FILM LIST
Sutherland. 88 mins. Based on a Stephen King short story. this film recalls a childhood adventure for four small-town boys who discover the whereabouts ofthe corpse of a missing boy. and decide toget there before the local toughs. lt'sa charming rite de passage which Reiner directs with a sure touch. carefully evading sentimentality. iidinburgh: (‘ameo
IThe Stepfatherr is) (Joseph Ruben. t '8. I987)Terry ()'()uirin. Shelley llack.Jill Schoelen. is") mins. ()'()iiinn isa deceptively mild-mannered fellow hoping to establish the perfect all-American family. Ilowever. he turns out to be a sick psycho with a penchant for marry ing and dicing vulnerable widows. ’l‘aut and humorous with the familiar mastery of
Hitchcock always within sight. fidinburgh: '
(‘ameo
I The Sure Thing ( Rob Reine r. t ‘s‘. 1985) John (‘usack. Daphne Zuniga. Anthony Edwards. ()4 mins. Reincr's warm and very funny teen moy ie traces the tribulations of true love between the freewheeling (iib and the studious Alison in the course of a iourncy across Amer ica to California. where (iib has been promised the svelte ‘sure thing of the title by his buddy Lance. At first antagonistic. the relationship grows. although not without its storms. while Reiner's empathic treatment convincingly subverts the sexist imagery of the title and opening sequence. Edinburgh: l'ilmhotise.
I Suspecti 15) (Peter \‘aies. t's. firs?) (‘her. Dennis ()uaid. l.iani .\'eeson. lllb mins. Work-weary public defender (‘her is dumped w itfi the case of an apparently barbaric down and out Vietnam vetc ran on a murder charge over the savage killing ofa voting woman for a pathetic sumof money. Needless to say . all is not quite what it seems. and the death of a Supreme (‘ourt .Iustice could. in some strange way . be related to the murder. a fact uncovered by Otiaid's reluctant jury member.
An old-fashioned. wintry thriller that really thrills with(‘her and ()uaid bringing much needed conviction to their rolesand screen partnership and Yatesconfidently adding a cold. bleak feel to the proceedings. suggesting a sense riot ofthc aberration of crime but its commonplace frequency. (ilasgow : ('annon Sauchieliall Street. Edinburgh: (‘annon I Swallows and Amazons ( t ' l r t ‘laude Whatham, l'ls'. l‘)7~ll Virginia Mcls'enna. Ronald Fraser. 92 mins. The ads cntui‘es of four children in the lake district ofthe l92lls, ldyllic screen incarnation ofthc Arthur Ransome that is very riiuch an adult’s idea of what children‘s entertainment should be. About as exciting as a steady downpour of drizzle. Edinburgh: l‘ilmhouse I Testimony ( PG) ‘5‘: (Tony Palmer. 1 'K. 1987) Ben Kingsley. Terence Rigby. Ronald Pickup. l57 mins. See Panel. (ilasgow: (il’l‘. lidinburgh: l‘ilmhouse I Three Men And A Baby ( P( i) «.2- ( [ennui-d Nimoy . LS. 1987) Tom Selleck. Steve (iuttenberg. Ted Danson. (‘eleste llolm. fill mins. Slay ishly: reworking the popular 1985 French farce Three Men .‘l MIA ('radle I lollywood has producedly a blandly innocuous light entertainment that has delighted American audiences to the tune of SIS: million. The reasonsfor its success are hard to fathom.
Three smug. womanising lads share a bachelor apartment with hot and cold running women. ()ne oftheirnumber carelessly impregnates one affair and the result arrives on their doorstep one day. L'nfortunately . the father. an actor. ison location in Turkey and his two hapless flatmates are reduced to gibbering nervous wrecks by their inability to cope with the demands of a hungry. nappy -filling toddler. There‘s also a lame sub-plot about a mistaken package of drugs but the meat of the matter isthe
men's paternal acceptance of responsibility and the way in which the little mite ingratiates her way into the
Testimony (PG) (Tony Palmer, UK, 1987) Ben Kingsley, Terence Rigby, Sherry Baines. 157 mins. Tony Palmer's film on the life and turbulent times of Dmitri Shostakovitch attempts to set the composer’s experiences in the context of an examination of the forces behind the emergence of the Soviet Union under Stalin‘s crushing rule. That is a perfectly admissable linkage; no composer was more under the thrall of the state than Shostakovitch, nor battled more single-mindedly to escape that bondage. As the film makes clear, his struggles with the Party, his denunciations and humiliations, and his deep-rooted terror of Stalin, may have made his life a misery, but they were the great shaping force in his music as well.
