FILM LIST.
Unfunny and rather sexist high-concept fluff. with Aykroyd as unfunny as usual. only several stones heavier. Director Benjamin‘s career seems to have suffered a notable slump since the wonderful My Favourite Year. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon The Forge. Edinburgh: Odeon. Central: Caledonian. Cannon. Regal. Strathclyde: Cannon. Kelburne. Odeon Ayr.
I The Naked Gun(15) (David Zucker, US. 1988) 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 to find the men who shot his colleague in a drugs bust. and protect our dear Queen at the same time. while also finding room for romance with secretary Presley.
The makers ofAirp/ane here operate on a similar principle: keep it fast. keep it marvelloust dumb. and the comic dividends will eventually flow. Watchout for a great beaver gag and comedy cameos from Arafat, Gaddafi. Gorbachev and the Queen. Where else would you get all these elements in the same movie? Glasgow: Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Strathclyde: AMCClydebank 10.
I The Name ofthe Rose ( l8) (Jean-Jacques Annaud. W.Germany/France/ltaly. 1986) Sean Connery. F. Murray Abraham. Christian Slater. 131 mins. Marvellous medieval mystery with the masterful Connery as a Sherlock Holmes-like sleuth on the trail of a murderer in the monastery. A convincing historical atmosphere and a BAFTA winning performance from Sean. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I A Nightmare On Elm Street ( 18) (Wes Craven. US. 1984) Robert Englund. Heather Lagenkamp. John Saxon. High-school kids are terrorised by the delightful Freddy (he of the flambe features and uncompromising hand-wear) in their potentially fatal dreams. Marginally above the usual standard of teen-slash by dint of its surreal supernatural effects. and of course the basis ofthree (so far) sequels. Glasgow: Odeon.
I A Nightmare on Elm Street 11: Freddy's Revenge ( 18) (Jack Sholder. US. 1985) Mark Patton. Kim Myers. Robert Englund. 84 mins. Five years after the first movie. Freddy is still alive and slashing. plaguing a youngster‘s horrific dreams so he can take over his body and kill all the local kids. Lacklustre rehash ofWes Craven‘s superior original. but it set the ball rolling for the rest of the series. Glasow: Odeon.
I A Nightmare on Elm Street III: Dream Warriors(18) (Chuck Russell. US. 1987) Robert Englund. Heather Langenkamp. Craig Wasson. 97 mins. Having survived the horrors of Part 1. Langenkamp has put her experience to good use and is nowa psychiatrist specialising in pattern nightmares. All her skills are needed to assist a group of teenagers being collectively pestered by 01‘ pizza-face Freddy.
Interesting if unsuccessful attempt to progress the series beyond its simple desire to shock and try to tell a story instead. Glasgow: Odeon.
I A Nightmare on Elm Street IV: The Dream Master(18) fi (Renny Harlin. US. 1988) Robert Englund. Rodney Eastman. Danny Hassel. 93 mins. The bastard son of a thousand maniacs returns. as Freddy Kruger. the child murderer with a severe manicure problem. continues to slash his way through the dreams of yet another disposable cast of teenage actors. Reviewed in full next issue. Glasgow: Odeon. I Patty Hearst (18) (Paul Schrader. US. 1988) Natasha Richardson. William Forsythe. Ving Rhames. Frances Fisher. 108 mins. Schrader probes the life story of little-rich-girl-turned-urban-guerilla Hearst with characteristic intensity. offering few answers and leaving many
Things Change (PG) (David Mamet, US, 1988) Don Ameche, Joe Mantegna, Robert Prosky. 100 mins. Last year‘s splendid gambling thriller ‘House of Games’ announced the arrival of playwright David Mamet as a iilm-maker of note, and with this, his second film as director, it seems plain that we could be on the verge of a major career. Gino (Don Ameche) is an ageing shoeshine boy, who's persuaded by the Mafiosi into taking the rap for a mob slaying with the promise of healthy financial reimbursement for his short term in prison. Jerry (Joe Mantegna) is the incompetent hood left to look after the old man during his last weekend of freedom, but he ignores orders and takes his charge to Lake Tahoe, a nearby resort town. Here Gino is mistaken for a Mafia Don, and the initial amusement this provokes before long becomes a matter oi some concern test his true identity be discovered.
This is on the surface a rather gentle film, an ironic comedy that’s quite different in mood from the edgy tension of ‘House of Games’, though part of the
questions open. Hearst's own account may arouse some doubts in terms ofcredibility. but Sehrader‘s approach to her abduction and confinement in a cupboard during the first part of the film leaves no doubts asto his cinematic skill and psychological insight. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank 10. I Playtime (PG) (Jacques'l‘ati. France. 1967) Jacques Tati. Barbara Dennek. Jacqueline Lecomte. 152 mins. Monsieur Hulot. tussling with the modern world as usual. follows a group of American tourists around a garish and hi-tech Paris of concrete and glass. Undervalued later Tati. with the actor Tati‘s slapstick ofold overshadowed by Tati the director‘s masterly control of the widescreen frame. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Prince of Pennsylvania ( 15) a (Ron Nyswaner. US. 1988) Fred Ward. Keanu Reeves. Bonnie Bedelia. Amy Madigan. 93 mins. Rupert (Keanu Reeves) isa rebellious Pennsylvania teenager caught up in domestic conflict. he's stuck in the middle between a father who wants his son to follow him into a job down the mine. and a mother whose free-love Sixties ideals come with their own bundle of problems. Together with hippy maiden Carla (Amy Madigan). he hatches an absurd kidnap plan to resolve matters. Well-detailed rites of passage drama. with its moments ofquirky comedy. that also proves to offer an inteligent analysis of the anachronism of the Sixties ethos in the midst of today's social turmoil.
