FILM LIST
stands in for a steamy foreign jungle. Glasgow: GF'I'. I Purple Rain (15) (Albert Magnoli. US. 1984) Prince. Apollonia Kotero. 111mins. Thinly-disguised Oscar-winning autobiographical drama on the life and hard times of His Purpleness. The music is all and includes +When Doves Cry‘. Edinburgh: Cameo. I The Purple Rose Of Cairo (PG) (Woody Allen, US, 1985) Mia Farrow,Jeff Daniels. 84 mins. A dowdy waitress meets the man of her dreams when a matinee idol steps down off the movie screen and into her life. Unfortunately, the studio are not amused as the character involved is their property, and the actor who played the role worries about the possibility ofa paternity suit. Basically. a one-joke movie, but this Pirandellian conceit is admirably worked out. offering a few barbs of wisdom on the illusory nature of romance. Glasgow: GFT. I Radio Days (PG) (Woody Allen. US. 1987) Mia Farrow. Seth Green, Diane Keaton. 89 mins. Amiably laid back family recollections of the early Forties and the golden age of the wireless. Potpourri of modest charm held together by an armful of reliable performances from old lags and the usual flashes ofwit and wisdom. A pleasant time filler for both director and audience. Glasgow: GET. I The Railway Children (PG) (Lionel Jeffries, UK, 1970) Dinah Sheridan, William Mervyn, Jenny Agutter. 108 mins. A trio of youngsters find that their involvement with the railway that runs past their garden is to lead them into adventure. Pleasing family film, lit up by a bright performance from a very young Ms Agutter. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I The Rainbow (15) (Ken Russell. UK, 1989) Sammi Davis, Paul McGann. Amanda Donohoe, Glenda Jackson. 104 mins. Sammi Davis is the young country lass determined to see something oflife. She crosses with lusty bisexual school teacher Amanda Donohoe and faithless soldier boy sweetheart McGann on the way to sexual awakening, and passes through the confines of an embattled junior school. Unfortunately the film never amounts to much more than a polite literary adaptation, exactly the kind of thing people with the guts and imagination of a Russell were meant to save us from in the first place. Compared to the vigour of The Devils or Crimes ofPassion this is like watching the hearth after the firc‘s gone out. Edinburgh: Odeon. I Rebel Without A Cause ( 18) (Nicholas Ray, US, 1956) James Dean. Natalie Wood.Jim Backus, Sal Mineo. 111mins. Seminal youth movie has Dean as a sensitive but misunderstood kid battlingto communicate with his parents and caught in the violent struggle for self-definition. Though irrevocably dated by now. this is still notable as the film that articulated the until-then unrecognised experiences and aspirations of a whole generation and does of course contain our favourite nostalgia icon in full flow. Edinburgh University Film Society. I Return of the Swamp Thing (12) (Jim Wynrski, US. 1989) Dick Durock, Heather Locklaer, Louis Jordan. 89 mins. Strictly kids‘ stuff as the former scientist injured in his experiments rises from the reeds once more. The rubber suit is deeply unimpressivc and the love scenes are so embarassing that even the camera turns away. Director Wynrski‘s attempts to bring the comic character to the screen become as bogged down as Craven‘s did in the first one. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Cannon Sauchiehall Street, Odeon. Edinburgh: Odeon. Strathclydc: UCI Clydebank, UCl East Kilbride. I Road House (18) (Rowdy Herrington. US, 1989) Patrick Swayze, Ben Gazzara. Kelly Lynch. 114 mins. Swayze moves from dirty dancing to dirtin dunting- people‘s heads off tables, in an effort to
Mystic Pizza (15) (Donald Petrie, USA, 1988) Julia Roberts, Annabeth Gish, Vincent Phillip D'Onoforio. 104 minutes. Not a New Age paean to the latest incredible edible food fad, but a rather slight romance set in the Connecticut resort of Mystic. Daisy, Kat and Jojo are the waitresses three in the Mystic Pizza Parlour, whose Autumnal love affairs mark the waning of their teenage years and entry into boring adunhood.