Palmer has chosen to tell the story in an episodic manner, creating a series of highly imaginative tableaux at the crucial junctures in the composer's life, his early rise to fame as the Soviet Union’s most gifted composer, his denunciation for formalism in Pravda afterthe opening night of the opera Lady MacBeth of Metnsk, his re-emergence during the siege of
cocklesof their hearts. fine if you have a sentimental. iindemaiiding critical faculty and a his e oflayatorial humour. otherwise forgettable mainstream fodder. (ilasgow:( ~aiiiiori ('larkston Road.
(il't)s\ enor'. ( )deon. ltdinburgh: ()dcon. (‘entral: ( ‘arinon, Strathclyde: ls'elburne. ()deon Ay r. ( )deon Hamilton. Rialto
I The Time to Live and The Time to Diet I 5 l (llou l lsiao-l lsicn. Taiwan. 1985) I37 mins. Iliglily acclaimed autobiographieal feature concerning the childhood ofa (‘hinese boy in the l‘)5lls and N is; his bafflement at the talk of ‘home‘ on the mainland and his descent into teenage delinquency as he is thrown out of school. falls in w ith a tough gang and feels the first stirringsof sexual curiosity. ltdinburgh; l"i|mhome
I Tin Men ( l5) l Barry l.ey inson. l 'S. 1987) Richard Dreyfuss. Danny dc Vito. Barbara Hershey. I 12 mins. Baltimore. 1963 A minor car accident isthe beginning of a major tit—for-tat feud between two aluminium siding salesmen. returning to the gently autobiographical territory that he mined so well in Diner. l.evinson has produced a thoroughly refreshing warriiheartedcharacter comedy with top notch performances. I‘dinbiirgh: (’amco
I To Live and Die in LAr is) ( William l'r'icdkin. I'S. WW1) Willem Daloe. William Petersen. llb mins. Director l’riedkiri has a go at updating his earlier l-"rmr/i ( 'mrnecumr in this violent and
cy nrcal thriller that follows the trail of two unscupulous l'Bl agents on the tail of a psychotic countci'feilcr, As in its predecessor the highlight is an astonishing car chase. this time along the wrong side of a freeway at rush hour. Edinburgh: (‘anico
I Trading Places( 15)(.lohn landis. L‘s. 1983i Dan Ay kroy'd, Don Arneche. l'.(ltllL‘ Murphy. llb mins. A 'l’riiicc andtlie l’auper‘ lifesty'le-swapping comedy sparked. once again. by the dy naiiiic presence of Murphy . (ilasgow : (ii-'1‘
I Wall Street( l5) (Oliver Stone. I 'S. 1987) Michael Douglas. (‘harlie Sheen. Daryl Ilarinah. 126 mins. Returningtothe trenches. unabashed rnoralist Stone again presents a flawed hero w ith
Leningrad as a figurehead of Soviet resistence (including the infamous visit to America, acting as a mouthpiece forthe party), and another crushing humiliation when he failed to produce Stalin's desired paean to victory in the Ninth Symphony. After Stalin’s death, Shostakovitch led a strange double existence, in which his music was substantially ignored while he was publically honoured.
The film, shot in an atmospheric black and white, with the exception of
charactcr-definingdilemmasand my tits
US It) obsery e .is he IS excited . \etltleetl.
ov erw helmed. abandoned and ultimately
redeemed by the wrong turns and twisfsol
his encounters with malfeasance. (‘onteinporary robber baron and
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some colour inserts of his music in performance, was made on location in this country, using empty warehouses, public buildings, and railway stations (including the historic railway at Bo’ness) to great metaphorical and visual effect. The music, in Dolby Stereo, is wonderful, as are the performances, notably from Ben Kingsley as the composer and Terence Rigby as an uncannily chilling Stalin, in what is the director's best film. (Kenny Mafhieson)
stockmai kct legend ( iordon ( iekko (Douglas) takes a shine loanibitioiis yuppie Sheen and eventually offer'shim the option of betoniing a ruthless player like himself or somehow liaye the guts to maintain his self-respect and integrity.
BETTE DAVIS
“U NM ISSABLE’L.
AN Al.l\'i: FILMS I’R( )Dl '(I'l‘l()T\' with (TlR('l.l{ ASS()(:l.-\’l‘l-IS lil'D
VINCENT PRICE ..... ANN SOTHERN
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Music by:
ALAN I’th I: Screenplay Written By DAVID BI-IRRY Based on his play
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Released tliiniiglit ill/slit I fill“ Distributors
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FROM FRIDAY 10 JUNE: THE CAMEO, EDINBURGH
'I he liist ziiilunc 198813