FILM LIST
BELLMAN AND TRUE
Bellman and True (15) (Richard Loncraine, UK, 1981) Bernard Hill, Keiran O’Brien, Richard Hope, Frances Tomelty. 121 mins. A new British feature from the HandMade stable, Bellman And True lays claim on its advertising to be the logical successor to The Long Good Friday and Mona Lisa, and that is certainly the spirit of the film. Bernard Hill, in a good performance, plays Hlller, a computer engineer whose descent from slight bending of his company’s rules to outright involvement in a major bank robbery is a product both of his own weakness (mainly whisky) and the kidnapping of his stepson, known throughout as The Boy. Fighting continutally against that weakness, wrestling with both his loyalty to the boy and his tear of the very lrightening people he has become involved with, it is essentially a guessing game as to when and in what form Hitler's dignity will resurface. The bank robbery is the backdrop to that struggle.
Starting as an opaque, intriguing thriller, the film veers uncomlortably close late on to a caper movie bank robbery, and somehow the two strands of the progress oi the crime and Hitler's progress with the boy, and with a prostitute-cum-babysitter, are never fully integrated. Perhaps its being over two hours long strains your attention to the psychology of what are all pretty secretive characters. That aside, it is
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an enjoyable lilm, by turns both humorous and tense, with some great sections, and a brilliant twist on the well-worn car chase. it at times it’s unfocused, it’s still worth seeing. And it makes certain part of London in the opening scenes as chaotic and exciting as ever New York was lilmed, giving
credence to the advertisements’ claims.
There is no American monopoly on thrillers. (G.D. Henderson)
Perkins. John Laughlin. 107 mins. Russell's debunking of the American way of sex is an uproariously black satire where moonlighting whore meets dildo-packing clergyman meets Human Penis. A strident and courageous piece of filmmaking in that it casts the men asthe oppressors. Russell‘s best in years. Edinburgh: Cameo I Death Wish 4: The Crackdown (18) (J. Lee Thompson. US. 1987) Charles Bronson. Kay Lenz. John P. Ryan. 98 mins. Ageing vigilante Bronson returns as architect Paul Kersey. now designing a new arts centre and planning marriage with newspaper reporter Karen Sheldon (Lenz). However. Karen's teenage daughter dies of a heart attack induced by a cocaine overdose. and when her boyfriend confronts the drug dealer and is stabbed to death. Kersey decides it is time to dole out his particular brand of rough justice. Marginally less surprising than a three-piece jigsaw this is formula fodder at its most uninspired; indiscriminate video audiences have got a lot to answer for. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. I The Decameron ( 18) (Pier Paolo Pasolini. Italy. 1972) Ninetto Davoli. Franco Citti. 111 mins. Boccaccio according to Pasolini means visually extraordinary Medieval production design and much naked romping. Edinburgh: Cameo I Dirty Dancing (15) (Emile Ardolino. US. 1987) Jennifer Grey. Patrick Swayze. Jerry Orbach. 100 mins. Remarkably ordinary but staggerineg popular girl meets boy from the wrong side ofthe tracks musical set in an American summer camp in the year 1963. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. I Diva (15) (Jean-Jacques Beineix. France. 1981) Frederic Andrei. Roland Berlin. Richard Bohringer. 117 mins. The twisted fate of two tapes. one an illegal recording of an American opera star. the other exposing a crime ring. is the central strand of this daffy Gallic cult favourite. Style exudes from every sprocket hole. Edinburgh: Filmhouse I La Dolce Vita(18) (Federico Fellini. Italy/France. 1960) Marcelloa Mastroianni. Anita Ekberg. Anouk Aimee. 173 mins. Paparazzijourno-type Mastroianni mixes with the beautiful people of rich Roman society and is ambivalently shocked and fascinated by the vigour of their excessive decadence. Everything you ever wanted from a Fellini
movie: black humour. grotesque sexuality. inspired visual imagination and the wonderful Marcello. See it. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
I Dona Herlinda and Her Son ( 15) (Jaime Humberto Hermosillo. Mexico. 1985) Arturo Meza. Marco Antonio Trevio. Guadalupe del Torro. 91 mins. Occasionally ponderous but generally likeabie gay Mexican satire in which the strong-willed matriarch Dona Herlinda ensures that her son is a happily married husband and father despite his ongoing passionate affair with young music student Ramon. Edinburgh:Fi1mhouse
I Eccentricity, Madness and Exaggeration (U) 80mins. A programme ofwork celebrating the anarchic and savagely surreal animated work of Frank Tashlin and Bob Clampett. Among the delights: Coal Black and De Sebben Dwarves. The Big Snooze and Plane Daffy. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
I Eddie Murphy Raw (18) (Robert Townsend. US. 1987) Eddie Murphy. 90 mins. Competently directed record of Murphy live. recorded at two New York concerts in which he struts his mainly four-letter stand-up act. Fine. if you‘re a fan. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Central: Cannon. Strathclyde: Cannon. La Scala.
