FILM LIST
INDEX
I Accident ( PG) (Joseph Losey. UK. 1967) Dirk Bogarde. Stanley Baker. Delphine Seyrig. Jacqueline Sassard. 105 mins. Losey's continuing collaboration with Harold Pinter produced this wry examination of an ()xford professor‘s liaison with one of his students. notable for fine performances and perceptively wittydialogue. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Accused ( 18) (Jonathan Kaplan. US. 1988) Kelly McGillis. Jodie Foster. Bernie (‘oulson. 111 mins. See panel. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon Sauchiehall STreet. Edinburgh: Cannon. Central: Allanpark. Strathclyde: AMCClydebank lll.
I Arthur II: On The Rocks ( PG) ( Bud Yorkin. US. 1988) Dudley Moore. Liza Minelli. John (iielgud. 113 mins. While loveable drunken millionaire Arthur and his girlfriend (Moore and Minelli) contemplate starting a family. their fortune is suddenly swept away from under them and our Dud actually has togo out and look for work.
The original cast return. with (iielgud's butler popping in as a ghost. but the little charisma the original had to offer is here replaced by an entirely resistible sentimentality. Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank lll. ()deon Ayr.
I Bagdad Cale (PG) (Percy Adlon. ['8 w. Germany. 1988) Marianne Sagebrecht. C.C.H. Pounder. Jack Palance. llll-imins. The wonderful Sagebrecht stars as a redoubtable German lady who leaves her husband in the middle of the desert and soon settles down with the folks at a nearby rundown motel. the Bagdad Cafe. where proprietress Pounder has also recently lost a spouse. Before long. the two women re-invent themselves through their friendship. and transform the place into the bargain.
Director Adlon displays a warm and rather charming sympathy with the all too human quirks of his oddball but convincing characters. and so manages to shape a quite beguiling tale from the most basic of materials. (iiasgow: (if-T.
I Benji ( L') (Joe Camp. US. 1974) Peter Breck. Deborah Walley. 86 mins. The eponymous canine remarkably thwarts the kidnapping of two small children. Classic family film. with great dog‘s eye-viewcamerawork. Central: Allanpark.
I The Big Clock (PG) (John Farrow. US. 19-18) Ray Milland. Maureen ()‘Sullivan. Charles Laughton. 95 mins. (‘leverand gripping film noir melodrama from the same source material that inspired No Way Out. Milland is the hotshot reporter asked to investigate a murder committed by his own boss. dictatorial editor Laughton who comes to a memorably sticky-end. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Boxcar Bertha ( 18) (Martin Scorsese. US. 1972) Barbara Hershey. David Carradine. Barry Primus. 97 mins. Tyro directorial effort has small town girl Hershey getting up to no good with Carradine and his gang ofdesperados. Fairly standard Roger Corman gangster pic. one is advised not to expect (on much. Glasgow: GFT.
IBrazil ( 15) (Terry Gilliam. l'S. 1985) Jonathan Pryce. Kim (iriest. Robert De Niro. Peyter Vaughn. 142 mins. Extravagantly designed blackly comic Orwellian vision of the future. as modest bureaucrat Pryce battles the forces of totalitarianism and fights for hisdream girl. feisty trucker Griest. ()verlong and ramshackle fantasia. but with momentsof sheer creative adrenalin and a classic ending. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
THE ACCUSED
The Accused (18) (Jonathan Kaplan, US, 1988) Jodie Foster, Kelly McGillis, Berni Coulson, Leo Bossi.111 mins. There are difficult questions to answer here. Sarah Tobias (Jodie Foster) is raped on a pinball machine by four men in a scene that is deeply disturbing, yet difficult to watch without wondering whether anyone else in the audience is getting some sort of vicarious kick out of it. Can such scenes be filmed without exploiting the woman’s sexuality as the act of sexual violence itself does?
