FILM LIST
I987) Michael J. Fox. Gena Rowlands. Joan Jett. 107 mins. (‘haractcristically extreme yet compelling slice of life set in Cleveland. Ohio. where brother and sister (Fox and Jett). as aspiring rock musicians come up against the strong religious beliefs of their mother ( Rowland).
Unjustly neglected Paul Schrader movie notable. like Taxi Driver and Hardcore. for its examination of the kind of problematical issues of morality that modern living throws up. Young Fox might not be everyone's first choice asa tyro rock‘n'roller though. Glasgow: (il’l'. I Lust In The Dust( IS) (Paul Bartel. L'S. I985) 'I'ab l lunter. Divine. Cesar Romero. 85 mins. Hunter and Divine head for New Mexico in search ofburied treasure and a few laughs in the script. Woebegonc attempt at Western camp with a capable cast who disappoint. Presumably it was fun at the time. but it isn't now. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society.
I The Lonely Passion Of Judith Hearnet l5) (Jack Clayton. UK. I988) Maggie Smith. Bob Hoskins. Marie Kean. Ian McNeice. 104 mins. Middle-aged Dublin spinster Judith Hearne's hopes of happiness with Irish-American James Madden (Iloskins) are dashed when the pair realise that their relationship has been based on a mutual misunderstanding. and the lonely woman plummets into an alcohol-fuelled spiral of spiritual doubt.
Generally adequate screen version of Brian Moore‘s wonderful novel. with the sterling efforts of Smith and l Ioskins splendidly offset by an engaging setof boarding house grotesques. Edinburgh: Dominion.
I Macbeth ( I5) (Roman Polanski. UK. I971 )Jon Finch. Francesca Annis. Martin Shaw. Hilmins. Blood-soaked version of Shakespeare‘s turbulent Scots tragedy which manages to convey the play"s pervasive spirit ofevil. The Pole's dark imagination provides scenes ofhorror encompassed in a brooding vision offate. mortality and power. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Masques ( 15) (Claude Chabrol. France. I987) Philippe Noiret. Robin Renucci. Bernadette Lafont. l()()mins. When writer chucci turns up at TV game-show host Noiret‘s country mansion. he discovers the Iatter's niece-cum-ward confined to her room and begins to uncover a web of malevolent duplicity. Entertaining Chabrolian shennanigans. providing you don‘t examine the plot too closely. Edinburgh: French Institute.
I Metropolis( PG) (Fritz Lang adapted by Giorgio Moroder. Germany/US. 1926’1984) Gustav Frolich. Brigitte Ilelm. 93 mins. A re-edited and tinted versionof Fritz Lang‘s early futuristic political parable with a new eIectro-mulch soundtrack by Giorgio Moroder. The original still retains a sense ofTeutonic grandeur. with the love story now given greater emphasis than the theme ofclass struggle. but it's a tough battle against the crushingly banal songs insistently warbling away in the background. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Midnight Run ( 15) (Martin Brest. US. 1988) Robert De Niro. Charles Grodin. Yaphet Kotto. John Ashton. 122 mins. De Niro is an honest ex-cop turned bounty hunter. crossing the country to bring crooked accountant Grodin back from New York to LA so that he can face charges ofembezzling Mafia money. The only problem being that the FBI. the mob. the cops. and another bounty hunterall want their hands on him too.
Amiable buddy-buddy road movie with excellent interplay between the two stars. and a nicely developed line in secondary characters. Good stuff. Glasgow: GFI‘.
I Mishima (15) (Paul Schrader. US. 1985) Ken Ogota. 120 mins. Fascinating examination of the life and work of controversial postwar Japanese writer. director and militarist Ytfltio Mishima.
SCANDAL
Scandal (18) (Michael Caton-Jones, UK, 1989) John Hurt, Joanne Whalley-Kilmer, Ian McKellen, Bridget Fonda. 114 mins. London in the late 1950s; osteopath Stephen Ward (Hurt) is a society column celebrity, bon viveur and connoisseur of sin. At Murray‘s Cabaret Club his eye is caught by the raw allure of teenage showgirl Christine Keeler (Whalley-Kilmer). Introducing himself, he becomes the Henry Higgins to her Eliza Dolittle, acting as a devoted fairy godmother smoothing her rapid social advancement.
Christine in turn befriends the equally young and nubile Mandy Rice Davies (Fonda) and they become archetypal good time girls in seach of fun and fellas. Ward is happy to remain the starmaker; Christine’s friend and mentor, but never her lover.
He grows increasingly delighted with his protegee’s hectic love life as she juggles the favours of Russian attache lvanov (Jeroen Krabbe) and an indiscreetly besotted John Profumo (McKellen), Secretary of State for War in Her Majesty’s Conservative Government.
Their brief but dangerous liaison ignites and quickly expires but when it later becomes public knowledge there is an outcry that rocks the foundations of the government’s apparent invincibility. An abandoned Christine blabs all to the Sunday Pictorial. Profumo resigns in disgrace, but it is Ward who is to be sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. His show trial is as ugly as any Russian three-ring circus, his status as a solitary scapegoat as blatantly uniust
Stylised sequences from his novels are placed alongside documentary-style material re-creation. with the action swept along by a powerful Philip Glass score. Cold but rewarding. Glasgow: (il’l‘.
I Moonwalker (U) (Jerry Kramer & Colin Chilvers. US. I988) Michael Jackson. Scan Lennon. Kellie Parker. Joe Pesci. 100 mins. The Jacko plan for complete world domination continues apace with this ragbag of bits and pieces ofextended promo video masquerading as a feature film. Criticism is pointless. Edinburgh: ()deon. Strathclydc: AMC. Odeon Ayr. WMR Irvine.