I Empire of the Sun(PG) (Steven Spielberg. US. 1987) Christian Bale.John Malkovitch. Miranda Richardson. 152 mins. J.G. Ballard‘s bestseller through thc eyes of Spielberg becomes a long. sentimental account of a young boy's character building exploits during the Japanese invasion of Shanghai and his subsequent internment in a prison camp. Technically admirable but ponderously paced and widly uneven. it lacks the emotional heart to capture the viewer and becomes just another big-screen spectacle. Glasgow: Grosvenor; Strathclyde: Cannon. Kilmarnock. Odeon. Ayr.
I Everybody Go Home (PG) (Luigi Comencini. Italy. 1960) Alberto Sordi. Serge Reggiani. Eduardo de Filippo. 120 mins. Black farce is the promise in this ‘seesaw of humour and horror‘ set in September 1943 when the Badoglio government signed an Armistice whilst Mussolini continued to play second fiddle to Hitler‘s tunes. Sordi is a second lieutenant caught in the intellectual crossfire. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
I Fatal Attraction (18) (Adrian Lyne. US.
1987) Glenn Close. Michael Douglas. Anne Archer. 119 mins. Happily married lawyer Douglas discovers the high price of infidelity when his casual one night stand turns out to be a dangerously psychotic woman who will stop at nothing to gain her man's affection. Glossy. well-acted misogynistic Hitchock-style thriller which attracted more fuss and Oscar nominations than it merits. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street; Strathclyde: Odeon. Hamilton.
I Flowers in the Attic ( 15) (Jeffrey Bloom. US, 1987) Louise Fletcher. Victoria Tennant. Kirsty Swanson. 92 mins. Locked in an attic by theirdown-at-heel widowed mother. two children are subjected to a reign of terror by their wicked granny. When their mama gainsan inheritance the whole family should become fabulously rich. but will the kids live to see the money '? Absurd gothic farrago which incredibly botches Victoria Andrews‘ already pretty hokey bestseller. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Clarkston Road; Edinburgh: Cannon.
I The Fly (18) (David Cronenberg. US. 1986) Jeff Goldblum. Geena Davis. 96 mins. Brilliant. thought-provoking ‘reconceptualization‘ of the 1958 camp classic with a superb Goldblum as the love-starved scientist whose experiments with teleportation go disastroust awry. Edinburgh: Odeon.
