FILM LIST
bloodless entertainment. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge. ()deon. Edinburgh: Dominion. ()deon. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank 10.
I Do The Right Thing ( 18) (Spike Lee. [18. 1989) Spike Lee. Danny Aicllo. ()ssie Davis. John Turturro. l 19mins. New York’s deprived Bedford-Stuyvesant district on the hottest day of the summer. and racial tension escalates between ltalian-Amcrican Sal (Aiello) and his two sons. the proprietors of a popular pizzeria. and the mainly black local community who make up the bulk ofhis customers. Asthe situation worsens and the option of violence looks a possibility. Sal's black delivery boy Mookie (Lee) ponders how to do the right thing. Forceful exploration of the socio-economic and cultural causes behind endemic white racism. Lee's film also ope rates as a tightly-controlled multi-character drama. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Double Indemnity ( PG) (Billy Wilder. US. 1944) Barbara Stanwyck. Fred McMurray. Edward (i. Robinson. lilo mins. Cracking adaptation by Wilder and Raymond Chandler of the James M. Cain novel has insurance man McMurray attracted by the alluring Stanwyck into cashing in by murdering her spouse. and all goes well until his boss Edward G. begins to suspect foul play. Sexual chemisty. labyrinthine plotting. tart wordplay. it's all here. A classic.
I Fatal Attraction ( 18) (Adrian Lyne. L'S. 1987) (ilenn Close. Michael Douglas. Anne Archer. l 19mins. Happily married lawyer Douglas discovers the high price of infidelity when his casual one night stand turns out to be a dangerously psychotic woman who will stop at nothing to gain her man's affection. (ilossy. well-acted misogynistic l litchcock-style thriller. Strathclyde: Paisley Arts Centre.
I A Fish Called Wanda ( 15) (Charles Crichton. UK. 1988) John Clecse.Jamie Lee Curtis. Kevin Kline. Michael Palin. Tom (ieorgcson. 108 mins. Stuffy English lawyer Archie Leach (Cleese) gets unwittingly involved with a gang of diamond thieves. including brash American Kline and stammering animal lover Palin. because he has access to information that will help them lay their hands on the swag. (ilamorous Wanda (Jamie Lee Curtis) steps in to romance him into talking. but love is to rearits head. Remarkably effective comedy. with the absurdly black humour of the Python generation given a narrative control and sense of timing that only a veteran's steady hand could provide. And it makes a wonderful romantic lead out of the rather unlikely Mr Clecse. (ilasgow: Cannon Sauchichall Street. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Flight Of The Navigator ( PG ) ( Randal Kleiser. US. 1986) Joey Cramer. Veronica Cartwright. Cliff De Young. 89mins. A young boy who has been in contact with aliens finds himself the subject ofscientific enquiry before being enlisted by some more extraterrestrials to help them repair their damaged craft. Watchable Disney effort in the 12'. 'I'. stakes. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I48 Hours ( 18) (Waltcrllill. trs. 1982) Nick Nolte. Eddie Murphy. 97 mins. A cop and a con team up to catch an escaped criminal. Swaggcring. slarnbang comedy drama notable solely for Murphy's electrifying debut. Edinburgh: Cameo.
I Good Morning Vietnam ( l5) (Barry Levinson. US. 1987) Robin Williams. Forrest Whitaker. TungThanh Tran. 121 mins. At last getting the specially tailored role his improvisatory comic talent deserves. Robin Williams gives a dazzling performance as iconoclastic armed forces radio disc jockey Adrian Cronauer. assigned to 1965 Saigon and soon creating headaches for the military top brass. His morning show. with its healthy doses of soul mUsic and outbursts ofway-out. quite irreverent humour explodes their cosy
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The ’Burbs (PG) (Joe Dante, US, 1989) Tom Hanks, Bruce Dern, Carrie Fisher, Rick Dunsommun. 102 mins. Nothing to do with indigestion problems, in Yankspeak ‘The ’Burbs’ is short for sweet suburbia, and that's where we find comic Tom Hanks in this latest offering from Hollywood’s wayward fantasy talent Joe Dante. He plays Ray Petersen, a man taking a week off work to relax at home and get under the feet
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oi spouse Carrie Fisher, but who joins in with his mates Ducommun (burly slob in the John Candy mould) and Dern (as a hawkish ex-soldier) in becoming obsessed with new neighbours on the block, the mysterious Klopeks. After all, it’s hardly the sane and healthy all-American family that has unearthly noises coming from their basements and appear only at night to begin strange excavations in their garden.
Are they burying bodies, and are those wierd sounds coming from their own private crematorium? Something creepy could well be aloot.
Well, okay so here we are again with the old suburban paranoia routine, but from the classic Fifties sci-ii excursions it's always been an indicator that WASP America is just not at ease with the rest of its multicultural self. The best scene here, for instance, has the plucky Hanks gamely trying to get down a squelchy sardine on pretzel, some of that funny foreign food the Klopeks offer him. The tone here, given Dante’s liking for goofy cartoonishness is more Adams family than ‘lnvasion of The Body Snatchers’, but although the narrative builds convincingly to a cop-out denouement, the would-be comic Gothic excess is undercut by the overplayed and underwritten shrillness of the relationships between the three chaps.