I My Friend Ivan Lapshin ( 15) (Alexi (iehrman. USSR. I986) Andrei Boltnev. Nina Ruslanova. 99mins. I936 provincial Russia. Lapshin (Boltnev) is a police chief who spends the winter tracking down a gang of notorious criminals. while also finding time for a clumsy romance with a local actress.
Richly detailed tapestry of rural life before the Stalinist pogroms. full ofthe most warming naturalistic performances. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I My Uncle Antoine (PG) (Claude Jutra. Canada. 1971 ) Jean Duceppe.Jacques Gagnon. ll()mins. 1940s Quebec. Fourteen year-old orphan Benoit lives with his shopkeeper uncle Antoine. and one traumatic Christmas Eve comes into contact with sex and death for the first time. Atmospheric Canadian rites of passage movie. Strathclydc: Haldane Film Society.
I The Naked Gun ( 15) (David Zuckcr. US. I988) Leslie Nielsen. Priscilla Presley. Ricardo Montalban. 85 mins. Nielsen gets a crack at a leading comic role as Frank Drebin. a disaster prone LA cop assigned
as it is inevitable. Scandal assembles all the crucial elements of the ‘Profumo Affair’ with cogency and a clear point of view. It marks a stunningly auspicious feature debut from Michael Baton-Jones who has transformed British pennies into Hollywood lushness for an achingly tender view of the Keeler-Ward relationship that also offers a critique of the hypocrisy, cant and sickening double standards that are the only enduring traditions amongst the higher ranks of Britain’s rigid social order. Caton-Jones and his collaborators have created a flawless romantic drama that has the subtlety and intelligence to communicate ideas through images instead of verbiage, that displays a deliciously ironic and
to find the men who shot his colleague ina drugs bust. and protect our dear Queen at the same time. while also finding room for romance with secretary Presley.
The makers ofAirpIane here operate on a similar principle: keep it fast. keep it ' marvelloust dumb. and the comic dividends will eventually flow. Watch out for a great beaver gag and comedy cameos from Arafat. Gaddafi. Gorbachev and the Queen. Where else would you get all these elments in the same movie? Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Grosvenor. Edinburgh: Cannon. Central: Allanpark. Caledonian. Cannon. Strathclydc: AMC Clydebank It). Cannon. Kelburne. ()deon Ayr. Odeon Ilamilton. WMR Irvine. I Night Of The Comet ( 15) (Thom Eberhard. US. I984) Catherine Mary Stewart. Robert Beltran. Mary Woronov. 94 mins. The world comes to an cnd.and only a few Californian Valley Girls are left. Engaging post-apocalypse fare. with a nice line in cynicism. though it doestend to run out of steam too soon. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society. I 9% Weeks ( 18) (Adrian Lyne. US. 1985: Mickey Rourke. Kim Basinger. 113 mins. Divorcce Basinger becomes a slave to love when she succumbs to the stubbly charms ofcommodities broker Rourke. Empty-headed designer bonking. Glasgow; Grosvenor. Edinburgh: Cameo. I No Way OBI ( 15) (Roger Donaldson. US. 1987) Kevin Costner. Sean Young. Gene Hackman. 114 mins. Resourceful naval hero Costner. now a liaison officer between Secretary of Defense Hackman and the CIA. is asked to lead an investigation into the murder ofa Washington socialite. However. he knows
apposite use of music, that never lets its period setting intrude and that permits a well chosen cast to give of their best. Like Jodie Foster in The Accused, John Hurt is unafraid to depict an unsympathetic character that nonetheless commands our compassion. His Stephen Ward is doubly affecting as a man who played by the establishment’s rules but was still thrown to the wolves when it was necessary to close ranks and protect their own.
A Blue Angel-style romance, a tragedy, a political history lesson, a commentary on the advent of the Swinging Sixties and so much more, Scandal is a film that excels on every level of dramatic truth and cinematic skill. (Allan Hunter)
that Ilackman was the accidental killer and that the finger ofsuspicion is being falsely pointed towards another man who shared the girl's bed. namely himself. . . Beautifully paced conspiracy yarn with fine performances all round. I Iighly recommended. Edinburgh: Iidinburgh University Film Society. I L'Ombre Rouge ( 15) (Jean-Louis Comolli. France. 1981 ) Claude Braseur. Nathalie Baye. 95 mins. Spain 1937. a Russian agent falls into the hands ofthe Gestapo while making an arms delivery to Barcelona. When he is released. he Iindsit hard to recapture his former ideals. Provoking political drama. Glasgow : French Cine Club. I101 (18) ([).A. Pennebaker. UK. 1988) Depeche Mode. llli mins. Noted rock documentarist D.A. Pennebaker. whose previous efforts have included the classic Bob Dylan film [)on '1 Look Back and Monterey Pop. followed British electropop outfit Depeche Mode across America and captured their show at the Pasadena Rose Bowl. The luscious monochrome imagery means that this should be seen on the big screen where it belongs. Strathclydc: AMCClydebank It). I On The Beach (PG) (Stanley Kramer. US. 1959) Gregory Peck. Ava Gardner. Fred Astaire. I33 mins. Typically portentous Stanley Kramer effort this screen version of the Nevil Shute novel looks at a world devastated by the apocalypse which has depopulated the planet except for Australian. now tenser awaiting the effects of the radiation. Good acting and an impressive sense ofseale. but preachiness takes over towards the end. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University
The List 24 February — 9 March 15