I 48 Hours (18) (Walter Hill. US. 1982) Nick Nolte. Eddie Murphy. 97 mins. A cop and a con team up to catch an escaped criminal. Swaggering. slambang comedy drama notable solely for Murphy‘s electrifying debut. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I FIX-Murder By Illusion (15) (Robert Mandel. US. 1985) Bryan Brown. Brian Dennehy. 109 mins. Special-effects wizard Rolie Tyler is contacted by Justice Department agents to fake the assassination of a star witness in a Mafia trial (purely for his own safety) and becomes an unwitting pawn in a high-powered political conspiracy. A thriller worthy of the moniker: ingenious. humorous and intriguing. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. Odeon
I The Green Bay (PG) (Eric Rohmer. France. 1986) Marie Riviere. Lisa Heredia. Vincent Gauthier. 98 mins. The latest in Rohmer‘s increasingly insubstantial ‘Comedies and Proverbs‘ series tells of the lonely Delphine trying to pass her summer holidays without the benefit of a boyfriend. Travelling with a
suitcase of self-pity through Normandy and on to the mountains of Biarritz. she finds a companion when she least expects to. Rohmer's lean. observational style is still distinctive and admirable but Delphine is irksome and one longs for a bit of spit to go with the French polish. Edinburgh: EUFS
I Hamlet (U) (Grigori Kozintsev. USSR. 196-0149 mins. Using a poetic Pasternak translation and a score by Shostakovich. Kozintsev‘s version of the Bard's classic uses his stage experiences and the perspective that Denmark was a prison to present an Elsinore that is a ‘bustlingand
intricate circus. lethal to non-conformists‘.
Glasgow: GF'T
I Hollywood Shuttle ( 15) «a (Robert Townsend. US. 1987) Robert Townsend. Anne-Marie Johnson. Helen Martin. 82 mins. See Panel. Edinburgh: Filmhouse I Hope and Glory ( 15) (John Boorman. UK. 1987) Sarah Miles. David llayman.
lan Bannen. Susan Wooldridge. 112 mins.
A deceptively simple but perfectly crafted slice of wartime nostalgia that paints a warm and witty portrait ofthe adventurous childhood of the boy who would be John Boorman. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I House of Games ( 15) (David Mamet.
US. 1987) Lindsay Crouse. Joe Mantegna.
Lilia Skala. 102 mins. A workaholic psychiatrist. the author of a bestseller on compulsive behaviour. becomes hopelessly interested in a group of con men and the seams they perpetrate on gullible suckers. but finds that her lighthearted escapism has led to larceny. intrigue and murder. Develops into a gripping and pleasurably serpentine thriller. Glasgow: Grosvenor I Housekeeping (PG) (Bill Forsyth. Canada. 1987) Christine Lahti. Sara Walker. Andrea Burchill. 116 mins. Scrupulously faithful to the Marilynne Robinson novel. Forsyth‘ s film tells of two orphaned sisters who are entrusted to the custody of a succession ofgeriatric relatives. until the cataclysmic arrival of their eccentric aunt Sylvie. Literater scripted. confidently directed. beautifully photographed and performed with sensitive insight. Highly recommended to the discerning palate. Glasgow: (iF'T I How Lucky to Be A Woman ( PG) (Alessandro Blasseti. Italy. 1956) Sophia Loren. Marcello Mastroianni. Charles Boyer. 1(X1mins. In the build-upto her assault on Hollywood. Loren was cast asa peasant woman whose life is altered by an appearance on a magazine cover. Boyer is the lecherous count who assists in her consequent rise. Mastroianni her unscrupulous photographer boyfriend. A mild. fairly typical '50s ltalian comedy. Edinburgh: Filmhouse I "(18) (Lindsay Anderson. UK. 1968) Malcolm McDowell. David Wood. Richard Warwick. 111 mins. The Kidsare alright as anarchy and rebellion erupt with all the passion of an explosion at a stuffy English public school. Symbolic. allegorical stuff about the breakdown of society which didn't seem that faroff twenty years ago. Edinburgh: Cameo I Jean De Florette (PG) (Claude Berri. France. 1986) Gerard Depardieu. Yves Montand. Daniel Auteuil. 121 mins. Provence. during the 192(1s.Depardieu's indomitable hunchback struggles against impossible odds to make a success ofhis inherited farmland unaware that his apparently friendly neighbours are secretly planning to drive him from his land. Beautifully photographed with flawless performances. this is a towering tribute to the highest aspirationsof traditional French storytelling. Glasgow: GF'T. I Lamb (15) (Colin Gregg. UK. 1985) Liam Neeson. Hugh O’Conor.1an Bannen. lliimins. Unsentimentaland affecting screen translation ofthe MacLaverty novel in which a disillusioned young priest flees a grim remand home on
24 The List 13 — 26 May 1988