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humour does of course stem from the trusting Ameche’s inability to sense the real danger he’s in. What we have here though, is a moral tale. The mob supposedly uphold a code of honour, and the shoeshiner is prepared to go for their offer because his life is structured around such models of trust. The title, then, refers to the shift in values that finally allows them to attempt to alter their arrangement. Mantegna plays the guy caught in the middle, working for the crooks but trying to warn Ameche that ‘This is not a deal, it's a hustlel‘
It's lines like that last one that illustrate why Mamet’s known as the greatest living writer of dialogue. His scenes eschew shambling naturalism tor the sculpted heightening oi expression that can encompass the most serious of moral issues while slipping easily from the lips of the small-time Chicagoans he returns to again and again. With admirable performances from regular collaborator Mantegna and the ever dapper Ameche, here he's achieving an easygoing but profound cinematic craft to match. (Trevor Johnston)
Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Rabid (18) (David Cronenberg. Canada. 1977) Marilyn Chambers. Frank Moore. Joe Silver. 90 mins. After a nasty spill. motorcyclist Chambers undergoes plastic surgery and reawakens with an unhealthy appetite for human blood. Superior visceral horror from the King of Venereal Horror. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Rain Man ( 15) (Barry Levinson. US. 1988) Dustin Hoffman. Tom Cruise. Valeria Golino. 114 mins. lmpecunious smalltime hustler Charlie Babbitt (Cruise) ends up kidnapping his previously unknown autistic savant brother Raymond (Hoffman). when their late father leaves his $3 million fortune to the latter. However. as the two cross America by road genuine feelings of fraternal affection well up between them.
The 1989 major Oscar winner is a warmhearted and touching buddy movie that scrupulously avoids sentimentality. and boasts a detailed performance from Hoffman that skilfully elicits both compassion and frustration. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon The Forge. Grosvenor. ()deon. Edinburgh: Dominion. ()deon. Central: Caledonian. Regal. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank ll), Odeon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton.
I Rate If X ( 18) (Lucy Winer & Paula De Koonigsberg. US. 1985) 95 mins. An unsettling feminist survey ofthe sexploitation industry based around a series of interviews with pornographers
and punters alike, who are left to hoist themselves with their own petards as they reveal their chauvinist attitudes to the camera. Done with a certain amount of humour and irony. but one wonders how many men will go to the film looking for another cheapthrill. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Red Beard (PG) (Akir Kurosawa. Japan. 1965) Toshiro Mifune. Yuzo Kayama, Kamatari Fujiwara. 185 mins. 19th century Japan. and aging doctor Mifune instils into his young and ambitious new intern Kayama the rewards of working in the poorer sections ofthe community. Kurosawa‘s overlong and discursive medical drama sometimes lapses into sentimentality. but the period recreation and Mifune's towering central performance impress nevertheless. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Film Society.
I Red Sorghum ( 15) (Xhang Yimou. China. 1988) Gong Li. Jian Weng, JiuJi. 90 mins. Completely startling piece of work from the New Chinese Cinema isa family saga set in a rural community during the 1930s. which follows a bride‘s adventures: finding a litter carrier for her husband. setting up her own brewery, and fighting against the barbaric Japanese invaders.
Conceived on a gloriously broad palette. Yimou‘s film manages to controversially explore the stirrings of female sexuality. and include some endearing knockabout comedy before the tone darkens for the final cataclysm. The marvellous control of a rich red colour scheme throughout makes this a magnificent debut. Glasgow: GF'T.
I Repentance (PG) s: (Tengiz Abuladze. USSR. 1984) Avtandil Makharadze. lya Ninidze. Merab Ninidze. 15()mins. The mysterious movements of a deceased pillar of society symbolise the people‘s failure to overcome their pusillanimity in the face of repression in Abuladze‘s lengthy. static and posthumous critique of the Stalin years. Perhaps the film’s greatest virtue is the evidence it supplies ofa culture learning to express its liberation. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The 11191118101105) (Philip Kaufman. US. 1983) Sam Shepard. Scott Glenn. Ed Harris. Dennis Quaid. 193 mins. Tom Wolfe‘s book about the early days ofspace flight treats the first test pilots-cum-astronauts as modern day cowboys crossing a new frontier. The myriad plot-lines are well dove-tailed and the flying scenes are memorably impressive. but for all the film‘s expansiveness its abrupt swings ofmood somehow militate against the kind of involvement that would have made it a truly great movie (instead of just a rather good one). Edinburgh: Cameo.
I The Role (PG) (Shyam Benegal.1ndia. 1977) Smita Patil. Anat Nag. Amrish Puri. 142 mins. A young woman gets into films as a singer through the machinations of her mother‘s lover. and while she achieves great success and falls in love with her co-star. she eventuallly ends up marrying the older man out of some sense of obligation. Indian-style version ofthe Hollywood melodrama manages to combine a sweeping and emotional narrative with a perceptive analysis ofthe role of women on the sub-continent. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Rouge Daiser(15) (Vera Belmont. France/W. Germany. 1985) Charlotte Valandrey. Lambert Wilson. Marthe Keller. 112 mins. Paris. 1952. 15year-old Nadia divides her time between the movies and the Communist Party. But an affair with a hunky Paris Match photographer incurs the party‘s wrath. whilst the arrival of an old friend ofher mother's from a Russian labour camp forces her to question the Stalinist legacy.
Wonderful recreation of period
ambience (clothes. jazz clubs. etc.) in this likeable tale of adolescence. which is not
The List 21 April—4 May 1989 41