) Paul Newman. Charlotte Rarnpling. James Mason. 128 mitts. Washed-up. ambulance-chasing Boston lawyer Newman is given a final chance to rediscover his self-esteem and fight for real justice when he decides to handle a medical negligence case.
A brilliant David Mamet script is superbly realised in Lumet's masterful. emotionally wrenching direction and a clutch of exceptional performances including one of Newman's finest. Glasgow; (il’l'
I Wages of Fear(I’G)(Henri-Georges Clouzot. France. 1953) Yves Montand. Charles Vanel. Peter Van Iiyck. 144 mins. In a sleazy South American shanty town four equally sleazy desperadoes agree to drive. for an incredible sum. two truckloads of nitro-glycerine across the mountains. Bring a sponge to wipe upthe sweat: this classic suspense vehicle creates buckets of the stuff. A fine sourpuss vision of man‘s greed married to filrnmakingof unbearable tension. Iidinburgh; Cameo I White Mischiefl 18) (Mike Radford. UK US. 1987) Greta Scacchi.Joss Ackland. Charles Dance. 107 mins. Kenya. 1941. Sir Jock Delves Broughton shoots his wife‘s lover. Lord Iirrol. and is acquitted by the colonial court.
Resoluter dull African sexual shenanigans. lackadaisically acted and dreadfully slow. which manages to make what sounds like quite intriguing source material into a cold and lumpy puddingof a movie. Glasgow; ()deon. Edinburgh; Cameo I The Wild Bunch ( 18) (Sam Peckinpah. US. 1969) William Holden. [irnest Borgnine. Ben Johnson. Warren ()ates. 145 mins. 1914.onanincursioninto Mexico. a group of'I'exas bandits die bloodin while defending one oftheir number against a ruthless revolutionary.
Brilliant western. a comment on the bloody futility ofthe Vietnam war disguised as an exciting genre piece. The slow-motion violence became a trademark of the director. whose best film this is. Edinburgh; Cameo
14'I'he1.ist 18—31 March 1988