FILM LIST
Salsa(PG)(Boaz Davidson, US, 1988) Robby Rosa, Rodney Harvey, Magali Alvarado. 97 mins. Salsa has all the . lresh appeal and inventiveness at last week's warmed up left-overs. Inspired by the box-office success of La Bamba and Dirty Dancing, the director at Cannon's Lemon Popsicle series has concocted an opportunistic, bargain basement dance musical that begs and borrows its minimal inspiration from a multitude of earlier and better sources. The lead character Rico is a hot-headed. macho Latin lover and liercely protective head of the household now that his father is dead. An auto mechanic by day and a hip-swivelling king of the dance floor by
night. he is reminiscent olJohn Travolta '
in Saturday Night Fever with the advantage of looking like Michael Jackson and embodying the underdog struggles of Sly Stallone's Rocky Balboa. His one burning dream is to capture the title King of Salsa at the local hop and win the trip to Puerto Rico. There is a loyal girllirend that be temporarily dumps in lavourot a temperamental disco diva and a puerile subplot about his little sistertalling lor his best friend to his obvious displeasure.
cardplay ing three a year she travels to Rome to play with two impoverished Italians. Installc d ma ltl\llrl()ll\ villa on the edge ofsiibiirban slums shegenerously finances their ante and proceeds to win it .ill back. (11st to: idle amusement. 'l‘hc
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The general level at acting is perfunctory, the plot is in the ancient tradition of teen llicks lrom Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney on down and the climax as predictable as the time of the nine o'clock news. The dancing is suitably sweaty and energetic thanks to the participation of Dirty Dancing choreographer Kenny Ortega and the editing displays a certain occasional slickness but every other aspect from the ugly set design to the lack of acting ability marks this out
neighbourhood however. survives on the
hope that one year she will be bettered. . . lilegant but scathing parable ofthe
abyss between rich and poor. (ilasgow:
(ill
I Scotch Myths (PU) (Murray (irigor.
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as lactory-line fodder, here today and lorgotten today. New would-be star Robby Rosa has a mop ol curls, well-developed pectorals and a willingness to please but as an actor he makes Stallone look like Olivier. Saddled with such a thoroughly egotistical, narcissistic character lor his film debut one is wary of predicting a bright future, although there's always the possibility of Salsa 2.
(Allan Hunter)
UK. 1983) 9()mins. Intriguing collageof what passes for Scottish culture which brings together a diversity ofmaterial. ranging front the tourist industry to cinematic percerptions to the literature. in an incisive investigation of the country's political and historical legacy. (ilasgow: OFT.
I Scotland At The Cinema (PU ) Tourist orientated programme of short films includes Sean ( ‘nnnery '3 Edinburgh and another offering from director Murray Grigor. Mackintosh. profiling the influential designer. as well as Brian (‘airney's interesting documentary I-‘nrrlt Islands. The running time of the full screening is 90 mins approx. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
I Seduced And Abandoned (P( i) (Pietro (iermi. Italy. 1964) Stefania Sandrelli. 123 mins. A young girl is seduced and then (you guessed it) abandoned by her sister's unscrupulous fiance. but the family honour must be upheld. ()utrageously dark farce. elaborately photographed and directed. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Sign O The Times ( 15) xér ( Prince. US. 1987) Prince. Sheila E. Sheena Easton. 85 mins. See caption review. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Slam Dance (15) (Wayne Wang. US. 1987) Tom llulcc. Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio. Harry Dean Stanton. 98 mins. llulce is carefree underground cartoonist (T (T Drood whose unwitting involvement in unravelling a bizarre conspiracy afford him a greater sense of responsibility towards his estranged wife and family. Offbeat. Hitchcock-style thriller in which the labyrinthine plotline may seem insubstantial but its unfolding is smart and stylish. assisted by an engaging cast and the director‘s coolly impressive range of visual imagery. Edinburgh: Cameo
I Snoopy Come Home (U) (Bill Melendez. US. 1972) Snoopy. Charlie Brown. Peppermint Pattie. 80 mins. Effective big screen animated treatment ofthe perennially wry Schulz cartoon strip. Glasgow: GFT
I Therese (PG) (Alain Cavalier. France. 1986) Catherine Mouchct. 90mins. Therese Martin was a young ('armelite
nun who died in 1897 and was declared a saint in 1925. (‘avalier‘s film won theJury prize at the 1986 (‘annes Film Festival and later swept the board at the French (‘esars far from drowning in cloy ing religiosity it depicts her life as a fairly ordinary one and is both a rigorously spartan narrative and art uplifiting depiction of devoutness and piety. Edinburgh: Filmhouse
I Three Men And A Baby ( PU) e.- ( Leonard Nimoy. LS. 1987) Tom Selleck. Steve (iuttenbcrg. Ted Danson. (‘eleste llolm. 102 mins. Slavishly reworking the popular
l
1985 french farce Three Men And A ( ‘radlel
Hollywood has producedly a blandly innocuous light entertainment that has delighted American audiences to the tune ofSlSZ million. The reasons for its success are hard to fathom.
’l‘hree smug. womanising lads share a bachelor apartment with hot and cold running women. ()ne oftheir number carelessly impregnates one affair and the result arrives on their doorstep one day. Unfortunately. 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 eockles of their hearts. line if you have a sentimental. undemanding critical faculty and a love of lavatorial humour. otherwise forgettable mainstream fodder. (ilasgow: ()deon. lidinburgh: Dominion. ()deon. Strathelyde: ()deon A) r. ()deon Hamilton I Throw Momma From The Train ( 15) (Danny l)e \"ito, 178. 1988) Danny l)e Vito. Billy ('rystal. Anne Ramsey. 87 mins. Would-be author l)e Vito wantsto rid himselfof his grotesquely domineering mother. whilst his creative writingtutor ('rystal displays similarly murderous intentions towards his ex-wife who has plagiarised his work in her own bestseller and left him w ith a numbing creative block. The solution to their problem lies in an exchange deal inspired by l litchcock‘s Strangers ()n :1 Train.
The rich potential for dark laughter is largely thrown away in the soft-hearted later stages of this ratheroverstretchcd black comedy. l'irst-time director De Vito‘s hysterical straining for effect doesn't help matters much. btit can't take anything away from a marvellous exercise in celluloid grouchiness by Oscar-nominated mama Anne Ramsey. (ilasgow: ()deon. Salon. Iidinburgh: ()deon I The Tin Drum ( 18) (\'olker Schlondorff. W.(iermany. 1979) David Bennent. Mario Adorf. ('harles Aznavotir. 141 mins. (‘ompelling screen version ofthe (iunter (irass novel about a young boy Who ceases to grow physically as the Nazis rise to power in (iermany. (ilasgow : (il’l‘.
I The Unbearable Lightness of Being( 13) (Philip Kaufman. IS. 1987) Daniel Day-Lewis. Juliette Binochc. Lena ()Iin. 167 mins. Ambitious adaptation ofMilan Kundera's elliptical. complex novel about a womanising ( ‘zech brain surgeon who falls in love for the first time with a doe-like beauty from a small spa town. Abandoning his freewheeling former existence. he faces commitment and togetherness at the time of the Prague Spring and Russian invasion of 1968.
A dawdling and rather austere narrative
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