Having said that, Tom Hanks continues to show that even with so-so material he's still one of America's most skilled comedic performers, and his portrayal of everyday Ray’s gradual transformation from sceptic to half-crazed paranoiac only overdoes it in the last reel. What a shame that Dante manages to fumble the intended plea iortolerance by showing how ‘normal’ America’s intolerance drives it to destroy the homes and lives of those who don’t toe the conformist line, but at least the viewer'comes outwith a useful addition to one’s artillery ol
favoured insults. Carrie Fisher gets so riled with overweight Ducommun she points the finger and says ‘Llsten, tuna-neck!’ I like it. (Trevor Johnston) From Friday 28. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Cannon Sauchichall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Central: Caledonian. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank 10.
notions of broadcasting standards. but makes him a hero amongst the ordinary fighting men. The more serious aspectsof the film. its attempts to examine the clash of two cultures and intimate the escalation ofthe Vietnam conflict. falls at little flat. Central: MacRobert Arts Centre.
I Le Grand Chemim15)(Jcan-l.oup Hubert. France. 1987) Anemone. Richard Bohringcr. Antoine Hubert. 107 mins. Nine year-old Parisien Louis is dumped on Anemone's turbulent Breton household while his mother goes into hospital to have another baby. and during his summer in the country is instructed by a village tomboy in the ways of the adult world. Memorable evocation ofchildhood confusions over birth. sex and death. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I High Spirits ( 15) (Neil Jordan. 17S L'K. 1988) Peter O‘Toole. Daryl Hannah. Steve (iuttenberg. 92 mins. ()‘Toole stars as the financially desperate owner ofa decaying lrish castle. Facing the prospect of coming up with some swift cash or accepting foreclosure. he cooks up a scheme to pass off Plunkett Castle as the most haunted house in Ireland. When a groupof American tourists arrive. however. the real ghosts eventually do come out for them and a complicated double supernatural romance is the result. Lacklustre slapstick farce. with poor timing and a cluttered narrative curtailing any interest in the sometimes charming special effects. Central: MacRobert Arts
Centre.
I Housekeeping (PG) (Bill Forsyth. Canada. l987) Christine Lahti. Sara Walker. Andrea Burchill. l 16mins. Scrupulously faithful to the Marilynne Robinson novel. Forsyth's film tells oftwo orphaned sisters who are entrusted to the custody of a succession ofgeriatric relatives before the arrival ofthcir eccentric aunt Sylvie. Literately scripted. confidently directed. beautifully photographed and performed with sensitive insight. Highly recommended to the discerning palate. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade ( PG) (Steven Spielberg. US. 1989) Harrison Ford. Sean Connery. Alison Doody. Denholm Elliot. 127 mins. The third and supposedly final instalment of Spielberg‘s bumper blockbuster series. in which the archaeological adventurer is joined by his father (Connery) for a romp through the Middle East in search ofthe Holy (irail. hotly pursued (as ever) by the Nazis. A rather dodgy would-be Christian morality and a more-of—the-same-ish plot are offset by strong performances from Ford and Connery and technical bravura. (ilasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road. Cannon The Forge. Cannon Sauchichall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Dominion. Central: Cannon. Regal. Strathclyde: AMC Clydebank ll). Cannon. La Scala. ()deon Ayr. ()deon Hamilton.
I Jewel DlThe Nile (PG) (Lewius'l'cague.
US. 1985) Kathleen Turner. Michael Douglas. Danny DeVito. 108 mins. Mechanical sequel-by-numbers tothe altogether more agreeable Romancing The Stone with the same cast and asimilar plot falling quite remarkably flat. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road.
I Kamikaze ( 15) (Didier (iroussct. France. 1986) Richard Bohringer. Michel Galabru. Dominique Lavant. 89 mins. Electronics wizard (ialabru. made redundant after years ofscrvice.devotes his new-found leisure time to developing a device that enables him from the comfort of his armchair to kill any vapid media type in front of a studio television camera. Intriguing debut by Luc Besson‘s former assistant although the splendid central notion is much more inspired than the dogged detective thriller routine that rounds out the plotting. Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
IThe Karate Kid Par13 (P0) is (John G. Avildsen. US. 1989) Ralph Macchio. Noriyuki ‘Pat' Morita. Thomas lan Griffith. 111 mins. ln thisinstalment Daniel (Macchio) and his coach Mr Miyagi (Morita) are driven apart when the young martial arts expert agrees against his mentor‘s advice to take part in another Karate tournament. but the source ofthe pressure placed upon him can be traced back to unscrupulous millionaire Silver (Thomas). whose hobby seems to be turning innocent young lads to nastiness. The fight sequences. as ever. are the
The List 28 July — 10 August 198915