Flounclng beauty Daisy's problem is that none of the Mystic fishermen are good enough for her. But escape appears incarnate in the form of Ivy League dropout Charles, driving the obligatory shiny red Porsche. Here at last is a fish big enough for her to play forand, perhaps, win.
Kat has none of her older sister’s problems. She is fartoo involved in holding down four jobs so she can afford her half scholarship to Yale to study astronomy. Far too involved, that is, until handsome Tim asks herto baby sit for him while his wile is away in Europe. Oh, the temptation of the intelligentolder man . . .
For ebullient Jojo, the problem is a
MYSIC PIZZA
little more pressing. Having iallen at the altar once before, she is just not ready to give her big hearted, dependable fiance, fisherman Bill, the commitment he wants. ‘I love you, but all you love about me is my dick,’ he complains, and with some justification.
Mystic Pizza is a recognisable representation of life in a seaside resort, but the rose tinted day-dream is too bowdlerlsed to be realistic. A tantalising attempt to contrast the Portuguese fishing community with the wealthy summer residents is flimsy (like the film as a whole) despite the potential of not one, but three romances.
At its best in the pizza parlor scenes, Mystic Pizza is too pat to work as more than a little winter warmer: a Mills and Boon reminder oi those lost days by the sea, with a cloying tendency to present romance as the only escape from a dead end town. (Thom Dibdin)
From Fri 5 Jan. Glasgow: Cannon The Forge, Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon Lothian Road.
clear up the Double Deuce. A violent dump, only marginally preferable to the Black Hole of Calcutta as a place to go for a drink. There , as top bouncer, he takes on the scumbags who like to preface social interaction by inquiring as to the object of your gaze. Though graced with precious few moments oforiginality. the movie is full ofsatisfying cheap thrills as Swayze demonstrates his commitment to philosophy by battering the stuffing out of people he dislikes. Glasgow: Odeon. Strathclydc: UCl Clydebank. UCl East Kilbride. WMR Film Centre.
I The Rocky Horror Picture Show (18) (Jim Sharman, UK, 1975) Tim Curry. Susan Sarandon. Barry Bostwick, Meat Loaf. 100 mins. The cult film of our times. this rock spoof on old horror movies has created a breed of Rocky Horror crazies, and packs them in at late shows everywhere. The film has its moments, and Tim Curry is splendidly camp as the bisexual Frank N. Furtcr. Strathclydc: Odeon Ayr.
I Roselyne And The Lions ( 12) (Jean-Jacques Beineix, France, 1989) Isabelle Pasco. Gerard Sandoz, Philippe Clevenot. 130 mins. Several years after Berry Blue. Beineix returns with typically stylish and obsessive exercise charting young Isabelle Pasco‘s progress as a lion tamer. Forget the eight out of ten critics who haven‘t expressed a preference, this is one sleek movie. whiskers and all.
Edinburgh: Filmhouse.
I The Running Man ( 18) (Paul Michael Glaser, US, 1988) Arnold Schwarzenegger, Yaphet Kotto, Maria Conchita Alonso. 97 mins. In a totalitarian future television is used by the authorities to pacify the disgruntled masses. with Running Man a deadly pursuit show top of the ratings. Enter Arnie as a framed cop, the latest fodderto be hunted down and killed for the punters' entertainment. Except that our man Schwarzenegger has other plans. Rather nasty and exploitative sci-fi , coming across like a more mindless Robocop while pretending to have something to say about the Media. Arnie is Arnie. Strathclydc: UCl East Kilbride.
I Santa Claus: The Movie (PG) (Jeannot Swarc, US. 1985) Dudley Moore,John Lithgow. 108 mins. Cuddly Dudley and Father C. himself in the same movie? One to entertain the younger viewers, or those with a high crassness threshold. Strathclydc: UCl Clydebank, WMR Film Centre.