Well, The Accused certainly goes some of the way towards justifying itself and assuaging such doubts. When the four men who raped Sarah plea bargain with her lawyer Kathryn Murphy (Kelly McGillis) and have their charges reduced to reckless endangerment, both women eventually come to the conclusion that this is a bit of a sell-out, and so they decide to bring a criminal solicitation charge against the rest of the crowd in the bar, those who cheered on the assault. Thus the crucial issue of voyeurism comes into it, for their standing and watching all too easily makes them a substitute for the responses and attitudes of the men in the cinema auditorium.
We are faced with two choices: either stand there and enjoy the view, or make the realisation that this is heinous. Either hold firmly to the safety of male bonding, or like the key witness Ken Joyce (Berni Coulson) break out of
I Call Me From Afar ( PG) (s. Lyubshin & (i. Lavarov. USSR. 1978) Lydia Fedoseeva-Shukshina. 97 mins. Deft Russian comedy concerning a widow's efforts to bag her shy suitor and get herself a new husband. Taken from a screenplay by the late Siberian director Vasily Shukshin. and starring his widow. Glasgow; GFT.
I Cane Toads (PG) (Mark Lewis. Australia. 1987) 46 mins. lrreverent documentary that enjoyany parodies pompous wildlife films with its repellent and unlikely (but nonetheless true)story ofa plague of giant. horny toads and its effect on a local farming community. The sight of mounds of huge toads vigorously honking is not one you'll easily forget. Glasgow: (if-'1'. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Cat D‘Nine Tails ( 18) (Dario Argento. Italy. 1971) Karl Malden.James Franciscus. Catherine Spaak. 112 mins. Blind newsman Maiden teams up with fellow hack Franciscus to track down a ruthless psycho killer. Graphic gore. terrible dubbing. an incomprehensible plot but Argento still manages to carryoff a few moments of high style. Edinburgh; Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Citizen Kane ( PG) (Orson Welles. lJS. 19-11)()rson Welles. Joseph (‘otten. Agnes Moorehead. 119 mins. Stunningly successful biographical mosaic centringon a l learsl-like media tycoon. Welles‘ first film remains scintillating viewing for its sheer technical verve. narrative confidence and spellbinding performances. The best film ever made'.’ Who's arguing. Glasgow: GFT.
I Cocktail ( 15) (Roger Donaldson. LS. 1988) Tom Cruise. Bryan Brown. Elizabeth Shue. 95 mins. Cruise playsa greenhorn inducted into the mysteriesof all-action bartending by master cocktail shaker Brown. and before long they have graced the top bars in Manhattan and been signed up to work in the Caribbean. However. a failed romance with poor little
the blinkers and make a stand. All along we see that the legal system treats Sarah as an unreliable witness (‘too much booze, she asked for it really' is the implicit assumption) so it takes Ken's corroborating testimony to seal the case. The men in the courtroom are all found guilty. The film closes by citing the depressing statistical frequency of rape.
Like all the hype says, Foster’s performance is stunning, and the film's grasp of narrative and character means it gets its important points across without sacrificing our involvement. 01 course some apprehension remains, but a definite impact has been made in a very responsible manner. (Trevor Johnston)
rich girl Shue soon has our Tom questioning the vapidity of hisexperiencc.
Glossy soaper with risible pretensions to social comment. which must go down asa disappointment from the talents involved. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Central: Caledonian. Cannon. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank ll). Odeon Hamilton.
I Coming To America ( 15) (John Landis. US. 1988) Eddie Murphy. Arseniollall. James Earl Jones. 116 mins. Murphy is Prince Akeem. heir to the throne ofa fabulously wealthy central African state. but dissatisfied with the bride arranged for him by KingJames Earl Jones. Instead. he travels to New York with sidekick Hall to seek his own choice ofqueen.
()v erlong and not terribly hilarious Murphy vehicle. with the star in several roles doing his best to pump life into a sentimental script. Glasgow: Grosvenor. I Crimes of Passion ( 18) (Ken Russell. US. 198-1) Kathleen Turner. Anthony 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: Filmhouse.
I Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (PG) (Carl Reiner. US. 1982) Steve Martin. Rachel Ward and a cast of revived luminaries. 87 mins. Film noir spoof has private eye Martin involved with femme fatale Ward and fiendish Nazi scientist Reiner. Much of the humour stems from the intercutting with actual Forties movies in a device now copied by the adverts for a certain lager. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Dead Ringers ( 18) (David Cronenberg. US. 1988) Jeremy lrons.Genevieve Bujold. Heidi Palleske. 115 mins. Extraordinary David Cronenberg movie examining the destructive effect ofsexual
jealousy on identical twins. Jeremy Irons plays gynaecologists. arrogant Elliot and the more studious Beverly Mantle. who fall in love with fading actress Claire Niveau when the Mantle clinic starts treating her infertility problems. As the emotional turmoils mounts up. the trio become involved in a frightening downward spiral of drug-induced mania. Deeply melancholy. irrationally powerful exercise in wayward psychology and the entanglements of identity. which boasts a magnificent achievement in carefully differentiated characterisation by Irons. Glasgow: Odeo. Edinburgh: Odeon. I Death Of A Salesman (PG) (Volker Schlondorff. US. 1986) Dustin Hoffman. Kate Reid. John Malkovich. 140 mins. Originally made for American public television. this is an exemplary record of Hoffman‘s award-winning stage performance as Willy Loman in Miller‘s modern classic. Malkovich also gained an Emmy as his son Biff. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Desert Hearts ( 18) (Donna Deitch. US. 1985) Helen Shaver. Patricia Charbonneau. Aura Lindley. 93 mins. Uptight female professor comes to 1950's Reno for a quickie divorce. and ends up discovering another side to her sexuality in a developing relationship with another woman. Sensitive. unprurient study of lesbianism achieved through good performances and an absorbing emotional holding power. Glasgow: OFT. I The Diary Of Anne Frank (PG) (George Stevens. US. 1959) Millie Perkins.Joseph Schildkraut. Shelley Winters. 170 mins. Like much of the later Stevens canon . this is a meticulous and overlong entertainment. Adapted from a Broadway play. the narrative follows the true story of a Jewish family who sought refuge in an Amsterdam attic to escape from the Gestapo. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Die Hard ( 18) (John McTiernan. US. 1988) Bruce Willis. Alan Rickman. Bonnie Bedelia. 131 mins. On a Christmas visit to his estranged wife in California. New York cop Willis is trapped in a new tower block when the corporate party he is attending with his spouse is attacked by international terrorists after the millions in the company safe. 80 it‘s left to Willisto bump off the baddies and save the hostages while the LA PD and FBI languish ineptly on the sidelines. Unbearany tense actioner that gets good mileage out of yawninglift-shafts and flying bullets. while Willis is convincing as an ordinary guy trying to cope with it all. Watch out for the RSC‘s Alan Rickman as a villain with a highly-developed sense of humour. Glasgow: Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank ll). Odeon Ayr. WMR Irvine. I Dumbo(U) (Ben Sharpsteen. US. 1941) 64 mins. The rest ofthe circus animals make fun ofthe little elephant with the huge ears. but he discovers they have a use after all. Classic Disney animated feature. timeless entertainment. Edinburgh: Cameo. I The Elephant Man ( 15) (David Lynch. US. 1980) John Hurt. Anthony Hopkins. Anne Bancroft. 125 mins. Moving story of real-life Victorian freak John Merrick. brilliantly played by Hurt undera grotesque make-up job. and his appalling mistreatment by society before finally getting the benevolent medical attention he deserved. Fascinating period detail. and rich monochrome cinematography make this a real treat from aslightly unexpected film-maker. Edinburgh: Cameo. I The Exorcist (18) (William Fricdkin. US. 1973) Ellen Burstyn. Max Von Sydow. Linda Blair. llllmins. Earnest priest Von Sydow steps in to save poor little possessed girl Blair in this hugely convincing and effective scarcfest that has stood the test of time. Edinburgh: Cameo.
The List 24 February - 9 March 13