I Scrooged (PG) (Richard Donner, US, 1988) Bill Murray, Karen Allen. Robert Mitchum, John Forsythe. 101 mins. Returning in his first comedy role afterthe mega-successful Ghostbusters. Bill Murray is the focal point ofthis umpteenth screen version of the Dickens classic. here playing a miserly television exec determined to exploit the yuletide
schedules for all they are worth, but whois shown the error of his ways in time for a cringe-inducing finale demanding peace on earth and goodwill to all men. Despite lavish effects and a motley constellation of guest stars, this is a formulaic exercise in contemporary comic cynicism whose uneasy sense of vicious humour seems at odds with the spirit of the original material. Alastair Sim. where are you now? Central: Regal. Strathclydc: UCl Clydebank. I Shirley Valentine (15) (Lewis Gilbert. UK, 1989) Pauline Collins. Bernard Hill. Tom Conti. 110 mins. Gilbert‘s screen version of the celebrated Willy Russell play, now expanded from a monologue to include Bernard Hill as the insensitive hubby and Tom Conti as the Greek bit of stuffShirley meets on a Mediterranean holiday that turns into a voyage of self-(re)discovery. Pauline Collins is outstanding in the title role. Glasgow: Cannon Clarkston Road, Cannon Sauchiehall Street. Edinburgh: Cannon. Dominion, Odeon. Strathclydc: Odeon Ayr, UCl Clydebank, UCI East Kilbride. I A Strange Place To Meet ( 15 ) ( Francois Dupeyron, France. 1988) Catherine Deneuve, Gerard Depardieu. Nathalie Cardone. 97 mins. Debut director Duperyon‘s film has a certain appealing quirkiness. A man pulls into a lay-by, throws his wife from a vehicle and speeds off. In the adjacent cafe Deneuve.certain that hubby will repent and return. remains and here she meets the Iay-by‘s other resident. Dcpardicu, a doctor hiding from life. The two bring a genuine credibility to their rather odd roles in this emotionally intense yet curiously distanced movie. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Sunset Boulevard (PG) (Billy Wilder. US, 1950) Gloria Swanson, William Holden, Erich Von Stroheim. 111mins. Broken dreams on Sunset, perfectly handled by Wilder. One of l lollywood's blackest and hence one of its best pieces of introspection. Watch out for the some old Tinseltown luminaries in a cameo card-game. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Teen Wolf (PG) (Rod Daniel, US. 1985) Michael J. Fox. James Hampton. Lorie Griffin. 92 mins. Silly high-school-jinks with pointed message as boring young Fox discovers he‘s a werewolf under the skin, and becomes a local hero overnight. Quite good fun, though. Strathclydc: Odeon Ayr. I Tenue de Soiree ( 18) (Bertrand Blier, France, 1986) Gerard Depardieu, Miou Miou. Michel Blane. 85 mins. Outrageous me nagc a trois black comedy with Dcpardicu as a randy gay burglar who steals the mouse-like Blane away from his bossy. gold-digging partner. A wild and rambling mess that is not as hipor coherent as it appears to think itself. Glasgow: GF'I‘. I Thunderbirds Are Go (U) (Gerry Anderson. UK. 1966) Scott, Virgil, Alan Brains. Lady Penelope et al. 90 mins. The first and witfiest of the Thunderbird spin-off movies. The let century version of the Shadows more than makes up for what is otherwise little more than the dragging out ofone of the TV episodes. A must for all Gerry Anderson fans. Edinburgh: Filmhouse. I Tootsie (15) (Sydney Pollack, US. 1982) Dustin Hoffman, Jesica Lange, Teri Garr. Bill Murray. 116 mins. Our Dusty finds himselfgetting the brush off when he tries out for acting roles. The excuse being that he is too small too old or too male. One of these he can remedy, and does, he becomes a woman. What a giggle! His cross-dressing leads to some polished comedy but the whole assumption that merely by changing his outward appearance he can become less demanding and temperamental and much more successful both as an actor and in his private life, is at best ridiculous. Glasgow: OFT. I Tucker: The Man And His Bream (PG) (Francis Coppola, US, 1988) JeffBridges,
22 The List 22 December 1989 — 11 January 1990